There are three train operating companies in Bristol: CrossCountry, First Great Western and South West Trains.
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Stations in the Bristol area:
Station | Line(s) | Platforms (in Use) | Usage 05/06 | Usage 06/07 | Usage 07/08 | Usage 08/09 | Usage 09/10 | Operated by | Image |
Avonmouth | Severn Beach Line | 2 | 43,365 | 47,834 | 44,468 | 61,948 | 68,448 | First Great Western | |
Bedminster | Bristol to Exeter Line | 3 | 40,917 | 43,379 | 43,145 | 58,690 | 69,898 | First Great Western | |
Bristol Parkway | Cross Country Route South Wales Main Line |
3 | 1,633,280 | 1,789,848 | 1,897,941 | 2,084,200 | 2,041,548 | First Great Western | |
Bristol Temple Meads | Bristol to Exeter Line Cross Country Route Great Western Main Line Severn Beach Line Wessex Main Line Heart of Wessex Line |
13 | 6,066,239 | 6,548,859 | 7,082,098 | 7,829,628 | 7,875,686 | First Great Western | |
Clifton Down | Severn Beach Line | 2 | 153,027 | 180,656 | 204,397 | 281,876 | 361,828 | First Great Western | |
Filton Abbey Wood | Cross Country Route | 3 | 401,325 | 410,630 | 457,611 | 536,958 | 598,032 | First Great Western | |
Lawrence Hill | Cross Country Route Severn Beach Line |
2 | 55,865 | 68,371 | 55,730 | 67,338 | 74,876 | First Great Western | |
Montpelier | Severn Beach Line | 1 | 73,573 | 76,969 | 60,629 | 84,834 | 96,114 | First Great Western | |
Parson Street | Bristol to Exeter Line | 2 | 14,293 | 19,172 | 32,511 | 46,670 | 57,374 | First Great Western | |
Patchway | South Wales Main Line | 2 | 33,957 | 42,463 | 44,929 | 45,280 | 49,812 | First Great Western | |
Redland | Severn Beach Line | 1 | 55,529 | 66,852 | 61,394 | 86,234 | 86,426 | First Great Western | |
Sea Mills | Severn Beach Line | 1 | 36,411 | 40,786 | 33,222 | 36,358 | 41,680 | First Great Western | |
Shirehampton | Severn Beach Line | 1 | 31,539 | 38,493 | 30,893 | 34,292 | 35,758 | First Great Western | |
St Andrews Road | Severn Beach Line | 1 | 8,008 | 5,518 | 3,183 | 3,582 | 3,942 | First Great Western | |
Stapleton Road | Cross Country Route Severn Beach Line |
2 | 86,997 | 98,446 | 72,182 | 103,576 | 111,532 | First Great Western |
Stations that are planned or wanted in the Bristol area.
Station | Line | Platforms |
Ashley Hill | Cross Country Route | 2 |
Ashton Gate | Portishead Branch | 1 |
Hallen | Henbury loop line | 1 or 2 |
Henbury | Henbury loop line | 1 or 2 |
Horfield | Cross Country Route | 2 |
North Filton | Henbury loop line | 1 or 2 |
Pill | Portishead Branch | 1 |
Portbury | Portishead Branch | 1 |
Portishead | Portishead Branch | 1 |
A4 Portway Park & Ride | Severn Beach Line | 1 |
Disused stations within the Bristol area.
Station | Line | Platforms | Image |
Ashley Hill | Cross Country Route | 2 | |
Ashton Gate | Portishead Railway | 1 | |
Avonmouth (BPRP) | Severn Beach Line | ||
Avonmouth Docks | Severn Beach Line | ||
Avonmouth (Royal Edward) | Severn Beach Line | ||
Brislington | Bristol and North Somerset Railway | ||
Bristol St Philips | Bristol and Gloucester Railway | ||
Charlton Halt | Henbury Loop | ||
Chittening Platform | Henbury Loop | ||
Clifton Bridge | Portishead Railway | 2 | |
Coalpit Heath | South Wales Main Line/Cross Country Route | ||
Cross Hands Halt | Severn Beach Line | ||
Filton | Cross Country Route | ||
Filton Junction | Cross Country Route | ||
Fishponds | Bristol and Gloucester Railway | ||
Hallen Halt | Henbury Loop | 1 or 2 | |
Ham Green Halt | Portishead Railway | 1 | |
Henbury | Henbury Loop | 1 or 2 | |
Horfield | Cross Country Route | 2 | |
Hotwells | Bristol Port Railway and Pier | ||
Hotwells Halt | Bristol Port Railway and Pier | ||
Kelston | Mangotsfield Branch Line | ||
Long Ashton | Bristol to Exeter Line | ||
Mangotsfield | Mangotsfield and Bath Branch Line/Bristol and Gloucester Railway | ||
New Passage Halt | Severn Beach Line | ||
New Passage Pier | Severn Beach Line | ||
Nightingale Valley Halt | Portishead Railway | 1 | |
North Filton Platform | Henbury Loop | 1 or 2 | |
Pill | Portishead Railway | 1 | |
Portbury | Portishead Railway | 1 | |
Portishead | Portishead Railway | 1 | |
Saltford | Great Western Main Line | ||
St Anne's Park | Great Western Main Line | 2 | |
Staple Hill | Bristol and Gloucester Railway | ||
Warmley | Mangotsfield and Bath Branch Line | ||
Whitchurch Halt | Bristol and North Somerset Railway | ||
Winterbourne | South Wales Main Line/Cross Country Route |
There are six railway lines running through Bristol.
