Railways

I T was interesting and encouraging last week to see the letter from the executive members of the West of England Partnership Joint Transport Executive. They clearly recognise the ultimate solution to the Bristol area transport challenge.

It must be pointed out that the figures quoted for new stations and track were set at the top end of the spectrum. The figures, quoted on a political basis, lead others to believe that these ‘costs’ are real and consequently people lose confidence that the proposed developments can be achieved within an acceptable budget.

The real figure for relaying track, which relates to local Bristol area lines, is well below £1m a mile; compared to £11m, quoted in the letter, which is a figure for new lines with civil engineering works such as bridges and embankments. Almost all the land for local Bristol rail improvements, including the trackbed into Portishead, is already in public ownership so there would be very limited land acquisition costs.

You can get a lot of station for £5m and that is not relevant to local Bristol railways.

Apart from all this, the tone of the letter gives some recognition of the real need for early investment in local Bristol rail services. Transport costs are central to many other spending responsibilities and we need the “modal shift” to low carbon solutions, such as rail, to support the aim for future environmental sustainability.

Roger English,

Secretary,

Portishead Railway Group.