TRAFFIC IS BRISTOL'S WORST PROBLEM
 We all suffer delay, pollution, noise, accidents and road rage. We all pay for expensive attempts to prevent all this. Yet Bristol fails to exploit an asset that would reduce traffic. Branch railways, forgotten, neglected, disused, main line stations obscure and dismantled, still make up a ready-to-use system other cities would envy. which might eventually be converted to light rail.
The Severn Beach branch, its survival a rare public victory over Beeching, demonstrates what can be achieved. Even though stations are unstaffed, the line is single-track, there is no Sunday Service and the timetable is poorly coordinated, passenger numbers have risen by 78% over ten years.
 This increase did not happen by accident. Bristol City Council, with all-party agreement, subsidises the line to maintain an hourly weekday service. Helped and incited by FOSBR, the council promotes the line.
Stations have been signed.
A summer timetable shows local facilities and connections.
Libraries and other outlets along the route display timetables.
A large screen at Clifton Down Shopping Centre displays information for passengers.
Recreational use has been encouraged.
Trains offer commuters, shoppers and students quicker, safer, cheaper journeys. Cycles, buggies and wheel chairs travel free on this line. The line links neatly with the Bristol to Bath cycle path at Lawrence Hill allowing riders to avoid central Bristol and use the easily graded cyclepath to east Bristol and beyond.
In the long term, converting the branch to light rail might improve cheaply.
Other railways in and around Bristol have the same potential. From Parson Street to Keynsham or Pilning, main line stations could serve significant communities if trains stopped.
New housing and commercial development around Cribbs Causeway cause gridlock and make the restoration of passenger services on the goods line between Avonmouth to Parkway very attractive.
 The former Portishead branch line has been expensively re-laid as far as Portbury for freight trains only. As the Portishead Rail Action Group argues, big new housing developments at Portishead and acute congestion on the roads into Bristol make an unanswerable case for restoring passenger services all the way to Portishead.
Change is in the air. Campaigning by groups like FOSBR has made the authorities admit that local railways can help relieve Bristol's roads.
It is in your interest to join our campaign.
|
homepage
