Portway on the way

Saturday 22nd July 2023

It’s another new rail station – one of seven opening this year (we’ve had Inverness Airport, Reading Green Park and Marsh Barton and have got Thanet Parkway later this month with Headbolt Lane on Merseyside and Brent Cross West in the Autumn … and not forgetting East Linton and White Rose early in 2024).

This one is Portway Park & Ride.

I enjoyed a sneak preview of the station on Thursday courtesy of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) which organised a pre-opening visit kindly hosted by Network Rail and the West of England Combined Authority. No passenger trains were running due to the RMT strike but we saw (and smelt) the weekly freight train carrying some of London’s waste passing through on its journey from Northolt to Avonmouth and the nearby terminal at St Andrews while we were on site (see above).

As you can see, it’s a single platform affair located between Avonmouth and Shirehampton on the single track section of the Severn Beach to Bristol Temple Meads line…

… built to serve, as its name implies, the adjacent Park & Ride site to help keep motorists out of Bristol.

When Google’s satellite last took an image the station wasn’t ready but you get an idea of its location relative to the newly extended Park & Ride site shown bottom centre below.

The Park & Ride site is conveniently very close to Junction 18 on the M5 and which almost flies over it.

Construction of the £5.866 million station, or should I write platform, as that’s really all it is, began in February 2022 with Network Rail having carried out preparatory work the previous December including safety fencing along the line, a ramp down to the track and excavating the platform area for the foundations.

As usual, funding for the station has come from a variety of sources spearheaded by Bristol City Council (BCC), which is the promoter of the scheme, with the West of England Combined Authority’s Local Growth Fund, Transforming Cities Fund and Sustainable Transport Fund all chipping in various amounts at various times including having to recently find an extra £1.4 million when costs escalated by over a quarter from the original expected £4.2 million for the project due to additional work required by Network Rail for track works, signalling, certification costs, and redesign, including changes to construction methodology.

The platform length was increased from 105 metres to 126 metres and an additional waiting shelter added at the southern end of the platform to “future proof the station for longer trains which is an aspiration for the Severn Beach line” according to a BCC briefing report explaining the overspend.

Another £200,000 was incurred by BCC from extra project management costs to support the additional scope and prolonged programme – the station, as usual, is opening later than a planned date in late 2022, although plans at one time had an opening envisaged in 2020.

The Government’s Getting Building Fund has provided £1 million with £1.67 million from the DfT’s New Stations Fund.

Another shock late funding requirement for the West of England Authority was after GWR and the DfT notified BCC they intended to claim three years of “revenue costs” required to support services operating from the station and the operation of the station itself. A report to BCC’s Cabinet dated 7th Mach 2023 states “while this is their right contractually, it had been indicated previously that these costs would not be charged to the project but this position has changed and BCC now needs to secure funding for these costs. Exact costs are not yet known and will be offset by income from passengers but it is expected that the total costs over three years will be £0.1-0.2m.”

It gives a measure of the state of rail industry post pandemic finances that at such a late stage in this project something as fundamental as who is going to pay for the operating costs for the new station was being queried. Such costs must be minimal as no staff are on site but I guess the rubbish bin bags have to be changed …

… and there’s lighting and cleaning/maintenance costs as well as extra diesel costs and wear and tear incurred by the train slowing down, stopping and accelerating away from the station. It certainly confirms the DfT truly is analysing the absolute minutia of the cost of running the railway.

Despite there being 22 stations on the National Rail network designated as Parkways (see if you can name them all before the end of the blog) this station has uniquely taken the name Portway Park & Ride. That’s because the Park & Ride site has been well established for many years and is known as such, rather than being a brand new site which those 22 ‘Parkways’ have all been.

And you might think, as I initially did, that the Park & Ride operation being well established (since 2001) with a 12 minute (peak) and 15 minute (off-peak) frequency bespoke bus service on route 9 into Bristol City Centre (with Stagecoach recently gaining the contract from First Bus)…

… and taking 22 minutes (to the city centre – Horsefair) does rather call into question why a 30 minute frequency rail service taking 29 minutes (to Bristol Temple Meads) is needed too.

However, as was pointed out during Thursday’s visit the train serves the Clifton area of Bristol (which the bus doesn’t) as well as the Temple Meads ‘quadrant’, although since April the bus now continues beyond the city centre over to another Park & Ride site at Brislington in south east Bristol and coincidentally passes by Bristol Temple Meads on its way there.

The fare on Stagecoach route 9 from Portway to the city centre is £2 single/£3.50 return with a 7-day ticket £13 on the app and £14 on the bus. On the train the single is also £2 with a return at £3 and a seven day ticket £9. So, the train offers a 50p a day saving on return tickets or £4 with a weekly. Rail fares on the Severn Beach line are outside the normal National Rail arrangements for annual increases due to its ‘community status’ and we were told fares haven’t increased for over a decade.

Coincidental to the new rail station and the significant expansion of the Park & Ride car park with improved access and facilities, work to improve the corridor which buses on route 9 use to “metrobus standards” is also in hand with enhanced bus stops and increased priority measures.

There are already extensive bus lanes along the rather scenic route on the A4 by the River Avon into the city centre.

