The first railway to Cheltenham was the broad-gaugeCheltenham and Great Western Union Railway, authorised by Act of Parliament in 1836, and opened between Cheltenham and Gloucester in 1840. In the same year, the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway opened its line between Cheltenham and Bromsgrove, whence trains ran on mixed-gauge tracks to Gloucester. Both railways had their own stations, but the B&GR station, which was then on the edge of the town and was named Lansdown after a housing development in that area, is the only one remaining. The buildings were designed by the architect Samuel Daukes. Opened by the B&GR on 24 June 1840 as Lansdown, it was renamed Cheltenham Spa on 1 February 1925 by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, and renamed again as Cheltenham Spa by British Railways at some point after 1 January 1948. The C&GWUR was taken over by the Great Western Railway in 1844, and the B&GR by the Midland Railway in 1846. Within the town, there were three other passenger railway stations: Malvern Road, St James's and Cheltenham South and Leckhampton; there was also High Street Halt and the Racecourse Platform, open only on race days. Cheltenham Spa Malvern Road West Signal Box, and its east equivalent, had the longest namesigns on the GWR.
Services
Cheltenham Spa station is served by approx 8 to 12 trains every hour during the daytime on Mondays to Saturdays. Great Western Railway operate approx hourly Cheltenham Spa – via services. Some extend through to, and London Paddington. Great Western Railway also operates local services on the Bristol to Gloucester, Cheltenham Spa and Worcester Shrub Hill route. These serve Cheltenham every two hours each way, with some southbound services continuing onwards to, Weymouth or Brighton. CrossCountry trains serve Cheltenham Spa on three routes, the to Birmingham New Street/ service, the longer-distance / – Cheltenham Spa –, with extensions to, and the Bristol Temple Meads – routes. All three of these services run hourly each way, giving a net half-hourly service to Bristol Temple Meads and three departures per hour to/from Birmingham New Street. CrossCountry also operate a morning service to as well as summer Saturday trains to. Transport for Wales operate approximately hourly with a Maesteg via, Cardiff Central, and Chepstow to Gloucester and Cheltenham Spa service. West Midlands Trains used to operate a once a week limited service from Birmingham New Street to Gloucester on Friday evenings but this ended in May 2019.
Redevelopment proposals
In early 2012 Cheltenham Council released a Railway Station concept statement, promoting various enhancements at the station. This was followed in March 2013 by the newly formed Gloucestershire Local Transport Body asking for bids from the local area for transport projects which could be funded in the period 2015 to 2019. The Cheltenham Development Taskforce decided to seek support from the railway industry and key local supporters, to promote a scheme first raised in 2008. This proposed to significantly enhance the station, with new passenger facilities and a new south-facing bay platform to enable terminating London and South Wales services to turn back in the station clear of the mainline rather than having to run empty to the carriage sidings north of the station at Alstone to reverse as at present. During the development and optioneering phase of the stage 1 LTB submission, it was discovered that to ensure operational flexibility and to provide sufficient capacity, that two new bay platforms were actually required. This configuration formed the basis of a station regeneration proposal that was submitted to the Gloucestershire Local Transport Body for consideration in early March 2013. Following short listing to stage 2, a second funding proposal was submitted on 10 May 2013. Cheltenham Spa Station and the other various transport scheme proposals were all published for public consultation on the LTB website on 13 May 2013. However, in February 2014 the scheme was shelved after both Network Rail and train operatorFirst Great Western refused to back the portion of the proposals relating to the additional platforms, though they were supportive of the need to upgrade other passenger facilities.
