BRISTOL | Transport

[geoffbradford]

A lot of people seemed to want a Bristol transport thread - apologies for any mistakes or omissions, I'll try to correct any howlers you point out.

Development: Great Western mainline electrification
Value: £5 bn including rolling stock, signalling and station upgrades
Developer: Network Rail
Completion: 2017

Designed to improve reliability, capacity, frequency and journey times. This huge project will involve new Hitachi trains being serviced in a new depot at Stoke Gifford, the possibilty of the Digby Wyatt shed at Bristol TM being re-opened for trains to Paddington via Parkway and a possible fourth platform at Parkway. A new eastern entrance to link with the enterprise zone and an extended subway under the forecourt, are also mooted for Temple Meads.

The government is to fund the restoration of four tracks at Filton Bank, to ensure room for improved local services and potential traffic from the proposed deep water terminal at Avonmouth.








Development: Greater Bristol Metro
Value: ?
Developer: Local authorities and franchise holder
Completion: 2015 onwards

A scheme designed to maximise the use of the existing rail infrastructure, then expand it as the latent demand requires. Largely dependent on the government funding four tracks at Filton Bank or there is unlikely to be enough capacity to reach the target of at least one train every 30 minutes. An early aim will be to re-open the Portishead line followed by new/re-opened stations as passenger numbers build. This could be followed by the re-introduction of passenger traffic to the Henbury loop.




Development: Bus Rapid Transit
Value: £195m
Developer: Former Avon authorities
Completion: 2015-2016

In the absence of money for tram schemes, the local authorities have obtained funding from the goverment for a bus rapid transit scheme. This will involve a limited amount of guided busway, some new bus lanes and bus priority measures which will involve some road building and widening. The vehicles to be used have yet to be chosen, but will not be diesel powered and may be bendy buses because of their capacity and embarkation times. A smart card system (similar to London's Oyster card) will be introduced and all stops will have real time information and CCTV.

The scheme has three sections.




Ashton Vale to the centre (£49.6m) - which is joined by the South Bristol Link (£50.4m) to the North Fringe-Hengrove route (£95m).




The North Fringe to Hengrove will involve a bus only junction on the M32 (a future park and ride is planned at Stapleton allotments), a new bridge over the New Cut and some re-modelling of the city centre.








Development: Bristol Airport expansion
Value: ?
Devleloper: Bristol Airport
Completion: 2012 onwards

The airport has a phased devlopment plan to allow it to cope with up to 10 million passengers a year.

From the airport's website;



1
Expansion of the Passenger Terminal
The existing terminal will be extended to the east and west, doubling the size of the building and delivering increased capacity at security and immigration, and improving passenger comfort levels

2
Aircraft Parking
Additional space will be required to accommodate aircraft, so the existing apron (the area on which aircraft are parked) will be extended to the east and west.

3
Walkways
Two walkways (or piers) will serve the extended aprons, enabling passengers to walk between aircraft and the terminal building and reducing the use of buses to board and disembark flights.

4
Additional Car Parking
Alongside challenging targets for increased public transport use, some new car parking facilities will be required. Development will be concentrated on the north side of the airport.

5
Public Transport Interchange
Using the top level of the multi-storey car park, a new public transport interchange will provide convenient pick and drop off facilities for buses and coaches.

6
Fuel Storage
A new underground storage facility for aviation fuel will be located in the north west corner of the long stay car park.

7
Office Building
Located to the east of the existing control tower, office space will be used by airport and airline staff.


Development: Deep Sea Container Terminal
Value: £500m
Developer: Bristol Port Company
Completion: Awaiting improved economic conditions. Build time should be three years from commencement.


A new terminal designed to take the largest of the next generation of container ships. It will be constructed on a brown field site alongside the Royal Edward Dock and will have new railway sidings and a dual carriageway to the M5 junction.

[RupertSB]

Looks good - Would the Port expansion also come under this thread?

[bertyboy]

Originally Posted by RupertSB

Looks good - Would the Port expansion also come under this thread?

I should think so, yes. The DSCT will also be offloading 1/4 of its imports onto rail too (which is why using the Hallen loop for passenger services could prove to be difficult.

[geoffbradford]

Originally Posted by RupertSB

Looks good - Would the Port expansion also come under this thread?

Good point -knew I'd forget something! Added as requested.

[Pompey77]

Some really exciting projects here (rail, airport and port) and the not so exciting (BRT, south bris link)

The electrification, Temple Meads improvement/rebuild, Filton Bank and metro really ought to be considered by the local authorities & government as a comprehensive vision and not a disparate group of separate projects and aspirations.

[Delirium]

It'll be interesting to see what response, if any, The Port Of Bristol will have with regards to the revived Severn barrage plan led by Peter Hain.

[Delirium]

Update regarding as to what's been built so far:

The £8 million, 450 metre long, two storey walkway was completed and opened in mid 2010. The walkway connects the terminal building to eight new pre-boarding zones and enables passengers to walk to and from aircraft instead of being driven by bus, as was previously the case.









http://mitsubishi.ourpressoffice.com...%20Walkway.jpg

[Pompey77]

Originally Posted by Delirium

It'll be interesting to see what response, if any, The Port Of Bristol will have with regards to the revived Severn barrage plan led by Peter Hain.

Is there a thread for this anywhere?

[Delirium]

Probably, although I doubt the barrage will come to fruition. Not in the next 10 years at least, hopefully never.

