‘Dorset Metro’ and train station upgrades among transport plans for BCP area

BCP Council and Dorset Council have set out plans to improve rail services across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole

Plans for a Dorset Metro, improved accessibility, and station relocations have been outlined as part of a long-term strategy to improve rail services across Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole.

The latest iteration of a joint local transport plan between BCP and Dorset Council proposes a series of upgrades to the rail network, including an additional hourly shuttle service between Wareham and Brockenhurst, along with improvements to the Weymouth to London Waterloo route to deliver better access to employment, education, and leisure, while encouraging greater uptake of rail travel.

Central to the plan is a proposed ‘Dorset Metro’, designed to deliver a ‘turn-up and go’ rail service across the BCP region, developed in partnership with Network Rail and other stakeholders.

The full project is aimed for completion by 2041, according to the plan.

Councillor Andy Hadley, BCP Council Cabinet Member for Climate Response, Environment and Energy, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “I’ve had this ambition for 30 years to improve the frequency of trains across the conurbation.

“Something like in Southampton which has a local service that keeps going if there’s an issue further up the line towards London, meaning all the trains to the west of it don’t stop.

“So, if you’re commuting then you’ve got a chance of catching a train as you’d expect.”

He said increasing services to four or five trains per hour, rather than the current three, would offer a dependable and viable alternative for commuters navigating the area’s congested road network.

“The transport plan also calls for enhancements to active travel and bus facilities to better serve rail stations across the BCP area.

The proposals also involve supporting Network Rail and its partners in their efforts to upgrade station facilities to meet published accessibility standards, introducing level boarding at stations including Hamworthy, Parkstone, Branksome, Pokesdown, Christchurch, and Hinton Admiral.

The upgrades are scheduled for delivery in the near term, with full completion anticipated by 2036.

Cllr Hadley said: “The only station that is step-free access is Bournemouth Station on both sides.”

He added that the challenge lies in the area’s ability to compete with cities such as London, which attract greater passenger numbers, when bidding for funding.

Additional plans include reviewing opportunities for new or relocated train stations within the BCP area, such as Poole train station, to support town centre regeneration, housing, and employment growth.

Cllr Hadley said: “Poole Railway Station was put into temporary measure and it’s fallen apart.”

He said a previous Heart of Poole master plan examined the upper town centre and “what you do around the Dolphin Centre, the car park there, the bus depot, whether the bus station is in the right location, and whether you co-locate the bus station and the train station really in the bit behind the Dolphin Centre and next to Sainsbury’s so that where the location for a better station could be there.

“It would all potentially be part of a land swap and one possibility could be that the bus depot would be placed there because they don’t want to go too far away from the bus station for operational reasons so they can get the buses in.”

A replacement for Poole level crossing is also scheduled for completion by 2036.

Cllr Hadley said: “Having a better solution to get people across the railway in the high street and thinking about the railway station together is something we’ve been talking quite some time about.”

The closure of the level crossing would require a “credible alternative” for pedestrians, which could include lifts.

Councillor Hadley said: “It’s getting to a point where we can close the level crossing but there’s a credible alternative which would include lifts, it could include, if you look at Birmingham Bullring for example, they’ve raised the shopping level up by a level, now we probably haven’t got the money to do that sort of thing but re-imagine the space in terms of how pedestrians can get through it.

“We need to have something that is practical and supports everybody that wants to use the space and go across.”