Campaign for Henbury and Portishead rail links - FOSBR

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

"Rail campaigners have called for more spending on local trains in greater Bristol, including Portishead and Henbury.  The Friends Of Suburban Bristol Railways (FOSBR^▸ (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways)), which successfully pushed for improvements to the Severn Beach line in 2006, is due to launch a campaign on Thursday.  It wants to see Government investment in other railway lines around the city, including the reopening of the Portishead line to Bristol and the 'Henbury Loop'."

For the full story, in an excellent article in the Bristol Evening Post, see http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/news/Campaign-Portishead-Henbury-rail-links/article-433081-detail/article.html


^{Edit note: This is linked to other topics about the Portishead line, but as this campaign widens to include the Henbury Loop, I've now given it a topic of its own.  For previous topics, see http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=3710.0 and http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=231.0}

(topic now linked to calendar - Lee Fletcher.)

[John R]

It's interesting linking this with the recent news on improved services on the Bicester line. Bicester and Islip between them achieve less than 70,000 entries and exits, wheareas the potential for the Portishead line is over 500,000 on the most conservative estimate.

One of the added costs will be the refusal of the Safety Taliban these days to allow any new level crossings to be built, and thus the need for an expensive bridge at Quays Avenue (see picture in today's Evening Post). Whilst this is understandable in the light of the numerous instances when road users fail to heed the red lights, given this is a couple of hundred yards from the station site, it should be possible to operate at low speed over a crossing without too much of a time penalty (and still provide a very competitive journey time into Bristol).   

[Btline]

...the refusal of the Safety Taliban these days to allow any new level crossings to be built...

Why not ban trains going over 5 mph? Its far too dangerous to have trains operating faster than a person walking!

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Bristol Evening Post:

Call to back campaign for new Bristol rail lines

Campaigners are urging the public to back their battle to reopen rail links around Bristol.  They launched a campaign yesterday to get members of the public to send postcards to the West of England Partnership, which represents the four local councils, Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire and Bath & North-East Somerset.

The Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways (FOSBR^▸ (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways)), which successfully pushed for improvements to the Severn Beach line in 2006, wants to see Government investment into other railway lines around the city, including the reopening of the Portishead line to Bristol and the Henbury Loop.

Julie Boston, of FOSBR, told the Evening Post: "We are distributing 3,000 postcards so people can send them in before a deadline of November 21.  We're calling on the partnership to put pressure on the South-West Regional Assembly and the Regional Development Agency to include the Portishead and Henbury Loop passenger-freight line in their transport spending bid.  The assembly meets on November 27."

For full details, see http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/news/campaign-new-Bristol-rail-lines/article-440317-detail/article.html

[Chris from Nailsea]

A railway station has been sold to a private company, despite being part of future plans to improve Bristol's passenger train network.  South Gloucestershire Council turned down an option to buy Henbury Station, which was sold to an unnamed buyer by the Government's British Rail Property Board at auction last week for ^750,000.

Plans are in the pipeline to run passenger trains along the freight line which runs from Avonmouth, past Henbury and on to Filton.  The scheme would be part of a Greater Bristol Metro network of improved cross-city rail services, which First Great Western wants to develop together with the West of England Partnership.

David Redgewell, Bristol spokesman for the Campaign for Better Transport, said the failure to buy the station was a classic example of the failure of transport authorities in the Bristol area to work together to improve the city's rail services.  He said that if the city had an Integrated Transport Authority ^ which became possible by new laws set by Parliament earlier this month ^ the opportunity to buy Henbury Station for future use would not have been lost.

For full details, see http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/news/better-deal-Bristol-public-transport-station-sold-private-company/article-456850-detail/article.html