The station is also served by CrossCountry trains and by the West Somerset Railway on special event days and by mainline steam excursions.

[2] Isambard Kingdom Brunel's original design was for a single-sided station with two platforms, each with their own buildings and train sheds, placed on the south side of the line.

Goods traffic was moved away from the passenger platforms by the opening on 1 November 1896 of a pair of avoiding lines that skirted around the south side of the station behind the old hotel.

Now covering the whole length of the original single-sided station, they were the longest platforms on the Great Western Railway (which had amalgamated with the Bristol and Exeter company on 1 January 1876).

Work included a new subway that replaced the old footbridge, and a new booking office at road level on the north side of the station.

The engine shed closed on 1 January 1972, by which time it only served as a fueling point for local diesel shunting locomotives.

The various branch lines closed during the 1960s and 1970s, so only one bay platform was retained for local trains starting towards Bristol Temple Meads.

[11] The goods warehouse is largely derelict and most of the engine shed has been razed to the ground except for an asbestos-clad repair shop built in 1932 and the ramp that used to serve an elevated coaling stage.

2021 saw the ticket office moved back to the south side of the station as part of works to improve passenger facilities and make easier links to the town centre.

The ticket office is at ground level on the north side although the town centre lies to the south of the station, about 1 mile (1.6 km) away.

The east-facing bay platform 6 is beyond this; it only sees occasional use nowadays, mainly being used for local trains towards the Bristol station.

Terminating trains from Bristol that need to cross to platform 2 or 3 have to run forward towards Fairwater and then return to the station once the driver has changed ends.

First Great Western have proposed[24] that alterations be made to the layout at the east end of the station to allow terminating trains from Bristol to run straight into platform 6.

In the days of trains to Minehead, Barnstaple and local stations to Exeter St Davids, terminating trains were drawn back from the up-side platforms, via various sidings, and then returned to the down-side departure platforms; pilot locomotives were provided to assist in the days of hauled stock.

[26] The same operator provides an hourly service from Cardiff Central and Bristol Temple Meads via Weston-super-Mare, some of which continue to Exeter St Davids, Plymouth or Penzance.

Taunton Concrete Works, situated to the north of the line east of the station, cast items for the railway such as bridge beams, platform components, cable troughs and fence posts.