Portway Park and Ride station (Bristol)

[Annetts key]

Following on from this topic, here’s some pictures I took a couple of weeks ago:

Poster advertising the new station in the park and ride car park


Looking at the new path from the car park to the new station, the entrance is on the right behind the single temporary fence panel.


A better view of the new path viewed from the new station, also showing the new signal.


What you can see from the car park


Close up view of the new signal. This replaces the 1988 signal which was on the left hand side of the track and was in a different position.


View of the platform. Sorry about the poor quality, the auto focus obviously got confused and preferred the post.


The platform was almost complete, with lighting, CCTV, PA speakers, customer information screen and a waiting shelter. The most obvious work still needed was for the tactile paving to be completed along the edge, most was present, but with rather a lot of gaps/missing pieces.

 

[oglord]

Looks like they messed up the telephone number on the signal!

 

[DaveHarries]

Looks like they messed up the telephone number on the signal!

I wonder whose phone numbere that is. It begins 0117 934 which suggests central Bristol (various businesses have the same opening digits) and it won't be Avonmouth which, I think, is 0117 950 xxxx.

Dave

 

[Dunfanaghy Rd]

At least they call it a railway station.
Pat

 

[Hellzapoppin]

The phone number is an external number for an internal NR phone.

 

[alxndr]

I wonder whose phone numbere that is. It begins 0117 934 which suggests central Bristol (various businesses have the same opening digits) and it won't be Avonmouth which, I think, is 0117 950 xxxx.

Dave

It will be the controlling signaller for that signal.

The BT numbers used for signallers don't always make geographical sense for historical reasons, or have non-geographic numbers. For example, Swindon workstation has a Swindon (01793) number and a Reading (0118) number.

 

[TurboMan]

I think what @oglord was getting at is that the phone number on the plate has an extra digit. The external number for St Andrews Jct box is 0117 934 8548. Somehow the sign has ended up with an extra '6' in the middle.

I'd be more concerned about why a signal has moved from the left-hand side of the track to the right-hand side for no particular reason.

 

[Julia1985]

I'd be more concerned about why a signal has moved from the left-hand side of the track to the right-hand side for no particular reason.

So that it can be seen by the guard from the platform surely?

 

[pdeaves]

I'd be more concerned about why a signal has moved from the left-hand side of the track to the right-hand side for no particular reason.

It wasn't moved for fun.

 

[TurboMan]

So that it can be seen by the guard from the platform surely?

That's what Off indicators are for.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 1 Nov 2022 ==

It wasn't moved for fun.

But it'll be the driver's fault when they SPAD it (as happened at West Ealing).

 

[contrex]

I think what @oglord was getting at is that the phone number on the plate has an extra digit. The external number for St Andrews Jct box is 0117 934 8548. Somehow the sign has ended up with an extra '6' in the middle.

I'd be more concerned about why a signal has moved from the left-hand side of the track to the right-hand side for no particular reason.

When Bristol got 7 figure numbers on PhONEday (16 April 1995) the area code changed from 0272 followed by 6 digits to 0117 followed by 7 digits. The existing 6 digit numbers had a 9 added to the start, and many Bristolians just carried on quoting their number using 01179 as the area code and then 6 digits. What some locals still seem not to have absorbed is that (1) the code is just 0117 and (2) new 7 digit Bristol numbers after PhONEday can start with a 2 (2007), 3 (1997), or 4 (2012).

 

[oglord]

When Bristol got 7 figure numbers on PhONEday (16 April 1995) the area code changed from 0272 followed by 6 digits to 0117 followed by 7 digits. The existing 6 digit numbers had a 9 added to the start, and many Bristolians just carried on quoting their number using 01179 as the area code and then 6 digits. What some locals still seem not to have absorbed is that (1) the code is just 0117 and (2) new 7 digit Bristol numbers after PhONEday can start with a 2 (2007), 3 (1997), or 4 (2012).

Indeed, and I would have thought the way it was spaced out, that they really meant 0117 348 6548, which is a valid Citrus Telecommunication number, just with the code quoted wrongly.

 

[pdeaves]

But it'll be the driver's fault when they SPAD it (as happened at West Ealing).

That's a different thing.

The move came from a requirement identified by, discussed by and agreed between signalling designers and drivers' representatives. It wasn't moved just to make life difficult.

 

[Annetts key]

I wonder whose phone numbere that is. It begins 0117 934 which suggests central Bristol (various businesses have the same opening digits) and it won't be Avonmouth which, I think, is 0117 950 xxxx.

The (former BR) railway internal telephone system exchange for the whole of the Bristol area including some numbers in Avonmouth was at Bristol Temple Meads. Although this exchange has been since been renewed, the replacement is in the same building. This is also where the direct dial in connection is between the railway system and BT is. Hence the 0117 934 part. Which is part of the range of numbers that the railway has. Hence it is not a local BT Avonmouth number.

Yes, the number shown is incorrect. First the “ETD” bit should only be 0117, not 01179. Then the rest of the number should start with 9. Secondly, an extra digit has been inserted!

