Bishop's Cleeve was once served by a railway line, a relative latecomer in British railway history, opened on 1 June 1906 by the Great Western Railway and running from Stratford-upon-Avon to Cheltenham, part of a main line from Birmingham to the South West and South Wales. Bishop's Cleeve railway station along with almost all others on this section closed on 7 March 1960 and was subsequently demolished, but the nearby Cheltenham Racecourse railway station remained in operation for royal visits to the racecourse until 1965; through passenger services continued until 25 March 1968, and goods until 1976 when a derailment (railway accident) at Winchcombe damaged the line.