A new train station is due to open this summer on the Portway after suffering months of delays. The station will take passengers every half hour from the Park and Ride close to Junction 18 of the M5 motorway, along the Severn Beach railway line to Bristol Temple Meads.
Construction work began in January last year and was due to finish in September, but was then pushed back to “early this year”. And now the opening date has been delayed again, according to Bristol City Council, although the new train station is “substantially complete”.
City Hall chiefs hope the station will encourage commuters out of their cars and onto public transport, as part of an ongoing push to cut congestion, air pollution and carbon emissions. The council’s cabinet is expected to note the progress on the project on Tuesday, March 7.
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A cabinet report said: “The Portway Park and Ride rail station is now substantially complete and due to open by summer 2023. It will be the first new rail station to open in Bristol since Parson Street in 1927, and the first new rail station to open in the West of England since Filton Abbey Wood in 1996.
“The station is now substantially complete with the testing, commissioning and safety validation processes currently underway. The station will widen access to the rail network and encourage modal shift from private car trips.”
The Park and Ride car park is also being expanded, with works due to finish at the end of March. City transport planners are also exploring how to improve the journey along the Portway for buses, bicycles and pedestrians, although few details are currently available.
The station has been paid for with funding from the council, the Department for Transport and the West of England Combined Authority. The cost to the council has risen a further £1.4 million due to the delays, but City Hall chiefs will ask the combined authority to cover this.
Portway train station will have one platform serving both directions, long enough to fit up to five coaches. As well as Temple Meads, trains running along the Severn Beach line stop at Shirehampton, Sea Mills, Clifton Down, Redland, Montpelier, Stapleton Road and Lawrence Hill. In the other direction, trains also run to Avonmouth, St Andrews Road and Severn Beach.
