Author: Tim Weekes
Brabazon development
YTL, developers of the new Arena in North Filton, have big plans for the Brabazon development. A new train station will play a critical role.
FoSBR AGM 2022
Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways (FoSBR) will be holding our Annual General Meeting on Friday, 28th January 2022. Because of the continuing uncertainties around Covid-19, we have again decided to hold this as a Zoom meeting. The meeting will start at 7.30pm and end at approximately 9.30pm. Members may renew their subscriptions online: £10 for…
A ‘living’ station for Yate?
The Yate Town Improvement Masterplan was published in December 2021. This plan sets out how the town’s train station could be transformed into a ‘living’ station. Yate, together with Chipping Sodbury, is home to 35,000 people. It is situated 19km from the centre of Bristol and 18km from Bath. The station is on the western…
Portishead railway: Yet another delay!
The Secretary of State for Transport has announced a delay of up to six months in the decision on the Portishead railway Development Consent Order. This is ‘to allow further consideration of environmental matters’. The Department for Transport has subsequently asked North Somerset District Council to provide specific details concerning the carbon budget for the…
Stroudwater, Corsham and Tavistock stations
Campaigns to reopen three stations in the South West have received funding under Round 3 of the Restoring Your Railway Ideas Fund process. Stroudwater station, as well as Corsham station and the Tavistock line, will get money to support the development of their business cases. These in turn may be submitted to the Department for…
GWR Stakeholder Conference 2021
GWR held their annual stakeholder conference in Cardiff on 18th October 2021. This was a hybrid meeting, with some people attending in person and many others attending online. GWR underestimated the number of people who were happy to travel to Cardiff for the conference, and many (myself included!) had to revert to video-conferencing. This was…
Net zero by 2030: Can local rail help?
We need to act rapidly if we are to avoid the worst effects of the climate emergency. There can be no doubt that unless we change the way we do things, and change quickly, the consequences for life on Earth will be dire. The current UK government target is to achieve ‘net zero’ by 2050.…
St Annes Park station: Survey Results
FoSBR conducted a survey to find out how people would use a new train station at St Annes. Here are the results!
Four tracks from Bristol Parkway to Yate?
Network Rail say four tracks are needed between Bristol Parkway and Westerleigh Junction, Yate, to allow for planned service improvements.
Bristol Rail Regeneration – Summer 2021
Most FoSBR members will know that the Bristol Rail Regeneration project gets into full swing this summer. During the eight week period from Saturday 10 July to Friday 3 September, Network Rail will replace Bristol East Junction with a new more flexible layout. This will pave the way for MetroWest suburban services, and make it…