Bristol Parkway railway station
General information | |
---|---|
Location | Stoke Gifford, South Gloucestershire England |
Coordinates | 51°30′49″N 2°32′34″W / 51.51360°N 2.54270°W |
Grid reference | ST624795 |
Managed by | Great Western Railway |
Platforms | 4 |
Other information | |
Station code | BPW |
Classification | DfT category B |
History | |
Original company | Western Region of British Railways |
Key dates | |
1 May 1972 | Station opened |
1 July 2001 | Refurbishment completed |
9 May 2007 | Third platform opened |
13 April 2018 | Fourth platform opened |
Passengers | |
2018/19 | 2.209 million |
Interchange | 0.704 million |
2019/20 | 2.372 million |
Interchange | 0.783 million |
2020/21 | 0.367 million |
Interchange | 0.132 million |
2021/22 | 1.414 million |
Interchange | 0.549 million |
2022/23 | 1.824 million |
Interchange | 0.678 million |
Notes | |
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road |
Bristol Parkway, on the
Electrification using
Description
Bristol Parkway is located in the unitary authority of
The station is on an east–west alignment, with the main station building and car park to the north of the line.[11] There are six lines through the station, of which the inner four have platforms, the outer two being goods loops. There is a goods yard adjacent to the station to the south.[1][4][12] The station has four platforms, numbered 1 to 4 from south to north. Platforms 1 and 2 share an island to the south of the two central lines, platform 1 is on the south side of the island and serves southbound trains towards Bristol Temple Meads, platform 2 is on the north side of the island and serves westbound trains towards Wales and Bristol Temple Meads. Platforms 3 and 4 share an island to the north of the two central running lines. Platform 3 serves mainly inter-city trains towards London and Birmingham New Street, while platform 4 is usually reserved for local services. An enclosed footbridge provides access to the platforms, approximately a third of the way along platforms 2 and 3 (from west to east), and at the west end of platforms 1 and 4.[11][13] Platforms 2 and 3 are opposite each other, while platforms 1 and 4 are offset from platform 3, starting at the footbridge and extending further to the east. All platforms are 280 metres (310 yd) long. Platforms 1, 3 and 4 are signalled for bidirectional running, while platform 2 is unidirectional.[12] The footbridge can be accessed by both stairs and lifts.[11]
The station building, a sweeping metal construction opened in 2001,[13] contains a booking office, waiting rooms, payphones, cash machines, shops, toilets and a café overlooking the tracks. There are waiting rooms on each platform, as well as vending machines and LED displays giving next train information. Ticket barriers are in use at the station. The pay-and-display car park, run by APCOA, has 1,810 spaces.[11][14][15][16]
Bristol Parkway was among the first of a new generation of park and ride railway stations, and many passengers use it for that purpose. Over the decade 2002–2012, the number of passengers starting or ending a journey at Bristol Parkway grew by 1 million passengers per year to 2.25 million, with a further 740,000 passengers changing trains there, giving an annual footfall of just under 3 million passengers and making it the 216th busiest station in the country and the third busiest in the West of England (after Bristol Temple Meads and Bath Spa) as of the 2011/12 financial year[update].[15][17][18] In the 2006/07 financial year, over 100,000 passengers used Parkway to travel to or from Bristol Temple Meads,[19] and a further 500,000 used it to travel to or from London Paddington.[20]
The line through Bristol Parkway has a linespeed of 60 miles per hour (97 km/h) on platforms 2 and 3 (40 miles per hour (64 km/h) westbound on platform 3), and 25 miles per hour (40 km/h) on platform 4.
