Meanwhile, since about 16:27, the Swindon-Westbury (yes! one that ran today!) had been sitting outside Westbury waiting for the platform

The northbound train departed at 16:56 (56 minutes late); the southbound at 16:57 (51 late)

Finally, the Swindon train pulled in at 17:00 (35 late).

Although the thread is specifically on Westbury area works, it appears that Cardiff-Portsmouth is disrupted for about half of next 4 months

[snip]

Not actually that many days in next 4 months where this service operates normally.  How many passengers will this lose ?

That Melksham DOES have a train service throughout the period of the work at Westbury albeit one service in each direction at peak times.

That rail tickets are also valid on the 271/272/273 Melksham to Bath bus services.

Track renewal work will affect all train services via Westbury, plus structural repairs will also impact trains between Warminster and Salisbury.

Trains between Reading and the south west will stop at Frome instead of Westbury.

Trains will still operate between:

Cardiff Central and Trowbridge
Salisbury and Portsmouth Harbour
Frome and Weymouth
A few trains will be diverted via an alternative route between Trowbridge and Frome – not stopping at Westbury.

In addition, a very limited train service will still operate via Melksham on Monday to Friday only:

07:52 from Trowbridge to Swindon
17:35 from Swindon to Trowbridge (continuing to Weymouth via an alternative route not stopping at Westbury)
However, most trains between Westbury and Swindon will not run, but other trains will still be running between Chippenham and Swindon.

Replacement buses are planned between:

Trowbridge and Westbury, Frome or Salisbury
Chippenham and Westbury or Frome
As an alternative, valid rail tickets can also be used to travel free of charge on the following bus services in the area:

Bus number   Route
49   Swindon – Trowbridge (via Devizes)
D1   Bath – Bradford-on-Avon – Trowbridge – Westbury – Warminster
D2   Bath – Frome (via Radstock)
X34   Chippenham – Melksham – Frome
24   Salisbury – Warminster – Frome
271, 272, 273   Melksham – Bath
These buses may be delayed by additional traffic diverted away from the A36 due to an ongoing road closure at Limpley Stoke.

Important to note

All parking bays in the station car park at Frome will be suspended from Monday 23 December until Friday 24 January for the rail replacement services.

I don't really understand the thinking behind this. If it is physically possible to run a train from Trowbridge to Frome, why not run the normal Weymouth service, just using the loop to avoid Westbury. Is there not capacity for this?

Does this mean that there will be Bristol to Weymouth services running, using an alternative route between Towbridge and Frome, or that there won't be, but a few trains will also run using this diversionary route? (and if so, what trains are these?).

Does this mean that there will be Bristol to Weymouth services running, using an alternative route between Towbridge and Frome, or that there won't be, but a few trains will also run using this diversionary route? (and if so, what trains are these?).

If so, can we use the Bristol to Weymouth services to change at Dorchester/Upwey/Weymouth to then travel on towards Southampton? It would seem sensible to me to allow this route to be available at the same ticket price, which it certainly isn't at the moment, and which would take some of the pressure off the rail replacement buses.

I (and a number of others) will be travelling from Bristol and Bath to Lymington during this period and being able to use the alternative route at the same ticket price would be attractive to me (I would much prefer a longer train journey than having to use a replacement bus).

Trains will still operate between:

Cardiff Central and Trowbridge
Salisbury and Portsmouth Harbour
Frome and Weymouth

A few trains will be diverted via an alternative route between Trowbridge and Frome – not stopping at Westbury.

Depends on how & who you ask 

* Why is the bus from Melksham to Bath not included in the "you may use your rail ticket" list when that direction accounts for the 3rd and 5th most used traffic flows from Melksham, and other services by that operator ARE included?

But is there any point in asking those questions and would doing so in public simply alienate the people we must talk to in the rail industry who we (as passengers) need to partner with at times that they ARE operating and indeed should be looking to persuade to provide better tuned for us through the other 335 days of the year?

Regarding the Westbury block, I can tell you we’re trying to secure ticket acceptance on the 271, 272 and 273 between Melksham and Bath, so I assume they’re the ones you’re referring to.

Once they’re confirmed we’ll advertise them through the normal channels.

Outrageous.

I believe the correct procedure to follow is to find out who this despicable person's employer is, and write to them demanding his (or her!) dismissal! 

I am getting flack over that ... "Instead of Travel Watch SW being an unbiased observer you appear to be acting as an apologist for Network Rail's disregard for passengers"

Oops ...

From the BBC

From the front page of White Horse News:

https://whitehorsenews.co.uk/westbury-railway-station-to-close-from-christmas-until-late-january/

A railway station is set to close for a month while major engineering works take place.

