Cheltenham Spa railway station

Cheltenham Spa
Cheltenham Spa station
Location
Place	Cheltenham
Local authority	Cheltenham
Coordinates	51°53′49″N 2°06′00″W / 51.897°N 2.100°W / 51.897; -2.100Coordinates: 51°53′49″N 2°06′00″W / 51.897°N 2.100°W / 51.897; -2.100
Grid reference	SO931220
Operations
Station code	CNM
Managed by	First Great Western
Number of platforms	2
Live arrivals/departures and station information from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage
2002/03 *	0.881 million
2004/05 *	1.036 million
2005/06 *	1.128 million
2006/07 *	1.206 million
2007/08 *	1.338 million
2008/09 *	1.529 million
2009/10 *	1.599 million
History
Original company	Birmingham and Gloucester Railway
Pre-grouping	Midland Railway
Post-grouping	LMS
24 June 1840	Opened as Cheltenham
1 February 1925	Renamed Cheltenham Spa (Lansdown)
?	Renamed Cheltenham Spa
National Rail - UK railway stations
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
* Annual passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Cheltenham Spa from Office of Rail Regulation statistics. Please note: methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Cheltenham Spa railway station is in Gloucestershire, England, on the Bristol-Birmingham main line. It is managed by First Great Western and is about one mile from the town centre.

History

A 1910 Railway Clearing House map of railways in the vicinity of Cheltenham Spa (shown here as Queen's Road, Lansdown)

An Old Stager at Cheltenham Lansdown Station in 1949

[v · d · e]Railways around Cheltenham
Legend to Birmingham Cheltenham Racecourse Cheltenham High Street Halt Cheltenham High Street Cheltenham St James Cheltenham Malvern Road Cheltenham Lansdown Cheltenham Leckhampton to Banbury to Gloucester

The first railway to Cheltenham was the broad-gauge Cheltenham and Great Western Union Railway (C&GWUR), authorised by Act of Parliament in 1836, and opened between Cheltenham and Gloucester in 1840. In the same year the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway (B&GR) opened its line between Cheltenham and Bromsgrove, whence trains ran on mixed-gauge tracks to Gloucester. Both railways had their own stations in the town, and the principal one, Cheltenham Spa (Lansdown), named from the principal road in the area, is the only one remaining, although without its secondary title. It was opened by the B&GR on 24 June 1840; was renamed Cheltenham Spa (Lansdown) on 1 February 1925 by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, and again renamed Cheltenham Spa by British Railways at some point after 1 January 1948.^[1]

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.

Cheltenham Spa Malvern Road West Signal Box, and its east equivalent, had the longest namesigns on the GWR.^{[citation needed]}

Services

Cheltenham Spa station has a staffed ticket office and two passenger-operated cash-and-card self-service ticket machines. There is a buffet on southbound platform 1, and extensive car parking. The station is served by approx 8 to 12 trains every hour during the daytime on Mondays to Saturdays (less frequent on Sundays).

First Great Western operate approx hourly Cheltenham Spa/Gloucester/Stonehouse/Stroud/Kemble/Swindon services, some (operated by InterCity 125 High Speed Trains) extended to Reading & London Paddington. A small number of these services extend beyond Cheltenham Spa to/from Worcester; a few extend at the Swindon end via Melksham to Westbury and beyond.

First Great Western also operates local services on the Bristol (Temple Meads/Parkway), Yate, Cam & Dursley, Gloucester and Cheltenham Spa route, most extending north to Ashchurch/Worcester (and some beyond there to Great Malvern). South of Bristol, many services operate through from stations on the Bristol TM/Bath Spa/Westbury route continuing to Weymouth, Salisbury/Southampton or Portsmouth/Brighton.

CrossCountry Trains serve Cheltenham Spa on two routes, the Cardiff/Gloucester/Cheltenham Spa/University/Birmingham/Nottingham service and the longer-distance Penzance/Cheltenham Spa/Aberdeen route, giving Cheltenham excellent and frequent rail connections to Birmingham, Manchester, Derby, Sheffield, Leeds, Newcastle and Edinburgh.

Arriva Trains Wales operate approx. hourly with a Maesteg via Bridgend, Cardiff & Newport to Chepstow/Lydney/Gloucester/Cheltenham Spa service.

Stagecoach in Cheltenham Bus Service D serves the station forecourt, providing a very regular link to Cheltenham Town Centre which is approx 2km to the North-East.

The London Midland Worcester to Gloucester service was discontinued from the start of the December 2009 railway timetable due to low passenger usage.^{[citation needed]}

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Gloucester		Arriva Trains Wales Maesteg - Cheltenham		Terminus
Gloucester		CrossCountry Cardiff - Nottingham		University or Ashchurch for Tewkesbury or Bromsgrove
Bristol Parkway or Gloucester		CrossCountry Cross-Country Route		Birmingham New Street
Gloucester		First Great Western Cheltenham - London/Swindon		Terminus
Gloucester		First Great Western Great Malvern - Westbury		Ashchurch for Tewkesbury
	Historical railways
Churchdown Line open, station closed		Midland Railway Birmingham and Gloucester Railway		Cheltenham High Street Line open, station closed
	Disused railways
Leckhampton Line and station closed		Great Western Railway Midland and South Western Junction Railway		Terminus
	Proposed Heritage railways
Terminus		Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway		Cheltenham Malvern Road Line and station closed

Future plans

Gloucestershire County Council are currently proposing a new station called Gloucestershire Parkway railway station. Local fears were that this would severely impact services to Cheltenham Spa; as of August 2011^[update], the project is currently shelved.^{[citation needed]}

The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway (which currently terminates at Cheltenham Racecourse some few miles away) intend (after a further couple of years) to eventually extend to a new heritage platform or two (next door to the mainline station), to where it could interchange with services on the Cross-Country Route which runs by.^{[citation needed]}

References

1. ^ Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 59. ISBN 1 85260 508 1. R508.