THE initial artist's impressions of what Corsham railway station may look like have been well received by locals and civic groups following an area board meeting last week.

In late March Corsham Town Council, MP Michelle Donelan, Corsham Institute and the TransWilts Community Rail Partnership among others created the town’s train group project to build a compelling region-wide case for reopening the station.

Led by the group's chairman, Coun Peter Pearson, he outlined what the station would look like as well as considering traffic constraints, a bus system and a potential transport service to and from its Ministry of Defence site.

"The response at the area board was positive and most comments I have heard have been positive as well," he said.

"It is very early days yet and there will be concerns over parking and traffic from local residents but these will be addressed when we are a little further down the road.

"These designs reflects the fact this is the new world, this is a digital Corsham. It is in a site where more modern buildings would be perfectly in keeping. This is not something to be alarmed about, it is something to be excited about."

The next phase for the group, as defined by Network Rail’s Governance for Railway Investment Projects (GRIP), is to move from the current GRIP Stage 1 through to GRIP Stage 3, as the detailed process of feasibility and planning accelerates.

The deadline for the GRIP stage 2 report, which examines a project's feasibility, is on July 15, followed by a public consultation in late July/early August before GRIP stage 3 begins in September.

MP Michelle Donelan was also encouraged by the designs and the prospect of fuelling the public's backing towards this initiative.

“The images give a flavour of what we could expect from a re-opened Corsham station and I hope that they further enthuse the community to back the project," said Ms Donelan.

"The key is still ensuring that we have a service to stop at a new station and I have a meeting soon with the Department of Transport to continue those important talks.”

The railway group are hoping to have a station, which closed more than 60 years ago, ready in Corsham for as soon as 2019.

For more information visit http://corshamrailwaystation.org/