Planning to travel by train at Easter?

Network Rail have warned us that they will be carrying out their largest ever resignalling project this Easter, from Friday 30 March to Tuesday 3 April, in and around Bristol Temple Meads. The aim is to improve reliability and increase capacity to meet growing demand. No trains will run to, through or from Bristol Temple Meads during this time.

While this is bad news for those planning to travel over Easter, they promise that in the long run it will mean fewer delays and faster journey times, and enable an increase in trains from 2019. Passengers will benefit from almost twice as many trains between Bristol and London Paddington from 2019.

You can find out more on the Network Rail website.

Bristol Parkway Upgrade - station AND M4 MOTORWAY weekend closures in November

Update from Network Rail 10/11/2017: "Due to the progress made with our electrification work on the M4 Blue Bridge last weekend, the motorway will not be closed at Junction 19 this weekend (11/12 November) as previously planned.

We will keep you informed of progress with our upgrade works around the Bristol Parkway area which continue this weekend (11/12) and next (18/19) with no trains calling at the station. Please check before you travel at gwr.com/bristol2017 or crosscountrytrains.co.uk"

Network Rail say: "Our work to increase capacity at Bristol Parkway will continue over the first three weekends of November during planned closures of the station"

"The project includes the extension of the three existing platforms and the construction of a fourth to serve GWR’s new fleet of Intercity Express Trains. We’re also improving the track layout to allow more trains to use the station. The new platform is due to come into use in December 2017"

Bristol Parkway Station will be closed as follows:

• Sat 4 - Sun 5 Nov
• Sat 11 - Sun 12 Nov
• Sat 18 - Sun 19 Nov

M4 Motorway closures

Network Rail continue: "To carry out installation of electrification equipment on the blue railway bridge over the M4 motorway we need to shut the road. To limit disruption we are doing this overnight"

The motorway is scheduled to be closed as follows:

• Fri 3 Nov 11 pm - Sat 4 Nov 7 am
• Sat 5 Nov 9 pm - Sun 5 Nov 8 am
• Sun 5 Nov 10 pm - Mon 6 Nov 5 am  
• Fri 10 Nov 11 pm - Sat 11 Nov 7 am
• Sat 11 Nov 9 pm - Sun 12 Nov 8 am
• Sun 12 Nov 10 pm - Mon 13 Nov 5am  

Foundation Piling progress

"We made great progress with the electrification of the railway between Swindon and Patchway during the line closure in August/September. However, we still have a number of foundations to install, along with the electrified overhead line equipment"

"Piling between Patchway and Bristol Parkway stations is taking place every Saturday night until February 2018. Our hours of work will be between 21:00 – 07:00. We will also be making the most of an opportunity to install a number of foundations during the daytime in this area on the 11 and 12 November"

"We also have a number of foundations left to install in the Acton Turville, Chipping Sodbury and Old Sodbury areas"




Filton Abbey Wood Station

"Work is continuing to prepare Filton Abbey Wood for more trains as part of our project to double the number of tracks on the Filton Bank between Bristol Parkway and Bristol Temple Meads.  We will be adding a fourth platform to the station, with ramped access to the existing footbridge"

"To support the embankment, we are currently building a retaining wall between the site of the new platform and the residential area that backs on to the railway. We’ll then return at a later date to extend the three existing platforms and lay the new track"

"Pedestrians approaching the platforms from the car park side are being diverted via Nutfield Grove while the existing footpath is closed until the end of 2017"
 

Save Our Buses petition launched

The Liberal Democrat Focus Team has launched a petition to get South Glos to work with First Bus to save our bus services from the major cuts planned for early September.

• If you live in Chipping Sodbury or northwards, you'll lose your direct link to Southmead Hospital and Parkway station.
• If you use the Yate buses to get to Parkway, you'll only have half as many buses.
• If you use the Yate buses to get to Southmead, although the hourly direct service will stay, you'll lose many of the quicker options that involve changing buses on the way - so the service is effectively halved.
• If you travel to UWE's Frenchay Campus, you'll lose ALL your direct buses except at "school start and finish times".

Please join our campaign and sign our petition here.

You can see the full details of the changes on the South Glos Council website here - please comment on this post if there's another service change that affects you.

Major cuts for buses to Southmead, Parkway, UWE

First Bus has announced major cuts to bus services from Yate and Chipping Sodbury to Southmead Hospital, Parkway Station and the University of the West of England Frenchay Campus, starting 4th September.

You can see the full details of the changes on the South Glos Council website here - you need to look at the sections about services 81, 82 and 16 in particular.

The changes will cause major difficulties for local people. The frequency of the buses from Yate to Southmead Hospital and Parkway Station will be halved, and Chipping Sodbury, Wotton under Edge and the villages in between will lose their direct link to Southmead Hospital and Parkway Station altogether.

In addition almost all the direct buses from Yate to the University of the West of England will be cut, leaving just one "school time" direct service per day in each direction, and that will only run only on school days. Otherwise passengers from Yate will need to change buses at Downend, and passengers from Chipping Sodbury will need to change twice.

These bus cuts are going to cause local people a lot of problems. Halving the buses from Yate to Southmead and Parkway will deter people from using public transport. It will make the parking and traffic situation worse at both destinations. Life will become even more difficult for people who have regular treatment at Southmead, and it will waste a lot of time for people whose trains do not coincide with the bus schedule. This change will also restrict employment opportunities.

Things will be even worse for people who live in Chipping Sodbury, Wotton Under Edge and the villages in between. They will have to change buses in Yate as well, taking longer and pushing up travel costs. People in our area fought long and hard to get decent buses to Southmead when Frenchay Hospital closed, and now many of these services are being taken away.

The savage cuts to the bus services from Yate to UWE will be a major deterrent for students going to their local university. People seem to have assumed that UWE students work school hours and days, which just isn't so. Many students have to juggle lectures with jobs, just to be able to survive. What is more, these changes will affect areas that include Priority Neighbourhoods, where far fewer young people carry on in education after 18.

UWE does not allow students to bring cars to the Frenchay Campus for environmental reasons. The least we can do is make sure that students have decent bus services instead. UWE's Frenchay bus station is also a major interchange used by many people who are not students or staff, often travelling to work.

Bus services in our area are already not as good as much of Bristol, and these changes will make things even worse.

Let's hope that South Glos is willing do something to alleviate the impacts of these changes.