Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways

Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways (FOSBR) is a Bristol-based campaign group, calling for better rail transport in the Bristol area.

FOSBR was formed in 1995 as Friends of Severn Beach Railway, to protest against the potential demise of the Severn Beach Line, a single-track branch line in Bristol. Services at the time had been reduced along the line from Bristol Temple Meads to Severn Beach, with many services replaced by buses. The first FOSBR action was on 25 September 1995, when a group of protestors met at Avonmouth railway station with buggies and bicycles, to show that buses were not a suitable replacement for trains. The group later changed its name to Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways, allowing it to keep the FOSBR acronym.

FOSBR's first campaign was to get a better service on the Severn Beach Line, an important Bristol commuter line connecting Bristol Temple Meads to Severn Beach and Avonmouth via Clifton. The line had few services, no service at all on Sundays, and very few trains travelled the entire length of the line to Severn Beach. Following action by FOSBR and a string of protests, Bristol City Council agreed to subsidise a service of at least one train every 45mins in each direction along the line. This continued until 2007 when a 1-hour minimum service was written into the Greater Western passenger franchise. In 2007, the Council unanimously agreed to pay £450,000 per year to fund extra services from May 2008 for three years, which resulted in a 60% increase in passenger numbers along the line, and a 25% year-on-year increase between June 2009 and June 2010. Passenger numbers on the line increased by 90% over the period 2008–11, and 25% in the period 2010–11. The Council cut the subsidy paid by half, saying the extra passengers were allowing the line to support itself, which prompted criticism by FOSBR, saying the money should be used to provide evening trains and through services to Bedminster and Parson Street.

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