Swindon is a large town located in Wiltshire in the South West of England. The town is approximately midway between Bristol (64 km / 40 miles west) and Reading (64 km / 40 miles east) and about 130 km (81 miles) west of London. It is located on the main rail line between London and Bristol, and has one main train station which was refurbished in 2005. It was designated an 'Expanded' Town under the Town Development Act 1952, which led to an increase in the population of the town. It is in the borough of Swindon, which has been a unitary authority independent of Wiltshire since 1998. In the 2001 census the population of the Swindon urban area was 155,432, whilst around 184,000 lived in the Borough, which includes the satellite towns of Highworth and Wroughton.