Bristol to Bath Spa blockade October

[Snow1964]

Having seen the thread about weekend closures Southampton-Bournemouth, but different approach is being taken.

The line from Bristol Temple Meads to Bath Spa is being closed from Monday 28 to Thursday 31 October (half term week) with replacement buses.

A fairly busy line with typically 5 passenger trains each way each (and one freight train per hour). Typically trains have 25-28 carriages per hour to cope with demand.

Trains will still be running between:

• Bristol Temple Meads and Cardiff Central, Gloucester or Worcester
• Bath Spa and Portsmouth Harbour
• Westbury and Frome or Weymouth

Replacement road transport is planned between Bristol Temple Meads and Bath Spa – both non-stop and stopping at Keynsham and Oldfield Park.

Doesn't appear to be any replacement for the other two trains per hour, one of which call at local stations between Westbury and Bath (not clear what happens to Warminster trains that serve Dilton Marsh either, as not mentioned)


The day before, Sunday 27 October
Replacement buses are planned between:

• Bath Spa, Bradford-on-Avon, Trowbridge and Westbury
• Bath Spa, Freshford, Avoncliff* and Bradford-on-Avon

* buses stop in Westwood Village


Does seem rather unreasonable to not provide alternative rail route for the long distance trains from South coast, (diversion via Melksham or Taunton perhaps. When then line was closed from Bristol to Taunton XC diverted via Bath and Westbury, but seems opposite diversion cannot be done by GWR). Anyone else think they have prioritised alternatives from Bristol over the users of Wiltshire, Hampshire and Dorset.

Planned Engineering Work and Disruption | Great Western Railway

Find out about planned engineering works, travel disruption and changes to Great Western Railway's published train timetables here.

www.gwr.com

edited, dates corrected

 

[JN114]

Yes, I am almost certain the priority will have been the orders of magnitude more customers affected on the Bath <> Bristol flow over the very small minority of passengers - and all the passenger data says it is a very small minority - who actually make use of the Portsmouth Cardiffs as a through train over its length of route.

They’ve also recognised that the impact would be more harshly felt on a weekend and therefore scheduled these works midweek.

The railway does not have limitless resources; and all the time the DfT and Treasury are telling their operators to use less and less.

The people of Wiltshire, Hampshire and Dorset have alternative rail services to travel via other routes. The people on the line that is actually closed do not.

 

[The Planner]

Having seen the thread about weekend closures Southampton-Bournemouth, but different approach is being taken.

The line from Bristol Temple Meads to Bath Spa is being closed from Monday 25 to Thursday 28 October (half term week) with replacement buses.

A fairly busy line with typically 5 passenger trains each way each (and one freight train per hour). Typically trains have 25-28 carriages per hour to cope with demand.

Trains will still be running between:

• Bristol Temple Meads and Cardiff Central, Gloucester or Worcester
• Bath Spa and Portsmouth Harbour
• Westbury and Frome or Weymouth

Replacement road transport is planned between Bristol Temple Meads and Bath Spa – both non-stop and stopping at Keynsham and Oldfield Park.

Doesn't appear to be any replacement for the other two trains per hour, one of which call at local stations between Westbury and Bath (not clear what happens to Warminster trains that serve Dilton Marsh either, as not mentioned)


The day before, Sunday 25 October
Replacement buses are planned between:

• Bath Spa, Bradford-on-Avon, Trowbridge and Westbury
• Bath Spa, Freshford, Avoncliff* and Bradford-on-Avon

* buses stop in Westwood Village


Does seem rather unreasonable to not provide alternative rail route for the long distance trains from South coast, (diversion via Melksham or Taunton perhaps. When then line was closed from Bristol to Taunton XC diverted via Bath and Westbury, but seems opposite diversion cannot be done by GWR). Anyone else think they have prioritised alternatives from Bristol over the users of Wiltshire, Hampshire and Dorset.

Planned Engineering Work and Disruption | Great Western Railway

Find out about planned engineering works, travel disruption and changes to Great Western Railway's published train timetables here.

www.gwr.com

Several reasons why, enough stock, drivers, route knowledge, capacity and as much as everyone says people will stay on trains, if people see an itinery that says use the bus as its quicker, more often than not they will follow it.

 

[The exile]

Yes, I am almost certain the priority will have been the orders of magnitude more customers affected on the Bath <> Bristol flow over the very small minority of passengers - and all the passenger data says it is a very small minority - who actually make use of the Portsmouth Cardiffs as a through train over its length of route.

They’ve also recognised that the impact would be more harshly felt on a weekend and therefore scheduled these works midweek.

The railway does not have limitless resources; and all the time the DfT and Treasury are telling their operators to use less and less.

The people of Wiltshire, Hampshire and Dorset have alternative rail services to travel via other routes. The people on the line that is actually closed do not.

IIRC they ran some Pompey - Cardiffs that way (ie via Swindon and Bristol Parkway) during the Bristol East blockade in August 2021. No idea what the loadings were - but presumably they do!

 

[stuu]

The dates are 27-31 October

 

[yorksrob]

Shame they don't still have the line from Bristol to Bath Green Park.

 

[Starmill]

IIRC they ran some Pompey - Cardiffs that way (ie via Swindon and Bristol Parkway) during the Bristol East blockade in August 2021. No idea what the loadings were - but presumably they do!

Surely people who don't want to use the bus will be able to just change trains at Swindon anyway? I guess some tickets that are valid via Keynsham might not normally be valid via Chippenham but that's a very easy fix for GWR to apply if they want to...

