Corsham gets £50,000 boost in bid for railway station

An artist's impression of what Corsham station could look like

An ambition to build a new railway station in Corsham has received a £50,000 boost.

Wiltshire Council has been given funding from the Department for Transport (DfT) for a feasibility study.

The proposed two-platform station would be situated on the Great Western Main Line, with potential services to London, Bristol and Reading.

It would also help reduce traffic and provide easy access to MOD Corsham.

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Councillor Richard Clewer, leader of Wiltshire Council, said if built the station would give Corsham and the surrounding areas "much improved connections to London and enable more people to travel by train to and from Corsham, making access to Bath, Bristol and Swindon much easier".

He added that commuters and visitors to the Corsham MOD site - which is the town's biggest employer - would also have the option to travel by train, further reducing traffic on local roads.

The money was awarded as part of the government's Restoring Your Railway Ideas Fund.

Numerous individuals and groups were involved in the bid including Corsham Town Council, Bath and North East Somerset Council, Bath Spa University, Chippenham Town Council and MOD Corsham.

Mr Clewer said the station would enable many more people to travel to Corsham

A Strategic Outline Business Case (SOBC) will now be produced, outlining the feasibility of the station.

It will set out more details on the proposed project, the case for building a new station and how the plans would fit strategically into local priorities and wider government transport ambitions.

'Greatly improve'

Mr Clewer added: "We are really pleased to welcome the award of development funding from the Department for Transport, providing us with potential access of up to £50,000 from the DfT towards developing a SOBC, and look forward to progressing the next step of the process.

"We will be working closely with Corsham Town Council, Great Western Railway, and others over the next few months, bringing together our Strategic Outline Business Case to submit for the next stage."

If successful, Mr Clewer said that the station could cost up to £15m and would be open by 2029.

On Friday the council also submitted an SOBC for a Devizes Gateway Station to the DfT today which would "greatly improve the rail connections in Wiltshire".