MEMBERS of the TransWilts group in Melksham are celebrating after receiving thousands of pounds from Great Western Railway to help improve the town's station.

The rail group, which works to better the TransWilts line that runs through Melksham, was awarded £60,000 from a successful bid from the Customer and Communities Improvement Fund by Great Western Railway. The money will now be used by TransWilts to carry out a design study into a new northern access route at Melksham Station, improving pedestrian access to the platform and station.

Paul Johnson, chairman of the TransWilts group, said: "The money from GWR will help us build a master plan for the station. Last year we received a small grant which allowed us to look at the northern pedestrian access for the station. Because the passenger use of the station has grown five fold then we need to look at being able to cope with it. We will soon be seeing two or three car trains coming into Melksham which will mean a lot more passengers, with a town the size of Melksham we could even see quarter of a million people using the train line in the future."

Over the past five years Melksham station has seen a large increase in passengers, going from 10,000 per year to 60,000, meaning the station will need to be expanded over the coming years.

Graham Ellis of TransWilts Rail Group said: "It is brilliant to receive this. I think a lot of it relates to the ongoing improvements of Melksham station. We were having 10,000 passengers using the station five years ago and now it is more like 60,000 people a year. We are looking at various accesses to the station as well as lengthening the platform to make it better for rail users, we need to make sure we look to the future and ensure that the station will be able to cope with the growing use. The last thing we want is to do something then realise afterwards we have missed an important improvement out."

All proposals for the grant were presented to representatives from GWR's customer panel which is made up of local customers, the advisory board of stakeholders and then the Department of Transport for approval. Since the start of the match funding, over £2million has been awarded to local causes.

GWR managing director Mark Hopwood said: “We are committed to improving the journeys of our passengers, as well as the economic prosperity and social footprint of the regions and communities we service.

“We had many responses from those in our communities looking for help, and I am delighted to be able to announce the schemes that have been successful in this second year of funding; helping to put our people, our customers, at the forefront of what we do.”

For more information on the improvement fund visit www.gwr.com/ccif.