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!

Planning to travel by train at Easter?

Network Rail have warned us that they will be carrying out their largest ever resignalling project this Easter, from Friday 30 March to Tuesday 3 April, in and around Bristol Temple Meads. The aim is to improve reliability and increase capacity to meet growing demand. No trains will run to, through or from Bristol Temple Meads during this time.

While this is bad news for those planning to travel over Easter, they promise that in the long run it will mean fewer delays and faster journey times, and enable an increase in trains from 2019. Passengers will benefit from almost twice as many trains between Bristol and London Paddington from 2019.

You can find out more on the Network Rail website.

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.

Christmas rail disruption

From Saturday 24th December until Thursday 29th December London Paddington will be closed to all rail services.

This will mean that GWR rail services will start and finish at Ealing Broadway, from where you can take the underground or a bus. However, the station does not have step-free access. So if you are travelling with heavy luggage or find steps difficult for any reason you will need to change at Reading and use services from there to London Waterloo. Unfortunately that will mean a longer journey.

You can find out more on the GWR website.

Reminder - Severn Tunnel to close on Monday

The Severn Tunnel will be closed between Monday 12 September and Friday 21 October but Great Western Railway are keen to reassure you that their services will still be running  - with trains being diverted or replaced by buses.

Alternative timetables will operate throughout the work, with journeys to London taking about 35 minutes longer and Bristol 45 minutes longer. This is essential work towards bringing electrification through to Cardiff and Swansea.

Full details of the changes are on their website.

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.

Yate Station Celebration - and looking to the future

Twenty five years ago Yate station reopened, following a major campaign by local people. This enabled Pat Hockey, pictured second from right in the cake cutting photo and at that time Joint Chair of Avon County Council’s Planning and Transport Committee, to get approval for the scheme to go ahead. 

The Friends of Yate Station organised a special celebration event last Sunday with stalls, a brass band, afternoon tea, vintage and railway display, and a heritage tent to share artefacts and memories. The sun shone and the cake was stunning! Sarah not only made it but also helped Baroness Kramer cut it (see above).

The Friends of Yate Station have helped get many improvements in recent years, like improved cycling parking, a ticket machine, new flower beds and the attractive plaque in the picture above. Baroness Kramer is the Transport Minister so we made sure she knew we need more trains, including later evening ones and earlier ones on Sunday. There's always plenty more to do, so if you are a regular user of the station why not get along to one of the meetings and get involved? You can find out more on the Yate Town Council website.

More pictures of the day are available on Facebook.

Don't forget Yate station celebration this Sunday

Twenty five years ago Yate station reopened, following a major campaign by local people. This enabled Pat Hockey, at that time Joint Chair of Avon County Council’s Planning and Transport Committee, to get approval for the scheme to go ahead. Now it's time to celebrate! This Sunday (18th May) from 12.00 noon till 3.00 pm the Friends of Yate Station have organised a special event with stalls, a brass band, afternoon tea, vintage and railway display, and a heritage tent to share artefacts and memories.

Yate Station reopening 25th anniversary coming up!

Yate Railway Station was one of the first in the country to reopen after the Beeching closures of the 1960s. This year is the 25th anniversary of the station's reopening in 1989 after a major campaign by local people.

On May 18th 2014 from 12.00 noon till 3.00 pm there will be a special celebration event organised by the Friends of Yate Station. It will feature stalls, a brass band, afternoon tea, vintage and railway display, a heritage tent to share artefacts and memories and a visit by Baroness Susan Kramer, Minister of State for Transport.

See Yate Town Council's website for more information as it is confirmed.

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.

New cycle parking for Yate station

People who cycle to Yate station will be pleased to know it's in line for new parking facilities for bicycles. 

Lib Dem Sue Walker, who chairs the Friends of Yate Station said, “This is something we’ve been fighting for for a long time. The cycle lockers have become a real eyesore and are desperately in need of a revamp, they certainly aren’t encouraging anyone to cycle to the station. Having seen improvements for cyclists at other stations in the area, I’m delighted that Yate is finally getting some attention.”

Local Councillor Claire Young, who is also a member of Friends of Yate Station, said, “At a meeting last month I asked the Council’s transport exec to look into different types of cycle storage, not just the lockable pods. They’re great for people who regularly cycle to the station, but there also needs to be stands that any cyclist can turn up and use. Draft plans have now been drawn up and we’ve been promised that Friends of Yate Station will have a chance to comment before the plans are finalised.”

Reading Station closed over Christmas

Reading Station will be closed for redevelopment between December 27, 2010 and January 2, 2011.You can find out more on the First Great Western website.

Campaigners celebrate extra rush-hour train from Yate

Claire Young, Wully Perks (Vice-Chair) and Sue Walker (Chair) of Friends of Yate Station and Steve Webb MP at Yate Station


Following pressure from local MP Steve Webb and the Friends of Yate Station, First Great Western have agreed to put on an extra morning commuter train from Yate in the new timetable to be introduced in May.

Late last year, the MP held a meeting at his Yate office with First Great WesternChief Executive Mark Hopwood to register his complaint about overcrowding on rush-hour trains between Yate and Bristol. The company considered these concerns and has now announced that from May there will be an additional train leaving Yate at 0712, calling at Filton Abbey Wood, Bristol Parkway and Bristol Temple Meads before going on to Westbury. This is a train thatwas previously running empty through the station, starting in Cheltenham Spa and only beginning to pick up passengers at Bristol Parkway.

Commenting on his web site, Steve Webb said:"An extra morning train from Yate to Abbey Wood and Bristol is a big step forward. For passengers who have had enough of overcrowding on the later trains, this will provide an additional option of a less crowded earlier train. For workers with some flexibility on working hours it may mean that they can then travel back home slightly earlier, and thereby avoid the peak rush-hour trains out of Bristol in the evening. Coming on top of the additional carriage that we have secured for the 0815 service, this is another sign that where we campaign effectively we can get things improved".

In addition to the new 0712 service, there is an improvement in service for those travelling to Swindon, with the 0740 service now going on from Bristolto Swindon without the need for changing trains.

Some relief for overcrowded Yate rail passengers

First Great Western is putting an extra carriage on an overcrowded morning service from Yate via Filton Abbey Wood and Bristol Parkway to Bristol Temple Meads. From December there will be three carriages on a re-timed train at 8.16 am, instead of just two carriages at 8.09 am.

This follows a campaign by the Friends of Yate Station and Steve Webb MP, who took a senior First GW manager on the train to show how overcrowded it was.

This still leaves an overcrowding problem in the evening service back from Temple Meads.

Steve Webb described the changes as just a small step forward and commented "It's good news but we need three carriages on all peak services. We also need to be confident that trains will always turn up. They should also be running with greater frequency."

So how about it, First Great Western? You'll be able to take some people into Bristol but you won't be able to bring them back. That's not exactly integrated thinking.

For more details see the Evening Post report here.