Bristol's Ashley Down Station to reopen - 60 years after closure

A Bristol suburban station has reopened - more than six decades after it closed.

The £23million Ashley Down Station will have one train an hour linking it to Filton Abbey Wood and Bristol Temple Meads.

It's part of a larger plan - MetroWest - to extend the train line to Henbury.

Work at Ashley Down started in March last year and the station will officially open on Saturday 28 September.

The West of England Mayor Dan Norris officially launched the new station at a ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday 27 September.

He said: "The last time this station existed was back in 1964, when it was called Ashley Park.

"That year The Beatles released A Hard Day's Night - so it's a long time ago."

He added: "It's going to allow commuters to change the way they live their lives so they can travel in a more environmentally friendly way, which lots of people want to do.

"But also it's just much more convenient. It's faster, it's more affordable, There's lots of advantages to not being reliant on cars or other forms of transport."

Great Western Railway (GWR) says it expects sports fans to use the station to see Bristol Rovers and Gloucestershire Cricket games.

Tom Pierpoint, from Great Western Railway, said: "The Metro West programme is a vision to transform rail within the local area.

"It's a combination of train service improvements, line re-openings and seven new stations going to be opened over a period of five years," he said.

It is the second new station to open in Bristol this year, after the £5.8million Portway Park and Ride station opened in July.