Parliament Petition to Reopen Platform 2
The Petition to reopen Pilning Station’s 2nd platform and make it a request stop closed early because of a General Election. The petition was set up at the end of August 2019 and was due to run until 28 February 2020. Over 500 signatures from all over the country were collected in the first few days. We joked that should the petition raise over 100,000 signatures, the Parliament would have to debate Pilning’s parliamentary service! During the time when the petition was open, Pilning Station Group received a letter of support from Jack Lopresti MP saying that he believes that Pilning is a neglected station with great potential and that it could be invaluable in facilitating commuting to the Severnside Enterprise Area, and also to allow tourists to travel to the new Wave facility in a sustainable manner. We also went into an argument with GWR over their decision not…
Pilning Railway Station – Wikipedia Article Update
Pilning Station Group would like to thank Wikipedia contributor Mattbuck, who spent many hours raking through various Pilning station related documents and updating our Wikipedia page. We are particularly pleased that the article on Pilning station met a core set of Wikipedia editorial standards and was highlighted as a Good Article. This means that it is well written, contains factually accurate and verifiable information, is broad in coverage, neutral in point of view, stable, and illustrated by relevant images with suitable copyright licences.
Pilning Station Group GWR CCIF Application – 2020/2021
Pilning Station Group submitted an application for GWR Customer and Communities Improvement Fund for a modest amount of £175, which would enable us to run the 4th season of Pilning Challenges. You can download the application from here. GWR will now review all the bids and shortlist a few for further evaluations. The preferred projects will be sent to the DfT for approval. Source: https://www.gwr.com/about-us/supporting-our-community/customer-and-communities-improvement-fund
Pilning Station Group Submission to the Williams Rail Review
Dear Sir, We would like to bring your attention to the appalling situation at Pilning railway station on the South Wales Main Line. As you are probably aware, Pilning was a major transport hub for bringing farm produce from the South West to London, and for providing transport links to and from Wales via the Severn tunnel. However, the prosperity of Pilning station suffered a setback with the opening of the Severn Bridge. Years of neglect and decay followed: in 1987 the station’s lighting was dismantled and not replaced, meaning that from then on only services operating during daylight hours could stop at the station. In 2006, with the introduction of the new franchise, Pilning’s service was cut to “one a day in each direction”. In 1990 a local resident Jonathan King started a campaign to bring the service back to the station. His campaign was picked up by other…
Campaigning Continues
Ongoing. We campaign for service improvements at Pilning Railway Station – platform lighting, more stopping trains and the reinstatement of the footbridge to enable westbound travel. Click here to read the latest update (March 2019).
Modest, Cost-Neutral — and Do-able!
January 2019. We presented a business case to GWR asking them to stop more Saturday trains at Pilning from May 2019. We also asked Jack Lopresti MP to support our campaign and to write to GWR in the hope that they would consider improving services at Pilning station. (Update April 2019)A letter from received from GWR Managing Director to Jack Lopresti MP: “Due to the low footfall at Pilning, proximity to the well-served Severn Beach station and its position on the South Wales to London main line, we don’t feel it is currently in customer’s best overall interests to make changes to Pilning’s service. […] Located on a two-track railway, line capacity is at premium at Pilning […] We will not be increasing calls at Pilning beyond the commitments set out by the Department for Transport.” #FAIL
Station Usage 2017/18
Office of Rail and Road published the Annual Station Usage statistics on 11 December 2018. Pilning has shot up from the 3rd least-used station in 2016 to the respectable 2525th place in the charts (out of the total of 2559). There is still a lot of work to be done, but we are no longer in the bottom 10 (or even 30)!
Spare Footbridge, Anyone?
October 2018. We hear Angel Road station in North London is closing in May 2019 when it’s replaced by the new Meridian Water station nearby. This will make its footbridge redundant…..and as it spans overhead lines it would be the right height for Pilning. If you look at AllTheStation’s video filmed there, it’s pretty modern and all-steel, so hopefully it’d be relatively easy to dismantle, move and re-erect it. At present the two staircases face opposite ways, but one would imagine that could be changed pretty easily. (Update 24 January 2019) – Of 27 responses to the DfT consultation, 21 urged that the footbridge be dismantled and re-erected at Pilning station. Please read our press-release here: –ANGELS COULD BRING BACK PILNING STATION FOOTBRIDGE! (Update April 2019) – The following correspondence was received from Network Rail: A message from NR Western Community Relations Manager to Pilning Station Group: “There are no…
Special Sunday Service II
August 2018. We asked GWR to repeat last year’s Sunday Special Service event, by stopping the Cardiff Central to Brighton service at Pilning on September the 2nd. Unfortunately, GWR’s Special Events Team rejected our request without offering a reason. #FAIL
Where is Pilning?
In May 2017 Pilning suddenly disappeared from the “stations column” of the GWR timetables, giving the impression that it had closed completely and that there was no longer a station between Patchway and Severn Tunnel Junction. The only reference to Pilning in the whole booklet was in a couple of obscure footnotes in very small print – this made it virtually impossible to see which trains called at the station, and indeed it appeared as if the station had closed altogether. A campaign was duly launched to get the station back on the map and shown properly in the timetable. Whilst Pilning went AWOL in GWR’s booklets, Pilning Station Group created our own Pilning Journey Planners and (with GWR’s permission) distributed them at Bristol Parkway and Bristol Temple Meads stations. In May 2018 we were delighted to see Pilning Station back on the map and back in the timetables! #SUCCESS