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Chippenham railway station serves the market town of Chippenham in Wiltshire, England. The station is on the Great Western Main Line, (and connects to the Wessex Main Line via Melksham) in between Swindon and Bath Spa, and is served by First Great Western main line services between Bristol Temple Meads and London Paddington, and a smaller First Great Western local service that runs between Swindon and Trowbridge, via Chippenham and Melksham over the northern end of the former Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway. It was also the junction for a GWR branch line to Calne from 1863 until its closure (a victim of the 'Beeching Axe') in 1965. Only two of the three platforms at the station are now in use, with the old platform by the main entrance disused but has an outside seating area on the disused platform.

The station is managed by First Great Western. Even though a busy station, there are no ticket barriers at this station; however, there are ticket checks for some trains on a daily basis. The station is part of a penalty fares area.

Description

The original station building at Chippenham was to Isambard Kingdom Brunel's design and was opened in 1841. With the subsequent opening of new lines to Salisbury and Weymouth, the station was not adequate to meet the increased demand and was redesigned by J H Bertram in 1856-58; it is Grade II listed. It is constructed in Bath stone ashlar with a bay window at one end and a wing at the other making a long, low composition.

At the front of the station there is a ticket office and a self serve ticket machine. Also at the front there is a cafe and the disused platform. The short stay car park is at the front of the station and also a long stay car park as well. By the main station building there is a bus and taxi rank. On platform 1 and 2 there is a modern lounge (with announcement speaker) and customer assistance office. At the end of the two platforms there is the wheelchair access crossing. At the back of the station there is a bike park and another long stay car park. Announcement speakers are on used platforms as well as the ticket hall and the stairs.

Platform 1 is used for main line services to Bath, Bristol and towards Taunton; it is also used for Westbury and some London services. Platform 2 is used for main line services to Swindon, Didcot, Reading and London; it is also used for Cheltenham and some Bristol services.

Electronic customer display boards are on both platforms and at front of the station. Timetables and complimentary papers are at the front and on platforms.

There is a large side entrance at the front of the station, situated on the disused platform which is used mainly for when the main entrance is closed. On the disused platform there is also another bike park.

There is a footbridge linking the rear of the station to the front of the station, and another linking the main entrance and the rear entrance to the main platform area. CCTV and occasional police presence operates at the station, and received an award for it's safety ambience.

In the station yard, there is another Grade II listed building partly in random stone but mainly weather-boarded on a timber frame with a pitched slate roof. It is an early weighbridge house and coal merchant's office. It is known that coal merchants opened a depot in 1840 and the building dates from that time. The building is painted dark green and currently leased by North Wiltshire Artspace (charity), and rented out to various groups.

Immediately west of the station lies Chippenham Viaduct designed by Brunel in 1841. It is Grade II listed. The first arch, over New Road, appears to have been modelled on the Roman triumphal arch. It has a 26-foot (7.9 m) span and is flanked by two smaller pedestrian arches of 10 feet (3.0 m). All is surmounted by a heavy cornice and parapet. The north side is constructed from Bath Stone Ashlar with some brick patching while the south side is in blue brick following widening in the early 1900s.

Services

The station has frequent services to Swindon, Reading and London and to Bath and Bristol Temple Meads, with some Bristol trains continuing to Weston-super-Mare and beyond. There are some train services to Swansea and Cardiff station however, are less frequent with one early in the morning to Swansea via Bristol, Newport and Cardiff and one late evening service to Cardiff Central via Bristol and Newport. Currently the Bristol and London (with one train per hour additionally calling at Didcot) services (December 2011) operate approximately every half hour in each direction Monday to Saturday, with some through services to/from Weston-super-Mare and beyond (these run mainly during the weekday business peaks, although certain summer Saturday trains also operate). There are proposals that firm Go! Cooperative will have a route from Yeovil to Oxford/Birmingham that would call at Chippenham, meaning more easy and accessible routes due to increasing demand of linking towns to commuter areas, and having more frequent services for Melksham, Trowbridge and Westbury, which could help passengers at Melksham and Trowbridge to connect at Chippenham for the Main Line services to London Paddington, Reading, Didcot and Swindon.

Chippenham will also be benefiting from new faster and quicker journey times as the Great Western Main Line is being electrified meaning saving many minutes for passengers and more frequent services. There are also plans to make the station more accessible so passengers can catch services more easily.

The service to Trowbridge and Westbury is much less frequent, with just one morning and one evening train each way per day since 2006 (compared to five each way prior to that). At present both Monday to Friday services run to Southampton Central, although those in the opposite direction start from Westbury, services to Southampton usually come from Great Malvern or from Cheltenham Spa. There is a service to Cheltenham Spa via Swindon and Gloucester in the morning and late afternoon. There are also two Saturday services each way (but at different times to the weekday ones) and a single train each way on Sundays.

Wessex Main Line

Chippenham station connects to the Wessex Main Line via Melksham. This means that a service can go towards Westbury and Southampton and services from Southampton, Westbury, Trowbridge and Melksham can travel to Chippenham, which is useful for the London Services. However, there is a limited service to those stations, even though when more services were running it was popular, train service to and from Chippenham towards Westbury were cut.

Facilities

• Ticket desk
• Short stay car park
• 2 long stay car parks
• Cafe
• 2 waiting lounges
• On - Platform staff desk
• Bike parks
• Seating areas
• Vending machine
• Bus park
• Taxi Rank
• Toilets
• Newspaper rack
• Lost property
• Self - Service ticket machines
• Meeting point
• Announcements
• Electronic Display Screens
• Wheelchair crossing
• Customer boarding assistance

Engineering works

Immediately to the north of the station itself is an engineering works, originally founded to support the Great Western Railway, and now supplying equipment to the worldwide rail industry. It was founded in 1842 by Rowland Brotherhood and, as of 2008, is occupied by Invensys Rail Systems and its UK manufacturing subsidiary, Westinghouse Rail Systems. For most of its life, it manufactured railway air braking systems and railway signalling.

References

1. Derrick Beckett (2006), Brunel's Britain, David & Charles, p. 62, ISBN 9780715323601, retrieved 2011-12-17
2. Clark, R H (1981). An Historic Survey of Selected Great Western Stations, volume 3.
3. Biddle, Gordon (2003). Britain's Historic Railway Buildings: an Oxford Gazetteer of Structures and Sites. Oxford University Press.
4. FGW Timetable 25 - Cardiff & Bristol to Southampton & Portsmouth 17 May - 12 December 2009 www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk; Retrieved 2009-06-22
5. Timeline from Chippenham Town Council website. Retrieved on March 30, 2008.

• Railway stations in Wiltshire
• Great Western Main Line
• Railway stations opened in 1841
• Railway stations served by First Great Western
• Former Great Western Railway stations
• DfT Category C1 stations