Network Rail said there will be no trains running through Westbury Railway Station, Wiltshire, from 27 December until 23 January, 2025.

“Track upgrades” will be carried out near the station, as well as maintenance of the Sherrington viaduct. Trains will be diverted between Trowbridge and Frome, or replaced by buses.

Network Rail's western route director Marcus Jones said: “Our festive upgrades are crucial to ensuring the railway continues to run reliably and safely."

All Great Western Railway and South Western Railway services to, from, and via Westbury station will be affected by the closures.

Mr Jones added: “Continued investment into upgrading and improving the railway is evidence of our commitment to providing a railway fit for the 21st century.

“We appreciate there is never a good time to disrupt journeys but whenever possible we do this at times when fewer people are travelling, such as at Christmas, on bank holidays or at weekends.

“We thank passengers in advance for their patience and urge them to please check before they travel.”

Westbury Railway Station will be closed, with no trains running through the station, after the end of service on Christmas Eve until 24th January 2025. Network Rail says that the closure is necessary for essential work to upgrade the track and signalling improvements. 

The closure is expected to significantly affect commuters, students travelling to schools in neighbouring towns and leisure passengers who rely on the railway.

A Network Rail spokesperson said: “We are planning a significant investment to renew track and upgrade signalling at Westbury to improve reliability for passengers for years to come. 

“The work is due to take place around the clock just outside Westbury station from late on Christmas Eve until the early hours of Friday 24th January.     

“As this essential upgrade can only be done while trains aren’t running, the line through Westbury will be temporarily closed. 

“We are working with our colleagues at GWR to make sure passengers are kept on the move, with trains via Westbury set to be diverted or replaced by buses.   

“We appreciate people living close to the railway will be keen to know more and we’ll write to residents with further details closer to the time.” 

 Preparatory work affecting services is planned for Sunday 10th November and Sunday 15th December, with follow-up work over the weekends of 1st to 2nd February and 8th to 9th March. 

During the rail closure, repairs will also be made to a viaduct between Warminster and Salisbury. All passengers are advised to plan ahead and check before travelling. 

“The railways have a backlog of maintenance to catch up on,” explains Graham Ellis, a director of TravelWatch SouthWest, “and with modern safety standards for workers and budget constraints, this means that no trains can be run while lines are being renewed, which now takes place during the day as well as at night, and during the week as well as at weekends. 

“At Westbury over the new year, the major work involves the replacement of pointwork that is unreliable and once the new pointwork is bedded in, this should result in less disruption to services which now use the three platforms at the station to capacity, and sometimes beyond. Current Network Rail studies suggest that there is an operational need to reinstate the fourth platform at the station.” 

That is correct - but there will be two morning trains from Trowbridge to Swindon and one back in the evenings (Mondays to Fridays).    The evening service continues to Weymouth after reversing at Heywood Road and not serving Westbury.

That is correct - but there will be two morning trains from Trowbridge to Swindon and one back in the evenings (Mondays to Fridays).    The evening service continues to Weymouth after reversing at Heywood Road and not serving Westbury.

Trains between Westbury and Swindon will not run, however other trains will still be running between Chippenham and Swindon.

Posting here on an obscure  forum does not, of course, pose the question to GWR so I have done so by the official public way they encourage questions on Facebook, and I will keep Coffee Shop members and local residents / passengers in Melksham posted.

Good.   But why does this list NOT include the 271/2/3 from Melksham to Bath?  One in six rail journeys from Melksham are made to or via Bath Spa, and these buses run from the closest operational stops to Melksham Station (note - NOT an interchange) to Manvers Street just across the road from Bath Station.

As an alternative, valid rail tickets can also be used to travel free of charge on the following bus services in the area:

Bus number   Route
49   Swindon – Trowbridge (via Devizes)
D1   Bath – Bradford-on-Avon – Trowbridge – Westbury – Warminster
D2   Bath – Frome (via Radstock)
X34   Chippenham – Melksham – Frome
24   Salisbury – Warminster – Frome

These buses may be delayed by additional traffic diverted away from the A36 due to an ongoing road closure at Limpley Stoke.

Looking at the relevant area via Google Maps it appears that, the building currently shown as the base for Pete's Cars taxis aside, there are no impediments to reinstating the platform road and providing a separate freight line should it be deemed necessary. It depends on what budget is available.

I don't see wht the diamond crossing would need to be put back as it was.  A little ladder of turnouts leading from the Down Main into the platform road, and then onto the goods look and then to the sidings beyond would suffice, surely?

The Cornwall Railways site has a good collection of photos of Westbury, including 'Before' ones. Any others?

Getting dangerously technical, the platform road / frieght loop combination depended on a (expensive & maintenance-heavy otherwise accident prone) diamond crossing. Is the need for one of these a the major obstacle to reinstating the platform road while retaining the frieght facility?

