Detailed plans for a new transport hub at Bristol Temple Meads station have been unveiled, the latest scheme linked to the much-needed but long-delayed regeneration of the area.
The Southern Gateway will include a new pedestrian access to the station, a bespoke cycle hub and multi-storey car park. 
It is one of four schemes planned to upgrade the area around the historic station and provide new entrances and modern facilities for passengers, including the kind of shops, bars and cafes now common in most other major UK railway stations.
With its original passenger shed and engine shed designed and built by Brunel in 1840, Grade I listed Temple Meads is one of the oldest surviving railway terminus buildings in the world.
However, it is also one of the last remaining unimproved mainline train stations in the UK.
The land around it is currently dominated by car parking, creating a poor experience for people arriving in the city, according to the team behind the regeneration.
By relocating parking into a single site at the Southern Gateway, the space to the north of station at the Friary, Station Approach, and in the Grade I listed Midland Shed can be transformed with new development, public spaces and travel routes as part of the BTQ Northern Gateway to create a world-class welcome to the city-region.
The Southern Gateway proposals include:
- A new 350 space car park for relocation of rail passenger and staff parking, with accessible spaces, electric vehicle charging and short stay parking for drop off and pick up
- A separate high-quality secure cycle hub for over 700 bikes, including cargo bikes and accessible cycles
- A new pedestrian access into Bristol Temple Meads station over the River Avon, dramatically improving access to and from the station for residents in the south of the city
- A new bus stops and futureproofed space for mass transit.
The scheme forms part of the Bristol Temple Quarter (BTQ) programme, which includes 10,000 new homes, thousands of new jobs, infrastructure and new public spaces across 135 hectares of former industrial land in the city’s St Phillips area.
Another new entrance, to the historic station’s east, has been built but will not open until autumn 2026. It will link directly to the University of Bristol’s new Enterprise Campus on the former sorting office site off Cattle Market Road, which is now under construction.
Network Rail announced a ‘vision’ for the station to much fanfare more than 12 years ago, saying it would transform it into a ‘world-class railway hub’.
The scheme, which also included opening up the east side of the station as well as bringing two unused platforms back into use, was later abandoned after the funding was withdrawn.
During that period, Birmingham’s New Street station was transformed with a £750m facelift.
Temple Meads currently handles more than 10m passengers a year – a figure expected to rise to more than 22m by 2030, meaning much greater capacity, improved access and better facilities will be needed in the long term.
