Railways and pharmacies at Easter

A quick reminder that Network Rail will be upgrading the railway around Bristol over Easter. Work starts today, Good Friday 30 March, and train services will resume on Wednesday 4 April.

Full details including replacement services are on their dedicated web page www.gwr.com/travel-updates/planned-engineering/bristol2018

The upgrade work on the signalling system will mean they can reduce delays caused by congestion, and introduce a new timetable in January 2019 with faster, more frequent services, adding more seats and more capacity to this very busy part of the railway.

Meanwhile, if you find yourself in need of a pharmacy over the Bank Holiday weekend, you can find which ones are open here.

Enjoy the Easter weekend!

Reminder - railway electrification work

As we've previously reported, for 4 weeks from 19th August Network Rail will be carrying out electrification work between Royal Wootton Bassett and Westerleigh junction. Some of the work will be noisy.

From 2nd to 15th September, the work will be extended to include Westerleigh Junction, Coalpit Heath, Winterbourne, Stoke Gifford and Bristol Parkway station, up to Patchway/Filton junctions and Bristol Parkway station will be closed. Trains will still be running using diversionary routes, with rail replacement bus and coach services in place for some journeys.

For the latest on the railway upgrade works go to www.networkrail.co.uk/westernupgrade and for more about rail services during the Bristol Parkway closure go to gwr.com/bristolparkway2017 or crosscountrytrains.co.uk/bristol2017

If you have any questions about the work and missed the earlier drop-ins, there is another one planned at The Old School Rooms, St Michael’s Centre, Stoke Gifford on Thursday, August 17 from 4.30pm to 7.30pm.

Rail electrification - more noisy work ahead

Major electrification work will be taking place in our area from 19 August to 15 September, night and day. Some of the work will be noisy and deliveries to Network Rail compounds along the route (e.g. Shire Way access point) will be made by road, so nearby roads will experience an increase in traffic.

The work will be on the main line from Royal Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire, to Patchway/Filton junctions, via Old Sodbury, Chipping Sodbury and Yate to Westerleigh Junction.

In addition, from 2 September to 15 September 2017, the work area will extend to include Westerleigh Junction towards Yate station, Coalpit Heath, Winterbourne, Stoke Gifford and Bristol Parkway station, up to Patchway/Filton junctions.

Network Rail say "We are electrifying the line to bring passengers quieter, more frequent and more reliable services between London Paddington and Cardiff"

The work includes:

• Carrying out the piling required to install the foundations which will support the electrification equipment. That's the really noisy part. 
• Installing the equipment, including trackside masts and overhead wires at some locations. 
• Installing electrification equipment in Chipping Sodbury tunnel. 
• Improving flood resilience at Chipping Sodbury sidings. 
• Preparing Bristol Parkway station for the arrival of new InterCity Express trains, including the construction of a fourth platform. 

How can you find out more?

Network Rail are setting up a dedicated web page at www.networkrail.co.uk/westernupgrade - it contains more detailed information about the work they will be carrying out and will be updated regularly as the project progresses. It also has a useful introductory video.

Network Rail will also be running drop-in sessions, when members of the project team will be on hand to explain the work and answer your questions. The sessions nearest to us are:

• Thursday 29 June, Coalpit Heath Village Hall, 4.30pm to 7pm
• Tuesday 4 July, Ridgewood Community Centre, Yate, 4.30pm to 7pm
• Tuesday 11 July, The Old School Rooms, St Michael’s Centre, Stoke Gifford, 4.30pm to 7pm
• Wednesday 12 July, Chipping Sodbury Town Hall, 4.30pm to 7pm
• Tuesday 25 July, All Saints Church Hall, Winterbourne Down, 4.30pm to 7pm

If you have any questions about the work, you can email Network Rail at crwest@networkrail.co.uk or call the 24-hour National Helpline on 03457 11 41 41. For updates, you can follow them on Twitter @networkrailwest

Railway modernisation - Great Western main line

GWR have told us that work to widen the platforms at Bath Spa has now been successfully completed and Network Rail have moved on to work on the track around Swindon and Chippenham.  This will affect rail services through Didcot Parkway, Swindon, Chippenham and Bristol Parkway over the late May bank holiday (27-29 May) and the weekend of 10 and 11 June.  Full details of the revised arrangements are on their dedicated web page www.gwr.com/Swindon2017

There will then be further work at Chippenham from Saturday 8 July through to Sunday 16 July.  Services between London and Bristol Temple Meads will be diverted and there will be a reduced service for Swindon and Bath Spa during this period.  More details are on www.gwr.com/Chippenham2017 where they also set out arrangements for weekend replacement services to Westbury and Melksham.

There will be additional staff at stations to help customers and they are using both traditional and social media, as well as information at stations and at ticket sales points, to highlight the changes. 

