Tomorrow marks the 200th anniversary of the modern railway – quite possibly one of our favourite days here at Western Gateway STB. As a sub-national transport body, we work across many modes of transport, enhancing connectivity in our region through the collaborative work with our local authorities and the direction of travel from the government. And one of our major workstreams is rail!
To date, we’ve made a difference to rail in our region, through our close relationships with Network Rail and our local authorities. Here are just some of our highlights:
Heart of Wessex Line
The Heart of Wessex Line spans Gloucester to Weymouth via Bristol, Bath and Trowbridge, running across five counties, with 20 stations in total.
We’ve commissioned a Strategic Outline Business Case (SOBC) for the Heart of Wessex Line, to double the frequency of the service from two hourly to hourly on the southern section between Westbury and Weymouth. This will not only help give greater flexibility to passengers, but will also have knock-on effects such as decarbonisation, accessibility, improving links to economic hubs and supporting areas developing with businesses and new housing. Phew!
You can read it here.
West of England Line
We’ve set out a vision for change for our part of the West of England Line, which runs from Salisbury to just over the border to Yeovil Junction and onto Exeter St. David’s. It is the main line between London Waterloo and the South West, and aids connectivity with regional centres at locations such as Exeter, Salisbury, Basingstoke, and Woking. We’ve worked in partnership with Network Rail and local authorities to craft the case, which emphasises the need to extend the loop at Tisbury, which causes bottlenecks and severely impacts the service.
You can read it here.
Dorset Metro
Spanning from Brockenhurst to Weymouth, and supporting key regional places like Bournemouth, Poole, Christchurch, Wareham, and Dorchester, we’ve made a case for a Dorset Metro with a three train an hour ‘metro’ type service. Other aspects looked at include running trains down to Swanage on the heritage railway and improving services in and out of Weymouth.
The SOBC has been the result of work with Network Rail and funding from Dorset Council. Additional support has been provided by South Western Railway (SWR), Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council, Purbeck CRP and Swanage Railway.
You can read it here.
Oxford to Bristol Line
Along with Network Rail and our fellow STB, England’s Economic Heartland STB, we recently produced a making the case for change document to increase direct services between Oxford, Swindon, Bath, and Bristol. Following on the successful Saturday trial, this new hourly, all-day service would cut journey times to under 1 hour 15 minutes between Oxford and Bristol and just over 30 minutes to Swindon.
You can read it here.
Westbury platform work – platform 0
We’re committed to reopening platform 0 at Westbury station, which will improve services to Bristol, Bath, Cardiff, Salisbury, Southampton, Portsmouth, Weymouth, Dorchester, Exeter, Yeovil, Reading and London. Work is currently in progress, with completion scheduled to the end of October 2025. Watch this space.
Why support the railway? As you can see, the railways help drive economic growth across the country, reduce traffic and harmful emissions, bring us together and give us freedom. We’re pleased to be able to work with rail officers at local authorities and community rail partnerships to help strengthen connectivity across the region.
Discover our other plans for rail by taking a look at our Strategic Transport Plan and Strategic Investment Plan.
Away from the Western Gateway STB, there’s a whole host of events happening in the region and beyond. Take a look at the Railway 200 website to find out more.
