New Passage Pier railway station

New Passage is a hamlet in South Gloucestershire, England, on the banks of the Severn estuary near the village of Pilning. It takes its name from the ferry service which operated between there and South Wales until 1886.

New Passage Halt railway station served the hamlet of New Passage, South Gloucestershire, England from 1928 to 1964 on the Severn Beach line.

Redwick is a village in South Gloucestershire, England. It is part of the parish of Pilning and Severn Beach, and is bounded by the River Severn to the north and the Chessell Pill Rhine to the east. To the south is the village of Pilning, at the end of Redwick Road near Pilning Stores and the village war memorial. Immediately to the west, the South Wales Main Line railway enters the Severn Tunnel. Historically Redwick was, with Northwick, a tything of the parish of Henbury. The village was first mentioned in 955 under the name Hreodwican, meaning "place of reeds". The village is also mentioned in the Domesday Book in 1086.

Severn Beach railway station serves the village of Severn Beach, England. The station is the terminus of the Severn Beach Line. This station is 13.5 miles (21.7 km) north west from Bristol Temple Meads on the Severn Beach Line. The station is managed by Great Western Railway, who are also the sole provider of trains serving the station.

Severn Beach is a village on the Severn Estuary in South Gloucestershire, England. The eastern portal of the Severn Tunnel is on the outskirts of the village. The Severn footpath – on the sea wall – is part of the Severn Way that leads from Gloucester, Slimbridge and the Second Severn Crossing. Extensive sea defences have been constructed and this provides a popular walkway along its length. Originally, the Severn Way finished at Severn Beach, but it has been extended to Bristol.The village is part of the Filton and Bradley Stoke Parliamentary constituency and is represented by the Conservative MP, Jack Lopresti.

Cross Hands Halt railway station served Pilning, South Gloucestershire, England from 1928 to 1964 on the Severn Beach Line.

Pilning is a village in South Gloucestershire, England, close to Redwick and Severn Beach. Pilning is close to the M4, M49 and A403 roads, and has the South Wales Main Line railway running through it, with a minor station.The civil parish is Pilning and Severn Beach. The population at the 2011 census was 3,647. An electoral ward exists in the same name.Because of the close proximity of the River Severn and the English Stones section of the river bed, Pilning has found itself the ideal place to make both a substantial railway tunnel and motorway bridge. The Severn Tunnel opened in 1885 and the Second Severn Crossing opened in 1996.

The A403 is a main road linking Bristol with the Severn Estuary. It runs from junction 1 of the M48 at Aust to the docks at Avonmouth. After the Severn Bridge was opened in 1966, the A403 was constructed in 1969 and 1970 to provide a direct route between the M4 motorway and Avonmouth. It is an important route for the local industries, allowing easy access between Wales and this part of England. It was financed by Gloucestershire County Council with a £387,000 grant from the Ministry of Transport and was initially known as the Avonmouth Aust Coast Road.

Northwick is a hamlet in South Gloucestershire, England, first mentioned in 955.The hamlet lies on the River Severn, between Pilning and Aust. It was part of the tything of Northwick with Redwick in the ancient parish of Henbury. It is now in the parish of Pilning and Severn Beach. The church of St Thomas was declared redundant in 1971.

The English Stones are a rocky outcrop in the Severn Estuary between Caldicot, Monmouthshire, and Severn Beach, South Gloucestershire. Because the area is exposed at low tide, and is a rare spot of solid land in the highly tidal estuary, it has long been considered a good location to build barrages, dams or bridges. In the 1990s the construction of the Second Severn Crossing made use of the English Stones as a foundation for significant sections of the bridge.

The Severn Tunnel (Welsh: Twnnel Hafren) is a railway tunnel in the United Kingdom, linking South Gloucestershire in the west of England to Monmouthshire in south Wales under the estuary of the River Severn. It was constructed by the Great Western Railway (GWR) between 1873 and 1886 for the purpose of dramatically shortening the journey times of their trains, passenger and goods alike, between South Wales and Western England. It has often been regarded as the crowning achievement of GWR's chief engineer Sir John Hawkshaw.Prior to the tunnel's construction, lengthy detours were necessary for all traffic between South Wales and Western England, which either used ship or a lengthy diversion upriver via Gloucester. Recognising the value of such a tunnel, the GWR sought its development, tasking Hawkshaw with its design and later contracting the civil engineer Thomas A. Walker to undertake its construction, which commenced in March 1873. Work proceeded smoothly until October 1879, at which point significant flooding of the tunnel occurred from what is now known as “The Great Spring”. Through strenuous and innovative efforts, the flooding was contained and work was able to continue, albeit with a great emphasis on drainage. Structurally completed during 1885, the first passenger train was run through the tunnel on 1 December 1886, nearly 14 years after the commencement of work. Following its opening, the tunnel quickly formed a key element of the main trunk railway line between southern England and South Wales. Amongst other services, the GWR operated a car shuttle train service through the tunnel for many decades. However, the tunnel has also presented especially difficult conditions, both operationally and in terms of infrastructure and structural maintenance. On average, around 50 million litres of water per day infiltrates the tunnel, necessitating the permanent operation of several large pumping engines. Originally, during much of the steam era, a large number of pilot and banking locomotives were required to assist heavy trains traverse the challenging gradients of the tunnel, which were deployed from nearby marshalling yards. The tunnel is 7,008 m (4.355 mi) long, although only 3,621 m (2.250 mi) of its length are under the river. It was the longest underwater tunnel in the world until 1987 and, for more than 100 years, it was the longest mainline railway tunnel within the UK. It was finally exceeded in this capacity during 2007 with the opening of the two major tunnels of High Speed 1, forming a part of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. In 2016, overhead line equipment (OHLE) was installed in the tunnel to allow the passage of electric traction; this work was undertaken as one element of the wider 21st-century modernisation of the Great Western main line.

The River Wye (; Welsh: Afon Gwy [ɡʊɨ̯]) is the fourth-longest river in the UK, stretching some 250 kilometres (155 miles) from its source on Plynlimon in mid Wales to the Severn estuary. For much of its length the river forms part of the border between England and Wales. The Wye Valley (lower part) is designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The Wye is important for nature conservation and recreation, but is affected by pollution.