Work on Bristol’s new railway station steps up a gear, as platform construction begins at Ashley Down

By Peter Davison

8 June 2023

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The Business Magazine article image for: Work on Bristol’s new railway station steps up a gear, as platform construction begins at Ashley Down

A visualisation of the new station at Ashley Down

Network Rail has begun a more intensive phase of the construction of the brand-new north Bristol station at Ashley Down, with teams working around the clock until June 16 to install two new platforms.

The station at Ashley Down is one of seven new stations in Bristol that will be built as part of the West of England Combined Authority-funded MetroWest programme, which aims to improve capacity and connectivity in the region, giving 80,000 more people access to train services.

These upgrades are partly enabled by improvements made to the existing rail network in recent years, including the installation of a new, modern signalling system in and around Bristol Temple Meads, the addition of two new railway lines between Bristol Temple Meads and Filton Abbey Wood and the upgrade of Bristol East Junction.

Michael Contopoulos, Network Rail’s project director, said: “This is an exciting time for rail travel in the West of England, with a new station - funded by the West of England Combined Authority - being built at Ashley Down in Bristol.

"This will be a very intensive period of the build programme and I’d like to thank local residents for their patience over the next few weeks, in particular.

“We’ll be working 24/7 for 16 days, removing and realigning the track before installing the two new platforms, constructed from pre-fabricated blocks.

"During this period we’ll also be working on the foundations for the footbridge and lifts that will be installed in follow up shifts later this year.

“As with any project of this scale, some disturbance is unavoidable, however I’d like to assure residents that we’re doing all we can to keep this to a minimum.”

Councillor Don Alexander, cabinet member for transport at Bristol City Council, said: “Working with Network Rail and the West of England Combined Authority, we’re delivering Bristol’s first new train stations in almost a century.

"Expanding the local rail network through the MetroWest programme will increase both the capacity of the network and the accessibility of our local rail services, as we build towards the mass transit system that Bristolians need and deserve.

“As work on the Ashley part of the line continues, we are also working towards delivering two new stations on a re-opened Henbury Line – and pushing for stations at St Anne’s and Ashton Gate too.”

The 16-day period of intensive construction work that begins on Saturday 3 June will impact local services between Filton Abbey Wood and Stapleton Road.

Trains running between Filton Abbey Wood and Bristol Temple Meads will be unable to stop at Stapleton Road or Lawrence Hill. However, trains running between Bristol Temple Meads and Clifton Down, Avonmouth or Severn Beach are unaffected.

Passengers travelling between Filton Abbey Wood and Stapleton Road or Lawrence Hill should change trains at Bristol Temple Meads.

This summer also sees essential track maintenance work taking place within the Severn Tunnel, which will be closed from Friday, June 9 to Sunday, June 18 for vital track replacement.

Passengers are advised to check before travelling between these dates, as a bus replacement service will be in operation between Bristol Parkway and Cardiff Central.

By Peter Davison

Peter Davison is deputy editor of The Business Magazine. He has spent his life in journalism – doing work experience in newsrooms in and around Bristol while still at school, and landing his first job on a local newspaper aged 19. By 28 he was the youngest newspaper editor in the country.

An early advocate of online news, he spent the first years of the 2000s telling his bosses that the internet posed both the biggest opportunity and greatest threat to the newspaper industry and the art of journalism. He was right on both counts.

Since 2006 he has enjoyed a career as a freelance journalist. He lives in rural Wiltshire with one wife, two children, and three cats.