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More 'Jam tomorrow' promises for the Severn Beach line

29th September 2007

For immediate release

Green Party councillor Charlie Bolton (2nd left) hands "Get Well Soon" cards and flowers to Mike Holmes, FGW Station Manager at Temple Meads, while Cllr Mark Bradshaw (left) looks on

 
Travellers suffering the infrequent and unreliable service on Bristol's Severn Beach rail branch thought they'd been promised real improvements months ago, when the Council and First Great Western reached a funding deal to provide an extra train.

But it's a case of "Jam tomorrow, never jam today" says Tess Green, of Bristol Green Party

The city's transport boss Cllr Mark Bradshaw has admitted ^{[Note 1]} that the promise won't be delivered this December as scheduled, and there's no guarantee that a train can be found for the next round of timetable changes in May 2008.

Tess and other Green Party members were prominent in today's action at Temple Meads, organised by FOSBR (Friends of Bristol Suburban Railways), when 'Get Well Soon' cards for the company were handed to Station Manager Mike Holmes to give to new Managing Director Andrew Haines.

Tess said:

"It's really impossible to believe that all the powerful people concerned - in our council, at the top of First Great Western, and in the government's railway administration - have failed to secure a single train. If they can't get their act together on that, how on earth can they run a railway system?"

"Everyone knows Bristol's underused railways have huge potential for relieving the city's chronic traffic problems - but no-one admits responsibility for the failure to get things moving. "

"This demonstrates once again the need for a strong well-funded transport authority^{[Note 2]} for Greater Bristol, instead of the lame, fragmented system we have now"

ENDS

Contact:

Tess Green at 0117 985 2795
Charlie Bolton at 0117 996 1639
Peter Goodwin at 01275 543280

Notes

1. Statement to Council 11/9/2007 - on council website here
2. In July, following a grassroots campaign and Charlie Bolton's presentation of a petition to the city council, all parties agreed that a unified Transport Authority is required. That view has yet to be endorsed by the other three 'West Of England' authorities.