2011 Blow for Town's (Portishead) Rail Link

Bristol Evening Post

2011 BLOW FOR TOWN'S RAIL LINK

10:40 - 05 March 2007

The man leading the long-running campaign to reopen the old Portishead to Bristol railway line for passenger trains believes it will be 2011 before it happens.Portishead Railway Group chairman Alan Matthews says the Government will first have to approve the plan and, through Network Rail, provide the £6 million needed to bring the existing track back to life.

He also said that the train operator might need cash subsidies from North Somerset and Bristol City councils to ensure the line remains viable.

The track has remained disused since it was closed to passenger trains in 1964, but part was reopened in 2001 to carry freight to and from Royal Portbury Dock.

Portishead's residents have been calling for years for the remaining three miles from the port to the town to be restored to ease traffic congestion on the A369 into Bristol.

Mr Matthews was speaking at a business breakfast staged by solicitors Burroughs Day at Gordano School, Portishead.

He said: "The track which is already there could be opened very quickly and there's a site for a new station earmarked in Portishead near Waitrose supermarket.

"We even have a rather unusual car park for a kiss-and-ride scheme. This is where one partner can drop off the other and they kiss before catching the train into Bristol."

"We know logistically that a showcase bus route along the A369 will not work.

"Local residents argue that it makes far more sense to reopen the railway instead."