GWR say: "We want the electrification upgrade to be as painless as possible, of course we recognise that any timetables changes, however temporary, cause some inconvenience, but these works will allow us to put brand new ten car trains on this route in 2017, and the work has to be completed while we continue to run services"

Mysterious noise keeps Coalpit Heath residents awake

Last week residents of Coalpit Heath complained of loud noises coming from the railway keeping them awake at night.

Network Rail were carrying out piling work as part of the electrification of the railway. Claire Young contacted them to express concern that residents had not been notified in advance and asking that this happens before any future work. A representative of Network Rail apologised and promised to take it up with their Communications Team.

Drop-in on electrification

If you regularly travel via Bristol Parkway, you may be interested in a drop-in on rail electrification that Network Rail are holding from 4.30pm to 7.30pm on Tuesday 14th March. The event will be held in The Old School Rooms, The Green, Stoke Gifford, BS34 8PD.

Their upcoming work includes:

• Stabilising the embankment next to the Filton line
• Setting up a compound off Hunts Ground Road
• Repairs to Bristol Road/Hatchet Road bridge

There will be a team on hand to answer your questions.

Views wanted on Dodington Road traffic calming

Back in September, we reported that South Glos Council had asked Network Rail to install traffic calming measures on Dodington Road. Highways officials were concerned about reduced visibility caused by Network Rail raising the parapets on the bridge ready for the electrification of the railway line.

The work will be carried out by the council but Network Rail will pay for it. There is a legal process to go through to install speed cushions and the consultation on the proposals has now started. You can view the plans and comment online until 11th January 2017.

Network Rail traffic calming for Dodington Road railway bridge

On Wednesday, Claire Young attended the Network Rail drop-in about the traffic calming they are carrying out around Dodington Road railway bridge. You can view the plans here.

View plans for Dodington Road traffic calming

There will be a drop-in event on plans for traffic calming around the Dodington Road railway bridge on Wednesday 5^th October from 4pm to 7pm in the sports classroom at Chipping Sodbury school, Bowling Road.

 In August we reported that such a scheme might be on the cards after a reduction in visibility due to the railway bridge works was identified.

Network Rail have now agreed a solution with South Gloucestershire Council with the following features:

• Single speed pillows on the north and south approaches to the bridge
• Road markings to be repainted where necessary
• An additional “SLOW” painted on the road on the south approach
• New solid centre line to be painted on the carriageway
• Post-mounted signs warning of speed pillows

Network Rail will pay for these works, which will require a road closure.  This will then leave them free to erect the parapet extension on the west side of the bridge, which they haven't been able to complete due to the visibility concerns.

Bank Holiday rail disruption

Network Rail is carrying out further work in South Wales and the South West this August Bank Holiday weekend, to install new signalling as part of their Railway Upgrade Plan.

The work will take place from 27th to 29th August and will require a temporary closure of the lines in both directions between Bristol Parkway and Swindon, Newport, Bristol Temple Meads, Gloucester and Severn Beach. Trains will be diverted and in some cases replaced by buses. More information is available here.

Update on railway works

Network Rail have written to Westerleigh councillor Claire Young with an update on their works on Halfpenny Bridge.

The project was delayed to carry out a full structural survey, because they will be removing 2.5 tonnes of metal and replacing it with 3.5 tonnes. They are now ready to start again and have applied for a footpath closure from mid-July to mid-August. However, as originally planned, they will only be working on Saturday nights, so the bridge will be open to pedestrians at other times.

Elsewhere, electrification works will require the temporary diversion of the Frome Valley Walkway at Old Sodbury. Network Rail will be replacing an aqueduct with a new and raised structure.  The Frome Valley Walkway will be closed between Badminton Road and Chapel Lane for the duration of the works (1st August 2016 to 31 March  2017 approximately) with a temporary diversion routing pedestrians along the footpaths on Badminton Road and Chapel Lane.

Earlier in the week there were problems with the diversion for the Dodington Road bridge works, but following the intervention of Focus Team members this appears to have been resolved.

On Thursday Claire met a Network Rail representative to discuss the visual impact of the electrification works on the viaducts and the landscape of the Frome Valley. We'll update you when we have more information.

Delay to Halfpenny Bridge works

Thank you to everyone who has contacted us about the rail electrification work. Claire Young will be meeting officers and a Network Rail representative later this month. If you have any comments on the gantries, please let Claire know.

At Monday's Parish Council meeting it was mentioned that Network Rail have stopped work for the time being on Halfpenny Bridge because they are concerned about the ability of the bridge to take the weight of the extra iron work. Claire contacted Network Rail for more information and was reassured that the bridge remains safe and open in the meantime. When they are ready to restart the work, they will have to go through the formal footpath closure process again. They would hope to do the work at night, as originally planned, so that the bridge can remain open in the daytime.

