Release Date: 07-Apr-2008
Fifty-four more trains per week on Severn Beach Line
Bristol City Council is investing £395k pa on providing more train services on the Severn Beach Line under a three year contract with First Great Western, starting on 18 May 2008. The funding will provide an extra two-coach train set and traincrews, and will establish a roughly 40 minute train frequency on the route. This will mean three trains every two hours in both directions between Bristol Temple Meads and Avonmouth (Monday to Saturday). In the mornings and evenings most services continue to Severn Beach, and between the morning and evening peaks one train every two hours goes beyond Avonmouth (replacingingthe current bus link. Also, for the first time, there will be an hourly service between Bristol Temple Meads and Avonmouth on Sundays.
In all, Bristol City Council will fund fifty four more round trips a week for the Severn Beach Line including eight on a Sunday.
- Monday to Friday - an additional eight round trips per day, making 23 round trips in total - ( a greater than 50% increase on last May)
- Saturday - an additional six round trips, making 22 in total
- Sunday - a completely new service of eight round trips
... and better stations too …
Stations in Greater Bristol including all those on the popular Severn Beach Railway will benefit from over £400,000 of new funding including £196,500 Access for All funding from the Department of Transport which was achieved through two bids from the West of England Partnership and Bristol City Council.
The project is also funded by Bristol City Council, First Great Western and South Gloucestershire Council. Work will commence in April 2008. The work will be finished by March 2009.
The awards mean that stations along the route, and Patchway in South Gloucestershire, will benefit from improved signage, lighting, seating, access routes, shelters and customer information.
The Severn Beach Line has enjoyed a surge in popularity over the last 10 years and now carries over half a million passengers a year.
Councillor Mark Bradshaw, Executive Member for Access and Environment, said: “We are pleased that the service improvements and station upgrades will now become a reality. The financial support from Bristol City Council and its partners has been key to this and demonstrates the strength of our joint working arrangements. The improvements have been long awaited and will help to offer the prospect of a more reliable service.
“We now intend to look at additional measures such as Clifton turnback, to improve reliability, if technical and funding issues can be resolved. And we will want to see how, working with partners, we can better promote the services and encourage more people to make use of them.
“We view local rail services as a key part of our overall shared aim to encourage less use of the car. We are committed to working with our partners to achieve improved local and strategic rail services. The West of England Partnership has met with the Rail Minister Tom Harris MP. We have a clear success story in the Severn Beach package. We now want to take this further and work towards improvements to the region's rail network.”
BCC bid
Total scheme cost £220,500
BCC and FGW combined £110,500
DfT £110,500
WEP bid
Total scheme cost £180,000
BCC c.£74,000
S.Glos Council c.£20,000
DfT £86,000
Stations along the route are:Avonmouth; Clifton Down; Lawrence Hill; Montpelier; Redland; St Andrews; Sea Mills; Severn Beach; Shirehampton; Stapleton Road.
Patchway Station in South Gloucestershire will also benefit from improvements as part of the scheme.
Author: Kate Hartas 0117 922 2649
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