Tuesday 6 Aug 2024
Passengers in and around Bristol reminded to check before they travel ahead of vital upgrades
- Region & Route:
- Wales & Western: Western
- | Wales & Western
Essential railway engineering work starts in the Bristol and South Gloucestershire areas on Saturday 17 August and runs until the early hours of Saturday 24 August.
Network Rail’s teams will be working around the clock at multiple locations, renewing track and drainage rat Lawrence Hill and Montpelier, as well as replacing a bridge at Chittening, between Avonmouth and Severn Beach.
More than 1km of track will be replaced, with the team also renewing 210 metres of drainage infrastructure. Over 3,500 tonnes of spoil will be removed from the site and almost 3,000 tonnes of ballast – the stones that support the track - will be installed.
Mark Parker, Network Rail’s lead portfolio manager said: “We’re grateful to passengers and to residents who live close to the railway, for their patience during this week of work.
“We work hard to keep unnecessary noise to a minimum but renewing parts of the railway can be disruptive. Equally we appreciate the impact on passengers along these busy commuter routes.
“This is all vital maintenance to keep the railway running safely and reliably.”
Alex Hills, GWR station manager for the Bristol area, said: “This work by Network Rail is part of an ongoing programme of maintenance, helping to provide continued reliable services.
“GWR will provide rail replacement services for customers along the Severn Beach line and First Bus will allow customers to travel on certain bus services too.
“Buses serve Lawrence Hill, Stapleton Road and Filton Abbey Wood stations, plus Montpelier, Redland, Clifton Down, Sea Mills, Shirehampton, Avonmouth and St Andrew’s Road.
“In addition, valid rail tickets can also be used to travel on the Portway Park & Ride bus services to or from Bristol city centre operated by Stagecoach Buses.
“However, these alternative travel arrangements by road will mean that journey times will be slightly longer, so please check carefully before you travel.”
Passenger information
On Saturday 17 August buses replace trains between Severn Beach and Avonmouth only.
From Sunday 18 until Friday 23 August buses replace trains between Severn Beach/Clifton Down, Avonmouth and Bristol Temple Meads. During this time, direct trains will run between Filton Abbey Wood and Bristol Temple Meads but won’t stop at Stapleton Road or Lawrence Hill stations.
More information about these improvements can be found at www.networkrail.co.uk/filtonandbeach
Notes to Editors
Road closure and traffic management
To enable bridge replacement work taking place, traffic management measures are in place along the A403, Severn Road:
- Two-way lights are intermittently in operation during the hours of 8am and 6pm, up until 6 September.
- The A403 Severn Road will be closed between the hours of 9pm and 5am Wednesday 14 – Friday 16 August and Monday 19 – Wednesday 21 August. A signed diversion will be in place during the closure.
Contact information
Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41
Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries
Journalists
Emily Maiden
Network Rail
Emily.Maiden@networkrail.co.uk
About Network Rail
We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.
Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.
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