Any prospect of an improved service for Ashley Down?

The station has been open for a while and when I use it to or from Bristol Temple Meads, there are usually around 10 other people getting on or off so there’s clearly some demand for it.
However, the last trains are pretty early (2015 from Bristol Temple Meads and 2051 to Bristol Temple Meads) and the 1tph Monday to Saturday Bristol Temple Meads - Filton Abbey Wood shuttle service is somewhat underwhelming. Because of that low frequency, Bristol TM to/from Ashley Down via Filton does present an annoying but feasible option between the direct trains.

As I understand it, the future additional TfW Wales - Bristol Temple Meads services won’t call at Ashley Down and the opening of Bristol Brabazon this autumn , with the extension of the Bristol Temple Meads - Filton shuttle, won’t see an increase in frequency.

Do we have any other hopes for an improvement in the service in the near future?

A 2nd train per hour is very possible on the Bristol Temple Meads - Filton/Henbury route. One of GWR's objections to the new TfW service is that they think it'll clash with their anticipated 2nd path to Filton Abbey Wood.

As well as earlier and later trains and higher frequency on the TM-Filton (eventually Henbury!) shuttle, it would be good to see occasional (1tph/p2h) trains that go further afield in each direction (probably a Gloucester/Worcester northbound and Westbury/Yeovil/Weymouth to the south).

If there is demand for more services, the best prospect is making existing services call there which currently don't. Maybe Weymouth/Westbury-Gloucester services, and/or Bristol-Worcester locals. Cardiff-Exeter/Portsmouth are probably too in demand without the call to make them be able to call, and there is no chance or benefit to getting XC to serve here.

Severnia333 said:

Westbury/Yeovil/Weymouth to the south

Click to expand...

I'd second that, as I travel between from Stapleton Road and Bath Spa quite often. Incidentally, last week I saw trains between Portsmouth Harbour & Bristol Parkway using the relief lines and calling at Stapleton Road. I don't know why, they seem to have vanished this week.

I live locally so am watching this topic like a hawk!

There has been quiet talk of a 2nd shuttle to make the service half hourly after the arena opens. This has been very quiet though. Infact the most confirmation I have seen about this is GWRs objection to the TfW services mentioned in another post. So we shall see!

The potential TfW burns station proposals do include Ashley Down but that was just a consultation and is years away anyway.
 
GWR do manage to stop additional services when Bristol Rovers are at home or when theres matches at Gloucestershire Cricket club, so shows it can be done by them too. Would think the Gloucester to Bristol services calling would be best to provide a bristol Parkway link!

And later services already run through on the slow lones to serve Stapleton road and Lawrence hill. E.g. the later cardiff to bristol aervices. I really don't understand why they cant make a stop!

contrex said:

I'd second that, as I travel between from Stapleton Road and Bath Spa quite often. Incidentally, last week I saw trains between Portsmouth Harbour & Bristol Parkway using the relief lines and calling at Stapleton Road. I don't know why, they seem to have vanished this week.

Click to expand...

The Portsmouth services were running to Parkway instead of cardiff due to work on the severn tunnel. I assume due to pathing that meant the nornal shuttle couldnt run so it included calls at Ashley down and others.

The sunday service at Ashley down being to cardiff to Taunton/ Exeter services also caused a bit of confusing locally too. People seeing they can get a nice convenient quick train to cardiff one day, but then have to change adding a decent amount of time to the journey the next.

zwk500 said:

A 2nd train per hour is very possible on the Bristol Temple Meads - Filton/Henbury route. One of GWR's objections to the new TfW service is that they think it'll clash with their anticipated 2nd path to Filton Abbey Wood.

Click to expand...

I guess depends who you believe but the TfW response to that would be they think it will work still.

brad465 said:

If there is demand for more services, the best prospect is making existing services call there which currently don't. Maybe Weymouth/Westbury-Gloucester services, and/or Bristol-Worcester locals. Cardiff-Exeter/Portsmouth are probably too in demand without the call to make them be able to call, and there is no chance or benefit to getting XC to serve here.

Click to expand...

Either of those proposals gives a direct service to all or most of Bath, Bristol Parkway and Gloucester (I imagine these would be in highest demand for most of suburban Bristol after Temple Meads) plus a plethora of smaller stations.

contrex said:

Incidentally, last week I saw trains between Portsmouth Harbour & Bristol Parkway using the relief lines and calling at Stapleton Road. I don't know why, they seem to have vanished this week.

Click to expand...

I think that was due to the Severn tunnel being closed.

jazzy said:

I think that was due to the Severn tunnel being closed.

Click to expand...

Indeed - with the S Wales lines blocked through Filton Abbey Wood there would have been nowhere to turn the shuttle - Bristol Parkway already having to cope with the Portsmouths, which picked up the stops.

jazzy said:

The station has been open for a while and when I use it to or from Bristol Temple Meads, there are usually around 10 other people getting on or off so there’s clearly some demand for it.
However, the last trains are pretty early (2015 from Bristol Temple Meads and 2051 to Bristol Temple Meads) and the 1tph Monday to Saturday Bristol Temple Meads - Filton Abbey Wood shuttle service is somewhat underwhelming. Because of that low frequency, Bristol TM to/from Ashley Down via Filton does present an annoying but feasible option between the direct trains.

