Montpelier railway station
Montpelier railway station is around the Severn Beach Line and serves the district of Montpelier in Bristol, England. It’s 2.85 miles (4.59 km) from Bristol Temple Meads. Its three letter station code is MTP. The station includes a single platform, serving trains both in directions. By 2015[update] it’s managed by Great Western Railway, the third franchise to result in the station since privatisation in 1997. They offer all train services in the station, mainly a train every forty minutes in every direction between Bristol Temple Meads and Avonmouth.
The station was opened up on 1 October 1874 as Montpellier (two ‘L’s) through the Great Western and Midland Railways included in the Clifton Extension Railway, made to connect the main harbour of Avonmouth towards the national rail network. In Feb 1888 the station’s name altered to Montpelier (one ‘L’). The station had two platforms, using the primary structures around the southern platform and smaller sized waiting rooms around the northern platform. In 1903 the station employed 19 staff. A lot of the primary station building was destroyed by bombing during world war ii.
The Severn Beach Line declined within the latter 1 / 2 of the 20th century, with passenger figures falling considerably. Goods services at Montpelier led to 1965, and all sorts of staff were withdrawn in 1967. The road was largely reduced to single track in 1970, using the northern platform abandoned and all sorts of trains while using remaining platform. The station building is not in railway use. Services had decreased to 10 each day each direction by 2005, but have since elevated to twenty-four trains each day.
Montpelier railway station is situated in the Bristol ward of Ashley, north from the city center, serving the districts of Montpelier, Cotham, Ashley Lower and St Andrews. The nearby area is mainly residential, with shops around the nearby A38 Cheltenham Road. The station could be utilized step-free of Station Road towards the south, or with a footbridge and steps from Cromwell Route to its northern border. The station is around the Severn Beach Line from Bristol Temple Meads to Severn Beach, 2 miles 68 chains (4.6 km)[note 1] from Bristol Temple Meads, and 10 miles 55 chains (17.2 km) from Severn Beach. It’s the third station from Temple Meads, and first station from the branch area of the line (the very first two stations, Lawrence Hill and Stapleton Road, take presctiption the primary line Mix Country Route). The station is on the roughly east-west alignment, curving towards the north, having a single 144-yard-lengthy (132 m) curved platform towards the south from the track, serving trains both in directions. Straight to the east from the station may be the 268-yard-lengthy (245 m) Montpelier Tunnel, and also to free airline may be the Arches bridge within the A38. The station’s northern platform was abandoned in 1970 and it is overgrown.
Facilities in the station are minimal – there’s a couple of chairs and timetable details are provided. You will find help points around the platform, giving next train information and allowing passengers to make contact with staff. There’s no ticket office, nor any self-service ticket machines. The station building can be used like a workshop and showroom for an organization selling fireplaces, and it is bricked on the woking platform side. It’s, however, colourfully decorated having a mural, colored like a collaborative effort between your Severnside Community Rail Partnership and native schools. The Severnside CRP also tend the station’s garden with the nearby Colston’s Girls’ School. There’s no carpark or taxi rank, but you will find bus stops on Cromwell Road, and much more around the busy A38 Cheltenham Road roughly 400 yards (370 m) away. Cycle storage can be obtained around the platform.
