|
|
| GREEN
BELT PLANS FOR RAILWAY |
| Next
Story | Previous
Story | Back
to list |
18:00 - 25 January 2007
|
Land taken out of the Green
Belt at Portbury could get the Portishead Railway
project back on track, according to one
campaigner.
Alistair Lindsay, aged 22, of Clevedon,
said the site near junction 19 of the M5 could be
used for a car park to serve a station at
Portbury.
The rail enthusiast believes it
would be easier to get funding to reopen the
railway in stages, starting with a link between
Portbury and Ashton Gate.
That would be
followed by re-laying three miles of track and
building a station in Portishead, followed by
extending services into central Bristol, possibly
to Wapping Wharf, near the Industrial Museum and
ultimately to Temple Meads.
The land at
Portbury was controversially removed from the
Green Belt in November on the assumption it would
be designated for the expansion of Royal Portbury
Dock.
But Alistair said if it was going to
be used to park cars it would be better off being
used to take cars off the road and provide the
impetus to get the rail project off the
ground.
Alistair, who works in insurance,
says he has been presenting his work to a number
of transport groups and reopening the branch line
between Portishead and Bristol is now on Transport
2000's manifesto.
He said: "The problems of
getting out of Portishead in the morning are well
documented and running the railway into the heart
of Portishead is the best solution.
"But
getting the funding for the whole project has been
a major stumbling block.
"If we start small
and have stations at Portbury, Pill and Ashton
Gate we will immediately take cars off the road
and, once part of the route is operating, it will
be easier to get investment to reopen the whole
line."
Alistair thought the first phase
would cost less than half of the projected cost of
£13 million to open the whole line.
The
advantages of initially running from Portbury to
Ashton Gate are that the track is already in place
and expensive upgrading of signalling at Parsons
Street and Temple Meads won't have to be
made.
Alan Matthews, chairman of Portishead
Railway Group, said he thought there was a lot of
merit in Alistair's plan, if all the stages could
be delivered.
He said: "Fundamentally our
group wants the railway to run from the centre of
Portishead to the centre of Bristol.
"But
if this helps us to reach that goal then we would
be happy to back it."
Alistair, who is
responsible for transport policy within the North
Somerset Labour Party, added that plans were at an
early stage and extensive talks would be needed
with the Portbury Dock freight operator EWS,
Network Rail, First Great Western, councils and
other stakeholders.
He said: "There is
obviously a lot of work to do but there is vast
potential for the line and it urgently needs to be
reopened."
|
|
| |
.gif){kind=small}
Home
.gif){kind=spacer}
