Corsham Railway Station

Great Western Railway Restores Direct Bristol to Oxford Services

Hopes for a new railway station for Corsham have suffered a setback due to the government’s cancellation of the Restoring Your Railways Fund as part of its Spending Review. However, Great Western Railway is currently running a new direct service between Bristol Temple Meads and Oxford for a trial period until December, and if the trial is successful, and becomes permanent, it could lend more weight to the case for a new station at Corsham. There is still an opportunity for the Transport Secretary to review individual schemes as part of the Spending Review, so we await the outcome of this for the Strategic Outline Business Case for a new station at Corsham. In the meantime, Wiltshire Council has reaffirmed its commitment to the rail projects in the county and Sarah Gibson MP has agreed to be the sponsoring MP for the Corsham Bid.

Great Western Railway is running a restored direct service between Bristol Temple Meads and Oxford, the first in more than 20 years.

In response to growth in demand for leisure travel by train, GWR will operate two return Saturday services between the cities from Saturday 14 September.

A direct service last ran in 2003.

Customers will be able to take in the iconic sights of these two popular destinations, with quickest direct journey times between the two cities starting from one hour 11 minutes.

GWR has requested to run the following services from September 14, including stops at Bath Spa, Chippenham and Swindon:

1018 Bristol Temple Meads-Oxford

• Calling at Bath Spa (1031); Chippenham (1044); Swindon 1058) and Oxford (1129)

1203 Oxford-Bristol Temple Meads

• Calling at Swindon (1234); Chippenham (1245); Bath Spa (1300) and Bristol Temple Meads (1312)

1518 Bristol Temple Meads-Oxford

• Calling at Bath Spa (1531); Chippenham (1545); Swindon (1600) and Oxford (1631)

1712 Oxford-Bristol Temple Meads

• Calling at Swindon (1746); Chippenham (1758); Bath Spa (1811) and Bristol Temple Meads (1823)

The new services are part of a trial to assess demand and will run until December, running throughout the period of the Bath and Oxford Christmas markets.

Further information is available at –

https://news.gwr.com/news/great-western-railway-restores-direct-bristol-to-oxford-services

September 2024 Update

Corsham Town Council wrote to the Transport Secretary to ask for any update. The response from the Department for Transport was:

Thank you for your correspondence of 21 August 2024 addressed to the Transport Secretary about Corsham railway station.

Following the Chancellor’s announcement of 29 July, the Department is now considering a number of RYR-originated projects, as well as a number of others across the wider rail and road portfolio, as part of its preparations for the upcoming Spending Review. This review includes Corsham station.

However, ministers have been clear that not all projects currently being considered as part of the work ahead of the Spending Review will be able to progress to delivery due to the very challenging financial circumstances facing the Department and the Government more widely.

The Government believes that local transport authorities and local leaders are best-placed to advocate for, and take forward, transport projects that will best serve their communities, particularly where they will support economic growth, job creation, more and better housing, and ultimately demonstrate a good business case.

August 2024 Update

There has been very little progress since Wiltshire Council submitted the bid for Corsham Station in November 2022. We requested an update from DfT in January 2024 and were told: ‘We thank you for your support for the scheme and continued patience. The Department is not yet in a position to feedback on next steps for the scheme, but hopes to be able to do so in due course’.

Since then we’ve had a general election and announcement that the Restoring Your Railways scheme was being cut. There is, however, an opportunity for the Transport Secretary to review individual schemes as part of the spending review.

Town Council members of the Town Team met on 9 August to agree next steps.

Since that meeting, we have:

• Contacted Wiltshire Council to see who will be leading the project now that others have left the organisation. Also to see what is meant by WC’s commitment to the rail projects as quoted by Cllr Tamara Reay.
• Met Sarah Gibson MP who is very happy to be the sponsoring MP for the bid.
• Written to the Transport Secretary to see how we can get the RYR bid reconsidered as part of their review.
• Asked for an update from the Station Enhancements Portfolio Manager at DfT – He confirmed that all infrastructure projects on their books, RYR and otherwise, would now go into the Transport Review for consideration for other funding. He was unable to confirm timescales but had been told it would be soon.  

We will also be revisiting Neighborhood Plan Transport policy, in particular evidence regarding the safeguarded land to ensure/check it is still valid.

We will provide further updates as and when we hear anything helpful.

January 2024 Update

Whilst there is still no news on the outcome of the Strategic Outline Business Case for a new Railway Station at Corsham there is some good news locally. Great Western Railway (GWR) says it plans to run direct services between Bristol and Oxford for the first time in twenty years. If approved by the Department for Transport and Network Rail the trail will be operational from mid September until December and would include two Saturday Services. 

History

Corsham Railway Station closed in January 1965 as part of the Beeching cuts.

Corsham Town Team which includes representatives from Corsham Town Council, Wiltshire Council, Corsham Civic Society, TransWilts, MOD Corsham, Bath Spa University, local residents and our local MP Michelle Donelan, is working towards a new station in Corsham.

In autumn 2021 a Wiltshire Council bid to the Department for Transport (DfT) for funding to develop a feasibility study for a new station in Corsham, as part of the Restoring Your Railway Ideas Fund, was approved and is on track to progress to the next stage of the process.

A Strategic Outline Business Case (SOBC) is being produced and is the first stage of the DfT’s business case process. The SOBC will set out more details on the proposed project and the case for building a new station, and how the plans would fit strategically into local priorities and wider government transport ambitions.

The SOBC was submitted to the DfT in mid-November and a decision is expected in 2023. Wiltshire Council’s Press Release is available in the latest news section of this website.