[BIGcider APPLE]

There was a thread once but think it might have been closed/locked a while back.
I wouldn't say it is dead in the water though - only last month Peter Hain stepped down with getting the severn barrage up and running high on his wish list:
http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/Pe...ail/story.html

On another transport front, been driving through those beautiful m4/m5 roadworks twice every day so thought at least by documenting the progress I might be able to give something back to those who are not able to experience such pleasure.
The pictures do not look much, but things are moving along nicely. I saw the first steel supports in place last night for the new signage/camera gantries(if that is what they are called?) atop the concrete plinth, and most of the groundworks/landscaping/reinforcement for the extended hard shoulder looks to be complete.
I only drive the m4 section so do not know if progress is mirrored on the m5.

[Pompey77]

See all that traffic on the M4 two or three times a week as I speed past on the train.

So they're making this bit of the M4/M5 like the M42 nr Birmingham Airport? Using the hard shoulder in rush hour.

[Delirium]

Schmeek, is that you?
------------------


Regarding other port news, this news tidbit is fairly interesting:

Cruises to leave from Avonmouth.



AVONMOUTH is set to become Britain's latest holiday cruise port.

Once Bristol's busiest docks, but now overshadowed by its near neighbour Royal Portbury, it is about to undergo a revival as a departure point for thousands of sea-going holidaymakers.


Cruise and Maritime Voyages revealed today that it would be launching a full programme of cruises direct from Avonmouth next year.

The UK company operates two "classic and traditional" style cruise ships, Ocean Countess and Marco Polo. Ocean Countess will be sailing from Avonmouth. The 17,500-tonne vessel is a former Cunard ship and offers 'traditional, smaller-ship cruises'.

Sue Turner, spokeswoman for the Bristol Port Company, said they were delighted the cruise ships would be operating from Avonmouth.

She said: "If you go back in history, you will see that Brunel had a vision of opening up travel for people by taking them by rail to Bristol and then across the Atlantic and other parts of the world by ship.

"What we have now is a 21st century version of that vision.


Departures start in February with a 28-night voyage to the West Indies, followed by a 15-night cruise up to the Norwegian Arctic region in search of the Northern Lights.

At Easter there is the opportunity to cruise to Spain and Portugal on an eight-night cruise, while during April there is a choice of five cruises including a special Springtime Gardens cruise to Dublin, Guernsey, the Isles of Scilly and Falmouth; a Celtic theme cruise with visits to Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man, and another to the spectacular Norwegian fjords.

The final one of this debut season will be a ten-night cruise called Treasures of the British Isles.

Announcing the launch of cruises direct from Avonmouth, the firm's commercial director Chris Coates said: "Our first eight departures of Ocean Countess in 2013 will be from Bristol Avonmouth.

"We have already established a following of regular passengers from the South West of England so we have every confidence that our decision to add the port to our portfolio will be welcomed. Our research, based on customer satisfaction questionnaires, shows that 95 per cent of our passengers rated the enjoyment of their CMV cruise experience as excellent or good.

"Our feedback also shows that a convenient departure port is a key factor, hence our plans for Bristol."

Mrs Turner added: "Cruise holidays are now very popular and instead of the hassle of flying out to Mediterranean ports to get on a ship or travelling to Southampton, people will be able to use the M4 or M5 which makes the whole thing a very easy proposition.

"We can also offer high security parking which means people know they can leave their vehicles in complete safety.

"All in all, it makes cruise holidays very easy and we are delighted these voyages are being offered from our port."

Prices start from £399 for the five-night night Springtime Gardens cruise.

http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/Cruis...ail/story.html

Thoughts?

[BIGcider APPLE]

Originally Posted by Delirium

Schmeek, is that you?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HAUz...e_gdata_player

[Pompey77]

The campaign for the Bristol Metro are claiming success with £100m allocated in the city deal for the Metro; http://greaterbristolrail.com

Detail is very thin on the ground at the moment but the Post is saying a transport authority will be set up with control over all transport funding; http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/pound...ail/story.html

[Pompey77]

According to BBC's Robin Markwell on Twitter the money for a metro is conditional on agreement between local authorities about a regional transport body; https://twitter.com/robinmarkwell/st...27051274412032

Should provide the carrot to reach a speedy settlement.

[tpm]

Ah, the whole financing situation makes much more sense then, all the articles I've seen so far were very confused about it. Let's hope this is actually enough for them to get their act together.

[bertyboy]

Good news that the government are knocking heads together over transport. They should have done this 15 years ago and we wouldn't have had the "tram terminus" debacle that lead to us losing light rail in Bristol.

In other transport news, I noted this morning that the first two new gantries have gone up across the M4 at the Almondsbury Interchange.

[Delirium]

Originally Posted by Pompey77

According to BBC's Robin Markwell on Twitter the money for a metro is conditional on agreement between local authorities about a regional transport body; https://twitter.com/robinmarkwell/st...27051274412032

Should provide the carrot to reach a speedy settlement.

Hopefully Elfan Ap Rees has changed his tune since last time:

http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/Great...ail/story.html

[Pompey77]

There is surely no defensible position against a regional authority if the price of disagreement is over £100m investment. Wouldn't put it past these people though.

[dronkula]

Originally Posted by Delirium

Hopefully Elfan Ap Rees has changed his tune since last time:

http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/Great...ail/story.html

They might need to 'bribe' him with some early improvements around Weston to get his agreement. Maybe have the Weston to Yate phase of the Metro done before the Bristol to Bath improvements.