Great Western Railway has responded to calls for improved parking at Westbury Station by increasing the number of spaces by 150.
More than half a million journeys are made to and from Westbury Station every year, and with the introduction of GWR’s bigger and faster Intercity Express Trains the company expects that to increase even further in coming years.
GWR has worked with Wiltshire Council and developers Square Bay to develop the car park and bring the total number of spaces at the station to 420. Work began on the site in September 2018 and was completed in March.
The station was officially opened by Horace Prickett, portfolio holder for transport at Wiltshire Council. He said, “The new extended car park at Westbury Station will be a great asset to rail travellers. The current car park has been overfull for some time and a source of anguish to regular traveller.
“I am pleased that Great Western Railway have listened to its customers and reacted in a swift and timely manner, completing the work very quickly. It is testament to the staff at GWR and their ability to listen to the needs of their customers.
“I have personally monitored the usage of the new spaces since they opened and can confirm they are well used and fill the need of rail passengers over a wide, very rural, area.”
Great Western Railway’s commercial development director Matthew Golton said, “These additional spaces are so important for the local community as the brand new Intercity Express Trains that are now replacing our 40-year-old HSTs, encourage more people to switch to rail.
“More people are choosing to live, work and visit Westbury, and we need capacity in our car parks to increase in the way we are increasing the capacity on our trains. The work today is testament to our partners at Wiltshire Council, who truly recognise the value of public transport and have supported this scheme from the beginning, as well as Square Bay who have been phenomenal in getting us to this stage.”
Square Bay director Tom Vaughn-Jones said, “We are thrilled with the completed car park and are really pleased to have made good use of otherwise redundant land. It was a pleasure to join forces with GWR to create much needed new parking for station customers.”
