Rail services in the West of England

• Bristol Temple Meads - Manchester Piccadilly (Extensions to Paignton)
• Plymouth - Edinburgh Waverley (Extensions to Glasgow and Aberdeen)

• South West/Bristol Temple Meads - London Paddington (via Bath Spa)
• Swansea/Cardiff - London Paddington (via Bristol Parkway)
• Bristol Parkway - Weston-super-Mare
• Great Malvern/Gloucester - Westbury/Weymouth
• Cardiff Central - Portsmouth Harbour
• Cardiff Central - Taunton
• Bristol Temple Meads - Avonmouth/Severn Beach

• Yeovil Junction/Frome - Salisbury/London Waterloo

This is a list of stations currently open on heritages line.

Station	Line	Platforms	Year Closed	Year Reopened	Image
Avon Riverside	Avon Valley Railway	1	N/A	2004
Bitton	Avon Valley Railway	2	1966	1972
Oldland Common	Avon Valley Railway	1	1966	1991

This is a list of proposed railway stations in the West of England. (This list includes some former stations)

Station	Line	Platforms	Year closed	Current status	Image
Ashley Hill	Cross Country Route	2	1964	Proposed to reopen
Ashton Gate	Portishead Railway	1	1964/1984	Proposed to reopen
Charfield	Cross Country	2	1965	Proposed to reopen
Chittening Platform	Henbury Loop	1	1964	Proposed to reopen
Long Ashton	Bristol to Exeter	2	1941	Proposed to reopen
Henbury	Henbury Loop	2	1965	Proposed to reopen
Horfield	Cross Country Route	2	1964	Proposed to reopen
North Filton	Henbury Loop	1	1986	Planning application
Pill	Portishead Railway	2	1964	Proposed to reopen
Portishead	Portishead Railway	2	1964	Proposed to reopen
Portway Park & Ride	Severn Beach Line	1	N/A	Opening summer 2022
Saltford	Great Western Main Line	2	1970	Proposed to reopen
St Anne's Park	Great Western Main Line	2	1970	Proposed to reopen

This is a list of former stations in the West of England area.

Station	Line	Platforms	Year Closed	Image
Avonmouth (BPRP)	Severn Beach Line
Avonmouth Docks	Severn Beach Line
Avonmouth (Royal Edward)	Severn Beach Line
Brislington	Bristol and North Somerset Railway	1	1963
Charlton Halt	Henbury Loop	2	1915
Clifton Bridge	Portishead Branch	2	1965
Coalpit Heath	South Wales Main Line Cross Country Route	2	1961
Cross Hands Halt	Severn Beach Line	1	1964
Filton	Cross Country Route		1903
Filton Junction	Cross Country Route		1996
Fishponds	Bristol and Gloucester Railway	2	1966
Hallen	Henbury Loop	2	1918
Ham Green	Portishead Branch	1	1964
Horfield	Cross Country Route	2	1964
Hotwells	Bristol Port Railway and Pier	2	1921
Hotwells Halt	Bristol Port Railway and Pier	1	1922
Kelston	Mangotsfield Branch Line	2	1949
Mangotsfield	Mangotsfield and Bath Branch Line Bristol and Gloucester Railway	6	1966
New Passage Halt	Severn Beach Line	1	1964
New Passage Pier	Severn Beach Line		1886
Nightingale Valley Halt	Portishead Railway	1	1932
Portbury	Portishead Branch	1	1962
St Philip's	Bristol and Gloucester Railway	1	1967
Staple Hill	Bristol and Gloucester Railway	2	1966
Thornbury	Thornbury Branch	1	1944
Warmley	Mangotsfield and Bath Branch Line	2	1966
Wickwar	Cross Country	2	1965
Winterbourne	Cross Country South Wales	2	1963
Whitchurch Halt	Bristol and North Somerset Railway	1	1959

The Bristol to Exeter line runs between Bristol and Exeter via the Nailsea, Weston-super-Mare, Bridgwater and Taunton. It is served by local First Great Western services, and used by Cross-Country and Intercity trains headed towards Plymouth.

