Parson Street railway station

Coordinates: 51°26′00″N 2°36′31″W / 51.43320°N 2.60860°W / 51.43320; -2.60860
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Parson Street
National Rail
General information
LocationBedminster, Bristol
England
Coordinates51°26′00″N 2°36′31″W / 51.43320°N 2.60860°W / 51.43320; -2.60860
Grid referenceST578706
Managed byGreat Western Railway
Platforms2 in use
Other information
Station codePSN
ClassificationDfT category F2
History
Original companyGreat Western Railway
Key dates
29 August 1927Opened as Parson Street Platform[Note 1]
21 May 1933Rebuilt with four tracks
Passengers
2018/19Increase 0.150 million
2019/20Increase 0.174 million
2020/21Decrease 29,702
2021/22Increase 0.101 million
2022/23Increase 0.157 million
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Parson Street railway station serves the western end of

Portishead Branch Line, has minimal facilities. As of 2020, it is managed by Great Western Railway, which is the sixth company to be responsible for the station, and the third franchise since privatisation in 1997. They provide all train services at the station, mainly an hourly service between Bristol Parkway and Weston-super-Mare
.

Description

The station is built in a cutting in the western end of

Portishead Branch Line and Liberty Lane Freightliner terminal – no passenger trains use this. The speed limit through the station is 90 miles per hour (140 km/h) on the main lines and 25 miles per hour (40 km/h) on the freight line.[4]

The station is surrounded on all sides by the A38 road, which splits the carriageways at this point, with the station in between. The line runs under the road at both ends of the station.[3] Access between the platforms is via steps to the A38 at the east end of the platforms. There is no disabled access.[5]

Facilities at the station are minimal – there is a metal and glass shelter on each of the two islands as well as on the bridge. The station is completely unstaffed, but there is a ticket machine. There are customer help points, giving next train information for both platforms. There is no car park or taxi rank, nor is there any cycle storage available.[5] There are several bus stops nearby.[6]

Just to the west of the station is Parson Street Junction,[Note 3] where the Portishead Branch diverges from the main line, heading north.[8] The South Liberty Lane goods depot is adjacent to the junction, in the triangle between the main line, the Portishead Branch and the now-disused western connection between the branch and the main line.[9][10][11]

Services

A Class 165 with a Bristol Parkway service at Parson Street

The station is managed by

Nailsea & Backwell westbound and Bedminster eastbound. On Saturday there is a similar pattern, but with no services beyond Bristol Parkway or Weston-super-Mare except during the early morning and late evening. Sunday sees a reduced service, with only three trains westbound and two eastbound, all after 4pm.[12]

Services are mostly formed by

London Paddington and Weston-super-Mare passing through during the morning and evening peaks.[15]

The typical journey time to Bristol Temple Meads is 7 minutes, while to Weston-super-Mare takes 31 minutes.[12]

Preceding station National Rail National Rail Following station
Bedminster  
Severn Beach - Weston-super-Mare
) 		  Nailsea and Backwell

The adjacent bus stop is served by the

Hengrove and Henbury.[6][16]

History

The Great Western Railway opened Parson Street railway station in 1927.

The first section of the

Bristol to Exeter line at Parson Street Junction,[Note 3] the other side of a road bridge west of where the station would be built, had opened on 12 July 1867. It was only in 1871, with the opening of a station at Bedminster that there was a stop between the junction and Bristol Temple Meads.[18]

As Bristol expanded in the early 20th century, the need for a new station to serve the outskirts grew, and on 29 August 1927, the Great Western Railway opened a station at Parson Street, named Parson Street Halt.[Note 1] There were two platforms, one on each side of the two running lines. There was a wooden shelter on the westbound platform, and a metal shelter on the eastbound platform. The platforms were made of wood, with access from the main road via steps. No goods facilities were provided.[18]

The station was rebuilt in the early 1930s to cope with the relaying of the line west from Temple Meads with four tracks instead of two. Considerable engineering works were needed to cope with the widening of the station, including the removal of a short tunnel to the west of the station. The two new island platforms opened on 21 May 1933,[18] and the station name was changed to simply Parson Street in November 1933.[19] The new station included covered waiting shelters, and a booking office on the road bridge. Again, no goods facilities were provided.[18]

Royal Portbury Docks
are not an uncommon sight at Parson Street.