Council officers hope the new station will also “widen access to the rail network to some citizens who may feel excluded, for example by not feeling comfortable using local rail stations at quieter times” according to a report to BCC’s Cabinet in December 2019.

Since it’s original conception the new station has also become part of wider aspirations for a metro style rail service in the Greater Bristol area dubbed MetroWest which include plans to run passenger trains on the freight line to Portishead as well as more new stations at North Filton and Henbury on another freight line and a new station at nearby Ashley Down on the four track section of ‘main line’.

The business cases for these new stations are significantly helped by substantial new housing planned in the area. There are longer term aspirations to use the freight line between Avonmouth and Henbury to create a loop pattern of operation.

North Filton, which ‘semi-closed’ in 1964, has recently gained planning permission for its reinstated platform and detailed design work has now commenced for the new station with a planning application for Henbury about to be submitted with an aspiration to open both in 2026.

Meanwhile construction work the other new station as part of MetroWest at Ashley Down has now started and it’s hoped this will open next summer. I admire the optimism of these dates in view of previous experiences of just how long it takes to get even a one platform station constructed and open these days. It was fascinating to be reminded that a plan for a station at Portway Park & Ride surfaced as long ago as 2007 when initial funding was granted for development work.

Facilities at Portway Park & Ride station itself can best be described as “limited”. There are two ramped entrances at either end of the platform. The north entrance could be considered the ‘front door’ with the totem pole and double arrow sign …

… and a ticket machine by the shelter…

… which on Thursday afternoon, due to the bright sunshine was a challenge to read.

The southern end, the ‘back door’, also has a similar shelter …

… with the usual perch and mini-depth seats…

… but is part of the future proofing for five car trains. Initially the three car trains won’t reach that end of the platform but instead stop around two thirds of the way along …

… but it may become a popular way of accessing the platform for motorists who find they can park more easily in the newly extended southern end of the car park although I see rail officials have bagged the best space for themselves.

Residents living nearby are also likely to use this access as a new step entrance has been constructed into the car park from the A4 at the southern end.

16 bike rack loops under cover are sited towards the southern access point.

Tactile paved ramps lead from the car park to the platform.

The platform itself has one row of four standard seats …

… one electronic departure sign and help point …

… a smart card reader at either end…

… and you can also see all the posts wear high-viz bands and base protrusions to make them more visible for those with visual impairments. And finally, there’s a sprinkling of posters….

… including, a very welcome to see, bespoke timetable showing departures from the station.

And that’s it for £5.8 million.

I thought it was a pity some funds couldn’t have been spent on an upgrade to the Portakabin by the bus departure stand as it doesn’t currently convey a very attractive image.

It seemed to be used by Stagecoach drivers in between journeys and on meal breaks, but at least there’s a welcome (gender neutral) toilet for passengers.

It’s also a shame three months on from gaining the contract, Stagecoach hasn’t repainted the Gold branded buses its running on the service including some shipped in from Oxford displaying details for route S6 and others for route 94. I thought Stagecoach had an expensively designed special livery for Park & Ride services as part of its corporate refresh a few years ago but doesn’t seem to have seen the light of day.

The bus departure point and northern entrance to the platform are just a few hundred yards apart …

… so passengers will be able to make a modal choice when departing. Maybe a sign placed strategically in the car park by the directional sign (see below) showing upcoming departures for both buses and trains as well as city centre arrival times would be helpful?

Andrew, from West of England Combined Authority and Mark from Network Rail who kindly hosted our visit on Thursday were tight lipped about the actual opening date for the station, mainly because, as Andrew explained, it hasn’t yet been decided. There’s a big meeting on Monday with all the partners to hopefully sign off the contractual paperwork for operating the station and the date will be decided when that’s done.

It could be as imminent as the end of this month, or it could be a few weeks away yet, not least because we’re into the holiday season and Mayors, bigwigs and others do like their ribbon cutting ceremonies – which aren’t possible if everyone is roasting themselves on some oven hot temperature beach in the Mediterranean. On the other hand maybe Severn Beach is their favoured destination from where they could pop along on the train and declare the station open.

However, before that, some unwelcome visitors who’ve recently been using the unused part of the extended car park ….

…. as a temporary base to live, and who’ve now moved on, have left a rather unsightly amount of rubbish behind which will need clearing up before any ribbon is cut.

Barriers have now been installed to prevent vehicles other than cars to enter the site and thankfully the platform was locked behind padlocked gates…

… so is still in pristine condition and remains ready for welcoming its first passengers. Whenever that might be.

To conclude, those 22 Parkway stations are: Ayelsbury Vale, Bodmin, Bristol, Buckshaw, Coleshill, Didcot, East Midlands, Ebbw Vale, Haddenham & Thame, Horwich, Liverpool South, Luton Airport, Oxford, Port Talbot, Southampton Airport, Stratford-upon-Avon, Sutton, Tame Bridge, Tiverton, Warwick, Whittlesford, Worcestershire with the 23rd, Thanet, opening on 31st July. I’m sure someone in the rail enthusiast community has made a feature of travelling to all 22 in the shortest possible time – or perhaps more leisurely over a week or two – now that sounds more like an idea.

Roger French

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