PORTISHEAD is waiting to find out whether it is the end of the line for a plan to bring back its railway.

Alongwith nearby Pill, the North Somerset town lost its railway stations to the “the Beeching axe” in 1964, a wave of railway closures which saw Britain lose thousands of railway stations and miles of railway.

Some have found new life as cycle paths like the Strawberry Line or were saved to run as heritage railways like the East Somerset Railway — but there has long been hope that the Portishead railway could fully reopen.

60 years on, hope had turned into more solid plans with North Somerset Council, the West of England Combined Authority, and the Department for Transport funding a £152m project to reopen the line and build new stations in Portishead and Pill.

But now the scheme is facing the prospect of the axe once again.

After stating they had found a £22bn hole left in the country’s finances by the Conservatives, the new Labour government announced a string of cuts on Monday.

Among the casualties was the Restoring Your Railway programme — the scheme which was set to fund the Portishead railway — which the government hopes to save £85m next year by cutting.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves told Parliament: “If we cannot afford it, we cannot do it.”

The individual projects which had been set to receive funding from the scheme will now be reviewed by the transport secretary. But we do not yet know how long the review will take or how many schemes the government is prepared to save.

The railway line

Reopening the railway to Portishead would involve building two new railway stations and restoring just over three miles of abandoned track.

North Somerset Council says the plans will reconnect 50,000 people to the rail network.

It is expected that a journey from the planned new railway station in Portishead to Bristol Temple Meads would take about 20-25 minutes, helping to take traffic off the A369.

A journey into Bristol along the line would start by Quays Avenue in Portishead, where a new station and transport hub would be built.

Trains would run along the currently abandoned stretch of track through the end of the Portishead suburbs and across fields before running past Portbury and under the M5.

This 3.3 mile stretch of track is the only part of the railway that needs to be completely restored.

Just before Pill, the line joins the line running between Portbury Docks and Bristol.

This line has already been restored but is only used by freight trains and the occasional nostalgic steam train.

The railway runs in a cutting through Pill, where the new village station would be built on the site of the old one.

After pulling out of the station, the train would cross the viaduct over the village green before going through the tunnel under Ham Green.

The railway hugs the south side of the Avon Gorge and goes under Clifton Suspension Bridge. After entering Bristol, the railway joins the Weston-super-Mare line just before Parson Street.

'Strong case'

North Somerset Council leader Mike Bell has insisted the North Somerset Council remains “absolutely committed” to reopening the line and urged the Department for Transport not to drop the plan.

He said: “It’s taken years of hard work to come this far. We were the country’s first passenger scheme to secure a Development Consent Order to re-open a branch line.

“We’ve risen to financial challenges created by inflation and rising costs across the construction industry, securing an extra £15.5m in funding from the Department for Transport, whilst pledging of a further £10m of our own. 

“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.”

But West of England Metro Mayor Dan Norris — who since the general election has also been sitting on the government benches as the Labour MP for North East Somerset and Hanham — has said there is a “need for tough choices”.

Asked if the West of England Combined Authority was still committed to the scheme, Mr Norris said: “In light of the very poor financial state that’s been inherited, the Labour government has to make tough decisions.

“There remains lots of investment in the West of England with over £200 million for new and improved stations and more frequent journeys, as well as important funds for buses, cycling and wheeling.   

“Despite the need for tough choices, I look forward to working with the government to deliver growth that will support everyone across our region.”

One Labour MP who has been quick to say he will “continue to fight” for the railway is North Somerset MP Sadik Al-Hassan. 

Less than a month after being elected as the constituency’s first ever Labour MP, he found out that his party could be cutting the project when he read it in the Sunday Times. 

He wrote to the government ahead of Rachel Reeve’s announcement on Monday to say he was “distressed” at the news and to urge them to keep the scheme.

On Tuesday, he told ITV: “I understand the cost pressures.

“I know there’s a £22bn black hole left to us as an inheritance from this Conservative government, and I know that unfunded commitments and promises have been made across the country — but my commitment to residents is that I will continue to fight for this.

“This reopening, this rail line, is incredibly important and I think we need to deliver it. And I will keep having those conversations.

“I will keep knocking on those doors to make sure we get what we deserve in North Somerset.”

Shovel-ready

One factor that may count towards the scheme in the Department for Transport’s review is just how far along the plans are.

Network Rail had been shortly due to submit the scheme for the final stage approval to the Department for Transport.

Mr Bell said: “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.”

Environmental and tree works have already been happening along the 3.3 miles of abandoned track. In 2023 a new bat corridor was completed and reptile fencing was installed to keep wildlife safe from the trains.

Black hole

“Unfunded” transport commitments make up £2.9bn of the £22bn budget black hole that Labour said they found.

In a written statement to Parliament, transport secretary Louise Haigh said: “Communities up and down the country have been given hope for new transport infrastructure, with no plans or funds to deliver them. This government will not make that mistake.”

She said: “I am commissioning an internal review of [the Department for Transport]’s capital spend portfolio. We will bring in external expertise and move quickly to make recommendations about current and future schemes.

“This review will support the development of our new long-term strategy for transport, developing a modern and integrated network with people at its heart and ensuring that transport infrastructure can be delivered efficiently and on time.”

But the longer it takes to find out if the Portishead railway is happening, the less likely it is that the scheme will be delivered on time.

In January, it had been hoped that work could be starting in August but the submission of the full business case was delayed and then put on hold due to the general election.

Now August has arrived but it is not clear whether Portishead’s railway ever will.