Parson Street railway station served a dual purpose: as well as serving local suburban developments for commuter and excursion traffic, it also acted as a minor interchange for passengers on the

Portishead Branch Line. When Parson Street opened in 1927, there were 21 services each weekday along the branch, operated by the Great Western Railway at half-hour intervals from Temple Meads. There were 8 trains on Sundays.[20][21]

Following the

Ashton Gate Stadium. These ceased in 1977, and Parson Street became the arrival and departure point for these trains.[18]

The Bristol Area Resignalling Scheme in the 1970s saw the Down Relief line, the most southern of the four running lines, converted to a siding linking Malago Vale carriage sidings to the east with the West Depot carriage sidings to the west. At the same time, Parson Street Junction was reworked, requiring trains to first cross from the Down Main line to the Up Main line before they were able to access the Portishead Branch.[20] The Down Relief line was removed altogether when West Depot closed sometime after the opening of a new depot at St Philips Marsh to service High Speed Trains.[8]

First Great Western.[24][25][26] The franchise was rebranded Great Western Railway in 2015.[27]

In recent years, there has been a marked increase in passengers travelling to and from Parson Street. In the 2002/03

financial year, less than 4,000 passengers used the station; and in 2005, only six eastbound and eight westbound trains called at Parson Street each day, with 14,293 passengers using the station during the 2005/06 financial year. Since then, service levels have increased to 21 westbound trains and 18 eastbound per weekday, and passenger levels have more than quadrupled, to 102,654 in 2013/14.[28][Note 4]

The campaign group

Passenger Focus.[33] In January 2017 a group called Friends of Parson Street Railway Station was formed to lobby for improvements to facilities and services at the station.[34]

In 2000/01, the track towards Portishead were relaid to allow rail access to

Royal Portbury Docks.[21] In 2010, another section of track was reinstated to allow the reopening of South Liberty Lane depot to handle Trans Ocean's wine import business, reducing road traffic. Seven trains terminate at the depot every week. The depot had closed in 1990 due to lack of demand for its facilities.[9][10]

Preceding station Historical railways Following station
Bedminster  
Bristol to Exeter line

(1927–1941) 		  Long Ashton
Line open, station closed.
 
Bristol to Exeter line

(1941–1948) 		  Flax Bourton
Line open, station closed.
 
Bristol to Exeter line

(1948–1963) 		 
 
Bristol to Exeter line

(1963–1982) 		 
Nailsea & Backwell
 
Bristol to Exeter line

(1982–1997) 		 
 
Bristol to Exeter line

(1997–2001) 		 
 
Bristol to Exeter line

(2001–2006) 		 
Bedminster  
Portishead Branch Line

(1927–1948) 		  Ashton Gate
Line open, station closed.
 
Portishead Branch Line

(1948–1964) 		 

Future

Parson Street is on the Weston-super-Mare/

Severn Beach Line. The line will be operated as part of the Greater Western passenger franchise.[40]

The Down Relief line between Bristol Temple Meads and Parson Street is to be partially reinstated as part of the MetroWest scheme in order to ease congestion.[40][41] According to the Great Western Route Utilisation Strategy, in the December 2007 timetable period, the line through Parson Street was running at over 75% capacity in the morning peak between 8 and 9am. It was predicted that by 2019, trains working the line would be completely full during peak hours.[42] While the three tracks could cope with traffic generated by the reopening of the Portishead Line, campaigners note it would leave little room for growth.[43] Parson Street Junction will also be upgraded during the works.[40]

