Infrastructure Priorities In The Greater Bristol Area

[whole diary]

[Lee]

I'd be interested in reading what posters think are/should be the main priorities for infrastructure (development rather than maintenance/renewal) on the Plymouth-Cornwall routes (including branches) now that Probus-Burngullow has been redoubled and the Penryn loop is due for completion.

Having followed the "Infrastructure Priorities In Cornwall" topic with great interest, I'd like to know what members think are/should be the main priorities for infrastructure in the Greater Bristol area.

I'm currently doing some research on this, and such matters will be raised at the upcoming FOSBR^▸ (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways) Public Meeting (link below.)
http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=2718.msg20897#msg20897

[John R]

Obviously Portishead is the big ticket item. One omission that puzzles me is the absence in any plan to reinstate the down relief between Bedminster and Parson St. Moving the up relief diverge to south of Parson St would also help matters.

I presume the Worle to Weston Milton improvement is still happening, although things seem to have gone quiet on that front of late.

And even if complete requadrification of the Filton bank is some way off, I would have thought a northbound "crawler line" up the bank as far as Filton would be very useful.

Oh yes, Parkway fourth platform, which hopefully won't be too far off.

[Graz]

By far, Portishead. I can't think of a cause more worthy than that around Bristol. Trains between Portishead and Bristol Temple Meads perhaps with extensions towards Severn Beach. Sort of like a 'Severn Explorer' service

Reinstatement of passenger trains between St Andrews Road and Bristol Parkway with a new station at Henbury. With the 4th platform soon to open I can't see many problems with capacity at Bristol Parkway, and this would provide many more travel oppertunities with people able to get to the inner Bristol stations from Cardiff and the Midlands. Not to mention Henbury station would provide easy access to Cribb's Causeway.

Turnback proposal at Clifton Down may be interesting and something to look into, though I don't want a resulting cut in Avonmouth/Severn Beach trains due to that. And this sounds a bit silly but I was seriously wondering whether it's an idea to look into upgrading the line between Bath and Bristol , since it is one of the busiest in the region.

Everything John said too 

[Btline]

In addition to the new branch line as above....

Quadruple tracks from Parkway to Temple Meads (with electrification as part of XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) route electrification) to provide a high speed entry into Bristol for longer distance passengers, whilst allowing local services to be enhanced with faster (electric), more frequent services - not to mention extra stations.

...Breath...

General line speed increases and reduction in signalling headways where (or if) required.

And electrification of the GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line)!

[simonw]

The biggest problems in the Greater Bristol area are

Capacity restrictions of the Severn Tunnel
Capacity restrictions between Filton Abbeywood and BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI))
Portishead

Is there any chance of connecting Thornbury to the rail network? This could remove a lot of traffic off the A38/M32!

[MikeGTN]

Is there any chance of connecting Thornbury to the rail network? This could remove a lot of traffic off the A38/M32!

The branch from Yate Middle to Tytherinton remains. If the quarry ever closed, there would be a fairly sizeable site for a 'parkway' station there.

I'd like to add the resignalling of the bay platform at WSM for terminating Bristol trains. Would improve reliability and provide better opportunities to recover the service in the event of problems.