The road through Montpelier includes a 30 mph (48 km/h) posted speed limit for diesel multiple units, and 15 mph (24 km/h) for other trains. The road, which isn’t electrified, has loading gauge W6A, and carries under 5 million train tonnes each year. Within the 2013/14 financial year[update], roughly 120,000 passengers used Montpelier station, which makes it the 1592nd busiest station in the united states and also the fifth busiest inside the Bristol unitary authority area. This was a increase of just about 100% in the 2002-03 financial year, and reflected an over-all increase in use of the Severn Beach Line.[note 2]
Services at Montpelier are run by Great Western Railway, mainly using diesel Class 166 Turbo units. Monday to Friday you will find 25 trains each day in every direction: three trains every two hrs run from Bristol Temple Meads to Avonmouth, with one extended to St Andrews Road and Severn Beach, giving something at Montpelier of 1 get trained in each direction every 40 minutes. Most services start at Bristol, only one evening plan to Avonmouth begins at Weston-super-Mare. On Saturdays there’s an identical degree of service, at 24 trains each day, but more trains still Severn Beach. Sunday sees a roughly hourly service back and forth from Bristol, ten trains each day, with simply two services extending to Severn Beach, except throughout the May-September timetable period when all services are extended. The foremost and last Sunday trains towards Bristol are extended to Taunton via Weston-super-Mare, and you will find similar workings within the other way.
There an interval of approximately 10 mins between services to Avonmouth and individuals to Bristol, because of the line’s primary passing point, Clifton Lower, to be the next only one station. Most trains call whatsoever stations however, many services omit Lawrence Hill. The normal journey time for you to Bristol Temple Meads is roughly 13 minutes, contributing to 17 minutes to Avonmouth.
Montpelier railway station was opened up on 1 October 1874 once the Clifton Extension Railway started operations. The road, some pot venture between your Midland and Great Western Railways, was created to connect the Bristol Port Railway and Pier towards the national network.(p15) It ran from Sneyd Park Junction within the Avon Gorge via Clifton Lower station to Ashley Hill Junction, east of Montpelier, that the truly amazing Western and Midland lines diverged – the truly amazing Western heading south, joining the Bristol and South Wales Union Railway towards Bristol Temple Meads, the Midland heading east towards Mangotsfield. The road was built at 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge, and it was initially managed through the Clifton Extension Railway Joint Committee.(pp19, 37-39)
The station was built by Messrs Baker & Boy of Canon’s Marsh, Bristol. There have been two platforms, using the southern platform utilized by trains towards Clifton Lower and also the northern one by trains within the other way. The platforms were 405 ft (123 m) lengthy and spacious, but available to the weather with little when it comes to cover. An iron footbridge linked the 2 platforms, in addition to transporting a pedestrian right of way between Cromwell Route to its northern border and Station Road towards the south. The initial station structures were constructed from pennant stone, a typical material within the Bristol area, and partially acquired in the digging of the cutting near Clifton Lower. The station master had accommodations over the waiting rooms around the southern platform, which in fact had separate ticket home windows for Midland and Great Western services. The structures around the northern platform were primarily waiting rooms. A goods yard was provided around the south side of Station Road, mainly employed for coal traffic, and accessible in the west using a bridge within the road. An indication box with 16 levers was found at free airline finish from the southern platform, manipulating the yard and crossover points around the primary line. There is some debate about if the station ought to be known as “Montpelier” or “Montpellier”, however the joint railway committee overseeing the road ruled towards the previous in 1888. In 1895 a petition was posted towards the joint railway committee, requesting better cover the platforms, improved waiting rooms along with a new booking office around the northern platform. The committee decided to extend the cover around the northern platform, and also to enhance the waiting rooms, but declined to construct a brand new booking office. The job was finished in 1896. Further building work required place during ww 1, once the southern platform was extended.
