Cheltenham Spa railway station


Cheltenham Spa railway station serves the spa town of Cheltenham, in Gloucestershire, England. Situated on the Bristol–Birmingham main line, it is managed by Great Western Railway, although most services are operated by CrossCountry. The station is about one mile from the town centre. The official name of the station is Cheltenham; however, when the station was renamed in 1925, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway chose to add Spa to the station name. It is a regional interchange and the busiest station in Gloucestershire, as well as one of the busiest railway stations in South West England.
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History

The first railway to Cheltenham was the broad-gauge Cheltenham and Great Western Union Railway, authorised by Act of Parliament in 1836, and opened between Cheltenham and Gloucester in 1840. In the same year, the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway opened its line between Cheltenham and Bromsgrove, whence trains ran on mixed-gauge tracks to Gloucester. Both railways had their own stations, but the B&GR station, which was then on the edge of the town and was named Lansdown after a housing development in that area, is the only one remaining. The buildings were designed by the architect Samuel Daukes and the station was opened by the B&GR on 24 June 1840.
The C&GWUR was taken over by the Great Western Railway in 1844, and the B&GR by the Midland Railway in 1846. Within the town, there were three other passenger railway stations: Malvern Road, St James's and Cheltenham South and Leckhampton; there was also High Street Halt and the Racecourse Platform, open only on race days.
From 1892, there was a route from Cheltenham to the docks at Southampton, via Andoversford and the Midland and South Western Junction Railway.
The station was renamed Cheltenham Spa on 1 February 1925 by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway and renamed again as Cheltenham Spa by British Railways at some point after 1 January 1948.

Stationmasters

Services

Cheltenham Spa station is served by 8 to 12 trains every hour during the daytime on Mondays to Saturdays; services are less frequent on Sundays. Three train operating companies services stop here:
  • Great Western Railway operates approximately hourly trains to, via ; some services extend through to, and. One train to/from London Paddington per day is extended to, calling additionally at. GWR also operates local services on the Bristol to Gloucester and Worcester Shrub Hill route; these serve Cheltenham every two hours each way, with some southbound services continuing onwards to and Weymouth.
  • CrossCountry trains call on three routes: to /; the longer-distance / - route, with extensions to ; and Bristol Temple Meads –. All three of these services run hourly each way, giving a net half-hourly service to Bristol Temple Meads and three departures per hour to/from Birmingham New Street. CrossCountry also operate a morning service to and summer Saturday trains to.
  • Transport for Wales operate approximately hourly trains on a route to, via and. TfW also run a service between Chepstow and Gloucester. Before December 2024, the service continued through Cardiff Central to via.

Redevelopment proposals

In early 2012, Cheltenham Council released a concept statement promoting various enhancements at the station. In March 2013, the Gloucestershire Local Transport Body asked for bids from the local area for transport projects which could be funded in the period 2015 to 2019. A proposal to significantly enhance the station with new passenger facilities, and install a new south-facing bay platform to enable trains to reverse and increase capacity, was put forward.
During the development phase of the submission, it was found that two new bay platforms were required. This configuration formed the basis of a station regeneration proposal that was submitted to the Gloucestershire Local Transport Body for consideration in early March 2013. Following short-listing to stage 2, a second funding proposal was submitted in May 2013. Proposals for the station and various other transport schemes were published for public consultation on the LTB website in the same month, and the LTB allocated £3.3million to the scheme, which had an estimated total cost of £20million.
In February 2014, the scheme was shelved after both Network Rail and train operator First Great Western refused to back the portion of the proposals relating to the additional platforms. They were supportive of the need to upgrade other passenger facilities, including the station building, taxi/bus interchange and car parking improvements.