Coming to a railway viaduct near you?

As part of electrification, Network Rail not only have to cut back vegetation along the track, 6 metres back either side of the line, but they will also be installing overhead gantries around every 50 metres to carry the wires. Would you want gantries like the ones pictured above on our iconic viaducts, dominating our local landscape? Your Focus Team is pushing for less obtrusive designs to be used - let us know if you agree.

Work on Halfpenny Bridge, Ram Hill

As part of the electrification works, Network Rail are extending the parapets on Halfpenny Bridge, Ram Hill to 1.85m to prevent access to the new electric power cables when they are installed. As the bridge is narrow, they will have to close the footpath to the general public while works are being undertaken, but most of the works will happen at night. Pedestrians and cyclists will be able to cross the bridge as normal when no works are being undertaken.

Work will take place between 22.00hrs and 08.00hrs on the following dates:

Weekend nights in April - 9th, 16th, 23rd
Midweek nights in April - 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th
Weekend nights in May - 7th, 14th, 21st, 22nd

They will do everything possible to minimise the impact on neighbours. For more information contact Toby Elliott, Public Affairs Manager at toby.elliott@networkrail.co.uk or 07734 648 408 or Claire McGine, Communications Manager at claire.mcgine@networkrail.co.uk or 07734 647 240.

Dodington Road railway bridge

It's now nearly three years since Westerleigh Councillor Claire Young and highways officials from South Glos met Network Rail representatives to talk about their plans for raising the parapets on the railway bridge on Dodington Road, Chipping Sodbury. At the time we had expected the work would be done by 2014 but nothing has happened. Now though a temporary road closure notice has been published. This enables the road to be closed at the bridge for the works at any time in the 18 months from 4 January 2016, although the work is expected to take two weeks. The work is being done as part of the electrification of the line.

Westerleigh - more work on double railway arches

Network Rail have submitted notices to carry out works on the double railway bridges over Westerleigh Road, as you enter the village from Yate. The works are in 3 stages and will involve the use of two way temporary traffic lights. The dates are 30th January until 8th February, 17th February until 26th February and 5th March until 7th March 2014.

Hopefully we will not have the problems we had last time as the road will not be closed.

Westerleigh Road to reopen at 6am Friday 11th October

Westerleigh Road has been closed at the double railway arches on the way into the village from Yate since 30th September. It was due to reopen today but Network Rail have found further problems. After negotiation with the council, the company agreed to get extra people in to speed up the work but they do need some extra time. They now plan to re-open the road at 6am tomorrow, Friday 11th October. Fingers crossed they find no further problems.

Westerleigh Road closure - continuing tomorrow

Claire Young has been contacted by people today concerned that the Network Rail Westerleigh Road closure is being extended to 11th October. Unfortunately the relevant officers have been unavailable but it appears that the current expectation is that the work will finish tomorrow, 10th October. We will keep you updated if we hear more.

Local rail consultation

Local people have until 27th November to comment on the future of rail services in the area. Network Rail have published a draft "Route Utilisation Strategy" for Great Western services, including mainline services through Bristol and local services such as those from Yate.

The document suggests that there could be an hourly service between Yate and Weston-super-Mare and also an hourly service from Portishead to Gloucester, stopping at Yate. If these proposals came into force there would then be two trains an hour between Yate and Bristol, although investment of more than £2 million would be required at Yate station to enable trains to turn round. The strategy says that this would only be feasible with 'third party investment', which means the local authority and/or developers putting in significant funding.

Urging people to have their say, local MP Steve Webb said, "This vision for rail services in the West over the coming decade offers real potential for improvements for hard-pressed commuters. A regular twice-hourly service between Yate and Bristol would help to improve the quality of service, though we would need assurances that those trains had enough carriages to cope with peak levels of demand. But this document is only a draft and we therefore need to be sure that these improvements are retained in the final version, due to be published in the New Year. I would therefore encourage anyone who cares about local rail services to register their support for investment at Yate by responding to the consultation".

Those wishing to comment can e-mail greatwesternrus@networkrail.co.uk or write to 'Great Western RUS Consultation Response, Network Rail, Floor 4, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9AG.

Network Rail meeting

I had a meeting today with Network Rail regarding a number of outstanding issues in the Coalpit Heath area. Residents may be aware of work being done on the line, this is part of the final phase of a four-phase project to relay track, due to be completed in mid-September.

If residents have any concerns relating to Network Rail, they can contact them using their helpline number, 0845 7 11 41 41. This has agreed response times and problems will be passed to the appropriate team. For more information, including how to email or write to them, click on:

http://www.networkrail.co.uk/aspx/633.aspx