Future
First Great Western declined an option to continue the Greater Western passenger franchise (of which services at Yatton are a part) beyond 2013, citing a desire for a longer-term contract due to the impending upgrade to the Great Western Main Line. The franchise was put out to tender, and it was announced in March 2012 that Deutsche Bahn, First Group, National Express and Stagecoach had pre-qualified. The winner was expected to be announced in December 2012, with the new franchisee taking over in April 2013, however, it was announced in July 2012 that the franchise would be extended due to the late issue of the Invitation to Tender (ITT). The ITT was eventually released at the end of July, and will run until October 2012. The winner is due to be announced in March 2013, and take over on 21 July 2013. The franchise is due to end in July 2028. The new franchise will see the introduction of new Intercity Express Trains, capacity enhancements and smart ticketing.
With the impending upgrade, the main line from London to Bristol is due to be electrified. However, the electrification will not extend beyond Bristol to Weston-super-Mare, so Yatton will continue to be served by diesel trains. This could entail the removal of direct London services, as electric trains would not be able to operate beyond Bristol. Services could however continue using bi-mode trains. The group Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways supports the electrification continuing to Weston, as does MP for Weston-super-Mare John Penrose.
Yatton is on the Weston-super-Mare/Yate corridor, one of the main axes of the Greater Bristol Metro, a rail transport plan which aims to enhance capacity in the Bristol area. The plan calls for longer and newer trains to prevent overcrowding.
Read more about this topic: Yatton Railway Station
Famous quotes containing the word future:
“A fixed image of the future is in the worst sense ahistorical.”
—Juliet Mitchell (b. 1940)
“The future is just as much a condition of the present as is the past. “What shall be and must be is the ground of that which is.””
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“We must choose. Be a child of the past with all its crudities and imperfections, its failures and defeats, or a child of the future, the future of symmetry and ultimate success.”
—Frances E. Willard 1839–1898, U.S. president of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union 1879-1891, author, activist. The Woman’s Magazine, pp. 137-40 (January 1887)