Half hourly train services to all West of England railway stations
Half hourly train services to all West of England railway stations
Why this petition matters
FOSBR and our allies call on the DfT, WECA, GWR and other decision makers to ensure that, with four tracks now in place on Filton Bank, progress is made towards a half-hourly service to all West of England local stations, starting with the Severn Beach Line (MetroWest Phase 1a), from the May 2020 timetable, at the latest by December 2020.
Background:
The provision of two further tracks between Bristol Temple Meads and Filton Abbey Wood in December 2018 has increased capacity. This allows the half hourly service on the Severn Beach Line as far as Avonmouth (MetroWest Phase 1a) that was originally planned for 2019 (but has slipped), and for all local trains to call at Lawrence Hill and Stapleton Road stations, which services have often skipped.
It also enables improvements to services at other local stations (such as Bedminster, Parson Street and Keynsham) on services that run across the city. This would allow people to travel to work more easily, particularly to Severnside and central Bristol, as well as for leisure purposes.
The West of England covers the local authorities of Bath and North East Somerset, City of Bristol, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset. The MetroWest rail program consists of a half-hourly service to Avonmouth and hourly to Severn Beach (Phase 1a), the reopening of the Portishead line (Phase 1b) and half-hourly local services between Weston-super-Mare and Yate, Bristol and Bath (Phase 2).