Ashton gate halt and the Portishead rail line (Merged)

[italian dave]

2 hours ago, TonyTonyTony said:

Ill still believe it until i see contractors turn up. I remember Sainsburys in town was delayed for ages until they re-homed a few newts !

Hopefully, nowhere near the railway line

[Lanterne Rouge]

7 hours ago, RedRock said:

…and from what I’ve heard the Oakhampton Line has been a real success.

It has. Trains are full most of the time and it`s standing room only at rush hour. The tickets are far cheaper than driving & parking in Exeter (parking charges in Exeter are eye-watering these days). There are loads of people who live in Okehampton and work in Exeter that used to drive and use the Marsh Barton park & ride but get the train now as it goes on to Central from St Davids. They`ve just increased the frequency to hourly as well.

[TonyTonyTony]

1 hour ago, TomF said:

Firstly Grant Shapps needs to give the DCO the full go ahead as it’s currently minded to approve.  So NSC as the lead of that will have to submit usual documents by 30th Nov at latest and then final decision is due before 19th Feb 2023. However these are just formal deadlines so things could move a lot quicker.. NSC need to get everything under the nose of the new SoS for Transport after recess

So that’s a no then.

[Lanterne Rouge]

2 minutes ago, TomF said:

Need to just extend it all the way to Plymouth again.. shame the Meldon Viaduct is knackered.. 

it`s more that so much of the former track bed and buildings are in private hands. Rob Bell went into it when he did one of his `Walking Britain`s Lost Railways` programmes on the line.

The better option would be a new line from Okehampton to Launceston and then down to Plymouth via Tavistock I reckon- most of the old line is still there as bridleways/footpaths and stuff.

[TonyTonyTony]

23 minutes ago, TomF said:

It’s minded to approve already providing the extra funding can be found. Which it has. So even Shapps can’t **** this one up… well if he’s still in charge come Sept

The other interesting thing is it states DfT are taking on the client role meaning, I think, they would pick up any further cost and not the regional authorities so they probably will be minded to push it through as quick as possible..  

I’ll keep my fingers crossed. Can’t say I’m looking forward to the disruption getting home but looking forward to the house price spike !

[BTRFTG]

Can't move for train lines near me.

Pointless when there's no sod willing to drive, guard, staff, maintain trains regularly on them. If public purse is to underwrite any investment then it needs a quid pro quo from those that staff the railways. Sweet FA chance that will happen anytime soon.

[t_b]

Ditching the Portishead station is in line with the approaches being taken for ticketless trains etc. For an end of line station, it really wouldn’t be needed. 
There’ll still be options for any coffee etc concession to be housed in a pop up function (loads of shipping containers going to be going spare down harbourside soon….).

But would removal of station building enable the platform itself to run on the existing track alignment? It’s double tracked as it edges to Quays Avenue so surely space for a basic platform to be put up? Saves them a fortune in not realigning the existing roads as well then.

Car parking surely is a requirement for Portishead to reduce stress on adjacent residential streets. And brings in revenue. 
 

[Monkeh]

3 hours ago, TomF said:

Need to just extend it all the way to Plymouth again.. shame the Meldon Viaduct is knackered.. 

They will at some point, as a viable alternate route if the Dawlish sea defense fails again

[pillred]

2 hours ago, tommy_b said:

Ditching the Portishead station is in line with the approaches being taken for ticketless trains etc. For an end of line station, it really wouldn’t be needed. 
There’ll still be options for any coffee etc concession to be housed in a pop up function (loads of shipping containers going to be going spare down harbourside soon….).

But would removal of station building enable the platform itself to run on the existing track alignment? It’s double tracked as it edges to Quays Avenue so surely space for a basic platform to be put up? Saves them a fortune in not realigning the existing roads as well then.

Car parking surely is a requirement for Portishead to reduce stress on adjacent residential streets. And brings in revenue. 
 

So it costs £5 return on the train plus let's say £3 to park in Portishead or Pill per day, or £5 on the bus which takes you to several very convenient stops for work and shopping or pleasure trips such as drinking and eating around the waterfront that the train won't get anywhere near, ooh! let me think what shall I do? and don't forget that the bus is free during the day for anyone over 65, to me this will be a mini white Elephant I mean there is not even going to be a place for us to get off to watch city, I'm sorry but I'm struggling to see where the customers are going to come from to justify the expence and I haven't even mentioned WFH. 

