Wantage Road station was opened in 1846, six years after the section of the GWR main line that served it. In 1873 the independent
Wantage Tramway was formed to link Wantage Road station with its terminus at Mill Street, Wantage; it was built parallel to what was then the Besselsleigh Turnpike (now the
A338). This short line was opened for goods on 1 October 1875, and to passengers on 11 October. The tramway junction was to the east of Wantage Road station; interchange passengers walked under the bridge to reach the tramway yard, where the westernmost siding (parallel to the road) was reserved for passenger tramcars. The tramway closed to passengers on 1 August 1925, and to goods on 22 December 1945. On 7 December 1964
British Railways withdrew passenger services from Wantage Road and all other intermediate stations between
Didcot and
Swindon; the goods yard survived a little longer, closing on 29 March 1965. In August 2018,
Oxfordshire County Council published proposals and a business case for a new station in Grove with the assumption that a new station could open in 2025. As the station would be situated on a main line currently served only by
intercity services, a new service would be needed to serve the station. The county council's ambition would be for a new hourly service between
Bristol and
Oxford which could call at all major existing stations along the route as well as the new station in Grove and new stations in
Corsham and
Royal Wootton Bassett. It is then hoped that this service could be extended to
Milton Keynes or
Cambridge once
East West Rail is fully completed in 2027. Depending on which site is chosen, the cost of building a new station is estimated to be between £11 million and £13 million. A new feasibility study was commissioned by Oxfordshire County Council in March 2025, expected to be published in September 2025. ==References==