Services
Rail
The station is managed by
Great Western Railway services between London and South Wales are formed of
The standard journey time to London Paddington is 90 minutes, to Cardiff Central 40 minutes, to Birmingham New Street 75 minutes, and to Bristol Temple Meads 12 minutes.[8][10]
In December 2022, the ORR approved Grand Union to commence a new service from Paddington to Carmarthen in partnership with Spanish rail operator Renfe, for which a fleet of new bi-mode trains will be used. The new service is scheduled to commence in December 2024.[29] The service will call at Bristol Parkway, Severn Tunnel Junction, Newport, Cardiff Central, Gowerton and Llanelli en-route to Carmarthen, and will provide Bristol Parkway with regular non-stop trains to London.[30]
Preceding station | National Rail | Following station | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Bristol Temple Meads | Bristol – Manchester
|
Cheltenham Spa | ||
South West – North East and Scotland
|
||||
Swindon | Great Western Railway London – Cardiff/Swansea |
Newport | ||
Yate | Great Western Railway Great Malvern/Gloucester – Westbury/Weymouth |
Filton Abbey Wood | ||
Terminus | Great Western Railway Bristol Parkway – Weston-super-Mare |
|||
Future services | ||||
London Paddington
|
Grand Union London - Carmarthen |
Newport |
Bus
Bristol Parkway is served by bus routes linking it with the rest of Bristol and South Gloucestershire, including Avonmouth, Severn Beach, Cribbs Causeway, Bath, Temple Meads, Southmead Hospital, Chipping Sodbury and Yate. These routes are operated by First West of England and Stagecoach West.[31][32]
Metrobus route m4 [33] started on 22 January 2023, connecting Cribbs Causeway via Parkway to Bristol, with bus route 73 being rerouted to no longer terminate at Cribbs Causeway.
History
The line through Bristol Parkway was originally opened in 1903 as part of the
The station, owned by
Following the
In the August 1998, the Royal Mail began construction of the a mail terminal to the east of the station, taking over some of the station car park to provide a platform and warehouse for postal trains.[50] The 12,000 square feet (1,100 m2) building opened on 15 May 2000 replacing a similar facility at Bristol Temple Meads, with the Royal Mail stating it would save 250,000 miles (400,000 km) of lorry journeys per year on local roads.[13][51][52][53] However, the depot closed only four years later in 2004, when the Royal Mail ceased to use the rail network.[54] Royal Mail offered the terminal for use by freight companies, but as there were no takers it was demolished in October 2007.[51][55] In 2008, Network Rail opened a maintenance training centre on the site in a £2.5 million project which saw the construction of a mezzanine floor, a welding workshop and a 4,000 square feet (370 m2) extension.[6][7]
In 2000, work began on a complete redevelopment of the station building with a new enclosed footbridge. It opened on 1 July 2001, and featured lifts and generally enhanced facilities. Local roads were enhanced to help speed passengers' journeys to and from the station, and a new
Despite the large car park, the increase in passenger numbers at Parkway in recent years has led to problems with on-street parking, leading to the commissioning of a new 200-space car park 500 metres (550 yd) east of the station.[15][58] It opened in Spring 2011, but was used by only 139 motorists in its first three months, and as of August 2012 was averaging only 10 motorists per day. It was expected that traffic would increase when a new bus link was opened to transfer drivers from the car park to the station.[59] A new multi-storey car park on the station site with 710 spaces was opened on 5 September 2014 by Baroness Kramer, Minister of State for Transport. Construction of the car park, which began in mid-2013, caused a short-term lack of spaces for commuters.[60] The car park cost £13 million and was funded jointly by Network Rail and the Department for Transport under the Station Commercial Projects Fund.[14][16] Improved cycle facilities, including a bike hire scheme, were provided in the late 2000s.[15]
The station was closed for two weeks in September 2017 to allow for upgrade work as part of the
First Great Western declined a contractual option to continue the
Future
The
Bristol Parkway is on the Weston-super-Mare/Yate corridor, one of the main axes of MetroWest, a rail transport plan which aims to enhance transport capacity in the Bristol area.[86][87] Under its previous name of Greater Bristol Metro this considered the reopening of the Henbury Loop Line to passengers, with the possibility of services from Bristol Temple Meads to Bristol Parkway via Clifton Down and Henbury,[88] though the current MetroWest Phase 2 proposals are for a spur to Henbury served by trains from Bristol Temple Meads without a direct connection to Parkway.[89]
See also
- List of all UK railway stations
- Rail services in Bristol
Notes
- ^ Railways in the United Kingdom are, for historical reasons, measured in miles and chains. There are 80 chains to the mile.
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