AROUND £20,000 has been released for a study into the reopening of Wootton Bassett railway station.

Members of Wiltshire County Council have given the go-ahead for the project, which could result in a station being opened in January 2005.

The money will be used to assess the demand for a station and the feasibility of building it and linking it with the southern rail network.

Talks between Wiltshire County Council and other parties including Railtrack and potential rail operators will now be set up to find a suitable site for the station.

County councillor Mollie Groom (Con, Wootton Bassett North and the Lydiards) proposed the talks and the study, and was delighted to be backed by fellow councillors.

She is a member of a working party set up by the district council a few months ago to accelerate the process of reopening the station.

Coun Groom said: "It really is an encouraging first step and we have got over the first hurdle on what is going to be a long trek. But we must not encourage people to expect anything overnight."

The first stage of the proposed timetable for the next five years is to find a rail operator willing to stop its trains at Wootton Bassett station.

First Great Western has already said it has no objection in principle to stopping its Bristol to Oxford service in the town, but it is unlikely that high speed trains will stop there because of the delays for other passengers.

The next stage is to consult Railtrack about plans to manage the railway, before identifying a location for the station and conducting a survey on how many people would use the service. This survey is likely to take place next April.

An engineering feasibility study would then be carried out in October 2001, and a bid submitted for funding from the Shadow Strategic Rail Authority in April 2002.

If funding is approved, design, costs and authorisation for the station will be finalised in 2003. The station could then be constructed from May 2004 for nine months, before being opened in January 2005.

Wootton Bassett's original railway station was closed in the 1960s following the Beeching Report, which affected 2,000 other stations. The building was demolished but there have been calls ever since for the town to have its station back.