What is Swindon railway station?
'''Swindon railway station''' is a [[train station]] in [[Swindon]], [[Wiltshire]], [[South West England]]. It was opened on 17 December 1840 by the [[Great Western Railway]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Butt |first=R.V.J. |title=The Directory of Railway Stations |year=1995 |publisher=Patrick Stephens Ltd |location=Yeovil |isbn=1-85260-508-1 |id=R508 |page=225 }}</ref> The station has services between [[Paddington station|London]] and [[Bristol Temple Meads railway station|Bristol]]. There are also trains to [[Cardiff Central railway station|Cardiff]]. A new platform, platform 4 opened in 2003.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dft.gov.uk/press/releases/sra/2003a1/2003b/itsofficialswindonplatform4i1334|title=It's Official: Swindon Platform 4 is Now Open|accessdate=7 July 2012|publisher=DfT|archive-date=6 February 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070206112511/http://www.dft.gov.uk/press/releases/sra/2003a1/2003b/itsofficialswindonplatform4i1334|url-status=dead}}</ref> ==Plans== In December 2005, people were told that stations in the Thames Valley area were to be made better.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/berkshire/4524062.stm Plans for stations improvements] ''bbc.co.uk'' Retrieved 7 July 2012</ref> On 1 March 2011, [[Philip Hammond]] MP, (the UK Government's Secretary of State for Transport) said that he had made plans for making the [[Great Western main line]] electric from [[Didcot]] to Swindon, and {{stnlnk|Bristol Temple Meads}} and Cardiff, through Bath Spa and [[Chippenham railway station|Chippenham]]. The Department's reading said that new electric [[trains]] would be made by Hitatchi. The electrification had first been told by the last Labour Government's Transport Secretary, Lord Andrew Adonis..<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6723747.ece | location=London | work=The Times | first=Andrew | last=Adonis | title=How to get Britains railways back on track | date=6 July 2012 | access-date=7 July 2012 | archive-date=29 June