Rail services in the West of England

Bristol Area Railway Map
Legend
Cross Country Route Thornbury Branch Line Yate South Wales Main Line New Passage Pier Westerleigh Junction New Passage Halt Cross Hands Halt South Wales Main Line Pilning Severn Beach Coalpit Heath Severn View Industrial Park Winterbourne Chittening Industrial Estate Bristol Parkway Patchway Smoke Lane Industrial Estate Ram Hill Colliery Chittening Platform Hallen Halt Avonmouth Docks Henbury St Andrews Road Charlton Halt Avonmouth (BPRP) North Filton Platform Filton Triangle Depot Avonmouth (Royal Edward) Westerleigh Goods Depot Avonmouth Docks Avonmouth Filton Junction Avonmouth Light Railway Filton Avonmouth Docks Filton Abbey Wood Shirehampton Horfield Sea Mills Ashley Hill Clifton Down Tunnel Mangotsfield (1845–1869) Clifton Down Mangotsfield (1869–1966) Redland Staple Hill Montpelier Fishponds Hotwells Halt Hotwells Narroways Hill Junction Stapleton Road sidings Grey line represents Stapleton Road boundary of Bristol Warmley unitary authority area Lawrence Hill Waste depot Oldland Common Bristol St Philip's Barton Hill Depot St Mary Redcliffe tunnel Bristol Temple Meads Bristol Temple Meads Bristol Harbour Railway St Philips Marsh T&RSMD Bedminster Parson Street Bristol Docks (North) Bristol Docks (South) South Liberty Lane Depot East Depot Bitton Ashton Gate St Anne's Park Clifton Bridge Brislington Nightingale Valley Halt Long Ashton Ham Green Halt Avon Riverside Pill Keynsham Portbury shipyard Whitchurch Halt Royal Portbury Dock Kelston Portbury Shipyard Saltford Portbury Mangotsfield Branch Line (1954–1964) Portishead Great Western Main Line Weston, Clevedon and Portishead Light Railway Bristol & North Somerset Rly (1879–1954) Portishead Bristol to Exeter Line Portishead Pier

Services in Greater Bristol

• Bristol - Manchester
• Plymouth - Edinburgh
• Bristol Parkway - Weston-super-Mare
• Cardiff - Portsmouth
• Gloucester - Westbury/South Coast
• Cardiff Central - Taunton
• Bristol Temple Meads - Severn Beach
• Bristol - London Waterloo
• Bristol - London Paddington (via Bath Spa)
• Swansea - London Paddington (via Bristol Parkway)

Main destinations

There is usually a direct service from Bristol to these destinations:

Stations in Bristol

Some of these stations are in South Gloucestershire and North Somerset.

Stations in the Bristol area:

Current stations

Station	Line(s)	Platforms	Usage 05/06 [1]	Usage 06/07 [2]	Usage 07/08 [3]	Usage 08/09 [4]	Usage 09/10 [5]	Usage 10/11 [6]	Usage 11/12 [7]	Usage 12/13 [8]	Usage 13/14 [9]	Usage 14/15 [10]	Image
Avonmouth	Severn Beach	2	43,365	47,834	44,468	61,948	68,448	83,674	88,642	97,880	111,440	119,924
Bedminster	Bristol to Exeter	3	40,917	43,379	43,145	58,690	69,898	70,006	76,420	80,262	83,242	87,542
Bristol Parkway	Cross Country South Wales	3	1,633,280	1,789,848	1,897,941	2,084,200	2,041,548	2,114,876	2,262,000	2,255,298	2,215,810	2,340,506
Bristol Temple Meads	Bristol to Exeter Cross Country Great Western Heart of Wessex Severn Beach Wessex	13	6,066,239	6,548,859	7,082,098	7,829,628	7,875,686	8,409,340	8,884,626	9,099,368	9,522,840	10,099,526
Clifton Down	Severn Beach	2	153,027	180,656	204,397	281,876	361,828	433,088	470,980	522,010	573,770	619,766
Filton Abbey Wood	Cross Country	3	401,325	410,630	457,611	536,958	598,032	679,270	771,344	852,250	988,734	1,007,780
Keynsham	Great Western Heart of Wessex Wessex	2					249,842	278,850	306,276	329,274	358,186	412,602
Lawrence Hill	Cross Country Severn Beach	2	55,865	68,371	55,730	67,338	74,876	93,600	102,964	124,878	136,316	150,774
Montpelier	Severn Beach Line	1	73,573	76,969	60,629	84,834	96,114		122,212	126,316	121,294	130,560
Parson Street	Bristol to Exeter	2	14,293	19,172	32,511	46,670	57,374	68,840	77,720	87,932	102,654	114,458
Patchway	South Wales Main Line	2	33,957	42,463	44,929	45,280	49,812	59,474	67,422	82,198	90,404	92,540
Pilning	South Wales Main Line	2	117	159	125	130	166	178	146	130	88	68
Redland	Severn Beach Line	1	55,529	66,852	61,394	86,234	86,426	92,966	96,904	94,984	93,176	105,610
Sea Mills	Severn Beach Line	1	36,411	40,786	33,222	36,358	41,680	49,082	51,998	58,310	58,106	64,512
Severn Beach	Severn Beach Line	1	37,088	38,202	54,034	74,712	88,504		141,712	167,078	195,824	225,658
Shirehampton	Severn Beach Line	1	31,539	38,493	30,893	34,292	35,758	42,566	43,480	50,564	51,542	52,480
St Andrews Road	Severn Beach Line	1	8,008	5,518	3,183	3,582	3,942	4,328	6,072	9,910	13,376	11,184
Stapleton Road	Cross Country Route Severn Beach Line	2	86,997	98,446	72,182	103,576	111,532		129,344	140,390	157,294	178,114
Yate	Cross Country Route	2							294,934	307,148	328,832	354,004

