Long-awaited return of Bristol to Portishead railway line is 100% happening - and by 2028 - video Dailymotion

BristolWorld

Local politicians have hailed the Portishead Railway as 100% happening at last, after the government gave the scheme its backing today.  Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has announced today that the project to reopen the railway will receive the multi-million pound government investment it needs to make it happen. The long-awaited scheme will see new stations built in Portishead and Pill and the railway, which closed to passengers in 1964, connecting the town and village to Bristol once again.

Transcript

00:00From 2028 we're really excited that this funding will unlock one train per hour but of course we're

00:04working with partners to look at how we can expand that recognising that we expect there

00:08will be more demand. It'll be a 25 minute journey and we know that there are 50,000 people living

00:13along that line who will be able to access rail who haven't been able to before so we know there's

00:17going to be great demand and we know that those communities are really excited and have been

00:20campaigning for this service so it's great news for them as well today. Porter's Head Bristol

00:25line really important it's been people wanted it for a very long time as you know and there's been

00:30a few false starts along the way but we've really sort of made a lot of progress this year and then

00:35the government has announced today that we have secured that final piece of funding which means

00:40that our full business case has been accepted we've got all the money that we need and we can

00:43now go into delivery mode which is brilliant news for the region. I wouldn't have this big smile on

00:48my face and I wouldn't be stood here talking to everyone if I didn't think it was going to happen

00:52we know we've got the funding we know we've got the will we've got you know we're working with GWR

00:57working with Network Rail so it's just a case now of kind of getting all of the contracts getting our

01:02supply chain sorted getting our scheduling done and then really starting that work there's some a

01:08little bit of work to do over the winter in terms of prepping the ground and stuff but then with a view

01:12to starting in the spring. In the first instance it's going to be great for commuters right so we've got

01:16a lot of people that live out Porter's Head Peel, Eastling, Gordano, Abbotsley, villages around there that you know

01:21Bristol is their economic centre so we've got a lot of people that can make a different choice

01:24in terms of how they now travel to work which is great but also I think it will give access

01:30to a lot of people who live in those areas to come into Bristol more easily that would be good for

01:34Bristol's economy give them access to some of the leisure culture here but I also think you know

01:39there'll be a lot of traffic going the other way as well in terms of people wanting to get into

01:43Porter's Head's a great town we've got lovely villages all along that kind of Avon Gorge part so

01:50people will be exploring and getting out and about and it'll bring the region together which is just

01:54fantastic

Long-awaited return of Bristol to Portishead railway line is 100% happening - and by 2028

Category

Transcript

Recommended