After a 60-year hiatus, residents of the West of England and beyond are now able to catch trains to and from Ashley Down Station.
The station, the second to be delivered in the past year after Portway Park & Ride, is part of a £300m+ investment by the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority, in partnership with Great Western Railway, Network Rail, and Bristol City Council, to bring rail travel within easy reach of more people than ever before.
To commemorate the much-anticipated station opening, Severnside Community Rail Partnership (CRP) and local artist Aumairah Hassan brought together the North Bristol community through an intergenerational art project entitled ‘Progression’.
Members of Lockleaze Neighbourhood Trust art group and 1st Bristol Muslim Scout Group used stencils, spray paints and paint pens to create artwork on the theme of ‘Transport through Time’. The artwork was unveiled on station opening day and can be viewed here.
West of England Mayor Dan Norris was joined by schoolchildren and local scout members on Friday 27 September to celebrate the opening of Ashley Down Station, and presented the scouts with their Platforms for Change badge.
Mayor Dan Norris said: “If you give people easy access to good, reliable public transport, they will use it. Now 15,000 people in Lockleaze, Horfield, and Ashley Down will live closer to a railway station than they did yesterday.
“The new station looks fantastic, and I’m thrilled to have taken the first train to arrive there in 60 years. But this is only the beginning of our quiet rail revolution. Our Reverse Beeching programme is now in full swing, and we are moving on to plans to deliver stations North Filton and in Henbury next.
“Getting more people out of their cars and onto trains is vital to building the better, more sustainable transport system we all want to see.”
Keep up to date with future news, projects and events from Severnside CRP via their website.
