MELKSHAM Railway Station is to receive thousands of pounds from train operator Great Western Rail for improvements to facilities.
TransWilts Community Rail Partnership has been awarded £60,000 from the GWR Customer and Communities Improvement Fund (CCIF) to develop a study which would improve pedestrian access at Melksham Station.
Along with a previous grant from GWR and a £10,000 contribution from Melksham Area Board, Melksham Town Council and Melksham Without Council, TransWilts now has the funds to proceed with its master plan.
TransWilts are working with GWR and Wiltshire Council to agree a scope of works for a detailed consultant’s report with options and proposals including increasing the length of the platform for longer trains, improved and safe pedestrian access, plus safeguarding the future Melksham Station capacity requirements as the services continue to expand. It is expected to get the detailed planning done for any short term improvements during this year.
Some improvements are already being made this year, the existing one car platform will be extended towards Chippenham to allow a two car service to commence in 2018. This will provide welcome extra capacity on the peak services. In the longer term there is a need to consider an even longer platform to be able to accept five car trains, together with safe solutions for improved pedestrian and cycle access, plus station bus connections.
Chairman of the TransWilts Community Rail Partnership (CRP), Paul Johnson said, “Melksham deserves a railway station that provides a better gateway image to the town and with the capacity to serve Melksham’s future growth and ambitions.
“We are obviously delighted that with Melksham community support we have been able to secure a large funding grant from GWR this year that enables us to make real progress in planning the future passenger needs at the station. These plans will look at various options and then form the basis for a phased station improvement scheme, and importantly, provide local and national stakeholders such as Network Rail with a factual basis for long term planning and implementation.”
Community rail officer for TransWilts CRP, Graham Ellis said, “It is brilliant to receive this. We are looking at various accesses to the station, as well as lengthing the platform to make it better for rail users. We need to make sure we look to the future. The last thing we want is to do something, then realise afterwards we have left an important improvement out.”
GWR managing director Mark Hopwood said, “We are committed to improving the journeys of our passengers, as well as the economic prosperity and social footprint of the regions and communities we serve.
“We had many responses from those in our communities looking for help, and I am delighted to be able to announce the schemes that have been successful in this second year of funding; helping to put our people, our customers, at the forefront of what we do.”
