Future of services to North Somerset stations?

[whole diary]

[HSTHopper]

Hello -

At present, it seems to me that North Somerset stations such as Nailsea and Yatton have a pretty good train service, including some fast direct services to London.

Would anyone care to speculate whether the service at particular stations is likely to get better or worse in coming years ?

As someone who wants to be able to commute to central Bristol, north Bristol, Birmingham and London by train, which North Somerset stations would it be sensible to buy a house near?

Thanks

[Chris from Nailsea]

Hmm.  Well, I'm not an estate agent, but here's my 'sales pitch' for Nailsea & Backwell. 

Main line station - good car park, soon to be vastly expanded - and it's free (FGW^▸ (First Great Western) charge for parking at Yatton).  With such increased parking, commuter demand can only increase the pressure to improve train services even more (and, to be fair, they're pretty good at the moment!).

Excellent local facilities, schools, motorway access, and handy for Bristol International Airport.

I used to commute daily into central Bristol (30 minutes, door to door), but I also did trips to London (PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)) direct and Manchester (via BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI))), for example, without problems.

If you're interested, drop me a PM and I'll give you some local contacts (estate agents, schools or whatever).

C. 

[Lee]

I guess Weston-super-Mare comes out on top at present, in terms of being able to travel directly to all the destinations you listed.

Longer-term, Worle might be worth a punt, given the long-standing Strategic Interchange proposals to expand its facilities and call XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) services there.

[John R]

But you do need to consider the full package, not just the transport links. For example, if schools are important to you, then the stations on the line have widely different characteristics in terms of local academic provision.

 

[HSTHopper]

At present I'm particularly interested in Nailsea and Yatton, which appear to have identical services currently. Would anyone like to make a guess at whether either or both are likely to improve or deteriorate in the coming years?

[John R]

Numbers are both are climbing, though Nailsea is growing faster, and has now overtaken Yatton. This may have something to do with parking being free at Nailsea and charged at Yatton. (Historically, go back 30 years and Yatton had a much better service, which may be why it retained its station buildings. It is still staffed for longer, despite Nailsea now being more heavily used.)

I cannot envisage services at either station being cut, particularly in the rush hour, although there are a couple of local services that run just behind a HSS^▸ (High Speed Services) that don't fully load. Improvements will be difficult as the mix of XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) and stopping services currently uses up much of the line capacity between Temple Meads and Worle Jn, and NR^» (Network Rail - home page) are downplaying improvements, with the exception of 4 tracking as far as Parson St. The alternative to more trains is longer trains, but the problems with sourcing additional rolling stock are well documented.

I would imagine the stations will retain their equivalence in terms of stops (ie trains will stop at both).

Until December you can have the novelty of a commute both ways behind LH stock, though I wouldn't use this as a determining factor in your decision.