Mark

http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/witham-to-westbury.html

Sur le Continent, platforms are not necessarily numbered in geographic order. 

I can recall in Rouen the centre tracks on the main line are "1" and "2" with 3 to 6 (I think) on the two sides. 

Before the 1985 resignalling, (the old) Platform 1 had a track, the Down Salisbury.  It was nominally a Down line, but was signalled so that trains could arrive and depart in either direction.  It was much used, even though there were fewer passenger trains in those days.  I surprises me that today's traffic can be managed without this useful bit of track

It surprises me that today's traffic can be managed without this useful bit of track

I’d be surprised if there wasn’t a big backlash from the freight operators with regards to turning the current down reception into a 4th passenger platform at Westbury.

The Merehead & Whatley freight quarry lines are single track, largely 20mph max speed.  The down reception is heavily used to stable inbound quarry trains out the way whilst an outbound quarry train travels down the single line from the quarries.  Taking this away & turning it into a passenger platform would mean those quarry trains having to sit on the main line and blocking that waiting for a path into the quarries.  Yes, time tabling & pathing can be altered to minimise this but we all know trains regularly run late & out of path. 

Not sure how much room there is for an additional track adjacent to the current down reception. 

I have to wonder what that would cost now ! In Rail magazine back in 2015 a cost of £10.5 million was then quoted to reopen the closed platform at Westbury. Of course the "new" platform would have to be called Platform 1 (as it used to be) - then all the other platforms would have to be renumbered (again !!) ..............another million quid for that ??

Good job this bunch aren't running Wadworths 

(It wasn't confirmed but please please please railways, it's fine to invest the in the restoration of a permanent platform 4 for Westbury)

Mark

A good idea which might well allow for additional trains for Pewsey. I presume that, should these come in, the express services from London to Westbury, Devon & Cornwall will run fast from Newbury / Bedwyn to Westbury with the extended Bedwyn's providing the calls for Pewsey?

[..] And the third is to create single ended platform in which trains line the hourly extended "Bedwyn"s  [...]

What impact is this closure likely to have on long distance London - Devon/Cornwall services?

Thanks for your patience and apologies for my delayed response.
 
There will be a positive benefit to train performance as we are increasing the line speed through the main part of the junction and removing several existing operational restrictions as part of the project. The work does allow for passive provision of the additional track to bring the fourth platform into future use.

AFAICT it needs building the platform out to the alignment of the current Up Reception Line, and then making any necessary upgrades so that loop is suitable for passenger trains. ...

Do the works involve making any of those objectives more difficult?  If not then the current state of passive provision is maintained.

So... the work involved in making passive provision to return that Westbury platform to use... what might that involve and are there varying degrees of what might be done? At the least, if the winter 2024-25 work will be making it more difficult, it may be possible at this stage to at least avoid *that* outcome.

Thanks again Grahame for the info.

In this day and safety age,the railway don't want to train crew walking the rail lines.

Also it can be difficult for the driver to walk back through the train if its packed OR its two separate units.

Thanks Grahame for the info,

can I just clarify that you can come off the Melksham branch and do a cross over to the Bath Spa bound platform at Trowbridge?

Is Trowbridge station not bi-directional on the route to Westbury?

If, given the lead time, even passive provision for Westbury's platform 4 would fit with Labour's Louise Haigh's 'Move fast and fix things' mantra, it would be worth someone getting it on the table for consideration.

Mark

The A36 Warminster Road will be fully closed between Limpley Stoke and Monkton Coombe from Monday 12 August 2024 til spring 2025.

The first week of that month is Christmas so hardly anyone would be travelling anyway, and as we are always being told that time of year presents unique opportunities for large scale work.

What impact is this closure likely to have on long distance London - Devon/Cornwall services?

A month?!?! That’s ridiculous, why? They’ve only recently replaced track and switches at Westbury.

I’m not surprised it generated great interest and questions. To me, that seems a long time to have Westbury closed with all the implications for both those who travel from/connect at Westbury as well as those who are on trains that travel through Westbury from the south and Frome/Weymouth.

What benefit are passengers going to see from this major inconvenience? Not much I’d say without this massive opportunity being taken to reinstate a fourth platform.

Too right they ‘may vary’. There’s no way you could operate the current 3 trains an hour to Bath and services to Swindon at the same frequency without trains continuing towards Westbury and reversing there.

I’m not impressed, this seems to have come from nowhere. I understand closing a line for a week or two maximum, but a month? This isn’t going to be very popular.

I was reassured that both services to Bath and Bristol, and to Swindon, will operate from Trowbridge though their times may vary from the normal timetable