Avonmouth railway station

Railway station in Bristol, England
the Bristol station currently called Avonmouth

Avonmouth railway station is located on the Severn Beach Line and serves the district of Avonmouth in Bristol, England. It is 9.0 mile (14 km) from Its three letter station code is AVN. The station has two platforms, on either side of two running lines. as of 2015 it is managed by Great Western Railway, which is the third franchise to be responsible for the station since privatisation in 1997. They provide all train services at the station, mainly a train every 30 minutes to and one every hour to
The station was opened in 1877 by the Bristol Port Railway and Pier, a railway which ran along the River Avon from to a pier at Avonmouth. The station, originally known as Avonmouth Dock, had a single platform, but was rebuilt with two platforms by the Great Western and Midland Railways in 1885 when they began services via The station was enhanced numerous times in the early part of the twentieth century, and by 1913 employed 72 staff. Facilities included a goods yard, signal box and engine shed. The Severn Beach Line declined over the latter half of the twentieth century, with passenger numbers falling significantly. Goods services at Avonmouth ended in 1966, and all staff were withdrawn in 1967. Services had decreased to 10 per day each direction by 2005, but have since increased to a train every 30 minutes to Bristol and hourly to Severn Beach.

The station is located in the Avonmouth district of Bristol, an area of mixed industrial and residential usage. The station sits to the south of the junction of Gloucester Road and Portview Road, the tracks running to parallel to Portview Road and crossing Gloucester Road at a level crossing. The station is on the Severn Beach Line from to , 9 mile (14 km) from Temple Meads and 4 mile (6 km) from Severn Beach. The next station towards Temple Meads is Portway Park and Ride. The next station towards Severn Beach is
The station is on a north west/south east alignment, with two platforms separated by two running lines. The southern "up" platform, adjacent to the "Up Main" line, is used for trains towards Severn Beach. The northern "down" platform, adjacent to the "Down Main" line, is bidirectionally signalled, allowing it to be used by terminating trains and those heading towards Bristol. Both platforms have significant portions of their length fenced off, giving usable lengths of for the southern platform and for the northern. Facilities at the station are minimal – there is a wooden canopy and bench seating on the northern platform, with a small metal shelter on the southern. Timetable information is provided; help points show next train information and allow users to contact railway staff. The nearest bus stops are away on Avonmouth Road. The line through Avonmouth has a speed limit of for locomotive hauled trains and for diesel multiple units. The line, which is not electrified, handles less than 5 million train tonnes per year, has a loading gauge of W6 and a route availability of 7. In the 2013/14 financial year, more than 110,000 passengers used Avonmouth station, making it the 1,635th busiest station in the country and the sixth busiest within the Bristol unitary authority area. This was an increase of 175% from the 2002–03 financial year, and reflected a general rise in usage of the Severn Beach Line. The 2014 15 estimates of station usage saw a further increase of 8% to 120,000 making it the 1,614th busiest station in the country.

The railways first came to Avonmouth in 1865, when services began on the Bristol Port Railway and Pier (BPRP), a self contained railway which ran along the north bank of the River Avon to a deep water pier on the Severn Estuary. The BPRP line ran through the site of the current station and 1 mile (2 km) beyond to a terminus at the first Avonmouth station. The BPRP ran into trouble by 1871 when the terminal pier at Avonmouth became difficult to use due to a build up of silt. With no prospect of a proper dock being funded without a connection to the national rail network, the Clifton Extension Railway (CER) was approved. This was a joint venture by the BPRP, Great Western Railway (GWR) and Midland Railway (MR) which ran from Sneyd Park Junction, south of , via , to join up with the national network at Narroways Hill Junction. The link opened in 1877, but initially only for goods trains. The route from Sneyd Park Junction to Clifton Down was subsequently cleared for passenger use on 3 August 1878, but the Midland and Great Western Railways did not think the BPRP track was in a suitable condition and so refused to run any passenger trains beyond Clifton Down. The station cost £275 to build, and was merely a platform on the south side of the single track, served by eight trains per day between and the BPRP's Avonmouth terminus, increasing to ten per day from 1887. Despite the increased traffic the BPRP suffered financially, and was taken over by the CER in 1890. The bay platform was taken out of use and the land later taken for industrial buildings. The parcels office was in use in 2006 as a hairdressing salon. The signal box was closed in January 1969, and in September 1973 the wooden level crossing gates were replaced by automatic lifting barriers. British Rail was split into business led sectors in the 1980s, at which time operations at Avonmouth passed to Regional Railways. At this time, all trains ran to Severn Beach, but the service pattern was irregular. Following action by Friends of Severn Beach Railway and a string of protests, services had increased to 10 per day in each direction by 2005, with Bristol City Council providing a subsidy to Wessex Trains. The Wessex franchise was amalgamated with the Great Western franchise into the Greater Western franchise from 2006, and responsibility passed to First Great Western, a subsidiary company of FirstGroup, subsequently rebranded as Great Western Railway in 2015. A minimum service requirement was written into the franchise agreement, ensuring an hourly service along the line, and this has since been increased to three trains every two hours (25 trains per day). Sunday services to Severn Beach were restored in 2010.

First Great Western declined a contractual option to continue the Greater Western passenger franchise (of which services at Avonmouth are a part) beyond 2013, citing a desire for a longer term contract due to the impending upgrade to the Great Western Main Line. but the process was halted and later scrapped due to the fallout from the collapse of the InterCity West Coast franchise competition. A two year franchise extension until September 2015 was agreed in October 2013, and subsequently extended until March 2019. With the coming upgrade to the Great Western Main Line, the main line from London to Bristol is due to be electrified by 2016. However, the electrification will not extend beyond the main lines, so Avonmouth will continue to be served by diesel trains. Stephen Williams, MP for Bristol West; and the group Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways support the electrification being extended to the Severn Beach Line. Improved services at Avonmouth are called for as part of the Greater Bristol Metro scheme, a rail transport plan which aims to enhance transport capacity in the Bristol area. There is an aspiration for half hourly services, with trains towards Bristol terminating alternately at and , however due to the large sections of the Severn Beach Line which are single track, and to the congested main line from Temple Meads, such frequency is not currently feasible. The enhancement scheme was given the go ahead in July 2012 as part of the City Deal, whereby local councils would be given greater control over money by the government. There are also calls for the reopening of the Henbury Loop Line, which could allow a direct service from Avonmouth to Plans for a loop were rejected by the West of England Joint Transport Board, however
Bristol City Councillors voted to send the decision back to the board for further discussion.