Network Rail is holding a drop-in information event in Stoke Gifford on Thursday 16th August to answer any questions residents may have about the electrification of the line between London Paddington and Bristol Parkway.

The event will take place between 4.30pm and 7.30pm at the St Michael’s Centre, North Road BS34 8PD.

Network Rail representatives will be on hand to explain the plans and answer any questions.

The railway through Bristol Parkway will be closed between Saturday 15th September and Saturday 6th October inclusive, and again on the weekend of 13th/14th October.

A Network Rail spokesperson said:

“The upgrade includes the installation of the overhead line equipment (OLE) used to hold the wires for electrification, and we will be putting up masts and wires over those three weeks in the Bristol Parkway area, from Winterbourne viaduct, through Bristol Parkway Station, up to Little Stoke, and then along the Filton East Curve.”

During these three weeks, trains will still be running, but they will be using diversionary routes. Rail replacement bus and coach services will be in place for some journeys.

More: Teams will be working overnight during the railway closure »

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Many residents of Stoke Gifford have been left feeling tired and angry after “deafening” work which took place on the railway line at Bristol Parkway train station on Saturday 21st July kept them awake during the night.

Residents were frustrated that no prior warning was given that the work was going to take place and due to the warm weather, many people had their windows open during the night and were unhappy to be awoken by the loud bangs coming from Parkway Station.

One resident living in Stoke Gifford complained:

“How are people meant to sleep through this at 3am when it’s 18 degrees at night with no choice but to have the window open? My house is actually shaking.”

Another commented:

 “The problem is they don’t appear to want to inform any of us that it’s going to happen. Very poor comms and PR. They should be letting us know the dates when this is likely to take place, we have a newborn baby and may have considered sleeping at a friend’s or family member’s house last night to avoid the disruption.”

Reader videos of the work taking place and many more comments can be viewed in a post on our Facebook page here.

More: Work set to continue until end of October »

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Secretary of state for transport Chris Grayling was in Stoke Gifford on 13th April to officially open a new (fourth) platform at Bristol Parkway station.

The installation of the new platform is part of Network Rail’s Railway Upgrade Plan in the west of England, representing a multi-million pound investment and including its biggest ever signalling upgrade which took place earlier this month in the Bristol area. The brand new platform 1 will allow for an increase in capacity on the network, enabling new services to be introduced and reducing delays.

Bristol Parkway is an important station in the west, servicing passengers from Wales and south west England as well as Birmingham, the Midlands and beyond. Train operating companies GWR and CrossCountry will benefit from the increased capacity on the network, and improvements to the track layout will be advantageous for freight companies such as Freightliner.

Unveiling a plaque to mark the official opening, transport secretary Chris Grayling said:

“We are investing in the biggest modernisation of the railways since the Victorian era, delivering better, more frequent and faster journeys for passengers.”

“This vital upgrade at Bristol Parkway is a fantastic example of how we are enhancing rail travel up and down the country, benefiting millions of passengers. These improvements will boost reliability, increase the number of trains serving Bristol and along the route, and also allow new intercity trains to stop at the station too.”

More: GWR will be releasing a new timetable in early 2019 »

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The construction of a replacement railway bridge on Gipsy Patch Lane, which was due to be take place during a 100-hour rail possession over Easter 2019, has been delayed by a year, the Journal can reveal.

The new bridge forms a major element in South Gloucestershire Council’s (SGC’s) proposed Cribbs Patchway MetroBus Extension (CPME). Once complete and services start operating in 2021, the CPME will extend part of the North Fringe to Hengrove MetroBus route which is currently being built. Passengers using the extension will be able to benefit from a direct link between Bristol Parkway Station and The Mall bus station, via the redeveloped Filton Airfield site.

The new, wider bridge will benefit road users and local businesses by relieving the pinch point in traffic flow at this location. Proposals for the new bridge are wide enough to include a shared use path on both sides of the road, a lane of general traffic in each direction and a bus lane in each direction underneath the bridge to encourage people to use more sustainable transport options.

An SGC spokesperson told the Journal:

“The [revised] construction programme shows that work to build the new bridge is planned mainly in 2020, which is later than previously stated. This is because we are going through Network Rail’s due process of ensuring that cost estimates that will inform future stages of work on the bridge are as robust as possible. This means that more ground investigation surveys for the bridge have been carried out at an early stage so that we can budget for the bridge’s forthcoming detailed design and construction with as much certainty as possible. This has pushed the bridge replacement part of the CPME scheme back, but the overall timescale for completing the extension remains on track and MetroBus services would start operating on the route after construction finishes in 2021.”

More: Planning applications for the CPME scheme to be submitted soon »

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