Former & Proposed stations

This is a list of former & proposed stations in the West of England area and their current status.

Station	Line	Platforms	Year Closed	Current Status	Image
Ashley Hill	Cross Country	2	1964	Proposed to reopen
Ashton Gate	Portishead	1	1964/1984	Proposed to reopen
Hallen	Henbury Loop	2	1918	Proposed to reopen
Long Ashton	Bristol to Exeter	2	1941	Proposed to reopen
Winterbourne	Cross Country South Wales	2	1963	Proposed to reopen
Henbury	Henbury loop line	1 or 2
Horfield	Cross Country Route	2
St Annes Park/Thornbury
North Filton	Henbury loop line	1 or 2
Pill	Portishead Branch	1
Portbury	Portishead Branch	1
Portishead	Portishead Branch	1
A4 Portway Park & Ride[11]	Severn Beach Line	1
Avonmouth (BPRP)	Severn Beach Line
Avonmouth Docks	Severn Beach Line
Avonmouth (Royal Edward)	Severn Beach Line
Brislington	Bristol and North Somerset Railway
Bristol St Philips	Bristol and Gloucester Railway	1	1967
Charlton Halt	Henbury Loop	2	1915
Chittening Platform	Henbury Loop		1964
Clifton Bridge	Portishead Railway	2	1965
Coalpit Heath	South Wales Main Line Cross Country Route
Cross Hands Halt	Severn Beach Line
Filton	Cross Country Route
Filton Junction	Cross Country Route
Fishponds	Bristol and Gloucester Railway	2	1966
Ham Green Halt	Portishead Railway	1	1964
Henbury	Henbury Loop	2	1965
Horfield	Cross Country Route	2	1964
Hotwells	Bristol Port Railway and Pier	2	1921
Hotwells Halt	Bristol Port Railway and Pier	1	1922
Kelston	Mangotsfield Branch Line	2	1949
Mangotsfield	Mangotsfield and Bath Branch Line Bristol and Gloucester Railway	6	1966
New Passage Halt	Severn Beach Line
New Passage Pier	Severn Beach Line
Nightingale Valley Halt	Portishead Railway	1	1932
North Filton Platform	Henbury Loop
Pill	Portishead Railway	2	1964
Portbury	Portishead Railway	1	1962
Portishead	Portishead Railway	2	1964
Saltford	Great Western Main Line	2	1970
St Anne's Park	Great Western Main Line	2	1970
St Philip's	Bristol and Gloucester Railway	1	1953
Staple Hill	Bristol and Gloucester Railway	2	1966
Warmley	Mangotsfield and Bath Branch Line	2	1966
Whitchurch Halt	Bristol and North Somerset Railway

Railway lines

There are six railway lines running through Bristol.

Bristol to Exeter Line

The Bristol to Exeter Line runs between Bristol and Exeter via the Nailsea, Weston-super-Mare, Bridgwater and Taunton. It is served by local First Great Western services, and used by Cross-Country and Intercity trains headed towards Plymouth.

