Keynsham railway station
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Keynsham railway station 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 ...
in
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 ...
, serving the town of
Keynsham Keynsham ( ) is a town and civil parish located between Bristol and Bath in Somerset, England. It has a population of 16,000. It was listed in the Domesday Book as ''Cainesham'' (as it is pronounced), which is believed to mean the home of Sai ...
, Somerset. It is down the line from and is situated between and stations. It 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 ...
, which also operates all of the trains that call.


History

The station was opened on 31 August 1840 with the completion of the
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 ...
line between
Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
and
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 ...
. It was renamed Keynsham and Somerdale on 1 February 1925 with the opening of the Fry's chocolate factory at Somerdale, which had its own siding. The station was rebuilt in 1931 to accommodate longer trains bringing in workers who had transferred from a factory in Bristol belonging to the company. Between 1841 and 1851 it had the possibly unique distinction, for a railway station, of featuring a Roman
Orpheus mosaic Orpheus mosaics are found throughout the Roman Empire, normally in large Roman villas. The scene normally shown is Orpheus playing his lyre, and attracting birds and animals of many species to gather around him. Orpheus was a popular subject in ...
set into a floor. This had been found at
Newton St Loe Newton St Loe is a small Somerset village and civil parish located close to the villages of Corston and Stanton Prior, between Bath and Bristol in England. The majority of the village is owned by the Duchy of Cornwall. The parish has a populati ...
, and is now in
Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery Bristol Museum & Art Gallery is a large museum and art gallery in Bristol, England. The museum is situated in Clifton, about from the city centre. As part of Bristol Culture it is run by the Bristol City Council with no entrance fee. It holds ...
. Keynsham is the nearest station to the village of Saltford, which until 1970 had its own station. The station's name reverted to Keynsham on 6 May 1974. By this time many workers had relocated to Keynsham, or commuted by car. The factory had its own rail system which was connected to the mainline. The connection to Fry's chocolate factory was taken out of use on 26–27 July 1980. The trackbed of this can still be seen opposite the entrance to the station car park, which is now a public walking route into the housing estate on what was the Somerdale sports fields. The station was rebuilt in 1985 as a joint project between
British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...
and
Avon County Council Avon County Council was the county council of the non-metropolitan county of Avon in south west England. It came into its powers on 1 April 1974 and was abolished on 1 April 1996 at the same time as the county. The county council was based at Av ...
. The rebuilding provided a new brick built shelter on platform 2, a new footbridge and the enlargement of the car park. Further construction work began in mid-2009. In 2011 a campaign group was formed to gain improved access for the disabled at the station. Recently a new disabled access ramp was built which provides wheelchair access between the footbridge and Platform 1. In addition to this, dot matrix display boards have been put up on both platforms. These displays are accompanied by audio announcements.


Accidents and incidents

*On 18 March 1849, a passenger train became divided approaching Keynsham. The rear portion then ran into the front portion when the latter stopped at the station. One person was injured. *On 20 January 1853 a luggage train was derailed near Keynsham due to an axle failure on one of the carriages. *On 7 June 1865, a passenger train ran into the rear of another near Keynsham. An empty stock train ran into the wreckage. At least three people were injured.