The first Monday to Saturday service provided at Montpelier through the Midland Railway was 13 trains each day between Clifton Lower, Fishponds and Mangotsfield, where passengers could change for services to Bath, Birmingham along with other Midland destinations. The Truly Amazing Western provided ten services each day between Clifton Lower and Bristol Temple Meads, the city’s major station, where passengers could change for trains to London, Exeter and Wales, amongst others. The Truly Amazing Western also provided periodic through services to Weston-super-Mare. Every Sunday, there wasn’t any Midland service, but seven Great Western trains. The Clifton Lower Tunnel, the ultimate connect to the Bristol Port Railway and Pier, was opened up in 1877, initially allowing freight trains to achieve Avonmouth Docks. It wasn’t until 1885 it had become removed for passenger use, which permitted services to Avonmouth via Ocean Mills and Shirehampton. There is an effort Midland service between Bristol St Philip’s and Avonmouth in September 1885, however this was ended following a month. In 1886, the daily Great Western service at Montpelier contained six trains to Avonmouth, 24 to Clifton Lower and 32 to Temple Meads. The Midland provided 12 services from Clifton Lower to Fishponds, and 11 back. Within the first twenty years from the Montpelier’s use, the station handled large figures of parcels, and it was popular for day journeys to Weston-super-Mare. The station’s management passed towards the Great Western & Midland Railways Joint Committee on 1 November 1894.(p19)
The station was well-staffed: in 1903 there have been 19 staff, even though this had fallen to fifteen by 1935. Before ww 1, it wasn’t unusual for added porters to be delivered to Montpelier to deal with vast amounts of goods – the station was used by lots of commercial vacationers who’d large hampers filled with clothes and samples, and also the loading on Monday morning had the possibility to result in delays. In 1910, Montpelier saw 17 Great Western services from Avonmouth to Temple Meads and 15 another way, an additional 20 trains every day operating between Clifton and Temple Meads, and 13 Midland trains each way between Clifton and Fishponds or Mangotsfield. Midland services were suspended from 1 The month of january 1917 to fifteen May 1919 because of the War. The Hotwells portion of the Bristol Port Railway and Pier closed in 1922, to compensate yet another six trains were presented to Avonmouth, with four back.
In 1923, grouping led to the Midland Railway being made available to the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS), and also the line ongoing inside a joint arrangement between your Great Western and also the LMS.(p19) From 1924, many trains to Avonmouth were extended to Severn Beach, an increasing seaside resort, and a few onto Pilning, then to Temple Meads via Patchway. The publish of station master was withdrawn on 29 March 1926, with responsibility passing to staff at Clifton Lower. Redland had endured an identical reduction in 1909. A lot of the primary station building around the southern platform was destroyed within the Bristol Blitz during world war ii the present building is exactly what remains of the, plus a utilitarian publish-war extension. World war 2 also saw the finish of services to Fishponds and Mangotsfield, the final operating on 31 March 1941. By 1947, right before the beginning of the British Rail era, there have been 33 services each direction between Avonmouth and Temple Meads, and 18 every sunday. Some trains made circular journeys back and forth from Temple Meads via Clifton Lower and Henbury or Pilning.
Once the railways were nationalised in 1948, services at Montpelier received the charge of the Western Region of British Railways. Staff levels were reduced further, lower to 2 booking clerks, four porters, a checker along with a weighbridge operator by 1950. Service levels had decreased slightly by 1955 to twenty-eight towards Avonmouth and 29 towards Bristol, however the services were at regular times. Passenger figures however dropped dramatically in 1961 because of a fare increase, and thus in 1962 a brand new reduced timetable was enacted, which lost more passengers. Annually later in 1963, the Beeching report recommended the entire withdrawal of services across the line, but ultimately only individuals beyond Severn Beach or via Henbury were withdrawn.(pp49-51) The products yard at Montpelier closed on 18 November 1965, using the signal box following on 10 May 1967. Staff were completely withdrawn on 17 This summer 1967 with tickets from the train guard.(pp49-51) The overall decrease in passenger traffic, along with the change in Avonmouth goods visitors to the Henbury Loop Line, permitted removing the northern track from 19 October 1970, with all of services while using southern platform. The previous goods yard has become a little industrial estate. By 1974, service had reduced to 19 trains each day in every direction,(p50) without any Sunday services beyond Avonmouth.
