A £2.5 BILLION transfor-mation of Wiltshire's train services is being planned by Railtrack.

The project will involve doubling the size of Swindon station and building several new stations. It would mean twice as much track and double the number of trains.

Railtrack's plan is to increase the Great Western mainline from two tracks to four from London to the West Country.

Swindon station will be doubled in size with more parkway commuter stations at Wootton Bassett, Corsham, and south of Devizes.

Swindon Council's 30 Year Vision, which was released last month, includes plans to move the town's station altogether and create a new station which would be incorporated with trams and buses.

Council leader Sue Bates (Lab, Pinehurst and Gorse Hill) said: "Investment in Swindon would be most welcome. What I would like to find out is if Railtrack has any plans to move Swindon station itself, which would be in line with our own town centre plans."

County councillor Mollie Groom (Con, Wootton Bassett) has been a campaigner for a station in Wootton Bassett for years.

She said: "This is absolutely wonderful news. We definitely need a station. The old one should never have been closed.

"This will mean that congestion will be cut down around Junction 16 of the M4, making life a lot easier for anyone who lives in this area, as they will be able to get into town in only a few minutes, rather than 45 minutes."

Reading station will be demolished and rebuilt as a new doubledecker station as part of the plans. It is hoped it will become a hub as important as Birmingham or Leeds.

The minimum cost of the project is £2.5 billion and it will start in 2005. The planning process will take three years, which only gives Railtrack one more year to work out exactly what kind of train service Wiltshire will need in the future.

According to Robert Bruce, principal planner for Swindon Borough Council, Swindon Station is in dire need of a revamp as it is now more than 30 years old.

He said: "Buildings in the 1960s have not turned out to be as attractive as we would like to see today but this Railtrack plan offers us an opportunity for a bright new station. This fits in very much with what Swindon wants to become."

Meanwhile, First Great Western today announced it is reinstating its direct train services between Bristol and Oxford, which stops at Swindon.

The services, which run 13 a day from Temple Meads in Bristol, will be reinstated on Monday, November 20. They will run according to the published timetable, but may be five minutes late due to speed restrictions imposed by Railtrack.

The Bristol Oxford service, a joint venture with Thames Trains, was disrupted following the recent flooding and Railtrack engineering work throughout the region.