Services

Passenger services are operated 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 ...
. Keynsham Station has at least an hourly service in each direction between Monday and Saturday, with roughly a 2 hourly service on Sunday. Direct destinations include: ; ; ;
Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
; ; ; and . The majority of its services are a combination of 2 hourly Weymouth trains and 2 hourly Southampton trains eastbound and an hourly service to Bristol and in the other direction. On summer Saturdays an extra train is run between and formed of either a Sprinter or a Class 166 Turbo, calling at Keynsham at 09:14, this train does not call at , , , , , or Upwey. There is one direct service from on Monday to Friday that calls at Keynsham at 08:06. A return service to London was introduced in Summer 2020, calling at Keynsham at 17:36. Passengers wishing to travel to London Paddington during the off peak hours should change at Bath Spa or Bristol Temple Meads. The typical journey times are approximately 7 minutes to Bristol and 10 minutes to Bath. It is common to see a range of different train classes. These include Class 150s, Class 158s, s, Class 166s and Class 800s. Keynsham also used to be a stop on
West Coast Railways West Coast Railways (WCR) is a railway spot-hire company and charter train operator based at Carnforth MPD in Lancashire. Using buildings and other facilities previously owned by the Steamtown Carnforth visitor attraction, in June 1998 the comp ...
' Weymouth Seaside Express on Summer Sundays from July to September, although this train has not run since the railway upgrade works east of Bath in August 2015. Keynsham is also a stop on a
Parliamentary train A parliamentary train was a passenger service operated in the United Kingdom to comply with the Railway Regulation Act 1844 that required train companies to provide inexpensive and basic rail transport for less affluent passengers. The act requ ...
that runs on weekdays from
Filton Abbey Wood Filton Abbey Wood railway station serves the town of Filton in South Gloucestershire, England, inside the Bristol conurbation. It is from . There are four platforms but minimal facilities. The station is managed by Great Western Railway that ...
to Bath Spa, via Bristol West Curve. It does not call at Bristol Temple Meads. Until the December 2021 timetable change, Keynsham was a stop on South Western Railway's
London Waterloo Waterloo station (), also known as London Waterloo, is a central London terminus on the National Rail network in the United Kingdom, in the Waterloo area of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is connected to a London Underground station of ...
to Bristol services. These trains detached from the rear of Waterloo to Exeter services at Salisbury.


Electrification

As part of the electrification of the Great Western Main Line, the line through Keynsham closed for 1 week in April 2016 so that
Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...
could carry out preparation work for the installation of the overhead wires. This involved the lowering of the track under the road bridge and the replacement of the canopy on platform 1. Also the brick shelter on the Bath (up) platform was enlarged. The canopy on Platform 2 was removed between 14 and 18 March 2016.


Bus links

The following bus service stops just outside the station on Station Road: *17
Keynsham Keynsham ( ) is a town and civil parish located between Bristol and Bath in Somerset, England. It has a population of 16,000. It was listed in the Domesday Book as ''Cainesham'' (as it is pronounced), which is believed to mean the home of Sai ...
to
Bristol city centre Bristol City Centre is the commercial, cultural and business centre of Bristol, England. It is the area north of the New Cut of the River Avon, bounded by Clifton Wood and Clifton to the north-west, Kingsdown and Cotham to the north, and S ...
via
Hanham Hanham is a suburb of Bristol. It is located in the south east of the city. Hanham is in the unitary authority of South Gloucestershire. It became a civil parish on 1 April 2003. The post code area of Hanham is BS15. The population of this c ...
and
Southmead Hospital Southmead Hospital is a large public National Health Service hospital, situated in the area of Southmead, though in Horfield ward, in the northern suburbs of Bristol, England. It is part of the North Bristol NHS Trust. The 800-bed Brunel Buildi ...
This service is operated by
First West of England First West of EnglandCompanies House extract company no 25088
...
.Services 39, 349 and 178 stop in the town centre just a short walk away. A local bus service runs from the new Somerdale housing estate (being built on the grounds of the former
Cadburys Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational confectionery company fully owned by Mondelez International (originally Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second largest confectionery brand in the world after M ...
chocolate factory) to the Chandag Estate in the East of the town.
Bath Bus Company The Bath Bus Company is a bus operator in the United Kingdom which runs open top tours in Bath, Bristol and Cardiff, and the 'Bristol Air Decker' service between Bath and Bristol Airport. The company has been a subsidiary of the French RATP ...
service A4 stops outside the church in the town centre providing an hourly service to and from
Bristol Airport Bristol Airport , at Lulsgate Bottom, on the northern slopes of the Mendip Hills, in North Somerset, is the commercial airport serving the city of Bristol, England, and the surrounding area. It is southwest of Bristol city centre. Built on ...
via South Bristol 7 days a week. The A4 also provides an hourly service towards Saltford and Bath.


References

{{Somerset railway stations Keynsham Former Great Western Railway stations Great Western Main Linev Railway stations in Bristol, Bath and South Gloucestershire Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1840 Railway stations served by Great Western Railway DfT Category F1 stations