Westbury  | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 The entrance to the station is at ground level, with the platforms behind and above | |||||
| General information | |||||
| Location | Westbury,Wiltshire England | ||||
| Coordinates | 51°15′59″N2°11′58″W / 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 fromChippenham | ||||
| 7 October 1850 | Line extended toFrome | ||||
| 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 | ||||
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Westbury railway station serves the market town ofWestbury, inWiltshire, England. The station is managed byGreat Western Railway.
The station is a majorjunction, serving theReading to Taunton line with services to and fromPenzance andLondon Paddington; theWessex Main Line with services to and fromCardiff andPortsmouth, alsoSwindon; theHeart of Wessex Line with local services fromBristol Temple Meads toWeymouth; and services toLondon Waterloo.
The station was opened by theWilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway on 5 September 1848[1] and was the initial terminus of their line fromChippenham. This line was later extended toFrome, which opened on 7 October 1850.[2] TheSalisbury branch opened on 30 June 1856, whilst the opening of theline to Patney & Chirton in 1900 (along with that further west fromCastle Cary toCogload Junction six years later) completed the GWR's new main line fromLondon Paddington toTaunton 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 twoisland 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 WiltshireLocal 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 atMerehead andWhatley in Somerset.[7] In April 2009, the rail-servedLafarge cement works to the east was closed.[8]
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]
The buffet at Westbury appeared in a list ofhighly commended station cafes published inThe Guardian in 2009.[11]
The station is served by all three main routes that pass through it:
| 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 orWarminster | ||
| Great Western Railway (Heart of Wessex Line) | Frome | |||
| Warminster | South Western Railway (Basingstoke - Yeovil) | Frome | ||
The line to Westbury is not due to be electrified as part of the21st-century modernisation of the Great Western Main Line. Although local councillors support it, the extension of electrification beyondNewbury to Westbury was assessed as having abenefit–cost ratio of only 0.31.[14]
Media related toWestbury railway station at Wikimedia Commons
Railway stations inWiltshire | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Bristol to London Paddington | |||
| Taunton to London Paddington | |||
| Exeter to London Waterloo | |||
| Cardiff to Portsmouth | |||
| Bristol to Weymouth: Heart of Wessex Line | |||
| Swindon to Westbury | |||
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| Swindon & Cricklade Railway: |
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