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 28 Sep 2024 ==

Several reasons why, enough stock, drivers, route knowledge, capacity and as much as everyone says people will stay on trains, if people see an itinery that says use the bus as its quicker, more often than not they will follow it.

For those just doing journeys between Bath and Bristol the ordinary bus service is very frequent, goes into the city centre at Bristol, and only costs £4 round trip, so I imagine for those making short journeys just using that is quicker.

 

[RJ]

Eep - I drove the Bath Spa to Westbury rail replacement route once. Some of the roads, I wasn’t sure I was meant to be down them but I looked in the mirror and the passengers looked wholly unfazed, which gave me some confidence. Each town on the way had its own set of tailbacks thanks to ancient monuments causing bottlenecks.

For my troubles I got landed with a £100 Clean Air Zone charge. A truly once in a lifetime experience

 

[brad465]

There were far longer closes between 2015-17 in this area in connection with preparation for electrification (that hasn't arrived yet): In 2015 Box tunnel was shut for 6 weeks, with 4 of them also including the route through Sydney gardens. In 2016 a 9-10 day closure between Bristol and Bath occurred, then 2017 Bath Spa station was 1 platform only for a few weeks while the platforms were extended outwards.

 

[QueensCurve]

A pity the opportunity isn't being taken to get the wires up.

 

[D6975]

The line from Bristol Temple Meads to Bath Spa is being closed from Monday 25 to Thursday 28 October (half term week) with replacement buses.

???? 25 October is a Friday and 28 October is a Monday!!!

 

[zwk500]

Shame they don't still have the line from Bristol to Bath Green Park.

Given the lack of any direct rail connection at Bath (so passengers would have to walk from Bath Spa to Bath Green Park) and the roundabout route into Bristol, it wouldn't be very helpful in this instance. And for the other c.360 days of the year, it's far better utilised as a Cycle path. If that route ever returns to rail, it'll be light rail or a tram.

A pity the opportunity isn't being taken to get the wires up.

You'd need a bit more than a week! And to have discovered a rather large chequebook in the Treasury's sofa.

 

[30907]

Just for the OP's (and others') info: the amended weekday service is hourly to Portsmouth, hourly to London, hourly stopper to Westbury.

 

[lachlan]

I imagine a lot of those commuting will just work from home those days.

The bus between Bath and Bristol is scheduled to take 50 minutes compared to ~15 by train. The route via Swindon appears to be quicker so hopefully ticket acceptance will be in place. At least those with tap cards can now officially take this route.

 

[Western Sunset]

There always seem to be roadworks through Saltford...

 

[Snow1964]

Have seen some yellow signs (about A3 paper size) cable tied to railings at the smaller stations in the area warning of pending disruption. Went up few days ago.

The GWR webpage for the week is here

https://www.gwr.com/-/media/gwr-sc-website/files/travel-information/travel-updates/planned-engineering/2024/Week-31-Saturday-26-October-to-Friday-1-November-2024.pdf

One oddity that I cannot fathom is in section 22 it says Portsmouth-Cardiff trains will be replaced by trains between Bath Spa and Bristol. (yes does say trains, not buses)

 

[Re 4/4]

For those just doing journeys between Bath and Bristol the ordinary bus service is very frequent, goes into the city centre at Bristol, and only costs £4 round trip, so I imagine for those making short journeys just using that is quicker.

It takes an hour once there's any kind of traffic. Even longer when they have temporary traffic lights on the way. But you can't beat it on cost as long as the £2 cap is in place.

 

[Snow1964]

It takes an hour once there's any kind of traffic. Even longer when they have temporary traffic lights on the way. But you can't beat it on cost as long as the £2 cap is in place.

It might be even longer during the bus substitution because in a piece of non-coordinated planning, multi-way temporary traffic lights are going in for utility work at Globe roundabout from this evening for Wales and West Utilities work, with long delays expected.

Globe (there is pub of that name) roundabout is where A39 meets A4 (and few hundred yards east the A36 from Southampton merges into A4), plus a busy road from South side of Bath all meet

Warning ahead of Bristol and Bath rail and road disruption

Travellers around Bristol and Bath can expect several days of disruption on rail lines and roads.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[The exile]

Globe (there is pub of that name) roundabout is where A39 meets A4 (and few hundred yards east the A36 from Southampton merges into A4), plus a busy road from South side of Bath all meet

And it is only avoidable south of the Avon by a long diversion (almost certainly taking longer than waiting for the lights) or totally unsuitable single-track lanes.

 

[Snow1964]

The Network Rail media release is here

The closure is for track works in St Anne's tunnel, which is 185 years old.

There used to be a St Anne's Park station (closed in 1970) near the end of the tunnel, and it has been proposed for reopening as part of Metrowest Bristol.

Crucial engineering work in the Bath area affects rail journeys this autumn

Passengers travelling between Bristol and Bath, and on towards Westbury are reminded to check before they travel during the autumn half term break.

www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk

Auto merge Sunday lunchtime update

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 27 Oct 2024 ==

In another piece of genius road closures coinciding with the closure today from Bath to Westbury (ahead of this weeks closure Bath-Bristol starting tomorrow.)

Stallard Street outside Trowbridge station was closed this morning, and a separate closure of A363 Woodmarsh closed from Trowbridge retail park (the bus route between Trowbridge and Westbury).

Clearly the rail replacement bus service is a shambols due to traffic queues in Trowbridge