Plans for station remain on track

PLANS for a new Devizes railway station are progressing well, according to Wiltshire Council.

In May last year, the council, alongside the Devizes Development Partnership, was awarded up to £50,000 from the Department for Transport’s Restoring Your Railway Ideas Fund.

The grant was to fund a business case for the station, which was sent off to the DfT this May.

Feedback from the DfT has been received by the council, which is working on adding more information to the bid.

Cabinet member for transport, Dr Mark McClelland, said: “We’re committed to improving public transport in Wiltshire, and that is why we submitted bids to develop the Devizes Gateway station project and two other new stations in the county – Wilton Junction and Corsham.

“If the SOBC [business case] submission is successful through the Restoring Your Railway process, the DfT has indicated that any local funding secured during the development stage will be taken into consideration when deciding whether to build the scheme.

“If we’re successful in fully developing the scheme, it is anticipated that construction would begin in 2025 and the new Devizes Gateway station would be operational in 2027.”

Paddy Bradley, Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership CEO, said: “We very much welcome the continued development of the strategic outline business case for the additional station at Devizes. This station would serve a wide catchment across Wiltshire where access to the rail network is currently poor, as well as boosting the local economy.

“Rail is already one of the cleanest methods of moving people and products across the country and this new station will help to reduce our emissions.”