Bath Spa railway station is the principal
railway station in the city of
Bath, in
South West England.
Architecture
Bath Spa station was built in 1840 for the
Great Western Railway by
Brunel and is a grade II*
listed building. It is in an asymmetrical
Tudor style with curving gables, and lies on the north bank of the
Avon, with the line swerving elegantly across from the southern bank to the station and then back again.
A convenient characteristic for passengers is that ramps lead up to both platforms, permitting the disabled or those with luggage to have ready access from the platforms to cars or taxis. There is also a footbridge, formerly tolled, leading directly from the station across the Avon and allowing direct access to the area of Widcombe. The large gap between the up and down-lines used to accommodate a through bi-directional line.
Services
Since the closure of the
Midland Region station at
Green Park after the
Beeching report, all of Bath's rail services run through Bath Spa. The station is also conveniently situated for connection with bus services.
The station has regular (approximately half-hourly each way) inter-city services to
London Paddington via
Swindon &
Reading and to
Bristol Temple Meads (with some extensions to
Weston-super-Mare).
It is also served hourly (two-hourly on Sundays) by the
Cardiff Central to
Portsmouth Harbour and & Bristol to and
Weymouth regional trains, plus a limited service to
London Waterloo via
Salisbury and
Basingstoke (two per day).
Management
Since railway privatisation
First Great Western has managed Bath Spa. In 2005 they obtained listed building consent for a number of alterations to the building, including the installation of lifts to the platforms. This is expected to enable them to remove the convenient direct access between the platforms and the car parks. Ticket Barriers have also been installed.
Other stations in Bath
The only other open station in Bath is
Oldfield Park, a small commuter station in a western suburb, with limited services to Bristol.
Other now closed stations in Bath were
Green Park (the Midland terminus, of which the over-all roof and primary buildings survive, and which for most of its life was named "Bath Queen Square") and
Weston (a suburban station on the Midland line which closed in 1953).
Westmoreland Road, later a goods station, was the original GWR passenger station, and is now demolished).
Twerton-on-Avon, and Hampton Row Halt, both on the GWR route, closed after
World War I.
Location
The station is located immediately on the south side of the
SouthGate development project, a major new shopping centre that is under construction. It is accessible from Manvers Street, which leads north into central Bath, or
Widcombe in the opposite direction. The station will be directly adjacent to the new bus station, scheduled for completion in 2009. There are good views of the city centre on the approach to the station by train.
References
External links