Yate railway station

Notes
	Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Yate
Yate
	The northbound platform with the former goods shed on the right
General information
Location	Yate, South Gloucestershire; England
Coordinates	51°32′28″N 2°25′55″W / 51.5411°N 2.4319°W
Grid reference	ST701826
Managed by	Great Western Railway
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	YAE
Classification	DfT category F1
History
Original company	Bristol and Gloucester Railway
Pre-grouping	Midland Railway
Post-grouping	LMS
Key dates
8 July 1844	Opened
4 January 1965	Closed
11 May 1989	Reopened
Passengers
2019/20	0.342 million
2020/21	68,562
2021/22	0.177 million
2022/23	0.238 million
2023/24	0.294 million
Notes
Notes
	Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Yate railway station serves the town of Yate in South Gloucestershire, in south west England. The station is located on the main Bristol to Birmingham line between Bristol Parkway and Cam & Dursley, and is operated by Great Western Railway.

History

Railways in the Bristol area

Legend

Cross Country Route

Thornbury branch line

Yate

South Wales Main Line

New Passage Pier

Westerleigh Junction

New Passage Halt

Cross Hands Halt

South Wales Main Line

via Severn Tunnel

Pilning

Severn Beach

Coalpit Heath

Severn View Industrial Park

Winterbourne

Chittening Industrial Estate

Bristol Parkway

Patchway

Smoke Lane Industrial Estate

Ram Hill Colliery

Chittening Platform

Hallen Halt

Avonmouth Docks

Henbury

St Andrews Road

Charlton Halt

Avonmouth (BPR&P)

North Filton Platform

Avonmouth (Royal Edward)

Stoke Gifford depot

Avonmouth Docks

Westerleigh Goods Depot

Avonmouth

Avonmouth Light Railway

Filton Junction

Avonmouth Docks

Mangotsfield

(1845–1869)

Clifton Down

(1869–1966)

Warmley

Hotwells

Narroways Hill Junction

Stapleton Road sidings

Grey line represents

Stapleton Road

boundary of Bristol

Oldland Common

unitary authority area

Avon Valley Railway

Waste depot

St Mary Redcliffe tunnel

Avon Riverside

Bristol Temple Meads

Princes' Wharf

Kelston

Bristol Harbour Railway

St Philip's Marsh T&RSMD

SS Great Britain

East Depot

Bristol Docks (North)

Bedminster

Bristol Docks (South)

Parson Street

CREATE Centre

Mangotsfield to Bath line

South Liberty Lane Depot

Nightingale Valley Halt

Long Ashton

Ham Green Halt

Bristol–Exeter line

Portbury shipyard

Bristol & North Somerset Rly

Portbury Shipyard

Saltford

Portbury

Great Western Main Line

(1954–1964)

Portishead

Weston, Clevedon and

Portishead Light Railway

(1879–1954)

Portishead

Portishead Pier

Bristol and Gloucester Railway

Legend

Gloucester–Newport line

(SWR) to Newport

Gloucester

Gloucester (Eastgate)

Birmingham & Gloucester Rly

(MR) to Birmingham

(GWR) to Swindon

Stonehouse & Nailsworth Rly

(MR) to Nailsworth/Stroud

Stroudwater Navigation

Frocester

Cam & Dursley

Coaley Junction

Dursley & Midland Junction Rly

(MR) to Dursley

M5

Berkeley Road

Sharpness branch line

(MR) to Sharpness

M5

Charfield

Wickwar

Wickwar Tunnel

Thornbury branch line

(MR) to Thornbury

Yate

Westerleigh Junction

South Wales Main Line

(GWR) to London Paddington

Coalpit Heath Sidings

Ram Hill Colliery

Westerleigh Goods Depot

M4

Bristol Parkway

Mangotsfield & Bath branch line

(MR) to Bath

South Wales Main Line

(GWR) to Swansea

Mangotsfield

Goods line

to Avonmouth docks

Staple Hill

Staple Hill Tunnel

Filton Abbey Wood

Fishponds

Avonside Locomotive Works

Clifton Extension Rly

(GWR & MR) to Avonmouth

Kingswood Junction

River Frome

Atlas Locomotive Works

and collieries

M32

Stapleton Road

Lawrence Hill

Waste Depot

Goods Depots

Bristol St Philip's

Bristol Harbour

River Avon (from Bath)

