Bath Spa railway station

Rebuilding the platforms in 2017

Since privatisation Great Western Railway 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.[7]

Other developments started in 2011 to integrate the station with the new Bath bus station and SouthGate shopping centre,[8] and redevelop some of the station car park and northern ramp into a restaurant complex at a cost of £12 million.[9] There are plans to adapt some arches at the station to encourage retail use.[10]

Bath Spa won awards for Best Medium-Sized Station and Overall Best Station at the 2013 International Station Awards.[11]

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.[12]

Railway stations in Bath
Great Western Main Line to London Bathford Halt River Avon Bathampton Junction Wessex Main Line to Westbury Bathampton Hampton Row Halt St James's Bridge Bath Green Park Bath Spa (GWR) (MR and SDJR)   Skew Bridge Westmoreland Road goods yard Oldfield Park Somerset & Dorset Jt Rly to Radstock River Avon Weston Twerton-on-Avon Midland Bath Branch to Bristol and Gloucester Great Western Main Line to Bristol

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.[13]

Former stations now closed in Bath were Green Park (the Midland terminus, whose overall roof and primary buildings survive, and which for part of its life was named "Bath Queen Square"),[14] Bathampton and Weston (a suburban station on the Midland line which closed in 1953). Westmoreland Road was a GWR goods station.[15] Twerton-on-Avon, and Hampton Row Halt, both on the GWR route, closed in 1917 as a World War I economy measure.[16]

North side of the bridge

The eastern bridge is a elliptical stone arch, with a smaller circular arch either side. It was repaired in brick in 1927. Although not referred to as such, it is a skew bridge, crossing the river at about 45 degrees; it "embodies Brunel's ability to find elegant architectural solutions to engineering challenges."[19]

North side of bridge; station to the left

Brunel originally intended the Skew Bridge over the Avon to be constructed of cast iron, but he was unable to let the contract for this. Instead, he designed each arch to consist of six arches of laminated timber. Each arch had five laminations of 6 inches (15 cm) thick Baltic pine, bent to shape and held together with bolts and straps of iron.[21] Under the arches, a walkway allowed pedestrians to pass along the south bank of the river; railings were added to the walkway during the 1878 rebuilding.[20]

In 1878, Wakefield Simpson replaced the timber arches with two wrought iron truss spans, supported by iron cylinders which rest on the original piers and abutments. The bridge was strengthened in the 1960s with additional steel supports and superstructure, to allow it to carry the extended platforms of Bath Station.[20][22]

North side of the viaduct

After the Skew Bridge, the line continues towards Bristol over St James' Viaduct, a "castellated Gothic fantasy"[24] with pointed arches and arrow slots on the northern (Bath-facing) side; the southern side is plainer. There are seventeen arches in total; the spans crossing Wells Road and Lower Bristol Road were rebuilt in steel in 1911–12 as locomotives had become heavier; the former span was again rebuilt in 1961–62.[23][24]