Portway Park & Ride station is a single-platform stop adjacent to the Portway Park and Ride site, on the A4 near Shirehampton, Bristol. From 1st August 2023 the station is served by the half-hourly MetroWest Phase 1a service between Avonmouth and Bristol Temple Meads.
We continue to campaign for the re-opening of the Henbury Loop which would link Portway Park & Ride Station via Avonmouth to Henbury and North Filton, which is due to re-open as part of the Henbury Spur.
Timeline
31 July 2023
Station formally opened by Transport Secretary Mark Harper, with Bristol City Council Cabinet Member for Transport Don Alexander and WECA Mayor Dan Norris. Services start the next day, 1st August.
26 July 2023
GWR announce that the station will open on Tuesday 1st August 2023.
2 June 2023
Office of Rail and Road grants authorisation to operate the new station. But the gate remains locked.
December 2022
Station sign in place.
September 2022
Construction nears completion, with platform, fencing and shelters in place.
January 2022
Site clearance and compound construction continues. Work is also progressing on the Avonmouth Severnside Enterprise Area (ASEA) Ecology Mitigation and Flood Defence Project. The project area stretches from Lamplighter’s Marsh in the south to Aust Cliff in the north.
December 2021
Network Rail’s December 2021 Bristol railway work update newsletter identifies the station as Portway Park & Ride. Site clearance and vegetation clearance starts, together with construction of site compound. Station is expected to be operational by Summer 2022.
November 2020
WECA Strategic Rail Investment proposal identifies the station as Portway rather than ‘Portway Parkway’.
May 2020
Detailed design completed.
December 2019
After development work by Network Rail, it is revealed that the overall cost of the new station at Portway has risen to between £3.4million and £3.6million.
Bristol City Council’s cabinet agrees to ask the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership to cover the £1 million shortfall by reallocating LGF money earmarked for other Bristol projects, which turned out to be ineligible.
The increase is due to additional costs for track drainage, foundations for signals, lighting and walkways, contractor overheads not included in previous figures and an extra passenger waiting shelter. The platform will be longer than originally proposed to “future proof” the station for bigger trains.
The report to Cabinet states:
“While it is disappointing that project costs have increased, it is felt that the reasons relate predominantly to Network Rail project development processes and future proofing of the station, so the project is still considered to be feasible. If the project was to be further delayed, the LGF and DfT grants already allocated to the project would be put at risk, making the station far more challenging to deliver in the future.”
Cabinet member for transport Councillor Kye Dudd says:
“This project is key to reducing our congestion, helps us tackle air quality issues and is an important development for the Avonmouth/ Shirehampton area.”
March 2019
Bristol City Council give planning permission for the new station. The single platform is long enough for five car trains and planned facilities include a ticket machine, CCTV, seven disabled parking spaces, cycle parking and a basic shelter.
July 2018
Network Rail submit a planning application for the new station.
2017
The station is one of five to be awarded funding by the second round of the government’s New Stations Fund. The single-platform station and associated rail infrastructure is budgeted at £2.23 million.
The station is named as Portway Parkway, rather than ‘Portway Park and Ride’.
This is one of the first transport projects to be approved by the West of England Combined Authority (WECA) in July 2017. WECA allocate £0.55 million from the Local Growth Fund (LGF) to supplement £1.67 million from the Department for Transport (DfT) .
April 2014
Severnside Community Rail Partnership try to fast-track delivery of a railway station at the site, but Network Rail and the Department for Transport insist on the standard new station construction process.
Network Rail indicate that there are technical problems due to the proximity of the West Town Road level crossing.
2008
The car park is expanded to provide 830 spaces to coincide with the opening of the Cabot Circus shopping mall in Broadmead.
April 2002
Portway Park and Ride opens with 300 car parking spaces and a bus link to Bristol. A train station on the adjacent Severn Beach Line is under discussion.