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Henbury loop, Bristol - a freight railway line with passenger potential?

Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2012-09-29 22:05:41 - Graham Ellis

Today offered a chance to travel on some unusual railway lines in the Bristol area as part of the Community Rail Festival, and I was lucky enough to get a seat on the 11:08 train, which turned out to run from Bristol Temple Meads up the main line north to Filton, across the freight only line via Henbury to St. Andrew's Road on the Severn Beach line, then back into Bristol Temple Meads via Avonmouth and Clifton Down. For many, this was an opportunity to travel on a line they had never been on before; it was more than that for me, it was also an opportunity to take a look at a section of track and think how existing rail resources can be used - perhaps with relatively small works - for much more than they do at present.

The abandoned platform at Henbury. It's just off the A38 trunk road, and very close to Filton College. And it's neighbouring the BAE Systems plant which is where Concode was built. The site has shrunk. Much more is changing as I read of mergers and takeovers, and I see areas of industry cleared for redevelopment in the immediate area, and across the road at the huge old Roll Royce plant which has shrunk into a section near to Patchway station across the far side of the Rolls area.


The railway line crosses right over one of the taxiways on the Filton airfield and - my goodness - what an opportunity that should be (or have been) for a well linked airport for Bristol; the motorway is quite close too, with rail access direct to the terminal direct from the suburban rail network. Alas, international flights land and take off instead at Lulsgate, to the south of the city and far from the railway line and far from the motorway, and this looks like an option that's already been lost in planning - I'm sure Bristol's planning and development experts have good reasons.


The railway drops off the higher land that the airfield is on and crosses over both the M5 and the M49 - and here's yet another opportunity for a park and ride transfer; it may be one opportunity too many, as others are available nearby on the current Avonmouth line (work being done at Shirehampton for opening next year) and in the future at Pill / Gordano if the Portishead line re-opens


Anyway - a fascinating trip and a learning experience. Campaigners are talking about a half hourly service on lines in the Bristol area such as this one; in oder for that to work, there would need to be some extra tracks relayed between the main line at Narrowways Junction and Avonmouth as the passing loops are 10 minutes apart - great for an "every 20 minutes" service and great for "every 40 minutes", but impractical for "every 30 minutes". We'll see what happens on that, as the next natural step up would be from every 40 minutes as it is at present, with the problem of remembering which hour you're in, to a 30 minute service which would be "clockface" within each hour.