Bath Spa railway station is the principal station serving the city of

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

South West England South West England, or the South West of England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of the counties of Bristol, Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly), Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Cities and ...

. It is on the

Great Western Main Line The Great Western Main Line (GWML) is a main line railway in England that runs westwards from London Paddington to . It connects to other main lines such as those from Reading to Penzance and Swindon to Swansea. Opened in 1841, it was the or ...

, down the line from the zero point at between to the east and to the west. Its three-letter station code is BTH. The station is managed by

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

, who operate all trains at this station.

History

Bath Spa station was built in 1840 for the

Brunel Isambard Kingdom Brunel (; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) was a British civil engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history," "one of the 19th-century engineering giants," and "one ...

and is now a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. It is in an asymmetrical

Tudor style Tudor Revival architecture (also known as mock Tudor in the UK) first manifested itself in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture ...

with curving gables on the north bank of the Avon where the line curves across from the southern bank to the station and then back again. Opened on 31 August 1840, the station was named ''Bath'' and was renamed ''Bath Spa'' in 1949 to distinguish it from station, which did not have its name altered from Bath until 1951. The station has wide spacing between the platforms because it was built with two

broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union (CIS ...

carriage sidings between the platform lines. The original station featured a

hammerbeam roof A hammerbeam roof is a decorative, open timber roof truss typical of English Gothic architecture and has been called "...the most spectacular endeavour of the English Medieval carpenter". They are traditionally timber framed, using short beams pr ...

that covered the area between the platforms, similar to that which still exists at Bristol Temple Meads. However, Bath's roof was removed in 1897 when the station was remodelled with longer platforms. A three-track goods shed was built immediately west of the station, to the north of the main track. In 1877 a goods depot was built about 500 metres to the west at Westmoreland and the goods shed was demolished for the station remodelling in 1897. A footbridge leads from the rear of the station across the Avon, allowing direct access to the

Widcombe Widcombe is a district of Bath, England, immediately south-east of the city centre, across the River Avon. The electoral ward was merged with Lyncombe at the boundary changes effected at the elections held on 2 May 2019; the two places have h ...

area of the city. Open in 1862, the bridge was originally made from wood and tolled (known locally as Halfpenny Bridge). However, this original structure collapsed disastrously in 1877 with a number of deaths, and the present steel

girder bridge A girder bridge is a bridge that uses girders as the means of supporting its deck. The two most common types of modern steel girder bridges are plate and box. The term "girder" is often used interchangeably with "beam" in reference to bridge de ...

was erected as a replacement later that same year.

Redevelopment

2017 at Bath Spa - rebuilding platform 2 (5)

Since privatisation

has managed Bath Spa. In 2005 the company obtained listed building consent for alterations to the building, including the installation of lifts to the platforms. Ticket barriers have also been installed. Other developments started in 2011 to integrate the station with the new Bath bus station and

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shopping centre, and redevelop some of the station car park and northern ramp into a restaurant complex at a cost of £12 million. There are plans to adapt some arches at the station to encourage retail use. Bath Spa won awards for Best Medium-Sized Station and Overall Best Station at the 2013 International Station Awards. The station was modified in April 2017 for the Great Western Main Line electrification project. Because of its listed status, the platform canopies could not be cut back to fit overhead electrification equipment on the alignment and so the platforms were widened so that future electrification masts could be installed between the tracks. (Electrification through the station was deferred in November 2016). The work provided a larger circulation area and reduced the gap between train and platform.

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 and to Bath Spa, and onward stations. Former stations now closed in Bath were

Green Park Green Park, officially The Green Park, is one of the Royal Parks of London. It is in the southern part – the core part – of the City of Westminster, Central London, but before that zone was extended to the north, to take in Maryleb ...

(the Midland terminus, whose overall roof and primary buildings survive, and which for part of its life was named "Bath Queen Square"),

Bathampton Bathampton () is a village and civil parish east of Bath, England on the south bank of the River Avon. The parish has a population of 1,603. The Kennet and Avon Canal passes through the village and a toll bridge links Bathampton to Batheast ...

and

Weston Weston may refer to: Places Australia * Weston, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra * Weston, New South Wales * Weston Creek, a residential district of Canberra * Weston Park, Canberra, a park Canada * Weston, Nova Scotia * W ...

(a suburban station on the Midland line which closed in 1953). Westmoreland Road was a GWR goods station. Twerton-on-Avon, and Hampton Row Halt, both on the GWR route, closed in 1917 as a

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

economy measure.

Services

Bath Spa - GWR 150002 Cardiff to Portsmouth service

All services at Bath Spa are operated by Great western Railway. They provide a regular services between and . These give a service from Bath to , and while some extend beyond Bristol to or . There are also services between and , and between or and or . These provide links to many smaller stations along these lines. Services are mostly operated by and units.

References

External links

Slow motion video of Bath Spa
{{Brunel Railway stations in Bath, Somerset DfT Category C1 stations Former Great Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1840 Railway stations served by Great Western Railway Grade II* listed buildings in Bath, Somerset Grade II* listed railway stations Great Western Main Line Isambard Kingdom Brunel railway stations