Bristol Harbour Railway under threat?

Corbs · Post by **Corbs** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 8:49 pm

As some of you may know, there is a plan for a new (mis)guided busway for Bristol, following Cambridge's example.

Now, on a personal level I dislike these. It seems that they take as much infrastructure and money to build as a road, but with a fraction of the capacity, regardless of the fact they are using railway formations.

In Bristol, plans are afoot for the busway to traverse a refurbished Ashton Swing Bridge (Sounds good so far), then onto the line of the BHR (The BHR becoming a tramway at this point) down the 'new cut' and under the main road, onto Bristol Docks itself, before heading into central Bristol.
The following blog details and examines the scheme rather well, pointing out the lack of space on the new cut, and the proposals for the BHR to have to share timetables with the buses and run even more infrequently (Contrasting with plans to run more services once the new musem is built).

http://www.symbolicforest.com/blog/tag/guided-busway/

In my view, something must be done to prevent this foolishness in effectively destroying the only steam harbourside railway in the UK and turning the wharf into a bus commuter route.

Thoughts? Maybe you disagree? What can be done about it?

horace · Post by **horace** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 11:14 pm

Personally i would not worry. Remember Bristol has changed colour politically, put that along with the fact that over the next few years regardless of what Gordon Clown is promising us, there will be cuts in public spending. It ain't going to happen. What is being ignored is the fact that all of the section along the cut would need to be reassessed and would probably fail using modern construction and safety standards. At the moment that section is staying there by force of habit. But when it would need to be assessed for 11 tonne axle loadings and side impact from a crashing bus it would probably need to be strengthened for it whole length. So cost wise it will be through the roof. If they had there heads screwed on the cheapest option would be for a tram way from The museum to Ashton, hardly anything needs doing.
Another one of the Old BCC dreams. BCC is notorious for coming up with frightening half baked schemes such as the Totterdown tunnel, the high level pedestrian walkways, the Museum on the site of Castle Park, the replacement for the Colston hall on the side of the docks that then moved to the Bath road sheds and is now dead.
So all in all if i just cannot see it happening.

Post by **madhattie** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 11:48 pm

I don't know if anyone remembers this, but when the proposed busway using the Bristol to Bath cyclepath was announced this website broke the news ahead of everyone else by about a week. Inside knowledge.

Basically these guys have to be seen to be 'doing something'. They know as well as anyone else that their ideas are crap, but they get paid a shed load of cash to come up with them, and so they do. I think that they're kind of hoping that one day one of their ideas will actually work, and then they'll be able to point to how much of our cash they soak up and say 'it was worth it'.

The Ashton busway is just such a scheme. As Horace says the wall of the cut cannot take the weight of a proper passenger service without substantial strengthening. Ashton Swing Bridge needs a complete rebuild, not just tarting up. There are houses planned for Ashton Meadows. A Crossing would be needed across Network Rail's tracks at Ashton Junction. They haven't even come close to actually deciding where the busway will cross central Bristol after leaving the harbourside! There's ideas, proposals etc, but nothing workable. I can't imagine how much such works would cost. And I know that the planners have no idea either. They've just chucked the idea out and hope someone else will make it actually work.

WR Tim · Post by **WR Tim** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 10:30 am

Should anyone feel the need to write stern letters about it the relevant council member is Jon Rogers (Executive Member for Transport and Sustainability or some such).

http://www.bristol.gov.uk/ccm/content/C ... illorId=69

He's my local councillor and (as far as I can tell) is fairly sensible about these things - opposed the bus route on the Bristol to Bath line early on I think.

