Westbury railway station

This article is about the station in Wiltshire, England. For the former station in Shropshire, England, see Westbury railway station (Shropshire). For the station in New York, USA, see Westbury (LIRR station).

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

Westbury
The entrance to the station is at ground level, with the platforms behind and above
General information
Location	Westbury, Wiltshire England
Coordinates	51.2665°N 2.1995°W / 51.2665; -2.1995
Grid reference	ST861519
Managed by	Great Western Railway
Platforms	3
Other information
Station code	WSB
Classification	DfT category D
History
Original company	Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway
Pre-grouping	Great Western Railway
Post-grouping	Great Western Railway
Key dates
5 September 1848	Station opened as terminus of line from Chippenham
7 October 1850	Line extended to Frome
Passengers
2019/20	0.558 million
Interchange	0.229 million
2020/21	0.152 million
Interchange	48,500
2021/22	0.439 million
Interchange	0.164 million
2022/23	0.519 million
Interchange	0.247 million
2023/24	0.536 million
Interchange	0.252 million
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

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.

History

Railway routes around Westbury in 2009

The station was opened by the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway on 5 September 1848^[1] and was the initial terminus of their line from Chippenham. This line was later extended to Frome, which opened on 7 October 1850.^[2] 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.^[3]

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.^[4][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. In 2013 the Swindon and Wiltshire Local Transport Body prioritised the reopening of this platform face at an estimated cost of £5.4m.^[6]

A freight yard next to the station is used by bulk limestone trains from the rail-served quarries at Merehead and Whatley in Somerset.^[7] In April 2009, the rail-served Lafarge cement works to the east was closed.^[8]

Accidents and incidents

On 28 October 1873, a mail train passed a signal at danger and collided with a luggage train.^[9]

On 6 December 2011, a train was derailed at Westbury.^[10]

Facilities

View of the station

The buffet at Westbury appeared in a list of highly commended station cafes published in The Guardian in 2009.^[11]

Services

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

The station is served by all three main routes that pass through it:

• Reading to Taunton Line: the station is served by westbound trains to one of Exeter St Davids, Paignton, Plymouth, or Penzance; eastbound services go to London Paddington, which depart approximately once every two hours.^[12]

• Wessex Main Line: Services between Cardiff Central, Southampton Central and Portsmouth Harbour, with a separate service between Gloucester, Bristol and Westbury. 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]

• TransWilts Line: this line hosts services between Westbury and Swindon, via Chippenham, Trowbridge and Melksham.

Preceding station	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]