After a 25-year campaign, residents of Portishead in North Somerset are celebrating the news that their rail connection to Bristol will be reinstated. The project, estimated to begin in the summer, aims to bring passenger trains back to the town as early as 2027. The original GWR station, established in 1867, was closed in 1954, leaving a gap in the town's transport infrastructure. Campaigners highlight the growing population and traffic congestion as key reasons for reviving the line.
For campaigners and residents of the North Somerset town of Portishead, it was a battle that began 25 years ago. Now they have finally been given the news that more than 60 years after their rail connection to Bristol was axed, it will be returned.
to bring the line back into use for passenger trains will begin in the summer, West of England Combined Authority Mayor Dan Norris has said.Gareth Jones from the Portishead Railway Group committee said he was "absolutely staggered" when he heard the news this week that trains could return as early as 2027.The original GWR station at Portishead opened in 1867 and was replaced with a new station 400m away in 1954 The Bristol & Portishead Pier and Railway Company opened in April 1867, about three years after Brunel's Clifton Suspension Bridge was constructed.The line helped link Bristol and Portbury to Portishead docks and supported the local power station and coal station during the 1900s.Crucially though, unlike many others, the Portishead line was never built on or turned into a cycle route - leaving the possibility of it one day returning to passenger use.There is, campaigners argue, a clear need to revive the line.But after lobbying MPs and local council for more than two decades, many never thought they'd never see the day when trains returned to their town.Dave Chillistone, from the Portishead Railway committee, said: "We've never had wording like this before. The key was the extra money on the table. "It's what the town and other communities along the line have required really since the railway was closed."Dave Harvey, BBC West Business and Environment CorrespondentThe route is still there, people told me. Portishead is a growing town, they said, it needs a railway. Year after year, the North Somerset coastal town grew. A fancy marina was developed, and a festival popped up.There is only one road in and out of Portishead, and at rush hour it is plagued by tailbacks. Politicians promised to re-open the rail line time and time again and - in 2024 - campaigners thought they'd got there. A combination of national government, the West of England Authority, and North Somerset Council put together a £150m funding package. It was still just £30-£50m short, but they were told that gap would be bridged by a national infrastructure fund. Then in July, the new government said that fund was 'unfunded', and dumped the lot. The dream of rail travel into Bristol seemed to have been snatched away again.Is this the end of the line for this saga? Portishead residents will certainly hope so.Covid inquiry wants to ensure 'public are heard'Three plead not guilty to assisting an offender
RAILWAY PORTSHEAD BRISTOL INFRASTRUCTURE TRANSPORT
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