Corbs · Post by **Corbs** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 1:10 pm

Thanks guys, although I feel that if they keep on churning out these ridiculous ideas, one day they might be successful

Might be worth showing opposition to the scheme just to show we are listening.

horace · Post by **horace** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 8:02 pm

Corbs, Bristol is full of ridiculous ideas that were started but then fell at the first hurdle. The inner ring road, that forgot about Queens Square, so they had to put a dual carriageway across it, then rip it up. On the same road the Old market underpass that was dual carriageway but came to a single bridge on temple way, by the time the second bridge went in road ideas has changed so it was then oh my god how do we slow the traffic down. The high level pedestrian walkways that for years just went from nowhere to nowhere and at fromes gate house just finished in mid air. the outer ring road that was planed in the 30's bits were built here and there, but then a bit got ripped up to build the Filton runway extension for the Brabazon, then they could never join the bit at brislinton with the bit at memorial road Hanham. By they time they decided to build that bit hat they had to build it out at hicks gate, so the ring road does not join up. Then you have the demolition of Totterdown for the new ring road coming from Lawrence hill. well that never happened, they built the spine road instead which is not a ring road. then they demolished all of the remaining shops in the castle street area to build a new museum and theatre, that ran out of money so they had to bury all the demolition rubble because the queen was visiting in the 1976, they did not want the queen seeing that bristol had not yet dealt with its world war 2 bombsites, so castle park came into being. Now they want to rip that up.
Get used to it BCC has for years been incapable of planning anything substantial and of benefit to the good citizens of bristol, the have spent millions and millions in tax payers money on half baked schemes but never ever finish them.
I have not yet mentioned the two worst money consuming schemes yet, west dock and the metro. West Dock now Portbury sold by BCC for a pittance to a private company as if it had not been BCC would have been bankrupt. The metro well another scheme that cost the taxpayers millions for what, a few provisions for in road schemes for track alignments that have and will never happen.
The guided busway, don't worry if they build it will only be a few hundred yards here and there, and even that will be torn up again within 10 years, that is BCC.

Post by **madhattie** » Thu Jul 16, 2009 10:06 pm

Have you seen the latest from these people? The incinerator at St Philips?

Story

I love this quote 'it's a load of rubbish Ã» why even start a report on it? Why would you pay people thousands of pounds to produce rubbish?

Took the words right out my mouth!

fake plastic kiwi · Post by **fake plastic kiwi** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 1:25 am

And whoever put that damn scissors junction into St Augustine's and Colston, and ripped up the perfectly good roundabout with a park in the middle and replaced it with the "Grand Urinal" fountains, should be shot too...

Back to the BHR though: at this year's Harbour Festival, I had a long conversation with 1 of the volunteers doing points duty at Wapping Wharf in which he intimated that the "preferred option" as far as the council study was concerned was to ensure the preservation of rails embedded within the new concrete busway to allow running of heritage steam at weekends.

No word as to whether that would include rails back over the Ashton bridge.

I think the whole idea's bunk anyway. How about at least proper Light Rail back round from the Harbour into Bedminster...? An extension to the proposed "Ashton Vale" would then be much simpler.

Why is "Rail" such a dirty word for council planners?

mow · Post by **mow** » Sun Feb 07, 2010 8:09 pm

The Harbour was featured on Tonight's Points West, with a very brief mention on the busway nonsense.

Robin Summerhill · Post by **Robin Summerhill** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 11:24 pm

mow wrote:The Harbour was featured on Tonight's Points West, with a very brief mention on the busway nonsense.

The busway was mentioned again on BBC Points West tonight.

Apparently they've now secured funding for it.

BristleGWR · Post by **BristleGWR** » Thu May 05, 2011 12:39 am

http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/news/NEW ... ticle.html

Robin Summerhill · Post by **Robin Summerhill** » Thu May 05, 2011 1:05 am

BristleGWR wrote:http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/news/NEW ... ticle.html

I am old enough to remember when the Evening Post ran a story about reintroducing trams in Bristol in, I think, about 1969 .....

I shall believe it when a tender is accepted to build the thing

jules · Post by **jules** » Thu May 05, 2011 4:39 am

Anybody remember "Advanced Transport for Avon" and was it Richard Cotterrel in the 1970's?

Tunneling under Clifton I seem to recall ....

The Evening Pest certainly gets value for money out of those artists' impressions though

mow · Post by **mow** » Thu May 05, 2011 11:46 am

Points West report.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-13292342

Is there an election today?

a BCC brewery organise up p1ss couldn't a.

BristleGWR · Post by **BristleGWR** » Sun May 15, 2011 7:34 pm

http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/news/Let ... ticle.html