Preceding station Future services Following station
Bedminster   Greater Western franchise
Portishead Branch Line 		  Pill

Incidents

There have been several railway incidents in the Parson Street area over the years. On 19 November 2002, a

Nailsea & Backwell and Bedminster. Notable occurrences of this type happened in October 2006 and May 2012.[45][46] Theft of personal property has also occurred on the station. In 2009, a gang of teenagers robbed a group of four 12- to 15-year-old boys of their bikes at Parson Street. The robbers followed their targets off the train, having got on at Weston-super-Mare, and attacked the boys as the train pulled away.[47]

On 11 June 2019, a man in his 80s died after being struck by a train at Parson Street, delaying train services between Bristol Temple Meads and Worle. The British Transport Police subsequently treated the death as non-suspicious.[48] Another person was struck by a train and killed at Parson Street in an unrelated incident on 26 August 2019; this was also treated by police as non-suspicious.[49]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Parson Street railway station.

Notes

  1. ^ a b Sources are inconsistent about the name of the station – Oakley's book on Bristol railway stations says the station was called Parson Street Platform,[18] while both Butt's directory and the work of Mitchell and Smith state it was Parson Street Halt.[19][20]
  2. ^ Railways in the United Kingdom are, for historical reasons, measured in miles and chains. There are 80 chains to the mile.
  3. ^
    Bristol to Exeter line and Portishead Railway was known as Portishead Junction until 1932, after which it was known as Parson Street Junction.[7]
  4. ^ Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Parson Street from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