[Port Said Red]

7 minutes ago, pillred said:

So it costs £5 return on the train plus let's say £3 to park in Portishead or Pill per day, or £5 on the bus which takes you to several very convenient stops for work and shopping or pleasure trips such as drinking and eating around the waterfront that the train won't get anywhere near, ooh! let me think what shall I do? and don't forget that the bus is free during the day for anyone over 65, to me this will be a mini white Elephant I mean there is not even going to be a place for us to get off to watch city, I'm sorry but I'm struggling to see where the customers are going to come from to justify the expence and I haven't even mentioned WFH. 

OK I will start with, the station is walking distance for me and thousands of others in Portishead, I don't know where the station is in Pill, but it's a small place so it's hardly going to be miles away from everybody.

The same the other end, it's no easier to get to the waterfront by foot (or even e-scooter) from Temple Meads than it is to drive and park anywhere around there.

As far as I know the bus is free to Bristol residents during the day, it's not free to me as a North Somerset resident until I hit SPA. 

The only thing I agree with is the Ashton Gate stop, especially when the conference centre and housing is built the clamour for it will make it inevitable, probably too late for me personally, but that's life.

[Lanterne Rouge]

7 hours ago, Monkeh said:

They will at some point, as a viable alternate route if the Dawlish sea defense fails again

You think so? I`m more inclined to think they`ll go for an inland route bypassing Dawlish but you know a lot more about these things.

[Monkeh]

7 hours ago, pillred said:

So it costs £5 return on the train plus let's say £3 to park in Portishead or Pill per day, or £5 on the bus which takes you to several very convenient stops for work and shopping or pleasure trips such as drinking and eating around the waterfront that the train won't get anywhere near, ooh! let me think what shall I do? and don't forget that the bus is free during the day for anyone over 65, to me this will be a mini white Elephant I mean there is not even going to be a place for us to get off to watch city, I'm sorry but I'm struggling to see where the customers are going to come from to justify the expence and I haven't even mentioned WFH. 

The bus hasn't cost 5 quid for a return for 10 years and a return from nailsea to Bristol is 5.20

[pillred]

10 hours ago, Port Said Red said:

OK I will start with, the station is walking distance for me and thousands of others in Portishead, I don't know where the station is in Pill, but it's a small place so it's hardly going to be miles away from everybody.

The same the other end, it's no easier to get to the waterfront by foot (or even e-scooter) from Temple Meads than it is to drive and park anywhere around there.

As far as I know the bus is free to Bristol residents during the day, it's not free to me as a North Somerset resident until I hit SPA. 

The only thing I agree with is the Ashton Gate stop, especially when the conference centre and housing is built the clamour for it will make it inevitable, probably too late for me personally, but that's life.

95% of the people that would use it at your end will be from Portishead but Pill is different, we will have people driving from Portbury, Abbotts Liegh, and even Easton in Gordano into the village looking to park, if they charge people to park in the station car park they will either not bother using the train, or will look to park in all the small residential streets that surround the station, the train does not stop at a convenient place for leasure or shopping in Bristol so I see it being practically empty outside of normal commuting times, we will see what happens if it goes ahead as I have said personally I think it will turn out to be a white elephant just like HS2 but we will just have to wait and see. It could become a tourist attraction I suppose with the scenic views of the gorge and suspension bridge.

Edited July 30, 2022 by pillred
Spelling

[TonyTonyTony]

On 30/07/2022 at 11:11, TomF said:

 

Looking at the design, it doesn't really cut across much of the road, its more that the land for a car park is required. 

That the car park comes out on the main road into the village quarter thou.. as if that wasn't already a massive clusterf*ck most of the time. 

So the current Roundabout into the VQ disappears and moved down to the health centre. That’s major reconstruction. As you say this area is a mess with cars parking on the road outside the health centre. They have to get the design right or it will be a nightmare

Phoenix way school run time is a basket case and this will make it worse I reckon

[italian dave]

1 hour ago, TomF said:

You can blame blame the poor foresight of the road cutting across the original railway and Network Rail refusing a crossing.  But yeah that’s the final design for the station location. 

Just about to post the same Tom. That change of mind over the crossing was crazy: there’d have been plenty of room for the station and adjoining parking had the allowed the original crossing. 

