Pilning Station Group Opposes Plan to Cut Bus Link to Chepstow and Newport
Pilning Station Group has joined the call to reprieve the bus link between Cribbs Causeway, Aust and Chepstow, which connects with buses to Newport. With no prior consultation and just one month’s notice, bus operator Stagecoach is rerouting the Severn Express service from 5 January 2020 to cut out stops at Cribbs Causeway and Aust, depriving people of a vital link for work, college and leisure trips. Olga Taylor, Chair of Pilning Station Group said: We have already lost our direct rail service through the Severn Tunnel to Wales, with the closure of Pilning Station’s westbound platform. Now this area is losing its only other public transport alternative, which will create real difficulties for those who rely on it and will put more cars onto already-congested roads. We urge people to sign the petition at http://chng.it/JDNtxRcqF5 calling on Stagecoach to think again”. Update 9 December 2019. It was brought to…
Railway Data Stats
We love the latest Pilning station stats published by the Railway Data Centre! So we are currently the 1011st busiest station, even though we only have 2 services per week. That’s 4.6 passengers per service, compared with Patchway’s 9.13! The increase in passenger numbers at Pilning since 1997 is…. 895.83%! Woohoo!!!!!
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…
We did it!
Our count says that in the period between 1 April 2018 and 31 March 2019 we reached 88.4% of the target. An excellent effort from all Pilning passengers – it put us firmly in the green (don’t forget that only 90% of the scheduled train actually stopped at Pilning in the same period of time)!
Severn Bridge Tolls
Tolls on the two Severn bridges that link England and Wales have been scrapped. There are no charges for cars and lorries driven between the south-west of England and Monmouthshire. More information from The Guardian.
The Wave Bristol is on!
The contract with Wavegarden has been signed, and work starts on site. Congratulations to Nick and The Wave team! A functioning railway station at Pilning could potentially bring hundreds of thousands of visitors to the new surfing lake that it due to open, just a mile away from the station, in 2019. More information:https://www.thewave.com/blog/
Diamond Geezer visits…. PILNING!!!
Read their blog at http://piln.in/DG2018