Do we have any other hopes for an improvement in the service in the near future?

Click to expand...

The service hours at Ashley Down are appaling for a new station in an urban area. First train towards Bristol at 07:52,with the first northbound at 07:30 to Filton Abbey Wood. And Sundays only 2 hourly albeit at least with direct services to Cardiff and Taunton.

I do think they should at least be scope, even now, to add later services from Bristol. There's a plethora of ECS moves between Bristol Temple Meads and Bristol Parkway for Stoke Gifford: 14 on a weekday after the current last service at 20:03 from Bristol Temple Meads, 14 on a saturday, and 14 on a sunday evening after the last service.

If GWR are unable to add extra stops on late evening cardiff services to extend the service hours at Ashley Downs then it should be at least possible to convert say 2 out of the 14 ECS moves to passenger service between Bristol Temple Meads and Bristol Parkway or Filton Abbey Wood and serve Ashley Down using these.

Most of the ECS moves however do use the main lines rather than the reliefs, and Ashley Downs only has platforms on the reliefs, so you would need to try and repath them onto the reliefs if possible, surely must be possible to do for 2 of them on weekdays. On Saturdays 1, and Sundays 2, out of the 14 ECS, are already booked to run on the reliefs between Bristol Temple Meads and Filton Abbey Wood:
5M74 - 21:00 Temple Meads - Stoke Gifford - forms off of the 20:08 Western Super Mare to Bristol service
5M69 20:31 (SuO) - Temple Meads to Stoke Gifford - forms off of the 19:26 Taunton to Bristol service
5M71 21:26 (SuO) - Temple Meads to Stoke Gifford - forms of of the 20:16 Taunton to Bristol service

So these particular ones ought to be able to be relatively easily extended in service to Bristol Parkway serving Ashley Down, with later trains (a guard would be needed though).

And earlier trains in the mornings from Ashley Down towards Bristol could likewise utilise a couple of the plethora of ECS moves from Stoke Gifford to Bristol before the first service at 07:52, however these would once again require repathing a few onto the relief lines in order for Ashley Downs to be served, as well as guard. But the stock and drivers exist. If you use an ECS that forms a London service at Bristol, you could have a direct Ashley Downs to London service!

Or as other posters have suggested, stick some extra stops on early and late Cardiff trains.

My personal take is GWR have been rather lazy on weekdays and saturdays only adding stops at Ashley Downs on the Bristol to Filton shuttles, hence the restricted operating hours

Any news on when Henbury will be finished? And would the existing shuttle go there, for two tph?

The Gloucester<>Westbury makes sense, as Bristol Parkway is far better for most connections (London, Birmingham, Manchester) from Ashley Down / Filton. And you cover Bath off in the other direction, which seems to regionally be the other main place people need to access.

cle said:

Any news on when Henbury will be finished? And would the existing shuttle go there, for two tph?

The Gloucester<>Westbury makes sense, as Bristol Parkway is far better for most connections (London, Birmingham, Manchester) from Ashley Down / Filton. And you cover Bath off in the other direction, which seems to regionally be the other main place people need to access.

Click to expand...

Since GW’s objection to the TfW plans is that it would interfere with their “anticipated” 2nd tph, that strongly suggests that initially it is the existing Filton shuttle that will be extended.

brad465 said:

If there is demand for more services, the best prospect is making existing services call there which currently don't. Maybe Weymouth/Westbury-Gloucester services, and/or Bristol-Worcester locals. Cardiff-Exeter/Portsmouth are probably too in demand without the call to make them be able to call, and there is no chance or benefit to getting XC to serve here.

Click to expand...

Why would you stop regional services here when it’s clearly a metro station? The (future) Henbury line stations need a regular turn up a go level of service (and this is likely as Brabazon and Henbury are developed both as housing developments and their nearby stations), while longer distance services don’t need to be stopping at local Bristol stations.

Noddy said:

Why would you stop regional services here when it’s clearly a metro station? The (future) Henbury line stations need a regular turn up a go level of service (and this is likely as Brabazon and Henbury are developed both as housing developments and their nearby stations), while longer distance services don’t need to be stopping at local Bristol stations.

Click to expand...

The Weymouth/Westbury-Gloucester service is essentially two metro services combined into one.

I would love to see a 2tph Cardiff-Bristol stopping service and a 2tph fast service once all/most of the burns stations are in place. And only providing 1tph to Brabzon/Henbury is ridiculous.

Noddy said:

Why would you stop regional services here when it’s clearly a metro station? The (future) Henbury line stations need a regular turn up a go level of service (and this is likely as Brabazon and Henbury are developed both as housing developments and their nearby stations), while longer distance services don’t need to be stopping at local Bristol stations.

Click to expand...

