Golden Valley Line
| Golden Valley line | |
|---|---|
| Overview | |
| Type | Heavy rail |
| System | National Rail |
| Status | Operational |
| Locale |
Gloucestershire Wiltshire South West England |
| Operation | |
| Owner | Network Rail |
| Operator(s) | Great Western Railway |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge |
The Golden Valley line is a railway line from Swindon to Cheltenham Spa in England.
The line was originally built as the Cheltenham and Great Western Union Railway in the 1840s. It was opened between Swindon and Kemble, along with a branch line to Cirencester in 1841. It took a further four years before the remainder of the line, including the tunnel at Sapperton, was completed.
The line diverges from the Great Western Main Line at Swindon and (after going through the Sapperton railway tunnel and down the Golden Valley to Stroud), joins the Bristol Temple Meads to Birmingham New Street main line at Standish Junction just north of Stonehouse.
The intermediate towns served by the route are listed below.
The other intermediate stations and halts were closed to passengers on 2 November 1964.
Kemble railway station was a junction for two branch lines serving Cirencester and Tetbury. Both of these lines closed to passengers on 6 April 1964
Local passenger services between Swindon and Cheltenham are currently operated by Great Western Railway. Services are approximately hourly but with some gaps. These are filled by express services from Paddington to Cheltenham via the Golden Valley, which are also operated by Great Western Railway.
In 1977 the Parliamentary Select Committee on Nationalised Industries recommended considering electrification of more of Britain's rail network, and by 1979 BR presented a range of options to do so by 2000. Options included electrifying numerous former Great Western routes including the Golden Valley line. Under the 1979–90 Conservative governments that succeeded the 1976–79 Labour government the proposal was not implemented. As of 2016[update] there are no plans to electrify the line.
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