Which trains could serve a reopened Corsham station?

[Yindee8191]

Moderator note: Split from https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/restoring-your-railways-winning-schemes-announced.224052

The main issue I see with Corsham is what would stop there. The only services on that section of line are Bristol-London expresses, which ideally wouldn’t be slowed down by two or three minutes to serve a town of 13,000. If the wires get put up through to Bristol proper then the electric suburban service from Swindon to Cardiff via TM that would hopefully be introduced would call at Corsham. But that’s a fairly long way off if it happens at all.

 

[Horizon22]

To me, adding Corsham stops onto the current Paddington - Bristol services would be feasible even though it might add 5 minutes to the overall journey. Suitable turnarounds would be workable, so long as there's no major conflicts at either Wooton Bassett or Bathampton junctions. Sure it would be the smallest station on the route, but other ways of trying to provide a service would be rather convoluted.

Of course if "superfast" services ever return, then Bristol passengers might not be overly concerned.

 

[Snow1964]

The main issue I see with Corsham is what would stop there. The only services on that section of line are Bristol-London expresses, which ideally wouldn’t be slowed down by two or three minutes to serve a town of 13,000. If the wires get put up through to Bristol proper then the electric suburban service from Swindon to Cardiff via TM that would hopefully be introduced would call at Corsham. But that’s a fairly long way off if it happens at all.

Your figures are slightly out of date on population, it is 16,000. But if you add some of the new estates on West of Chippenham (which are nearer Corsham than central Chippenham) get significantly more. If start adding surrounding areas like Melksham etc leap to 40,000+. The fact that converting to dual-carriageway another part of A350 was also announced on same day should indicate scale of growth (A350 runs North-South to west of Chippenham if you are not familiar with it)

But if you use the theory why stop an express there then you have to question why some expresses stop at Didcot (population 27,000). As I said before it is better thought of as a mini parkway location.

Regarding the time penalty, probably nearer 3 minutes rather than 5 (and that might come down if the electrification was finished), there are a number of masts already erected between Chippenham and Corsham. Maybe a semi-fast Bristol service would be perfect service (extended in other direction to take over East-West rail via Oxford), but speculation on that is really drifting off topic.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

The main issue I see with Corsham is what would stop there. The only services on that section of line are Bristol-London expresses, which ideally wouldn’t be slowed down by two or three minutes to serve a town of 13,000. If the wires get put up through to Bristol proper then the electric suburban service from Swindon to Cardiff via TM that would hopefully be introduced would call at Corsham. But that’s a fairly long way off if it happens at all.

Are the planned Paddington-Bristol Parkway-Bristol TM trains now running? If they are, that would presumably make it more acceptable to add an extra stop to the Paddington-Bath-Bristol trains, since Bristol has a separate fast train to London.

I agree that, in the long run, a separate service running west from Swindon would be better (perhaps in combination with a station at Wootton Bassett) - but that's obviously not going to happen soon.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

The fact that converting to dual-carriageway another part of A350 was also announced on same day should indicate scale of growth (A350 runs North-South to west of Chippenham if you are not familiar with it)

The doubling of the A350 has much more to do with providing a route for Goods Vehicles to avoid Bath.

I’m not totally sold on a Corsham station and there is a 20 min headway bus service to Chippenham

 

[pdeaves]

I’m not totally sold on a Corsham station and there is a 20 min headway bus service to Chippenham

I personally think a 'quick win' for Corsham would be to put a station somewhere near where Lacock station used to be on the Melksham route. OK, it's not right in the middle of Corsham but it's still closer than a lot of people are to their 'local' station elsewhere (about 2 1/2 miles I think, less than the northern extremity of Swindon to its station). There is already a suitable train service on that line; much simpler than dealing with all the issues of inventing/launching a new service and building a station on a 'high speed' line.

 

[Phil G]

Having lived in the corsham area all my life there are many compelling reasons to reopen the station.

The suggestion above of a station near Lacock makes no sense due to where the line serves.

Corsham is a dormitory for Chippenham, Bath and Bristol. The Bus service is a total Joke it takes 45 mins to get to Bath where Chippenham to Bath by train is 11 mins. Bath is super unfriendly to car users and Bristol is really awkward requiring either back tracking to Chippenham to get on the M4 or using the A420. Many people in Corsham work in MOD Filton having been relocated there. So there is a big potential demand for Bath and Bristol.

I understand that the station had been fully funded and about to start when the Bristol to Oxford service was cancelled and the whole scheme dropped.

Now I thought the idea was to be part of Bristol metro with trains running from Portishead to Swindon with additional stations at Wotton Bassett, Corsham and Saltford. But Corsham on its own is going to be harder.

 

[HST43257]

I certainly feel like a MetroWest Bristol TM to Chippenham or Swindon service is on the cards, plus potentially the odd London peak service.

 

[Dr Day]

I certainly feel like a MetroWest Bristol TM to Chippenham or Swindon service is on the cards, plus potentially the odd London peak service.

Is there the capacity between Bristol TM and Bathampton? On top of the additional MetroWest stopper service to Westbury?

 

[HST43257]

It might require the retime of the Weymouth/Portsmouth services, but how about this

GWR fast leaves Swindon at xx57, Bath at xx23 and arrives into Bristol at xx35
Slow from Swindon leaves there at xx00, gets to Bath for about xx42 and is into Bristol for xx00
Slow from Westbury and beyond gets to Bath at xx27 and is into Bristol for xx45

And in the other direction

GWR fast leaves Bristol at xx00, Bath at xx13 and arrives into Swindon for xx38
Slow to Swindon leaves Bristol at xx03, Bath at xx21 and arrives into Swindon for xx02
Slow to Westbury and beyond leaves Bristol at xx18 and Bath at xx36



This seems to work on a half hourly repeating pattern, correct me if I’m wrong.

 

[Dr Day]

I'm assuming there will still be the Cardiff-Portsmouth 'semi-fast' hourly on top of two Westbury & beyond stoppers? And freight?

 

[jayah]

The doubling of the A350 has much more to do with providing a route for Goods Vehicles to avoid Bath.

I’m not totally sold on a Corsham station and there is a 20 min headway bus service to Chippenham

The flow will be Bath not Chippenham. 30-35mins on a bus is not good and the railway would do a great job connecting them.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

The flow will be Bath not Chippenham. 30-35mins on a bus is not good and the railway would do a great job connecting them.

The traffic flows are both west to Bath and Bristol, and east to Swindon and London though you are right that Bath is the most prevalent destination.

However, not certain that half an hour is too great an imposition though accept that the Faresaver fleet is not the most luxurious. With quite an amount of the new housing being built at Rudloe or on Bradford Road, that 30 mins is more competitive than you think.

We shall see what the study brings.

 

[jayah]

The traffic flows are both west to Bath and Bristol, and east to Swindon and London though you are right that Bath is the most prevalent destination.

However, not certain that half an hour is too great an imposition though accept that the Faresaver fleet is not the most luxurious. With quite an amount of the new housing being built at Rudloe or on Bradford Road, that 30 mins is more competitive than you think.

We shall see what the study brings.

Public transport shouldn't be an imposition. Are you providing a distress service to non car owners at minimum cost, or are you tempting people out of their cars? Given the railway is already there I suggest the latter.

The slightly larger Keynsham had 500,000 station footfall in a non COVID year.

 

[PTR 444]

“Which trains could serve a reopened Corsham station?”

The same trains that should serve a reopened Box, Wootton Bassett, Shrivenham, Wantage and Steventon station of course.