SIXTY years to the day that the last passenger trains ran to Portishead, campaigners are still fighting to keep the dream of reopening the railway alive.

It had been all set to happen.

£32m had already been spent on restoring the railway between Portishead and Bristol and contractors were expected to start work this autumn — then the new government axed the scheme set to fund their contribution and put the project in limbo.

It was not the first time the area’s railways had been dealt a blow by Westminster.

On September 7, 1964, passengers alighted at Pill and Portishead’s railway stations for the last time as the line was closed to passengers. The railway had connected the village and the seaside town with Bristol for almost a century.

The idea of building a railway to Portishead was first proposed by Brunel but the eventual railway was not built until after his death. It opened in 1867 for passengers and goods traffic.

The line ran down Avon Gorge, where trains stopped at Clifton Bridge station, before running under the bridge, in a tunnel under Ham Green, and across the viaduct through Pill where it pulled into the station there before continuing to Portbury and Portishead. 

After Portishead Pier opened, the line was extended out to the pier. Passengers disembarking from steamers could now immediately board a train right into Bristol. 


Letter: ‘Bus route would provide a better service than re-opened Portishead line’ 


But in the twentieth century, Railway Mania died down and Britain looked towards the motorcar.

As railways began to be closed in the 1950s, Ealing comedy “The Titchfield Thunderbolt” was filmed in Somerset on the Camerton branch line, depicting a village taking over the running of their local railway themselves after it was axed.

But in the 1960s, even more lines closed after the Beeching Report was published.

The line to Portishead railway was one of hundreds of branch lines across the country which were closed to passengers in what became known as “the Beeching Axe”.

It remained in use for some freight until the 1980s, but was then left abandoned. But unlike other former railways, it was mothballed — the tracks were never removed and the land never repurposed.

There have long been calls for the railway to be reopened. The first calls came from Portishead Town Council in 1966 — just two years after it had closed.

When a new Waitrose was built in Portishead on the site of what had been the old station, Alan Matthews was working with the planners.

An artist's impression of what a new Portishead station could look like.An artist's impression of what a new Portishead station could look like. (Image: Archant)

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “I thought, hang on there’s some track here. Why isn’t this track open?”

Today, he is chairman of the Portishead Railway Group which has been campaigning to reopen the railway since 2000. Most of the line has actually already reopened. The stretch from Bristol to Portbury docks was reopened to freight in 2002.

Just over three miles of new track would need to be laid to connect the Pill points on the restored stretch to track to Portishead.

Reopening the line to passengers would also require work along the already reopened track to make it suitable for passenger trains and not just freight. New stations would also need to be built in Portishead and in Pill.

With the support of the (until recently) long-time local MP Sir Liam Fox, North Somerset Council, and the West of England Combined Authority, the scheme has made major strides in recent years.

Reopening the railway is part of the first phase of Metrowest, a major scheme to increase the frequency of local trains across the West of England and wider area, and to reopen the lines from Bristol to Portishead and Henbury.

In January of this year, North Somerset Council unanimously signed off on the plans to reopen the railway, with council leader Mike Bell telling the council: “We have played our part with local resources, and we now expect the Department of Transport to take responsibility for any capital delivery risk or cost pressures going forward.”

The project’s price tag of £152m was being funded by the West of England Combined Authority, the Department for Transport, and North Somerset Council.

But shortly before Network Rail submitted the full business case for the railway to the government, the new Labour government announced that the Restoring Your Railway fund, from which the government’s contribution had been set to come, was being axed.

Claiming to have found a £22bn black hole left in the country’s finances by the Conservatives, Chancellor Rachel Reeves told Parliament in July that the government would have to make cuts.

She said: “My right honourable friend [the transport secretary, Louise Haigh] will also cancel the Restoring Our Railway programme [sic] saving £85m next year with individual projects to be assessed through her review.

“If we cannot afford it, we cannot do it.”: 

Now, 60 years on from the Beeching cuts, the Portishead railway is facing an uncertain future once again. But with the plans so far along, many are hopeful the scheme will be among those allowed to go ahead once the review has been carried out.

Mr Matthews said he was still feeling positive. He said: “The money’s there — except for this bit from the Restoring Your Railway Fund.”

After the government’s announcement in July, North Somerset Council immediately declared that it was still “absolutely committed” to the project.

Mr Bell said: “The Portishead to Bristol rail line is a hugely important scheme for us and one that will make a significant difference to the lives of local people, both now and in the future.”

He added: “Though we understand the difficult decisions facing national government, we believe there continues to be a strong case for the investment into the Portishead to Bristol rail line.

“This is a shovel-ready scheme that we can deliver – and for which on-the-ground preparatory work has already begun. We just need government support to make it happen.”

Sadik Al-Hassan with supporters of the reopening of the Portishead railway outside Bristol Temple Meads.Sadik Al-Hassan with supporters of the reopening of the Portishead railway outside Bristol Temple Meads. (Image: John Wimperis)

Sadik Al-Hassan, who defeated Dr Fox to become North Somerset’s first ever Labour MP in this year’s general election, found out the Portishead railway was at risk when he read it in the Sunday Times just before the announcement.

He told a rally outside Bristol Temple Meads in support of the project in August: “I will try everything to make sure we get the stations we deserve and were promised, without any further delays because that’s what’s killed this line again and again, decade after decade.”

He added: “This is an important project that needs to happen and I will fight for it.”

Also in August, the old track still lying between the Pill points and Portishead was removed so that new tracks suitable for modern trains can be laid — if the government money is provided for the scheme to go ahead.

North Somerset Council donated the tracks to the Avon Valley Railway, a heritage railway on the other side of Bristol which Mr Matthews is also the chair of.

Yesterday, the Portishead Railway Group delivered a petition with 5,604 signatures in support of the railway to Mr Al-Hassan’s office so it can be presented to Parliament.

Peter Maliphant, who handed it over, said: “Given the need to submit this as soon as Parliament returned, these signatures were gathered in just two weeks, from the people of Portishead, Pill and the wider Bristol area.

“We believe this is a significant indication of the strength of feeling locally about the important benefits that the project offers, the foolishness of stopping a project that has 10 years’ work already completed and over £32 million already spent.

“The project is ready for construction to start as soon as the missing funding is restored and could deliver a flagship completed reopening and operational railway by 2027.”

Today — 60 years to the day that the railway closed — there is optimism that it could soon be open again. When the railway was built in the 1860s, Portishead had a population of about 1,200.

Now more than 26,000 people live in the town and the reopening of the line would put 50,000 people within a short journey of a train station.

Mr Matthews said: “We will wait for the review and see what happens. I am quietly confident it will work.”