British Rail was split up into business-brought sectors within the 1980s, after which operations at Montpelier passed to Regional Railways. At the moment, all trains ran to Severn Beach, however the service pattern was irregular. This altered in 1995 when per hour timetable was introduced for optimum occasions, but northbound services were ended at Avonmouth.(p42)
Once the railway was privatised in 1997, local services were franchised to Wales & West, that was been successful by Wessex Trains, a leg of National Express, in 2001. Following action by Buddies of Severn Beach Railway (FOSBR) along with a string of protests, services had elevated to 10 each day in every direction by 2005, with Bristol City Council supplying a subsidy to Wessex Trains. The Wessex franchise was amalgamated using the Great Western franchise in to the Greater Western franchise from 2006, and responsibility passed to First Great Western, a subsidiary company of FirstGroup, rebranded as Great Western Railway in 2015. The absolute minimum service requirement was written in to the franchise agreement, making certain per hour service across the line, which has since been elevated to 3 trains every two hrs (24 trains each day). Sunday services to Severn Beach were restored this year.
In 2004, the Severnside Community Rail Partnership was created, since the Severn Beach Line along with a network of routes radiating from Bristol. By 2008, they’d produced an assistance group for that station, were helping with station upkeep, coupled with improved the supply of timetabling information by using simplified departure timetable posters. In 2007, they repainted the mural around the old station building, however it was defaced by vandals exactly the same year. First Great Western offered a £500 reward for identifying the individuals responsible, and mentioned they planned to set up Closed-circuit television cameras. Students from Fairfield Senior High School repainted the mural with the aid of professional graffiti artist Richard Minchin. Artist Wei Ong repainted the mural in 2015, also it was repainted again in 2017 by street artist Silent Hobo. Customer help points with next train information screens were installed during 2008/09, compensated for by money in the Department for Transport’s “Access for those” fund and native councils. The assistance points were stolen at the begining of 2010, but have since been replaced. A lot of trees north from the station, which in fact had provided noise minimization and stabilised the embankment, were felled in 2018 by local residents, without permission from Network Rail.First Great Western declined a contractual choice to continue the higher Western passenger franchise (which services at Montpelier really are a part) beyond 2013, citing a wish for an extended-term contract because of the impending upgrade towards the Great Western Primary Line. The franchise was released to tender, however the process was stopped and then scrapped because of the fallout in the collapse from the InterCity West Coast franchise competition. A 2-year franchise extension until September 2015 was agreed in October 2013, and subsequently extended until March 2019.
Using the upgrade towards the Great Western Primary Line, the primary line from London to Bristol was because of be electrified by 2016. However, the electrification never was meant to extend past the primary lines, and electrification into Bristol Temple Meads was indefinitely delayed in 2016, so Montpelier will still be offered by diesel trains, using the “Sprinter” units substituted with Class 165 and 166 “Turbo” units. Stephen Johnson, MP for Bristol West, asked whether electrification could still Montpelier and all of those other Severn Beach Line. Then-Secretary of Condition for Transport Philip Hammond responded it would need to be regarded later on. The audience Buddies of Suburban Bristol Railways props up electrification from the entire Severn Beach Line.
Improved services at Montpelier are known as for included in the Greater Bristol Metro plan, a rail transport plan which aims to boost transport capacity within the Bristol area. There’s a fantasy for half-hourly services, with trains towards Bristol terminating alternately at Portishead and Bath Health spa, however because of the large parts of the Severn Beach Line that are single-track and also to the congested primary line from Temple Meads, such frequency isn’t presently achievable. The plan was handed a tight schedule-ahead in This summer 2012 included in the City Deal, whereby local councils could be given greater control of money through the government. There’s also requires the reopening from the Henbury Loop Line, that could allow an immediate service from Montpelier to Bristol Parkway via Avonmouth. Plans for any loop were rejected through the West of England Joint Transport Board, however Bristol City Councillors dicated to send the choice to the board for more discussion.
An accident happened in the station on 14 May 1878, whenever a train from Mangotsfield to Clifton Lower hit a goods train this was shunting in the station. Some of the goods train’s wagons were smashed or overturned, and also the railway was seriously broken.
