Railways in the West of England: What next for 2026?

It is set to be a year of change for train services in the West of England.

From Great Western Railway (GWR) returning to public ownership to work beginning on the long-awaited Portishead line – what other developments could be in store?

We look at what what you can expect to see in the next 12 months.

The West’s main regional train operator GWR has been earmarked as one of the next to be renationalised.

The government has been bringing rail franchises back into public control, something Labour promised in its manifesto.

It will not happen for GWR quite yet, though. The firm’s contract has a little while to run before services are integrated into Great British Railways.

In September, GWR’s managing director Mark Hopwood said he expected the company would be returned to public ownership “in about a year’s time”.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander – a user of GWR services as the MP for Swindon South – is due to make a final decision on dates soon.

It has been one of the most long-running transport sagas in the West of England – but the reopening of the Portishead railway line has been approved.

The line originally closed in 1964, but the town has grown since then – as has the congestion between it and Bristol – generating calls for the line to be brought back into use.

The development will see a new station in Portishead, and another at Pill.

In October 225, work began to clear the disused line of vegetation and make space for site compounds, car parks and more.

The plan is for the line to reopen in 2028. But residents will begin to see more work taking place over the coming months.

Rail has been on the way back in Bristol over the past few years, with new stations at Ashley Down and Portway park and ride opening.

Now, work will continue to get the North Filton and Henbury stations up and running.

The North Filton station will serve the new Brabazon arena and housing development on the old Filton Airport site, and is due to open in 2026.

Henbury, which now has planning permission but is further away, is scheduled to open in 2028.

Possible new stations at Ashton Gate, on the Portishead line, and St Anne’s, on the line to London, have also been discussed.

The rail regulator gave a new service – Go-Op – permission to begin operating just over a year ago, with services due to start about now.

These would have included trains between Taunton and Weston-super-Mare, Taunton and Westbury, Taunton and Swindon, and Frome and Westbury.

However, the co-operatively owned train company said this would not now happen in 2026.

The firm is still trying to build funding for a later launch.

Could one of the UK’s longest heritage railways be reconnected to the mainline?

There is a campaign for this to happen between Taunton, on the mainline, and Bishops Lydeard, on the West Somerset Railway (WSR).

This could then enable commuter services to travel between Taunton and Minehead on the 20-mile-long heritage route.

Infrastructure improvements to parts of the mainline including Norton Junction would be expected to cost about £6m.

Jonathan Jones-Pratt, chairman of WSR, said he was looking forward to developing the final business case.

“If successful, this will play a key part in the West Somerset Railway’s future,” he added.

A historical “railbus” could soon be running up and down a railway in the West.

Railbus W79978 was one of four models built in 1958 as a British Rail experiment to serve Cirencester, working until the station was shut in 1964.

It is thought to be one of the only ones in the country still in working order.

The railbus is being restored at the Swindon and Cricklade Railway.