Partly because those services are already stopping services anyway. Oldfield Park (for the services that run through past Bath) is a very similar station in terms of area etc.
And because Ashely Down would benefit from having a direct service to Parkway (to improve access to the longer distance services).

Metro services where people need to change to get to their destination only work where the frequency is high enough. For that in this instance you really need four trains.an hour Ashley Down to Filton and then the same Filton to Parkway.

If we get to that I'd agree you just give the stations a metro service and let people change for longer distance services. But right now we are expecting people to change with atrocious frequencies on all legs. Hell right now if you want to go from Ashley Down to Parkway you get almost a half hour wait at Filton (which isnt exactly a great place to wait at) or have to have an elongated trip to temple meads first! Its insane - I just get the bus instead!

brad465 said:

The Weymouth/Westbury-Gloucester service is essentially two metro services combined into one.

Click to expand...

Except it isn’t, it’s a regional service between towns and cities, which don’t stop everywhere. The Gloucester service (for example) skips Cam and Dursley despite increasing demand and huge numbers of new houses being built for folk commuting to both Gloucester and Bristol areas.

WelshBluebird said:

Partly because those services are already stopping services anyway. Oldfield Park (for the services that run through past Bath) is a very similar station in terms of area etc.
And because Ashely Down would benefit from having a direct service to Parkway (to improve access to the longer distance services).

Metro services where people need to change to get to their destination only work where the frequency is high enough. For that in this instance you really need four trains.an hour Ashley Down to Filton and then the same Filton to Parkway.

If we get to that I'd agree you just give the stations a metro service and let people change for longer distance services. But right now we are expecting people to change with atrocious frequencies on all legs. Hell right now if you want to go from Ashley Down to Parkway you get almost a half hour wait at Filton (which isnt exactly a great place to wait at) or have to have an elongated trip to temple meads first! Its insane - I just get the bus instead!

Click to expand...

Oldfield Park isn’t the same as Ashley Down because it has no alternative services. It’s pretty clear the Ashley Downs service will improve in the next few years as the Henbury line is developed. Yes it’s slower than I’m sure everyone would like, but it won’t be too much longer now in the scheme of things (and how quickly the railway moves).

Regarding your point about direct trains to Parkway, Stapleton Road and Lawrence Hill would also benefit from this. If services to north from Bristol are a metro service why aren’t they stopping at those stations to provide improved frequencies and connectivity to these stations as well? The reality is you can’t stop everywhere all the time and slowing down the northbound trains (which are already pretty slow) isn’t going to help folk on those services.

Noddy said:

Regarding your point about direct trains to Parkway, Stapleton Road and Lawrence Hill would also benefit from this. If services to north from Bristol are a metro service why aren’t they stopping at those stations to provide improved frequencies and connectivity to these stations as well? The reality is you can’t stop everywhere all the time and slowing down the northbound trains (which are already pretty slow) isn’t going to help folk on those services.

Click to expand...

Lawrence Hill and Stapleton Road are much closer to and have more frequent services to Temple Meads though for changes though.

I'd like to see something much more ambitious than 2ph. The whole network is ripe for a suburban metro service:
- Weston Super Mare-Bristol-Yate
- Portishead-Bristol-Henbury
- Bristol-Avonmouth/Severn Beach
- Westbury-Bristol-Gloucester

All 2ph, all-stop, combining to give a turn up and go frequency closer to the centre.

Noddy said:

Regarding your point about direct trains to Parkway, Stapleton Road and Lawrence Hill would also benefit from this. If services to north from Bristol are a metro service why aren’t they stopping at those stations to provide improved frequencies and connectivity to these stations as well? The reality is you can’t stop everywhere all the time and slowing down the northbound trains (which are already pretty slow) isn’t going to help folk on those services.

Click to expand...

The stopping service up Filton Bank used to be a Weston - Parkway service. There were plenty of protests when this was withdrawn in favour of Westons going up the Severn Beach Line and a Filton shuttle (one of the arguments being that Parkway couldn't cope with the 2nd Gloucester service and reversing stoppers). There is also the issue that if the Gloucesters were to stop, they'd have to run on the South Wales lines rather than the Badmintons. that said, I seriously don't believe that most passengers on the Gloucester stoppers would be seriously inconvenienced by having an extra couple of stops inserted between Filton and Temple Meads.

Manutd1999 said:

I'd like to see something much more ambitious than 2ph. The whole network is ripe for a suburban metro service:
- Weston Super Mare-Bristol-Yate
- Portishead-Bristol-Henbury
- Bristol-Avonmouth/Severn Beach
- Westbury-Bristol-Gloucester

All 2ph, all-stop, combining to give a turn up and go frequency closer to the centre.

Click to expand...

Not tempted by a Henbury loop (2tph each direction?) with separate Avonmouth through service to elsewhere? Could Bath feature more (I know it also has the London services and I am assuming Weymouth and Portsmouth stay as is? maybe that's enough)

From looking at RTT for a late December date it looks like we can now see the revised timetable to allow for Bristol Brabazon. It looks like there are some earlier services, a much later finish, different clock face departures but still hourly for now.