Chard have wanted the station reopened for many years. However, with Axminster just over six miles and Crewkerne nine miles away, the abstraction from those stations income might be too much. That is apart from extending the journey time to/from Exeter.
I can see that it must be galling seeing trains stopping there to pass but I doubt if the economics stack up.
The Chard Junction proposals caused quite an internal rift in a group mapping projects in the South West a couple of years back - whether they should be supported in the name of the organisation and given the approval and street-cred that suggested. The concerns were not only the abstraction one, but also questions as to ...
* whether people [from Chard] would actually use it, as once in a car they may as well go to Crewkerne or Axminster of even Honiton
* the slowing of trains at Chard Junction - adding extra minutes for passenger duties and need to stop in both directions
* the nature of the roads in the immediate vicinity of the station itself - whether they could cope
I don't have answers to those questions. I have drawn an illustrative map to help document them, and I could see a strong case for a station were a new era (built around shared mobility and a connected city with Chard itself) settlement of significant size be built in the immediate (easy walking distance) vicinity.
