Reopening Campaign for real rail in Portishead
Favourable noises from the government and Network Rail mean that trains could once again run to Portishead according to Robin Whitlock
T
he Portishead Rail Group and other organisations have been campaigning for the reopening of the Portishead branch in Somerset ever since it closed under the Beeching cuts of 1964. Noise on the issue has reached a crescendo in recent years as the population of Portishead has steadily increased under the weight of new housing developments and the influx of new business.
This coastal town’s current population of around 28,000 is continuing to increase year-on-year, making it the largest community in the UK without access to a rail link. Fortunately, the signs are favourable that the branch could at last be reopened. The chances of this have been assisted by the fact that since 2000 a sizeable stretch of the line has been used as freight-only, serving the Royal Portbury Dock, but there is also talk of a wider upgrading of the Bristol rail network under the ‘Greater Bristol Metro’ scheme. Government funding of £20 million intended to boost small communities’ access to the rail network through the reopening of small stations could be used to develop the Bristol Metro including the Portishead branch. Locally this means that there is money available from
Bristol’s £1 billion ‘City Deal’. Recently, Dr Liam Fox MP, confirmed that there is positive support from some government ministers and reopening the branch is also part of the Network Rail business plan for CP5.
Can’t come soon enough A reopened railway link to Portishead cannot come soon enough for many of the town’s residents.
The A369 is the main traffic corridor between Portishead and Bristol as well as the main access road to the M5 via Junction 19 at Easton-in-Gordano. Consequently the road is used by large numbers of commuters travelling to Bristol and South Gloucestershire and is regularly congested.
Even a minor accident on the
Avonmouth stretch of the M5 can cause major gridlock.
The situation is made worse by the fact that Junction 19 is also the main access point for employees of the Royal Portbury Dock. In essence, the transport links to Portishead and the dock have been described as dire and the situation has increasingly deterred individuals and businesses from relocating to the town, and even to prompt some already there to relocate. The feasibility of reopening the line has been the subject
of numerous studies, particularly the 2008 report commissioned by North Somerset Council and published by Halcrow. This assessment estimated the cost of reopening at around £15 million, however the Network Rail GRIP3 report quoted a higher figure of £37 million. This figure is disputed by some in Bristol, including Daniel Casey of local transport consultancy South West Transport Development CIC, who believes this is ‘completely over the top’ and that the line could be restored for passenger use for somewhere between £15 to 20 million. Casey also believes that the restoration of the line has to be linked in to the Metro project since the stretches of main line railway at Parsons Street and, on the north side of Bristol, Filton Bank, would have to be returned to four track in order to avoid bottlenecks.
Some of the cost quoted by Network Rail could be saved by limitation of facilities at the stations along the line believes Casey, but there is no doubt that there is a substantial amount of work
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