Although I guess the crossing would have been a pain once an hour when it closed the road. Yesterday we made a great getaway from the ground after the game at Hull. Until about a mile from the ground where there was rail crossing. And guess what….on the day of a rail strike, just about the only train all day came just in time to hold us up, 

[Never to the dark side]

https://news.gwr.com/news/gwr-to-launch-new-pay-as-you-go-smartcard-for-wider-bristol-area

[East End Old Boy]

On 31/07/2022 at 21:49, TonyTonyTony said:

So the current Roundabout into the VQ disappears and moved down to the health centre. That’s major reconstruction. As you say this area is a mess with cars parking on the road outside the health centre. They have to get the design right or it will be a nightmare

Phoenix way school run time is a basket case and this will make it worse I reckon

You say the roundabout disappears, but the Quays Avenue/Phoenix Way roundabout looks the same to me, unless I’m missing something!

[GreedyHarry]

On 31/07/2022 at 22:02, TomF said:

You can blame blame the poor foresight of the road cutting across the original railway and Network Rail refusing a crossing.  But yeah that’s the final design for the station location. 

Policy which is backed by the ORR is no new crossings, so would need a road overbridge, and that would add hugely to the costs. I agree in the poor foresight of the developers and council though. 

[TonyTonyTony]

52 minutes ago, East End Old Boy said:

You say the roundabout disappears, but the Quays Avenue/Phoenix Way roundabout looks the same to me, unless I’m missing something!

Looks like it’s moved left (as you drive in) up to the health centre so quite a big change

[italian dave]

17 minutes ago, GreedyHarry said:

Policy which is backed by the ORR is no new crossings, so would need a road overbridge, and that would add hugely to the costs. I agree in the poor foresight of the developers and council though. 

The problem is that when it was being developed and planned the regulations around crossings was different, and it would have been permitted. It was only after the development completed and there had been endless delays over the railway that the regulations introduced an absolute ban on new crossings. 

[East End Old Boy]

1 hour ago, TonyTonyTony said:

Looks like it’s moved left (as you drive in) up to the health centre so quite a big change

Yep, I get it now, so the location of the car park will cover part of the existing roundabout.

[TonyTonyTony]

7 minutes ago, East End Old Boy said:

Yep, I get it now, so the location of the car park will cover part of the existing roundabout.

That’s what it looks like to me anyway.

[Port Said Red]

4 hours ago, East End Old Boy said:

You say the roundabout disappears, but the Quays Avenue/Phoenix Way roundabout looks the same to me, unless I’m missing something!

No that's where the car park is, the roundabout in that plan will be outside the Harbourside Doctors surgery Sorry I see others have answered.

The only issue I can see is that it will increase the amount of traffic around the estate with people living in Phoenix way at the station end having to drive down to Newfoundland Rd and come out by the Majestics building.

Edited August 15, 2022 by Port Said Red

[Never to the dark side]

Just to clarify,over Network rails dead body,

will there be another railway level crossing installed in the U.K.

[italian dave]

36 minutes ago, Never to the dark side said:

Just to clarify,over Network rails dead body,

will there be another railway level crossing installed in the U.K.

And yet, as a result, people will be forced to cross a busy road close to a roundabout in order to get from one of the car parks to the railway station.

Far greater risk of an accident than from a crossing, I suspect. 

[East End Old Boy]

9 hours ago, Port Said Red said:

No that's where the car park is, the roundabout in that plan will be outside the Harbourside Doctors surgery Sorry I see others have answered.

The only issue I can see is that it will increase the amount of traffic around the estate with people living in Phoenix way at the station end having to drive down to Newfoundland Rd and come out by the Majestics building.

Yep, agree roundabout moves, see exchanges above.

Although, why the need for people living on Phoenix Way to detour, as it’s still two way traffic and a three entry/exit roundabout?

[Monkeh]

3 hours ago, italian dave said:

And yet, as a result, people will be forced to cross a busy road close to a roundabout in order to get from one of the car parks to the railway station.

Far greater risk of an accident than from a crossing, I suspect. 

You can survive being hit by a car, you can't being hit by a train

[Port Said Red]

2 hours ago, East End Old Boy said:

Yep, agree roundabout moves, see exchanges above.

Although, why the need for people living on Phoenix Way to detour, as it’s still two way traffic and a three entry/exit roundabout?

Yes sorry you are right, that diarama makes it look like that is all carpark in the top right, but now I can see that they will just have a straight run through onto Harbour Rd.

Thank you.

[archie andrews]

1 hour ago, Monkeh said:

You can survive being hit by a car, you can't being hit by a train

Yeah... But how fast will the train be goin if its say pulling in or out of the station? 

[Monkeh]

24 minutes ago, archie andrews said:

Yeah... But how fast will the train be goin if its say pulling in or out of the station? 

A train could kill you going as slow as 3 mph