Every four years, when an election is due, Bristol candidates start making their case about the need for a rapid transit system. Efforts to improve Bristol’s transport system have been going on for many years, with detailed schemes dating from the 1980s. So far, there are a few guided buses, but not much else to show for it. Even the campaign to resurrect the nine-mile railway line to Portishead, most of which is currently used only for freight, has been struggling to get up steam again after the last election.
The only unqualified transport success is Bristol Airport, on its hilltop eight miles outside the city. You can easily find it by the fields full of illegal car parks, and lay-bys littered with rubbish and human waste. With no access to public transport other than a bus, the airport is currently seeking approval to increase passenger capacity to 50% over its current level. Even with the present passenger numbers, the local road system is struggling.
A history of lost opportunities
The city used to have a tram system, which began operating in 1875 and was electrified 20 years later, running throughout the city until the 1930s. However, it was rendered kaput by a German bomb on Good Friday, 11 April 1941, during the Bristol Blitz. The power supply was destroyed, forcing the system to shut down. It was never reopened. One surviving relic is a length of rail, which the blast embedded in the ground in St Mary Redcliffe’s churchyard.
There also used to be a suburban railway network with lines to Thornbury, Portishead, Clevedon, Radstock via Pensford, and Bath via Mangotsfield, but these did not survive the attentions of Dr Beeching in the 1960s.
Marvin Rees, the former mayor of Bristol and now Lord Rees, wanted to build an underground across the city, but that was effectively buried on cost grounds. I have always wondered how long the escalators at Bristol airport would have to be, given that the airport is 600 feet higher than the city centre.
The Green Party would like to see trams, but opponents raise questions about the effects of having a tram running through the streets (although many other cities seem to manage).
The Schwebebahn: a radical alterative?
I should like, therefore, to offer a potential solution: a Schwebebahn such as the one in Wuppertal in Germany. The Schwebebahn is a suspension monorail, where the cars are suspended from an overhead track. The line opened in 1901 and, for the most part, follows the course of the River Wupper, with overground sections at either end.
Despite the attentions of the Royal Air Force and the US Army Air Corps, it survived the war. For Wuppertal, it has assumed the same iconic status as has the suspension bridge for Bristol and is a similar, slightly quirky, stroke of engineering genius. It even has something of the vibe of that late lamented, ‘temporary’ flyover that stood near Temple Meads station for 30 years.
Just imagine the equivalent system in Bristol! The New Cut and the Feeder would offer a perfect route through the south of the city. Indeed, it might actually enhance the ambience of both. It could link the development site around Temple Meads, the new university campus and the development of former industrial areas, including new student accommodation in Bemmy (sorry, for non-Bristolians: Bedminster).
It would provide a very effective transit system for the area, potentially following the river all the way to Bath. No new real estate would be required and it might even provide an opportunity to shore up the banks of the New Cut (a process that has been happening piecemeal for the last decade or so)!
Overcoming the city’s transport challenges
Of course, the route to the airport is not via a convenient river, with the airport situated on top of one of the highest hills in the region. The main access route is the single carriageway A38, which threads its way between two major reservoirs at Barrow Tanks that provide the city’s water supply. Extending it to a dual carriageway is therefore problematic.
Why not simply extend the Schwebebahn up the A38? In Wuppertal, gantries straddle some sections of roadway, so no additional land would be needed and the carriageway would not have to be obstructed by tram lines. Imagine the view across the whole city as you hurtle down the hill past the Fox and Goose!
Thinking beyond trams and tunnels
The third proposed route for a Bristol metro system, from the city centre northwards to Cribbs Causeway and Aztec West, might be more problematic.
The accompanying photograph might give some Gloucester Road residents a moment of concern.
But why not build over the existing railway line from Temple Meads out to Bristol Parkway? The traditional railway line could then be kept free of local stopping traffic to create more capacity for long-distance trains.
A vision for Bristol’s future
So there you have it! A rapid transit system that does not obstruct the existing road network. It requires virtually no additional real estate. It does not require extensive tunnelling. And it gives Bristol another engineering marvel, much in the spirit of Brunel. Rather than just another tram or underground system, give Bristol something to be proud of!
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