Melksham railway station

Melksham National Rail
Location
Place Melksham
Local authority County of Wiltshire
Coordinates 51°22′47″N 2°08′41″W / 51.3798°N 2.1446°WCoordinates: 51°22′47″N 2°08′41″W / 51.3798°N 2.1446°W
Grid reference ST900645
Operations
Station code MKM
Managed by First Great Western
Number of platforms 1
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2002/03   19,143
2004/05 Increase 27,446
2005/06 Decrease 24,426
2006/07 Decrease 22,001
2007/08 Increase 38,081
2008/09 Decrease 27,656
2009/10 Decrease 10,028
2010/11 Increase 11,046
2011/12 Increase 11,330
2012/13 Increase 12,080
2013/14 Increase 23,930
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
* 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 from 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.[5]

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.[6] Prior to the introduction of extra services in late 2013, 'Save the Train' members transferred to the community element of the TransWilts Community Rail Partnership.[7]

References

  1. ↑ MacDermot, E.T. (1927). History of the Great Western Railway 1 (1st ed.). Paddington: Great Western Railway. p. 295.
  2. ↑ "Then & Now — Melksham Railway Station". Wiltshire Times (Trowbridge). 15 June 2006.
  3. ↑ "TransWiltsRail: Melksham". Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  4. ↑ First Great Western Timetable Central 3 - Cardiff & Bristol to the South CoastFirst Great Western; Retrieved 2013-12-09
  5. ↑ "Great Western Route Utilisation Study: Platform Lengths" (PDF). Retrieved 4 December 2014.
  6. ↑ Ellis, Graham. "Save the Train". Well House Consultants. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  7. ↑ "Movement to TransWilts CRP". First Great Western Coffee Shop. Retrieved 14 January 2014.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Melksham railway station.