Bristol Parkway railway station

Bristol Parkway railway station is situated in Stoke Gifford in the northern suburbs of Bristol, England. It is part of the British railway system owned by Network Rail, and is managed by First Great Western.

In the Strategic Rail Authority’s 2008/09 financial year report, Bristol Parkway was the 200th most-used station in the UK.

History

Bristol Parkway was built in the 1970s to give Bristol a station on the railway from London to South Wales, which passes just north of the city. There were several reasons for positioning a new station at Stoke Gifford: trains to London were quicker than on the longer route from Temple Meads, via Bath and Chippenham before reaching Swindon; a larger car park than at Temple Meads could be provided; the population on the northern fringes of the city was growing, especially with the building of a new town at Bradley Stoke; and it was within easy access of the M4 and M5 motorways. The name "Parkway" has since been applied to other out-of-town stations of a park and ride nature despite its presumed original reference to the Bristol Parkway, the nearby M32 motorway running through parkland.

The station opened on 1 May 1972^[1] with temporary buildings. When a permanent station was built, it was architecturally unimpressive: a single low building on the north side of the tracks at the far west end, with footbridge access over the "goods loop" tracks to the two long platforms. The east-west layout of the platforms and the fact the station is at the top of a low rise from prevailing winds from the west, together with the original 2 platforms being shuttered in from the goods loops meant that passengers were left standing in a 'wind tunnel'. The original waiting rooms were located some way from the footbridge and were very small.

On 1 July 2001, a new building and footbridge opened, still on the north side but near the middle of the platforms, with lifts for disabled access to the platforms and a larger refreshment and waiting area on an upper level. The redevelopment cost Network Rail over £4 million. In January 2007 construction started on the third platform, opened as platform 4 in May 2007

On 6 August 2007, platform 1 was renumbered platform 3 to allow for a new platform to be constructed as an island with platform 2. This included a new heated waiting room, a help desk and electronic travel information screens on platforms 3 and 4. In December 2007, First Great Western changed the services operated at Bristol Parkway, introducing a new service to Westbury and Weston-Super-Mare in place of the service to Taunton, but a few services a day still operate to Taunton.

Future

The car park is set to be increased to around 1,500 spaces, and a fourth platform will be built. When the fourth platform opens it will help ease to congestion for trains heading south and to South Wales; it has been confirmed that it will be numbered platform 1.

The station has been identified as a possible northern terminus for a light rail system in the Bristol area.

The South Wales Main Line and the line connecting Bristol Parkway to Bristol Temple Meads are to be electrified by 2018.

Services

First Great Western operate four services: an hourly Bristol Parkway to Weston-super-Mare service; a half-hourly London Paddington to Cardiff Central service with hourly extensions to/from Swansea; an hourly Gloucester to Westbury service, with one every two hours extended to Great Malvern and Weymouth; and an hourly commuter service to Bristol Temple Meads. There is also a twice-daily service to Brighton.

CrossCountry operate two services. One is an hourly Bristol Temple Meads to Manchester Picadilly service, with extensions to/from South West England. The second is an hourly Plymouth to Edinburgh service with extensions to/from Glasgow Central or Aberdeen in the north and Penzance in the south.^[2]

Station layout

The station building includes a waiting area with a ticket office, toilets and a cafe. There is a seated waiting area on the upper level with its own cafe, a small shop and 4 ticket barriers. It also features Wi-Fi internet access for a fee.

The station has three platforms, either side of the railway track. Platforms 3 and 4 are on the same side as the station building, platform 2 on the far side, reached via an enclosed bridge across the line. There is no platform 1.

Platform 2 - Trains heading south and west, including to Bristol Temple Meads, South Wales, Devon, Dorset and Cornwall.

Platform 3 - Trains heading north and east, including to London Paddington, The Midlands, North of England and Scotland

Platform 4 - Trains to Weston-Super-Mare and Taunton. If there is maintenance work in the Severn Tunnel, there is an hourly service to Portsmouth Harbour.

All platforms have a heated indoor waiting area and vending machines.

Transport links

Bristol Parkway is served by bus routes linking it with the rest of Bristol and South Gloucestershire. It is near the Avon Ring Road (A4174), linking to Bristol and the M32. Bus routes include:

• • 18/19 (Emersons Green - Southmead Hospital)
• • 73 (Centre - Cribbs Causeway)
• • 312 (UWE - Thornbury)
• • 318 (Keynsham - Cribbs Causeway)
• • 319 (Bath - Cribbs Causeway)
• • 501 (MoD Abbey Wood - Avonmouth)
• • 502 (UWE - Shirehampton)
• • 581 (Chipping Sodbury - Hanham)
• • 625 (UWE - Severn Beach)
• • U7 (UWE - Cribbs Causeway)

These routes are operated by First Bristol, First Avon and Somerset, Wessex Connect and Severnside Transport.

References

See also

• List of all UK railway stations
• Rail services in Bristol