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Westbury
Westbury
The station entrance is below track level
Location
PlaceWestbury
Local authorityWiltshire
CoordinatesTemplate:Coord/display/inline,title
Grid referenceTemplate:Gbmapscaled
Operations
Station codeWSB
Managed byFirst Great Western
Platforms in use3
Live arrivals/departures and station information
from National Rail
Annual rail passenger usage
2002/03 * 0.270 million
2004/05 *File:Increase2.svg 0.292 million
2005/06 *File:Increase2.svg 0.306 million
2006/07 *File:Increase2.svg 0.318 million
2007/08 *File:Increase2.svg 0.345 million
2008/09 *File:Increase2.svg 0.368 million
History
Original companyWilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway
Pre-groupingGreat Western Railway
Post-groupingGreat Western Railway
5 September 1848Station opened as terminus of line from Chippenham
7 October 1850Line extended to Frome
National Rail - UK railway stations
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* Annual passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Westbury from Office of Rail Regulation statistics.
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Westbury railway station is a railway station serving the town of Westbury in Wiltshire, England. The station is managed by First Great Western.

The station is a major junction, serving the Reading to Taunton line with services to and from Penzance and London Paddington, Wessex Main Line with services to and from Cardiff and Portsmouth, services to Swindon (limited service), Heart of Wessex Line providing local services from Bristol 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[]

File:Westbury routes.png

Railway routes around Westbury in 2009

The station was opened by the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway (WS&WR) on 5 September 1848,[2] and was the initial terminus of the WS&WR 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 1901, Westbury railway station was entirely rebuilt, creating two "island" platforms six hundred feet long and forty feet wide.[5] 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. A freight yard next to the station is used by bulk limestone trains from the rail-served quarries at Merehead and Whatley in Somerset[6]

Services[]

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File:Westbury dusk 150249.jpg

A First Great Western train from Weymouth to Bristol

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, Plymouth, or Penzance and eastbound services to London Paddington.[7]

There is a service on the Cardiff Central to Southampton Central and Portsmouth Harbour line and a separate service between Gloucester, Bristol and Westbury on this route. Some of these trains continue through to Weymouth, and there are trains from Weymouth to Bristol & Gloucester. There are services to Frome, Warminster and Southampton plus through trains to and from Brighton.[8]

South West Trains runs a service between Bristol and London Waterloo that calls here.[9]

There is also a limited service run between Westbury and Swindon via Chippenham, Trowbridge and Melksham - this is due to be upgraded substantially (eight trains each way weekdays, five on Sundays) at the December 2013 timetable change.

Preceding station National Rail logo.svg National Rail Following station
Pewsey   First Great Western
London - Taunton (Limited)
  Castle Cary

Template:Rail line one to three

Trowbridge   First Great Western
Cardiff Central - Portsmouth Harbour
  Warminster
Trowbridge   South West Trains
London Waterloo - Bristol (Limited Service)
  Warminster

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.[10]

References[]

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  1. Wills, Dixe (2009-05-12). Ten of the best railway cafes. Guardian. Retrieved on 2009-06-30.
  2. Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd, 244. R508. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. 
  3. Template:Harvnb
  4. Hunting Appointments in The Times, March 8, 1884, pg. 7, col. E
  5. New Route to Weymouth in The Times, July 2, 1901, pg. 10, col. C
  6. Railscot - Photos of Westbury www.railbrit.co.uk; Retrieved 2013-09-17
  7. GB National Rail Timetable 2013, Table 135
  8. GB National Rail Timetable 2013, Table 123
  9. National Rail Timetable 2013, Table 160Network Rail;Retrieved 2013-09-17
  10. Haigh, Philip (10–23 July 2013). "Government commits to long-term rail investment". RAIL 726: p8. 

Template:Bristol railway stations Template:Wiltshire railway stations

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