BRISTOL PARKWAY RAILWAY STATION

'Bristol Parkway railway station' is a railway station on the northern edge of Bristol (England), at Stoke Gifford in South Gloucestershire. It is part of the British railway system owned by Network Rail, and is run by First Great Western.
In the Strategic Rail Authority’s 2005/06 financial year, Bristol Parkway was ranked as the 186th most-used station in the UK.

Contents

History

Future

Services

Station layout

Transport links

References

See also

External links

History

Parkway was built in the 1970s to give Bristol a station on the railway running from London to South Wales, which passes just north of the city. There were several reasons for positioning a new station at Stoke Gifford: the rail route was attractive to travellers because trains to London were quicker than on the longer route from Temple Meads, which runs via Bath and Chippenham before reaching Swindon, a larger car park could be provided than at Temple Meads and the population on the northern fringes of the city was growing, especially with the building of a new town Bradley Stoke. The name "Parkway" has since been applied to other out-of-town stations.
The station opened on May 1, 1972 with temporary buildings. When a permanent station was built, it was architecturally unimpressive: a single low building on the north side of the tracks at the far west end, with footbridge access over the "goods loop" tracks to the two long platforms.
On July 1, 2001 a new building and footbridge opened, still on the north side but near the middle of the platforms, with lifts for disabled access to the platforms and a larger refreshment and waiting area on an upper level. The redevelopment cost Network Rail over £4 million.
In January 2007 construction started on the 3rd platform at Bristol Parkway, which opened as platform 4 in May 2007 ^[1].

Future

There are plans to build a new heated waiting room, a help desk and electronic travel information screens on platforms 3 and 4. The car park size is set to be increased by 300 or 400 spaces, which should bring the car parking space up to around 1500 spaces.
It has also been confirmed that a fourth platform will be built at the station to help cut congestion ^[2]. When the fourth platform is due to open in 2008/09 it will help ease to congestion for trains heading south and to Wales; it has been confirmed that it will be numbered platform 1 ^[3].
There have also been suggestions of more services stopping at Bristol Parkway, if this does happen they are likely to start over the next 3 years.
The station has also been identified as a possible northern terminus for a light rail system in the Bristol area.
From December 2007, timetable changes will lead to local services that currently terminating at Filton Abbey Wood will instead terminate at Bristol Parkway ^[4].
The station has also been identified as a possible northern terminus for a light rail system in the Bristol area.

Services

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★ Not all services call at this station''

Station layout

The station building encompasses a large waiting area with a small ticket office, toilets and a small cafe. There is a large seated waiting area on the upper level with its own cafe and small shop. It also features Wi-Fi internet access.
The station has three platforms, either side of the railway track. Platforms 3 and 4 are located on the same side as the station building itself, with Platform 2 on the far side, which is reached via an enclosed bridge which spans the track.
'Platform 2' - Trains heading south and west, including trains to Bristol Temple Meads, South Wales, Devon and Cornwall.
'Platform 3' - Trains heading north and east, including trains to London Paddington, The Midlands and the North of England.
'Platform 4' - Same as platform 3, but rarely in use.
On the 6 August 2007, platform 1 was renumbered to platform 3 to allow for a new platform to be constructed as an island with platform 2. All of the platforms have their own small heated indoor waiting area and various vending machines.

Transport links

Bristol Parkway is served by many bus routes, which link it with the rest of Bristol and South Gloucestershire. The station is located near the Avon Ring Road (A4174) to give links to Bristol and the M32.

References

1. [1]
2. [2]
3. [3]
4. Draft Dec 2007 timetable

See also

★ First Great Western

★ List of all UK railway stations

★ Rail services in Bristol

External links