Construction work is under way on a new £4.2m train station being built in Bristol.
The station will link Portway Park and Ride in Shirehampton with the Severn Beach railway line. It is the first station to be built in Bristol since Parson Street in 1927 and is expected to open in the summer.
Bristol City Council and Network Rail are working together on the project, which forms part of a wider plan by the West of England Combined Authority (Weca) to enhance the local rail network through the MetroWest programme.
Network Rail completed the preparation work for the new station in December, ready for the first stage of construction. This will include replacing the safety fencing along the railway line; installing a ramp down to the tracks; and excavating the area of the platform before the foundations are laid.
Much of the work will be carried out overnight, according to the council, but the Severn Beach line will be closed temporarily from February 19 to 27 while Network Rail engineers make changes to the signalling and build the concrete foundations in preparation for the new platform. Improvements to drainage along the railway line will also be made.
During this time trains will not call at stations between Bristol Temple Meads and Filton Abbey Wood, or between Severn Beach and Stapleton Road. A rail replacement bus service will be in operation and the Portway Park and Ride facility will remain open throughout the work with park and ride buses operating as usual.
When it opens, the station will be served by half-hourly services between Bristol Temple Meads and Severn Beach.
Councillor Don Alexander, Bristol City Council’s cabinet member for transport, said the new station would help "ease congestion" on the roads and reduce air pollution.
“It’s really exciting to see work starting on the first new rail station within the city in almost a century, and this is a major milestone for the project," he said.
“Portway Park and Ride station will improve connectivity to the rail network for the local community and more widely for users of our Park and Ride site, allowing many more people to choose to travel by rail to work, study and for leisure."
Portway Park and Ride will be the first new railway station to be delivered as part of the MetroWest scheme and is being jointly funded by Bristol City Council, Weca, and the Department for Transport.
Bristol City Council is also planning improvements to its Park and Ride facility, including more parking spaces, following the opening of the new station, it said.
Mike Gallop, Network Rail western route and strategic operations director, said: “The start of construction for the Portway Park and Ride station heralds the latest development in our efforts to transform rail travel for our passengers in and around Bristol and the wider West of England area and will help further connect communities served by the Severn Beach line with this new, additional station.”
Dan Norris, West of England Metro Mayor, said improving public transport in Bristol was "crucial" to helping people get to work more easily - as well as meeting the region's net-zero targets.
Tom Pierpoint, business development director for GWR, added: “This new Portway Park and Ride station will help more people to switch to rail for their journeys into central Bristol, which is great for the environment and supports Bristol’s clean air campaign.”
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