Portway Park & Ride railway station

Portway Park & Ride is a railway station on the Severn Beach line in the Avonmouth district of Bristol, England. The station is about 5 miles (8.0 km) north-west of Bristol city centre and close to the M5 motorway. It serves the Portway park and ride facility on the A4 Portway, and opened on 1 August 2023 as part of the MetroWest package of improvements to railways in the area.

Portway Park and Ride
National Rail
General information
LocationAvonmouth, Bristol
England
Coordinates51°29′19″N 2°41′17″W
Operated byGreat Western Railway
Platforms1
Other information
Station codePRI
History
Opened1 August 2023 (2023-08-01)

History
The park and ride site in 2008, with a Severn Beach train in the background

The railway through the site was inaugurated on 6 March 1865, when services began on the Bristol Port Railway and Pier (BPRP), a self-contained railway which ran along the north bank of the River Avon to a deep-water pier on the Severn Estuary at Avonmouth. The route was 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge single-track.[1]: 23–24  The BPRP encountered difficulties in 1871, when the terminal pier at Avonmouth became difficult to use due to a build-up of silt.

With no prospect of a proper dock being funded without a connection to the national railway network, the Clifton Extension Railway (CER) was approved. This was a joint venture by the BPRP, Great Western Railway and Midland Railway which ran from Sneyd Park Junction, south of Sea Mills, via Clifton Down, to join the national network at Narroways Hill Junction.[1]: 12  The link opened in 1877.[2]: 41  Despite the increased traffic the BPRP suffered financially, and was taken over by the CER in 1890.[1]: 10–11  When the railways were nationalised in 1948, the line came under the aegis of the Western Region of British Railways and, upon privatisation, transferred to Railtrack and later Network Rail.[2]: 42 

A park and ride was opened near junction 18 of the M5 motorway, adjacent to the railway, in 2002.[3]

Station proposal and construction

In 2009, it was proposed that a railway station should be built.[4] The plan was supported by Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways and the Bristol branch of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers.[5][6] The plan was approved in October 2012.[7]

In 2017, £2.23 million was allocated for construction, of which £1.67M came from the government's New Stations Fund, with additional funding coming from the West of England Combined Authority and West of England Local Enterprise Partnership.[8][9] Ground surveys began in 2017, with completion originally planned for 2019; however, planning permission was not granted until March 2019.[9][10] In December 2019, it was reported that the cost estimate had risen to between £3.4M and £3.6M.[11] The station remained part of MetroWest's plan for 2020–2025 and spending of £1.5m was moved to the 2021–2022 year.[12]

Preparation began in December 2021 with vegetation clearance and the setting up of a site compound. The main works commenced in February 2022.[13][14] The station has a single platform, suitable for five-car trains. There are seven disabled parking spaces by the access point, and there is parking for 40 bicycles.[10]

The station was initially expected to be open in the summer of 2022.[15] However, this was later delayed and then again further in November 2022 due to some problems with electrical supplies and cabling.[16]

In June 2023, the Office of Rail and Road gave its authorisation for the station to open,[17] with Great Western Railway confirming the station would open on 1 August 2023. The transport secretary, Mark Harper, and the Mayor of the West of England, Dan Norris, were present at the opening ceremony on 31 July, but Mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees did not attend as planned and the city council was represented by cabinet member for transport, Councillor Don Alexander.[18] It is the first new railway station in the city for 96 years, after Parson Street which opened in 1927.[19][20] Around 830 parking spaces supplement the station.[21]

Services

The normal off-peak service is as follows:

On Sundays, there is 1 train per hour to Severn Beach and 1 train per hour to Weston-Super-Mare for most of the day.

Preceding station National Rail National Rail Following station
Shirehampton   Great Western Railway
Severn Beach Line		   Avonmouth

References
  1. Maggs, Colin (1975). The Bristol Port Railway and Pier. The Oakwood Press. pp. 3–7, 10–12, 15–18, 23–24, 47–51.
  2. Maggs, Colin G (2008) [First published 1981]. Rail Centres: Bristol (#21) (3rd ed.). Nottingham: Booklaw Publications. pp. 15–17, 40–42, 107–108. ISBN 978-1-901945-30-0.
  3. Staff (15 April 2002). "£2m park-and-ride opens". BBC News. London: BBC. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  4. Bristol Evening Post (13 January 2009). "Railway station could be built at Portway park and ride". Evening Post. Northcliffe Media. Archived from the original on 9 January 2010. Retrieved 14 April 2012.
  5. "Council leader's claim is a distortion of the facts". This is Bristol. Northcliffe Media. 29 July 2011. Archived from the original on 9 December 2012. Retrieved 14 April 2012.
  6. "Soapbox: Severn Beach Line". This is Bristol. Northcliffe Media. 30 December 2008. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013. Retrieved 14 April 2012.
  7. "Station plan for park-and-ride". Bristol Post. 5 October 2012. Archived from the original on 12 August 2014. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  8. "Funding Boost for West of England Transport Projects". West of England Combined Authority. 28 June 2017. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  9. Yong, Michael (15 August 2017). "Portway Park and Ride train station set to open in 2019 as work starts". Bristol Post. Local World. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
  10. Wilson, Kate (15 April 2019). "Portway Park and Ride train station on track after planning permission granted". Bristol Post. Local World. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  11. "Portway station". Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways. Retrieved 14 July 2021.
  12. "Joint meeting - West of England Combined Authority Committee and West of England Joint Committee" (PDF). West of England Combined Authority. 4 December 2020. pp. 24, 73. Retrieved 14 July 2021.
  13. Network Rail (December 2021). "Bristol railway update work" (PDF). Friends of Suburban Bristol Railway. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  14. White, Chloe (5 February 2022). "Construction of Bristol's new railway station has begun". RailAdvent. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  15. "Work starts on new railway station for Bristol". Network Rail. 1 February 2022.
  16. "Bristol Portway railway station due to open this summer". BBC News. 28 February 2023. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
  17. "THE RAILWAYS (INTEROPERABILITY) REGULATIONS 2011, AS AMENDED PORTWAY PARK AND RIDE STATION" (PDF). Office of Rail and Road. 2 June 2023. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  18. Watts, Charlie (31 July 2023). "Bristol's New Railway Station Officially Opens". Bristol 24/7. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  19. "Bristol's new train station at Portway Park and Ride confirms opening date". Bristol Post. Local World. 26 July 2023.
  20. "Portway Park and Ride train station opens in Bristol". BBC News. 1 August 2023. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  21. Marshall, Geoff (1 August 2023). Britain's NEWEST Station - Portway Park & Ride is OPEN! (Videotape). Event occurs at 2:22.
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