NSC to buy Portishead Branch?

[madhattie]

From the Bristol Evening Post

DEAL WOULD KEEP RAIL LINK BID ALIVE

A three-mile section of defunct train track between Portishead and Portbury could be bought by North Somerset Council - to safeguard its future use as a possible rail link for the town.

The section of railway, which runs between the former station at Portbury and Portishead, is owned by the British Railways Board (Residuary) Ltd, set up to manage British Rail's remaining assets when it was sold off in the 1990s.

After a consultation and review in 2006, a recommendation was made that the land be sold and North Somerset Council was given first option.

Now council officers are to launch negotiations with BRB's land agents to establish the market value of the land.

The authority will then seek to establish what funding sources could be available to them should the sale be agreed.

North Somerset Council chiefs have already agreed a long-term objective to re-open the Portishead to Bristol railway line to passengers, following concerns about the A369 commuter bottlenecks.

North Somerset Council executive member for strategic planning, highways and economic development, Elfan Ap Rees, said: "We are looking at buying this land to protect the future of the railway.

"From our point of view this would be a real step towards developing a high-speed link between Portishead and Bristol.

"The British Railways Board has agreed to sell the land and has given us first option on it."

Mr Ap Rees said that if the council was not to buy the land, developers could snap it up instead - putting the re-opening of the railway at risk.

Both the Portishead Railway Group and the Gordano Valley Local Councils Transport Group have been campaigning for years for the final section of the track to be re-opened.

Chairman of the Gordano Valley Local Councils Transport Group, Peter Burden, said: "I am extremely pleased that the district council is taking the issue of re-opening the Portishead line seriously.

"By purchasing this section of the track it would protect it from inappropriate development and secure its future as a railway line.

"The re-opening of this line is key to the future of Portishead."

The news comes just weeks after the Department of Transport said that it would not earmark the millions needed to re-open the line.

The line was closed to passenger traffic in September 1964 and freight in 1981 and lay unused apart from the occasional steam specials.

In 2002 the track between the former Portbury station and the docks, which is owned by Network Rail, was opened for freight use at a cost of ú21 million.

But the last three miles from Portbury to Portishead remained closed.

[Portishead Prowler]

Flipping 'eck. NSC doing something useful, you sure it's not the 1st April???

[Donkey]

Nabbed from here http://www.n-somerset.gov.uk/Transport/ ... illink.htm

Portishead rail link

Date: 18 Jun 2008
Local representatives and rail campaigners in Portishead have reacted enthusiastically to a study by North Somerset Council into a rail link for Portishead, which shows that the idea is feasible with no "show stoppers".

At a meeting in the town last night (Tuesday 17 June) consultants for the council presented to local parish, town and district councillors and other invited groups, the results of a major feasibility study into the rail link.

This had been carried out over the last several months with the aid of a council steering group and input from 11 different bodies, including the Portishead Rail group, town council and other interested parties.

The study looked at several different options, based on one train per hour between Portishead and Bristol Temple Meads, either direct or stopping at interim stations such as Pill and Ashton Gate. It also evaluated the cost of building the necessary infrastructure including a new station for Portishead west of Quays Avenue, and re-laying track between the town centre and the existing Portbury Dock spur.

Detailed calculations show that building the necessary infrastructure is likely to cost between ú7.5 - ú15 million, whilst annual operating costs would be between ú1.6 - ú2.4 million, of which approximately a third will need to be covered by a subsidy.

Identifying the funding for the infrastructure and operating subsidy will now be the subject of ongoing work, as will a more detailed analysis of the route to meet Network Rail rail planning guidance. The Department for Transport will also have to accept the plan and add it to the rail franchise.

Cllr Elfan Ap Rees, North Somerset Council's deputy leader with responsibility for transport, said after the meeting: "Investigating a Portishead rail link was one of the priorities the new Conservative administration set itself when we took over last year and I am delighted that this report shows that the idea is not only feasible but would positively contribute to reducing road traffic on the A369 though M5 junction 19 and have economic benefits too for the town.

"We hope now that the government will support the plan and help us find the funding needed to bring this to fruition, either through the Transport Innovation Fund process or, if that should prove unworkable for some reason, through alternative transport bids."

The full report on the study is expected to be available next month (July).

[jules]

This land should be registered and protected as a potential strategic operational railway asset, being as re-opening is now a matter of time, rather than pie-in-the-sky. It makes prefect sense, especially in the current economic climate ....

If the land were recognised as such, BRB (Residuary) would be unable to sell it. No wonder they have given NSDC first option to purchase!

To give the developers their due, they've not built on where the station would be and the "kiss-and-ride" car park is already constructed. All it needs now is a road closure to get over a poorly sighted level crossing (yes, CLOSE the road to solve this problem), 3 or so miles of track, a nice little retail development, including a station, and a spot of signalling upgrade by NR.

Easy really ...

[nineflover]

and a decent length platform, run round loop and lie by siding, all enhanced and looked after by volunteers