Stoke Gifford depot (or the Filton Triangle depot) is a railway depot built for AT300 units from the

Hitachi A-train The Hitachi A-train is a family of rail rolling stock built and designed by Hitachi Rail using a common base and construction techniques. The stock is designed to facilitate a number of product life-cycle improvements including ease of manufacture ...

procured under the

Intercity Express Programme The Intercity Express Programme (IEP) was an initiative of the Department for Transport (DfT) in the United Kingdom to procure new trains to replace the InterCity 125 and InterCity 225 fleets on the East Coast Main Line and Great Western Main Li ...

. The depot is situated between

Filton Filton is a town and civil parish in South Gloucestershire, England, north of Bristol. Along with nearby Patchway and Bradley Stoke, Filton forms part of the Bristol urban area and has become an overflow settlement for the city. Filton has la ...

and

Stoke Gifford Stoke Gifford is a neighbourhood and Civil parish, parish and Wards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom, electoral ward in the South Gloucestershire district, in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, England. Formerly a separate ...

at a junction intersection of the

Cross Country Route The Cross Country Route is a long-distance railway route in England, which runs from to via , , and or . Inter-city services on the route, which include some of the longest passenger journeys in the UK such as to , are operated by CrossC ...

South Wales Main Line The South Wales Main Line (), originally known as the London, Bristol and South Wales Direct Railway or simply as the Bristol and South Wales Direct Railway, is a branch of the Great Western Main Line in Great Britain. It diverges from the co ...

and the Filton to Avonmouth Docks line. It is operated by

Agility Trains Agility Trains is a consortium that presently comprised the Japan, Japanese rolling stock manufacturer Hitachi, multinational insurance and investment company Axa UK, and the infrastructure fund GLIL Infrastructure. The consortium, which original ...

as part of its contract to maintain the Class 800 fleet operated by

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...

Location

The depot is sited approximately halfway between

and

, on land bounded by railway lines. The site is approximately triangular shaped, in area, formed by boundaries created by three railway lines: to the south, the Bristol Parkway to

Avonmouth Docks The Avonmouth Docks are part of the Port of Bristol, in England. They are situated on the northern side of the mouth of the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, opposite the Royal Portbury Dock on the southern side, where the river joins the River S ...

(the Filton to Avonmouth Line); the western boundary is formed by the former

Bristol and South Wales Union Railway The Bristol and South Wales Union Railway was built to connect Bristol, England, with south Wales. The route involved a ferry crossing of the River Severn but was considerably shorter than the alternative route through Gloucester. The ferry w ...

(B&SWUR) route; the north-east boundary is formed by a chord connecting Bristol Parkway to the former B&SWUR line for the

Severn Tunnel The Severn Tunnel () is a railway tunnel in the United Kingdom, linking South Gloucestershire in the west of England to Monmouthshire in south Wales under the estuary of the River Severn. It was constructed by the Great Western Railway (GWR) be ...

History

Background

In the early 19th century the land between Stoke Gifford and Filton was essentially rural. The first railway at the location was the north-south

(1860s); followed by the eastward London, Bristol and South Wales Direct Railway (1900s); and the Filton to Avonmouth Line (1910s). The lands at the other three corners formed by the intersection of the east-west and north-south lines were also enclosed by connecting embanked earthworks of connecting chords by the 1920s.See also, information in the articles London, Bristol and South Wales Direct Railway,

, Filton to Avonmouth Line, and

Patchway railway station Patchway railway station is on the South Wales Main Line, serving the town of Patchway and village of Stoke Gifford in South Gloucestershire, England. It is from . Its three letter station code is PWY. It is managed by Great Western Railway ( ...

By the second half of the 20th century the southern part of the site was being used as a rail connected spoil heap; this use continued up to the 21st century. The site was involved in processing of used railway ballast, and from 1998 non-railway rubble was also processed. A small stream, Stoke Brook, as well as tributaries and other drains crossed the site; it was redirected in the latter part of the 20th century, and by the 21st century had been mostly

culvert A culvert is a structure that channels water past an obstacle or to a subterranean waterway. Typically embedded so as to be surrounded by soil, a culvert may be made from a pipe (fluid conveyance), pipe, reinforced concrete or other materia ...

ed. In 2009

was named as the preferred bidder for the

train procurement. After being placed on hold and put under review the decision to continue with procurement process was taken in May 2011.

Intercity Express Programme depot

In mid 2011

Hitachi () is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1910 and headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo. The company is active in various industries, including digital systems, power and renewable ener ...

Rail Europe began the formal application process with

South Gloucestershire Council South Gloucestershire Council is the local authority of South Gloucestershire, a local government district in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, England, covering an area to the north of the city of Bristol. The council is a unitary auth ...

for the construction of a rail depot at the 'Stoke Gifford Triangle'. In September 2011 a planning application was submitted; as specified, the depot was designed for a maximum train length of around (10 car, 26m carriage trains) with stabling for 17 trains. The maintenance building was a two road structure including staff and office buildings, other facilities included a train washing building , a wheel lathe building , a two-floor accommodation building as well as smaller structures including pump rooms (fuel, oil, waste water), and a shunters' cabin. Other structures included electricity substations, and tank farms. The entire site's working track was to have

overhead line An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, Electric multiple unit, electric multiple units, trolleybuses or trams. The generic term used by the International Union ...

electrification. Rail access to the site was to be via connections in the south-east corner to the Stoke Gifford junction to Patchway junction chord of the

,In ' the line is referred to as the ''South Wales and Bristol Down Tunnel line''. and to the Avonmouth and Filton Line; a connection in the northwest corner to the Stoke Gifford/Patchway junction chord is also proposed. Significant local opposition developed to the plan, including concerns about

noise pollution Noise pollution, or sound pollution, is the propagation of noise or sound with potential harmful effects on humans and animals. The source of outdoor noise worldwide is mainly caused by machines, transport and propagation systems.Senate Publi ...

and

light pollution Light pollution is the presence of any unwanted, inappropriate, or excessive artificial Visible spectrum, lighting. In a descriptive sense, the term ''light pollution'' refers to the effects of any poorly implemented lighting sources, during the ...

during night shift working, as well as concerns about a negative effect on house prices. Stoke Gifford parish council also opposed the plans.

approved the plan in February 2012. Construction by VolkerFitzpatrick commenced in August 2013. In 2013 the plans were amended by application No. PT13/1744/RVC. Minor operational changes were made: the carriage wash was moved to be adjacent to the main maintenance building, and was ~15m longer than originally stated; stabling sidings was reduced to 16; positions of plant and track layout were altered, for operational reasons, also reducing the proximity of work activities to nearby residential properties; screening earthworks and access roads were also altered. Due to the presence of biological lifeforms on the site the developers have proposed the rail bounded triangle of land to the south of the site as an

environmental mitigation Environmental mitigation refers to the process by which measures to avoid, minimise, or compensate for adverse impacts on the environment are applied. In the context of planning processes like Environmental Impact Assessments, this process is ofte ...

area. Control of the site was transferred from Network Rail to Hitachi in early 2013. The depot was completed in March 2016 and became operational with the first visit by a Class 800 in summer 2016. Regular operations commenced in October 2017 when the Class 800s entered service with

.First new trains in a generation launched by GWR
FirstGroup 16 October 2017

References

Notes

Sources

* * ** ** ** ** * ** {{refend Rail transport in Gloucestershire Railway depots in England Transport infrastructure completed in 2016