The incredible £42m mega-project to reopen train lane in major UK city

Network Rail are building train stations in the Bristol area to provide more regular public transportation. The MetroWest phase 2 plans include a reopening of the Henbury line, which will see new stations at Henbury, North Filton and Ashley Down, where construction has already started. 

The trains will provide an hourly service from Temple Meads to Filton Abbey Wood and onto North Filton and Henbury, as well as half-hourly services between Temple Meads and Gloucester via Yate.

Funded by local councils and the Department for Transport’s 2021 scheme, the project is estimated to cost around £42.3 million. 

According to Network Rail, trains will have five carriages and board up to 582 passengers.

The Henbury rail station, which was meant to open in May 2021 but has since been delayed until 2026, will be built alongside the A4018 with an access ramp. It will also feature parking for 34 cars, cycle stands for 40 bikes and a pedestrian access.

“This is really exciting to finally see the official planning application for the Henbury Station", Councillor Mark Weston told BristolWorld in 2023.

"Many of us have been campaigning for decades to get rail services restored to this area of northern Bristol. This is an important milestone on that journey and I look forward to when it is finally opened.”

While not built directly over the older Henbury rail station, due to cost constraints, the train line will pass through the Fishpool Hill development, which has has planning permission for more than 1000 homes.

The Henbury rail station was originally opened by the Great Western Railway as part of the Henbury Loop Line in 1910. 

The line was part of the Great Western's main route to Avonmouth Docks via Stoke Gifford Junction on the Bristol and Gloucester Railway before closing to passengers in 1964.