Westbury
National Rail
The entrance to the station is at ground level with the platforms behind and above
General information
LocationWestbury, Wiltshire
England
Coordinates51°15′59″N 2°11′58″W / 51.2665°N 2.1995°W / 51.2665; -2.1995
Grid referenceST861519
Managed byGreat Western Railway
Platforms3
Other information
Station codeWSB
ClassificationDfT category D
History
Original companyWilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway
Pre-groupingGreat Western Railway
Post-groupingGreat Western Railway
Key dates
5 September 1848Station opened as terminus of line from Chippenham
7 October 1850Line extended to Frome
Passengers
2018/19Decrease 0.549 million
2019/20Increase 0.558 million
 Interchange Decrease 0.229 million
2020/21Decrease 0.152 million
 Interchange Decrease 48,500
2021/22Increase 0.439 million
 Interchange Increase 0.164 million
2022/23Increase 0.519 million
 Interchange Increase 0.247 million
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Westbury railway station serves the market town of Westbury in Wiltshire, England. The station is managed by Great Western Railway.

The station is a major junction, serving the Reading to Taunton line with services to and from Penzance and London Paddington; the Wessex Main Line with services to and from Cardiff and Portsmouth, also Swindon; the Heart of Wessex Line with local services from Bristol Temple Meads to Weymouth; and services to London Waterloo.

The buffet at Westbury appeared in a list of "highly commended" station cafes published in The Guardian in 2009.[1]

History

The station was opened by the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway on 5 September 1848,[2] and was the initial terminus of their line from Chippenham. This line was later extended to Frome, which opened on 7 October 1850.[3] The Salisbury branch opened on 30 June 1856, whilst the opening of the line to Patney & Chirton in 1900 (along with that further west from Castle Cary to Cogload Junction six years later) completed the GWR's new main line from London Paddington to Taunton and beyond.

In the 1880s, the station was one of the meeting places of the South and West Wilts Hunt.[4]

In 1899, Westbury station was entirely rebuilt to cater for the 1900 line, creating two island platforms six hundred feet long and forty feet wide.[5][6] It has since been rebuilt and remodelled several times, most recently when the area was resignalled in 1985 (when the Down Salisbury platform line was lifted), but without changing the underlying form created in 1901. In 2013 the Swindon and Wiltshire Local Transport Body prioritised the reopening of this platform face at an estimated cost of £5.4m.[7]

A map of the rail routes radiating from Westbury to (clockwise from top left)Bristol/Chippenham, London, Salisbury, Weymouth/Penzance. Not to scale.
Railway routes around Westbury in 2009

A freight yard next to the station is used by bulk limestone trains from the rail-served quarries at Merehead and Whatley in Somerset.[8] In April 2009 the rail-served Lafarge cement works to the east was closed.[9]

Accidents and incidents

On 28 October 1873, a mail train passed a signal at danger and collided with a luggage train.[10]

On 6 December 2011, a train was derailed at Westbury.[11]

Services

A Great Western Railway Class 800 from London Paddington and a South Western Railway Class 159 going to London Waterloo
View of the station

The station is served by all three main routes that pass through it. On the main Reading to Taunton Line, the station is served by westbound trains to one of Exeter St Davids, Paignton, Plymouth, or Penzance; and eastbound services to London Paddington, which depart approximately once every two hours.[12]

There is a service on the Cardiff Central to Southampton Central and Portsmouth Harbour Wessex Main Line, and a separate service between Gloucester, Bristol and Westbury on this route. Some of these trains continue through to Weymouth and in the opposite direction certain trains extend through to Cheltenham Spa and Great Malvern. Others run to Frome, Warminster and Southampton.[13]

There are also services between Westbury and Swindon via Chippenham, Trowbridge and Melksham, marketed as the TransWilts Line. The frequency on this route was improved substantially (to eight trains each way weekdays, five on Sundays) at the December 2013 timetable change.[13]

Preceding station National Rail National Rail Following station
Pewsey   Great Western Railway
(London to Devon and Cornwall)		   Castle Cary
Trowbridge   Great Western Railway
(Wessex Main Line)		   Dilton Marsh or Warminster
  Great Western Railway
(Heart of Wessex Line)		   Frome
Warminster   South Western Railway
(Basingstoke - Yeovil)		   Frome

Future

The line to Westbury is not due to be electrified as part of the 21st-century modernisation of the Great Western Main Line. Although local councillors support it, the extension of electrification beyond Newbury to Westbury was assessed as having a benefit–cost ratio of only 0.31.[14]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Westbury railway station.
  1. ↑ Wills, Dixe (12 May 2009). "Ten of the best railway cafes". Guardian. Retrieved 30 June 2009.
  2. ↑ Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 244. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.
  3. ↑ Butt 1995, p. 100
  4. ↑ Hunting Appointments in The Times, 8 March 1884, pg. 7, col. E
  5. ↑ Oakley, Mike (2004). Wiltshire Railway Stations. Wimborne: The Dovecote Press. pp. 140–141. ISBN 1904349331.
  6. ↑ New Route to Weymouth in The Times, 2 July 1901, pg. 10, col. C
  7. ↑ "Transport Schemes - Prioritisation Process and Provisional Programme, Agenda Item 6, Table 5: Prioritised Schemes" (PDF). Retrieved 28 June 2015.
  8. ↑ Railscot - Photos of Westbury www.railbrit.co.uk; Retrieved 2013-09-17
  9. ↑ James Williams (1 May 2009). "Lafarge cements a place in county's history". Wiltshire Times. Trowbridge, UK. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
  10. ↑ "Collision on the North Western Railway". The Pall Mall Gazette. No. 2716. London. 29 October 1875.
  11. ↑ "Train derails at Westbury causing rail delays". BBC News Online. 6 December 2011. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  12. ↑ GB National Rail Timetable May–December 2016, Table 135
  13. 1 2 GB National Rail Timetable May–December 2016, Table 123
  14. ↑ Haigh, Philip (10–23 July 2013). "Government commits to long-term rail investment". Rail. Vol. 726. p. 8.
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