The North-East/South-West route (sometimes simply The Cross-Country Route) is the major British rail route running from South West England or Cardiff via Bristol, Birmingham, Derby and Sheffield to North-East England and Scotland. It includes some of the longest inter-city rail journeys in the UK, e.g. Penzance to Aberdeen. It remains a major freight route, although now largely usurped by the M5, M6 and M1 motorways.

The route shares parts of the Great Western Main Line, Midland Main Line, Sheffield to Hull Line, the East Coast Main Line and the core Cardiff-Bristol-Birmingham-Derby route.

In November 2018 tracks were doubled from Bristol Temple Meads through Lawrence Hill to Filton Abbey Wood stations to increase capacity, back to the original four tracks.[12]

The Great Western Main Line is a main line railway in England that runs westwards from London Paddington station to Temple Meads station in Bristol.

The route runs from Bristol Temple Meads to Severn Beach via Lawrence Hill, Stapleton Road, Montpelier, Redland, Clifton Down, Sea Mills, Shirehampton, Avonmouth, St Andrews Road before reaching terminus at Severn Beach. The journey takes approximately 45 minutes.

Following a successful campaign by FOSBR (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railway), the Severn Beach Line is going to have an increased frequency from December 2007 to March 2010.[13] It is hoped this will pave the way for better services across the conurbation. An additional train will operate on the line meaning services should be at the least every 40 mins.

The South Wales Main Line is a branch of the Great Western Main Line. It diverges from the main line at Wootton Bassett near Swindon, first calling at Bristol Parkway, after which the line continues through the Severn Tunnel into South Wales.

The Wessex Main Line is the railway line from Bristol Temple Meads to Southampton. Diverging from this route is the Heart of Wessex Line from Westbury to Weymouth.

In November 2016, the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership began a consultation process on their Transport Vision Summary Document, outlining potential light rail/tram routes from the city centre to Bristol Airport, the eastern and north west fringes of the city, and a route along the A4 road to Bath.[14] By 2017, this proposal had changed to a mass transit network with potential for underground sections, linking the city centre with the northern and eastern fringes of the city and the airport.

Operator	Years	Image	Services
Post-nationalisation
British Rail	1948–1986		All services
Post-sectorisation
InterCity	1986–1996		London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads London Paddington to Cardiff Central and Swansea via Bristol Parkway Plymouth and the south west to the north and Scotland
Regional Railways	1986–1996		All non-InterCity services
Post-privatisation
South West Trains	2004–2017		Bristol Temple Meads to London Waterloo via Salisbury from 2004
South Western Railway (SWR)	2017-2021		Bristol Temple Meads to London Waterloo via Salisbury
Virgin CrossCountry	1997–2007		Bristol to Manchester Piccadilly Plymouth and the south west to Newcastle and Scotland
Wales & Borders	2001–2003
Wales & West	1997–2001
Wessex Trains	2001–2006		All local and non-express inter-city services.

There have also been a number of other companies pre-nationalisation, including:

• Great Western Railway
• Midland Railway
• Bristol and Gloucester Railway
• Birmingham and Bristol Railway
• Bristol Port Railway and Pier
• Bristol and North Somerset Railway
• Portishead Railway

MetroWest is a current initiative in the West of England area to improve local rail services by reopening disused rail lines and stations and improving existing services. Phase One includes reopening the Portishead railway line to passenger traffic and improving services to the Severn Beach Line and Bath Spa. Phase Two will see the Henbury railway line reopen, along with half-hourly services between Weston-super-Mare and Yate. The phases are due to open in 2019[15] and 2021[16] respectively.

The West of England Local Enterprise Partnership also produced a Key Principles Report in November 2015 discussing future potential transport projects for the West of England region, including new rail transit based options referred to as MetroWest++. The options outlined include reopening the Thornbury Branch Line, a Yate to Bath route, the use of tram train technology, a link to the city centre and a connection to Bristol Airport.[17]