The Bristol to Exeter Line runs between Bristol and Exeter via the Nailsea, Weston-super-Mare, Bridgwater and Taunton. It is served by local First Great Western services, and used by Cross-Country and Intercity trains headed towards Plymouth.
The North-East/South-West route (sometimes simply The Cross-Country Route) is the major British rail route running from South West England or Cardiff via Bristol, Birmingham, Derby and Sheffield to North-East England and Scotland. It includes some of the longest inter-city rail journeys in the UK, eg Penzance to Aberdeen) It was also a major freight route, although now largely usurped by the M5, M6 and M1 motorways.
The route shares parts of the Great Western Main Line, Midland Main Line, Sheffield to Hull Line, the East Coast Main Line and the core Cardiff-Bristol-Birmingham-Derby route,
The Great Western Main Line is a main line railway in England that runs westwards from London Paddington station to Temple Meads station in Bristol.
The route runs from Temple Meads to Severn Beach via Lawrence Hill, Stapleton Road, Montpelier, Redland, Clifton Down, Sea Mills, Shirehampton, Avonmouth, St Andrews Road before reaching terminus at Severn Beach. The journey takes approximately 45 minutes.
Following a successful campaign by FOSBR (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railway), the Severn Beach Line is going to have an increased frequency from December 2007 to March 2010 [1].It is hoped this will pave the way for better services across the conurbation. An additional train will operate on the line meaning services should be at the least every 40 mins.
The South Wales Main Line is a branch of the Great Western Main Line in the UK. It diverges from the main line at Wootton Bassett near Swindon, first calling at Bristol Parkway, after which the line continues through the Severn Tunnel into South Wales.
The Wessex Main Line is the railway line from Bristol Temple Meads to Southampton. Diverging from this route is the Heart of Wessex Line from Westbury to Weymouth.
There is usually a direct service from Bristol to these destinations:
Destination | Time from TM | Operator |
Bath Spa | 11 - 17 mins | First Great Western |
Birmingham New Street | 86 mins | CrossCountry |
Cardiff Central | 47 - 68 mins | First Great Western |
Gloucester | 41 - 55 mins | CrossCountry / First Great Western |
Leeds | 201 - 227 mins | CrossCountry |
London Paddington | 96 - 122 mins | First Great Western |
London Waterloo | 171 - 178 mins | South West Trains |
Manchester Piccadilly | 178 - 180 mins | CrossCountry |
Newcastle | 301 - 317 mins | CrossCountry |
Newport | 30-41 mins | First Great Western |
Plymouth | 120 mins | CrossCountry / First Great Western |
Portsmouth Harbour | 151 mins | First Great Western |
Reading | 69-74 mins | First Great Western |
Severn Beach | 35-44 mins | First Great Western |
Southampton Central | 101 mins | First Great Western |
Swindon | 39 mins | First Great Western |
Taunton | 30-75 mins | CrossCountry / First Great Western |
Operator | Years | Image | Major services |
CrossCountry | 2007-2016 |
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First Great Western | 1996-2006 2006-2013 |
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South West Trains | 1996-2003 2003-2007 2007-2017 |
Operator | Years | Image | Services |
Post-nationalisation | |||
British Rail | 1948-1986 | All services | |
Post-sectorisation | |||
InterCity | 1986-1996 |
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Regional Railways | 1986-1996 | All non-InterCity services | |
Post-privatisation | |||
Great Western Trains | 1996-1998 | ||
Virgin CrossCountry | 1997-2007 |
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Wales and Borders | 2001-2003 | ||
Wales and West | 1997-2001 | ||
Wessex Trains | 2001-2006 | All local and non-express inter-city services. |
There have also been a number of other companies pre-nationalisation, including:
The Greater Bristol Metro scheme is a proposal to improve the rail services in Bristol, England, and the surrounding region first proposed at First Great Western's Stakeholder Event in March 2008. The aim of the project is to develop half hourly services through central Bristol which will also serve the surrounding West of England region.[2] Transport campaigning group, Transport for Greater Bristol are actively supporting the proposal, [3] as are the four unitary authorities.[4] Earlier plans for a metro system were promoted by then MEP Richard Cottrell in 1986 and acts of Parliament were secured. This would have used existing track with new build through the city centre. However the scheme folded when Advanced Transport for Avon was wound up with debts of £3.8 million.[5]
Rail usage in the West of England doubled in the 10 years, 1999 to 2009, with existing services suffering from lack of capacity on trains leading to overcrowding and in some cases having to leave passengers behind on stations. The Greater Bristol Metro aims to ease this congestion and to attract people who currently use cars onto the railway. Additional aims of the scheme are to support housing and employment along the rail corridors between Weston-super-Mare to Yate, and Cardiff to Bath.[2] The scheme is estimated to cost £22 million at 2008/09 prices and could be completed between 2016 and 2021.[4] An opinion piece in the Bristol Evening Post in June 2011 called for the establishment of an Integrated Transport Authority for the West of England and for progress on the metro proposal.[6] During the Rail Priority Conference organised by the West of England Partnership in November 2011, delegates travelled on the Portishead line, the Severn Beach line and the Henbury Loop, using sections of track not currently used for passenger traffic.[7][8]
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