In other places where there is limited clearance or it is otherwise unsafe for a driver to use a SPT and it’s near a station, or for operational reasons, a second telephone is often provided on the platform.

I can only presume the signal has been positioned on the right hand side of the line in order to comply with the current standard on minimum sighting distance. The previous signal would have only been required to comply with a previous older minimum sighting distance. The sighting distances on this section of line being limited by its curvature and the vegetation along it.

 

[geoffk]

I think what @oglord was getting at is that the phone number on the plate has an extra digit. The external number for St Andrews Jct box is 0117 934 8548. Somehow the sign has ended up with an extra '6' in the middle.

I'd be more concerned about why a signal has moved from the left-hand side of the track to the right-hand side for no particular reason.

If you ring a Bristol number from the local area on a landline you will have to dial the 9. I daresay all Bristol numbers begin with 9 but they might not always in future!

 

[Dunfanaghy Rd]

Same thing happened in Pompey / Southampton. Pompey became 023 92xxxxxx (vice 01705) and So'ton 023 80xxxxxx (vice 01703). Given how much the 2 towns love each other (!) they seem to have stuck to giving / using the full number even locally.
Pat

 

[contrex]

I daresay all Bristol numbers begin with 9 but they might not always in future!

Many Bristolians, including people who weren't even alive in 1995, don't realise that 'all' Bristol numbers stopped starting with a 9 pretty soon after PhONEday. They started issuing 0117 3xx xxxx numbers in 1997, 0117 2xx xxxx in 2007, and 0117 4xx xxxx in 2012.

 

[geoffk]

Many Bristolians, including people who weren't even alive in 1995, don't realise that 'all' Bristol numbers stopped starting with a 9 pretty soon after PhONEday. They started issuing 0117 3xx xxxx numbers in 1997, 0117 2xx xxxx in 2007, and 0117 4xx xxxx in 2012.

I didn't know but I've only recently been back to Bristol after many years. All the more important then not to add a 9 on to the code!

 

[Annetts key]

The opening of the new Portway Park and Ride station has been put back. It’s now not likely to open until the spring of next year. This reported by BBC local news yesterday.
Link to article on the BBC website

Bristol's first new railway station for 95 years delayed

By Pete Simson
BBC Radio Bristol political reporter
The opening of the first new railway station in Bristol for almost 100 years has been further delayed.
Portway Park and Ride station on the Severn Beach line won't be ready until "early next year", the West of England Combined Authority (WECA) confirmed.
The station, which has so far cost £4.2m, should have opened in the summer.
A WECA spokesperson said delays were around fitting the station out with electrical supply and data cabling.
Portway station will be the first to open in Bristol since Parson Street in 1927.
Construction began in January, but the station plans were first outlined a decade ago.

The main station has largely been completed, but the car park remains unfinished.
WECA told BBC West some of the delays have come as a result of "longer lead in times for the procurement of essential components" during the building phase, and further delays have hit the site during the fitting out process.
The authority added: "All parties are working hard to resolve these issues as quickly as possible, but the safety validation process is complex and is completed by an independent body, working to mandatory timescales.
"We are working towards opening the station to customers in early 2023."
No exact date for completion has been revealed.

 

[Starmill]

That's a different thing.

The move came from a requirement identified by, discussed by and agreed between signalling designers and drivers' representatives. It wasn't moved just to make life difficult.

Isn't a signal moving from one side of a line to another something which would appear in operating notices or a special briefing for drivers at all companies who sign the route? Surely there's no suggestion this hasn't been done correctly?

 

[Annetts key]

Earlier this week I passed by the site of the station. The station platform and services (lighting, etc) all look finished. The extension to the park and ride car park is however still a construction site.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

One of my twin sons has ventured the opinion that Portway Park and Ride sounds like a firm of solicitors/accountants/surveyors...

 

[Western Sunset]

Wonder if folks will get mixed-up between Portway, Patchway and Parkway...

 

[Annetts key]

Wonder if folks will get mixed-up between Portway, Patchway and Parkway...

Better question, will control. They already get mixed up between the level crossings at Avonmouth. And some ‘clever’ person called the north end of the Bristol bulk handling terminal at Avonmouth ‘Portbury Terminal Junction’!

 

[pdeaves]

Wonder if folks will get mixed-up between Portway, Patchway and Parkway...

Quite likely. I sometimes get muddled over Portbury and Portishead (neither are current stations, of course).

 

[Baxenden Bank]

Quite likely. I sometimes get muddled over Portbury and Portishead (neither are current stations, of course).

There's a Pill you can take for that.

 

[Annetts key]

Passed by on the A4 Portway road earlier this week during the hours of darkness. All the station lighting appears to be working.

The extension to the council park and ride car park is still far from being finished though.

 

[Annetts key]

I had a look last week. It looks finished to me, including the extension of the Park & Ride car park.

The CIS is working, the distorted image is due to the combination of the effect of the camera shutter speed and the multiplexing of the LED display.

I wonder when they are officially going to open it?

 

[Mordac]

So did this open today?

 

[pdeaves]

No evidence that it did!