Melksham railway station

Melksham
Location
Place	Melksham
Local authority	Wiltshire
Coordinates	51°22′47″N 2°08′41″W / 51.3798°N 2.1446°W / 51.3798; -2.1446Coordinates: 51°22′47″N 2°08′41″W / 51.3798°N 2.1446°W / 51.3798; -2.1446
Grid reference	ST900645
Operations
Station code	MKM
Managed by	First Great Western
Number of platforms	1
Live arrivals/departures and station information from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2002/03	19,143
2004/05	27,446
2005/06	24,426
2006/07	22,001
2007/08	38,081
2008/09	27,656
2009/10	10,028
2010/11	11,046
2011/12	11,330
History
Original company	Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway
Pre-grouping	Great Western Railway
Post-grouping	Great Western Railway
05 September 1848	Opened
1966	Closed
1985	Reopened
National Rail – UK railway stations
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Melksham from Office of Rail Regulation statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Melksham railway station is a railway station serving the town of Melksham in Wiltshire, England. It is on the branch line from Chippenham to Trowbridge that was originally part of the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway, absorbed in 1850 by the Great Western Railway.

The station opened with the original section of the line between Thingley Junction and Westbury, on 5 September 1848.^[1] British Railways closed the station in 1966 but reopened it in 1985.^[2] The station had a siding which gave access to the former Wiltshire United Dairies/United Dairies creamery, last owned by Co-operative Wholesale Society Dairies, allowing access for milk trains. After its closure the dairy was converted into an industrial estate.

Service

The Melksham train

As of June 2009, Melksham station was served by two trains a day each way, operated by First Great Western, compared with five each way per day before the December 2006 timetable change. The Save The Melksham Train group campaign for improvements to the services on the line.

As noted above there were formerly two departures each way on weekdays and Saturdays from the station, but the Saturday service pattern was quite different to that during the week. There was also a single train each way on Sundays.^[3]

From the start of the December 2013 winter timetable, Melksham has a significantly improved service.^[4] Trains now run approximately every two hours each way Mon-Sat (with peak period extras - eight departures in total) and five trains each way on Sundays. Two weekday southbound services run through to Southampton Central.

Trains longer than one carriage cannot open all doors as the platform cannot accommodate them.^{[citation needed]}

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Chippenham		First Great Western Wessex Main Line		Trowbridge

Save The Train

The 'Save The Train' group was launched in 2005, to try and raise awareness that the services along the TransWilts Line were being cut down, as stated above to two trains per day (each way) only. They were concerned from the lack of train services linking local Wiltshire towns/city together. These are - Swindon, Chippenham, Melksham, Trowbridge, Westbury and some services through to Southampton Central.^[5] Prior to the introduction of extra services in late 2014, 'Save the Train' members transferred to the community element of the TransWilts Community Rail Partnership.^[6]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Melksham railway station.

• Campaign to save Melksham's train service