References

  1. ^ Deaves, Phil. "Engineers' Line References: MLN1 Paddington to North Road Junction". Retrieved 9 May 2012.
  2. ISBN 978-0-86093-632-9
    .
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-0-319-22914-9
    .
  4. ^ "Network Capability – Baseline Declaration: (1) Track and Route mileage: (2) Line-speeds: Western Route" (PDF). Network Rail. 1 April 2009. p. 54. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
  5. ^ a b c "Parson Street (PSN)". National Rail. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
  6. ^ a b "Parson Street Station: Onward Travel Information" (PDF). Network Rail. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
  7. ISBN 0-948975-22-9
    .
  8. ^
    ISBN 0-9549866-1-X
    .
  9. ^ a b "Rail terminal for 'wine trains' opens in Bristol". BBC News. 29 July 2010. Retrieved 10 June 2012.
  10. ^ a b "Rail industry news". Institute of Rail Welding. 3 May 2012. Archived from the original on 9 May 2002. Retrieved 10 June 2012. Network Rail and Freightliner have jointly reinstated a short section of disused track near Bristol Temple Meads enabling seven wine trains to terminate at South Liberty Lane depot every week. This initiative supports Trans Ocean's wine bulk liquid logistics business in managing the movement of all wine imports into one of Europe's largest wine facilities in Avonmouth.
  11. ^ Lawson, Pete (2 April 2004). "TS168 Bristol, South Liberty Lane". Trainspots. Retrieved 10 June 2012.
  12. ^ a b "Central 4 - Cardiff and Bristol to Weston-super-Mare and Exeter" (PDF). Great Western Railway. May 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
  13. ^ "Taunton-bound passengers from Bristol to benefit from trains with more seats and better WiFi". County Gazette. Newsquest. 25 October 2017. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  14. ^ "Timetable: Scotland, the North East to the South West and South Coast; 11 December 2011 to 13 May 2012" (PDF). CrossCountry. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 May 2012. Retrieved 5 April 2012.
  15. ^ "Central 1 - London Paddington to Bristol, Cheltenham Spa and South Wales timetable" (PDF). Great Western Railway. May 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 October 2015. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
  16. ^ "Timetables for Service Number: 75/76". FirstGroup. 1 April 2012. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
  17. ^
    OCLC 55853736
    .
  18. ^
    ISBN 1-904537-54-5
    .
  19. ^
    OL 11956311M
    .
  20. ^
    ISBN 1-904474-18-7
    .
  21. ^
    ISBN 978-1-84674-057-2
    .
  22. ^ Deaves, Phil (5 May 2015). "UK railway franchises". Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  23. ^ "Wales and West". Wales & West. Archived from the original on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
  24. ^ "Wessex Trains". The Iron Road: Railway Photography by Scott Borthwick. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
  25. ^ "FirstGroup wins rail franchises". BBC News. 13 December 2005. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
  26. ^ "First Great Western bids for longer rail franchise deal". BBC News. 11 May 2011. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
  27. ^ "The Great Western Railway is back in business". Railnews. 21 September 2015. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  28. ^ "Station usage". Office of Rail and Road.
  29. Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways. Archived from the original
    on 8 July 2012. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
  30. ^ "Crazy creatures to greet Bristol train passengers". This is Bristol. 22 July 2009. Archived from the original on 14 September 2012. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
  31. ^ "Progress Report: January 2010" (PDF). Severnside Community Rail Partnership. January 2010. Retrieved 28 June 2012.
  32. ^ "Progress Report: January 2009" (PDF). Severnside Community Rail Partnership. January 2009. Retrieved 28 June 2012.
  33. ^ "Progress Report: January 2011" (PDF). Severnside Community Rail Partnership. January 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2012.
  34. Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways
    . 10 February 2017. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  35. ^ White, James (13 March 2009). "Item 04: Greater Bristol Metro" (PDF). West of England Partnership. Retrieved 28 December 2011.
  36. ^ "Campaign for trains from Bristol Temple Meads every half-hour". This is Bristol. 17 January 2012. Archived from the original on 20 January 2012. Retrieved 19 January 2012.
  37. ^
    The Post, Bristol. Archived from the original
    on 8 July 2012. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
  38. Rail Magazine (696). Peterborough
    : 46–53.
  39. ^ "Portishead rail link signals are encouraging, says North Somerset MP Liam Fox". Western Daily Press. 19 December 2011. Archived from the original on 13 September 2012. Retrieved 28 December 2011.
  40. ^ a b c d "Consultation on re-opening the Portishead branch line as part of MetroWest Phase 1" (PDF). MetroWest. TravelWest. June 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 November 2015.
  41. ^ "Operator reveals 'wish list' for Bristol railways". This is Bristol. 1 September 2009. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved 9 May 2012. Network Rail is calling for ... An extended passenger line from Bristol Temple Meads to Parson Street to remove the bottleneck.
  42. ^ Network Rail (March 2010). "Great Western Route Utilisation Strategy" (PDF). pp. 41, 51, 60, 63, 128, 165, 210, 211. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 September 2012. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
  43. Bristol Post. pp. 1–3. Archived from the original
    on 2 July 2013.
  44. ^ "January 2003". Cardiff & Avonside Railway Society. January 2003. Retrieved 9 May 2012. 19/11 Following the failure of a Wessex Trains working around 17.30 near Parsons Street station, the down main was blocked for around four hours as the unit had suffered a serious axle problem.
  45. ^ "December 2006". Cardiff & Avonside Railway Society. December 2006. Retrieved 9 May 2012. 25/10 There were morning service delays as repairs were carried out to damaged trackside cabling near Parson's Street station which affected signalling between Bedminster and Nailsea around 06.00. It is thought the incident had been caused by vandals.
  46. Archant Community Media
    . Retrieved 22 May 2012.
  47. ^ "Bristol train gang rob teenagers of their bikes". This is Bristol. 19 October 2009. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
  48. ^ Gogarty, Conor (11 June 2019). "Elderly man dies after being hit by train at Bristol station". Bristol Post. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
  49. ^ Mills, Richard (26 August 2019). "Two people hit by trains in separate incidents". Somerset Live. Retrieved 17 October 2019.

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