Portal:Trains/Selected article/Week 46, 2016

Montpelier railway station is on the Severn Beach Line and serves the district of Montpelier in Bristol, England. It is 2.85 mi from Bristol Temple Meads. Its three letter station code is MTP. The station has a single platform, serving trains in both directions. it is managed by Great Western Railway, which is the third franchise to be responsible for the station since privatisation in 1997. The station was opened on 1 October 1874 as Montpellier (two 'L's) by the Great Western and Midland Railways as part of the Clifton Extension Railway, designed to connect the port of Avonmouth to the national rail network. In February 1888 the station's name changed to Montpelier (one 'L'). The station had two platforms, with the main structures on the southern platform and smaller waiting rooms on the northern platform. The station building was destroyed by bombing during the Second World War, and replaced with the current building. The Severn Beach Line declined over the latter half of the twentieth century, with passenger numbers falling significantly. Goods services at Montpelier ended in 1965, and all staff were withdrawn in 1967. The line was largely reduced to single track in 1970, with the northern platform abandoned and all trains using the remaining platform. The station building is no longer in railway use. Services had decreased to ten per day each direction by 2005, but have since increased to twenty-four trains per day.