Cross-Country Route

The North-East/South-West route (sometimes simply The Cross-Country Route) is the major British rail route running from South West England or Cardiff via Bristol, Birmingham, Derby and Sheffield to North-East England and Scotland. It includes some of the longest inter-city rail journeys in the UK, e.g. Penzance to Aberdeen) It remains a major freight route, although now largely usurped by the M5, M6 and M1 motorways.

The route shares parts of the Great Western Main Line, Midland Main Line, Sheffield to Hull Line, the East Coast Main Line and the core Cardiff-Bristol-Birmingham-Derby route,

Great Western Main Line

The Great Western Main Line is a main line railway in England that runs westwards from London Paddington station to Temple Meads station in Bristol.

Severn Beach Line

The route runs from Temple Meads to Severn Beach via Lawrence Hill, Stapleton Road, Montpelier, Redland, Clifton Down, Sea Mills, Shirehampton, Avonmouth, St Andrews Road before reaching terminus at Severn Beach. The journey takes approximately 45 minutes.

Following a successful campaign by FOSBR (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railway), the Severn Beach Line is going to have an increased frequency from December 2007 to March 2010.^[12] It is hoped this will pave the way for better services across the conurbation. An additional train will operate on the line meaning services should be at the least every 40 mins.

South Wales Main Line

The South Wales Main Line is a branch of the Great Western Main Line in the UK. It diverges from the main line at Wootton Bassett near Swindon, first calling at Bristol Parkway, after which the line continues through the Severn Tunnel into South Wales.

Wessex Main Line

The Wessex Main Line is the railway line from Bristol Temple Meads to Southampton. Diverging from this route is the Heart of Wessex Line from Westbury to Weymouth.

Light rail plans

In November 2016, the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership began a consultation process on their Transport Vision Summary Document, outlining potential light rail/tram routes from the city centre to Bristol Airport, the eastern and north west fringes of the city, and a route along the A4 road to Bath.^[13]

Train operators

Current train operators

Operator	Years	Image	Major services
CrossCountry	2007–2019		Bristol to Manchester Piccadilly Plymouth and the south west to Newcastle and Scotland
Great Western Railway (GWR)	1996–2006 2006–2019		London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads London Paddington to Cardiff Central and Swansea via Bristol Parkway Cardiff Central to Taunton Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour Bristol Parkway to Weston-super-Mare Bristol Temple Meads to Avonmouth and Severn Beach Gloucester to Weymouth
South West Trains	1996–2003 2003–2007 2007–2017		Bristol Temple Meads to London Waterloo via Salisbury

Former train operators

Operator	Years	Image	Services
Post-nationalisation
British Rail	1948–1986		All services
Post-sectorisation
InterCity	1986–1996		London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads London Paddington to Cardiff Central and Swansea via Bristol Parkway Plymouth and the south west to the north and Scotland
Regional Railways	1986–1996		All non-InterCity services
Post-privatisation
Great Western Trains	1996–1998		London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads London Paddington to Cardiff Central and Swansea via Bristol Parkway
Virgin CrossCountry	1997–2007		Bristol to Manchester Piccadilly Plymouth and the south west to Newcastle and Scotland
Wales & Borders	2001–2003
Wales & West	1997–2001
Wessex Trains	2001–2006		All local and non-express inter-city services.

There have also been a number of other companies pre-nationalisation, including:

• Great Western Railway
• Midland Railway
• Bristol and Gloucester Railway
• Birmingham and Bristol Railway
• Bristol Port Railway and Pier
• Bristol and North Somerset Railway
• Portishead Railway

MetroWest

MetroWest is a current initiative in the West of England area to improve local rail services by reopening disused rail lines and stations and improving existing services. Phase One includes reopening the Portishead railway line to passenger traffic and improving services to the Severn Beach Line and Bath Spa. Phase Two will see the Henbury railway line reopen, along with half-hourly services between Weston-super-Mare and Yate. The phases are due to open in 2019^[14] and 2021^[15] respectively.

The West of England Local Enterprise Partnership also produced a Key Principles Report in November 2015 discussing future potential transport projects for the West of England region, including new rail transit based options referred to as MetroWest++. The options outlined include reopening the Thornbury Branch Line, a Yate to Bath route, the use of tram train technology, a link to the city centre and a connection to Bristol Airport.^[16]

See also

• Public transport in Bristol
• Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways

References

External links

• Media related to Rail transport in Bristol at Wikimedia Commons