Bristol Temple Meads railway station

Bristol Temple Meads
Facade of the station
General information
Location	Redcliffe, Bristol England
Coordinates	51°26′56″N 2°34′48″W / 51.449°N 2.580°W / 51.449; -2.580
Grid reference	ST597725
Managed by	Network Rail
Platforms	13 in use
Other information
Station code	BRI
Classification	DfT category A
History
Original company	Great Western Railway
Key dates
1840	Opened
1871–1878	Extended
1930s	Extended
1965	Original platforms closed
Passengers
2018/19	11.368 million
Interchange	1.454 million
2019/20	11.619 million
Interchange	1.632 million
2020/21	2.033 million
Interchange	0.277 million
2021/22	6.628 million
Interchange	0.971 million
2022/23	9.292 million
Interchange	1.242 million
Listed Building – Grade I
Feature	Temple Meads Station
Designated	1 November 1966
Reference no.	1282106[1]
Location
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Bristol Temple Meads is the oldest and largest railway station in Bristol, England. It is located 118 miles 31 chains (118.39 mi; 190.5 km) away from London Paddington.^[2] It is an important transport hub for public transport in the city; there are bus services to many parts of the city and surrounding districts, with a ferry to the city centre. Bristol's other major station, Bristol Parkway, is a more recent station on the northern outskirts of the conurbation. It is the busiest station in South West England.^[3]

Temple Meads was opened on 31 August 1840, as the western terminus of the Great Western Railway. The railway, including Temple Meads, was the first to be designed by the British engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Soon, the station was also used by the Bristol and Exeter Railway, the Bristol and Gloucester Railway, the Bristol Harbour Railway and the Bristol and South Wales Union Railway. To accommodate the increasing number of trains, the station was expanded in the 1870s by Francis Fox and again between 1930 and 1935 by Percy Emerson Culverhouse.^[1] Brunel's terminus is no longer part of the operational station. The historical significance of the station has been noted and most of the site is Grade I listed.^[1] In Britain's 100 Best Railway Stations by Simon Jenkins, the station was one of only ten to be awarded five stars.^[4]

Thirteen platforms are in use,^[5] numbered between 1 and 15, but passenger trains are confined to just eight tracks. Most platforms are numbered separately at each end, with odd numbers at the east end and even numbers at the west. Platform 2 is a bay platform at the west end which not used by passenger trains and there is no platform 14.^[6]

Temple Meads is managed by Network Rail.^[7] Most services are operated by the present-day Great Western Railway, with others by CrossCountry.