(GWR)

Temple Meads

Goods Depot

Great Western Main Line

to London Paddington

Bristol Temple Meads

Bridge over Victoria Street

tunnel under

St Mary Redcliffe churchyard

Bristol Harbour Railway

St Philip's Marsh depot

River Avon (to the sea)

Bristol & North Somerset Rly

(GWR)

Bristol and Exeter Railway

(GWR) to Taunton and Exeter

The Yate station first opened on 8 July 1844 and closed on 4 January 1965, along with other wayside stations on the former Bristol and Gloucester Railway; the local stopping service on the route having been withdrawn as a result of the Beeching Axe.^[1]^[2] This had both its platforms on the southern side of the road bridge mentioned above - the original 1844 goods shed still stands (now in commercial use) next to the old southbound platform site.^[3] The station was reopened by British Rail on 11 May 1989 with the backing of Avon County Council.

When first open, trains headed south along the original B&GR/Midland route via Fishponds to reach Bristol, although a connection was subsequently laid in to link this route with the rival Great Western Railway's 1903 "Badminton Line" from Wootton Bassett to Patchway (the current South Wales Main Line) in 1908. The new connection left the older line by means a flying junction at Yate South^[4] before heading southwest to join the SWML at the triangular Westerleigh Junction. Though jointly built by the two companies for the purpose of giving the GWR access to the Severn Rail Bridge and Severn and Wye Railway, it also provided an alternative route to Bristol Temple Meads via Filton and the Great Western soon made use of it to compete with the Midland for Bristol to Birmingham traffic, much to the dismay of the latter company. All services now use this newer line to get to Bristol, as the original 1844 route through Mangotsfield was abandoned in January 1970 following the completion of the Bristol area resignalling scheme. A short section of the old route was retained from Yate South Junction after the rest closed, to serve a domestic waste transfer depot and fuel oil distribution terminal at Westerleigh sidings. This line is still in use today.

It is the junction station for the Thornbury Branchline, however the passenger stations on this branch have long since closed (trains ceased in 1944) and the line remained open to serve Tytherington Quarry until September 2013, when it was placed 'Out of Use' by Network Rail following the mothballing of the quarry at the beginning of the year.^[5]^[6]^[7] The line has now (summer 2017) returned to use following the reopening of the quarry, with Mendip Rail running periodic stone trains.

In the Strategic Rail Authority’s 2007/08 financial year, Yate was ranked as the 1104th most-used station in the UK. In the Office of Rail and Road's 2019/20 estimations, Yate ranked 1,114th most used station.^[8]

Facilities

The station is staffed on weekday mornings.^[9] It has two staggered platforms, separated by the A432 road bridge. An automated ticket machine was installed in mid-2007, but stopped functioning due to vandalism and is reported to be "unlikely to be replaced in the foreseeable future".^[10] A new ticket machine was installed in 2013 on platform 1, whilst the portakabin ticket office is on the opposite platform. Digital information screens, customer help points and timetable posters provide train running information, whilst CCTV was installed here in 2011.^[11] Step-free access to both platforms is available (via ramps from the road bridge to platform 1).

Services

The station is served Monday to Saturday by a two trains every hour in both directions between Gloucester and Westbury via Bristol Temple Meads (with hourly extensions to/from Worcester northbound and to/from Weymouth southbound, plus a single service to/from Portsmouth Harbour). In May 2023, additional trains to/from Bristol were introduced as part Phase 2 of the MetroWest scheme. Yate station is also served by a hourly Sunday service. A normal service operates on most bank holidays.

Preceding station	National Rail		Following station
Bristol Parkway		Great Western Railway Gloucester - Westbury	Cam and Dursley
	Disused railways
Mangotsfield Line and station closed		Bristol and Gloucester Railway Midland Railway	Wickwar Line open, station closed
Terminus		Thornbury Branch Line Midland Railway	Iron Acton Line open, station closed