Saturday 22 November 2008

Waking the sleeping giant: Getting Bristol Back On Track!

On Friday 21st, members of FOSBR gathered at Wilder House, home of the West of England Partnership, to issue a rallying cry for funding for a Portishead-North Bristol Rail Loop line to be included in the bid for Government funding.

As one railway worker put it, Bristol railway network is a sleeping giant. There is a railway infrastructure running in and around the city, with disused stations like Henbury just waiting to be used. With 2,500 houses planned for the area just North of Henbury, as part of a 33,000 house building plan in the area; with Bristol Zoo development to take place at the top of Blackhorse Hill - having a railway service across North Bristol is a no-brainer.

I will be writing to the Chair of the South West Regional Assembly to make the case for the line, and hopefully members of other political parties will be doing the same. It's time for the sleeping giant to wake up. It's time to get Bristol back on track.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Does your £1m a week figure include the cost of environmental pollution, noise pollution, increased stress from being stuck in traffic, cost of accidents and last but not least the healthcare costs from all the above and loss of income due to sick days.

Agree it's a no-brainer. Especially given the hopeless situation re: First.

What about earmarking the funds from the Suspension Bridge crossings & parking tickets/fees?