Thingley Junction Remodelling:

A significant capacity constraint for services on and off the Melksham branch is the distance between the turnout onto the branch and the crossovers between the junction and Chippenham station. This means that up services towards Chippenham have to travel approximately 1km up the down main at relatively slow speed before they can move over onto the up main. This blocks the down main for a significant period of time, constraining capacity in the area.

A new crossover between the down and up main at the site of the junction would allow trains to cross straight over onto the up main, providing a huge capacity improvement.

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