| |||
| What they SHOULD be providing This is the text of a report submitted to the First group showing how a moderate increase in trains would lead to a huge increase in train use and revenue for them, AND provide the service that the people of Wiltshire deserve! Train Service Swindon to Southampton via Melksham, Westbury and Salisbury. Management SummaryThis document describes the current train service on this line and the threats of reduction under the new Greater Western Franchise. It goes on to show how the traffic has grown substantially in the last five years and can continue to grow, and suggest a better (and more profitable) strategy to the First Group, based on regular interval service using a single train.Prepared by Graham Ellis of 404, The Spa, Melksham, SN12 6QL. Phone: 01225 708225, fax 01225 707126, email graham@wellho.net. Further details at http://www.savethetrain.org.uk  Melksham Station, Saturday 10th December 2005 Background and OverviewThis service is part of the Greater Western Franchise, to be taken over by the First Group from 1st April 2006. It is currently operated by Wessex Trains.Current service is 5 trains per day between Swindon and Westbury, with some service extended to / from Southampton. Weekend service - 4 trains on Saturday and 3 on Sunday. Weekend services are frequently replaced by buses, all services have the reputation of being very prone to cancellation and to missing connections. In spite of the infrequency of the service and the poor reputation it has, ticket sales at Melksham have grown by an average of 35% per annum in each of the last five years (statistics from the Office of the Rail Regulator, who could only offer these figures concerning train loading. Melksham was selected because for the statistics provided because it is served ONLY by trains on the service in question.) Recent personal observation of all trains at Melksham on Friday, 16th September 2005 and Friday, 16th December 2005 showed a further increase in passenger numbers of 30% in just the three months.  Sunday, 28th August 2005, Salisbury and Southampton train at Chippenham Melksham is a growing town - current population is around 24000, and a further 1000 homes are under construction or approved by planning and building shortly. Wiltshire County Council has identified the rail route as a major transport corridor for increased public transport, and the parallel A350 road is often congested. Many people commute from Melksham to Swindon, Chippenham, Bath and other towns, but there's also a very high proportion of long distance travellers leaving and joining the train there. Almost uniformly, the people of Melksham tell me that they would make more use of the train if (1) it was reliable and (2) it was more frequent. Some tell me that they would use it if the station was better and they felt safer there. Plans to improve the station and access are included in both Wiltshire County Council's plans and the plans of Bloor Homes, the company developing the former industrial site beside the station for residential housing. The service is NOT particularly price-sensitive, and a price rise on fares of 25% in real terms to Swindon, Salisbury, Bath and Bristol (currently at around 16p / mile) would lose very little business indeed and would even be welcomed if the service was demonstrably improved in terms of frequency and reliability. Price IS sensitive on open return fares to London. At more than 50p per mile now, any further increase will lead to long-distance travellers actively seeking alternatives. Train usage and ticket sales remain low when compared to neighbouring towns such as Bradford on Avon. Bradford has half the population of Melksham, yet 10 times the tickets are sold there. Why? Bradford has a much more frequent and reliable service. There IS scope for growth of service at Melksham. A County Council survey at Chippenham showed that around 70 vehicles per day are driven from Melksham and parked at Chippenham station by rail travellers. Melksham has a single daily express coach service to London that takes more than twice as long as the train (3.5 hours v 1.5 hours). Significantly, none of our business visitors (students to Well House Consultants training courses) have ever used the coach, but around 100 have used the train. Bus services to Chippenham and Trowbridge take twice as long as the train, and do not connect at the stations there. There is no direct bus service at all to Swindon, Westbury or Salisbury. When rail-substitute buses are running due to cancellations or engineering works, they take nearly an hour to get to Swindon, versus 25 minutes by train. The new franchise operators have been asked to provide a minimum service of just two trains per day, broadly retaining just the most- and least-used services. No weekend trains are specified in the minimum service. I feel the proposed minimum service levels specified to be inadequate, and that they would lead to a rapid loss of business and income from the line for the First Group. Although the most popular train is retained, many passengers make their return journey using other (threatened) services, and it is not reasonable to expect them to use a different mode of transport for outward and return journeys. In contrast, operating the line with a single "class 153" train (one coach) operating the line, offering a service in each direction every two hours, I believe that the traffic will continue to grow. In fact, the rate of growth will accelerate dramatically. This will result in a net profit for the First Group based on takings on the line, and will provide extra income to their connecting services, bearing in mind the long-distance nature of much of the traffic. I understand that the First Group have yet to make a final decision on the service that they'll offer from December 2006, and I would like to suggest to them that they offer a regular ("clock face") service on the line, leaving Westbury at 05:45, 07:45, 09:45 and 11:45 in the morning, and 14:45, 16:45, 18:45 and 20:45 in the evening. Returning from Swindon at 06:35, 08:35, 10:35 and 12:35 in the morning, then at 15:35, 17:35, 19:35 and 21:35 in the evening. On Saturdays, first train at 07:45 from Westbury and on Sunday first train at 09:45. These times are carefully selected to provide for current regular traffic flows and commuter services to Trowbridge too. I have not attempted to timetable my suggestion in with main line services as I understand that these are to be revised; I know that small adjustments will be necessary. As many of the travellers don't complete their journey on the TransWilts service, connections are important: 1. At Swindon for LONDON 2. At Chippenham and at Trowbridge for BATH and BRISTOL 3. At Westbury for SALSISBURY and SOUTHAMPTON 4. At Westbury for the new hourly service to LONDON 5. At Westbury for WEYMOUTH 6. At Westbury for the WEST OF ENGLAND Although I'm describing a Westbury to Swindon service in this document, I believe that it WOULD be advantageous to run the train as a through-service onward to Salisbury, Southampton or Weymouth to the South. I understand that the Salisbury and Southampton route needs frequency strengthening, and / or that with good cross-platform connections between a Weymouth - Swindon and Portsmouth - Cardiff train at Westbury many more journey opportunities would be created and traffic generated. Similarly, although I've described the service running to Swindon, I believe there might be a case for running it on to Oxford. Certainly, the previous Swindon / Oxford service was very popular and (I think) withdrawn because of line capacity problems in the Bristol / Bath area. To the North, the service could also turn back at Chippenham and thus prevent duplicating the Chippenham to Swindon service. However, I understand that there could be operating difficulties at Chippenham with this in the event of late running trains. Request. Would the First Group please run something along the lines of the service suggested above - perhaps even as an experimental service from December 2006 for 12 months. The "153" units are getting old and going to need replacement at some stage during the franchise (the "bathtub" life cycle) so now is an excellent time for this experiment before future stock is allocated, and while it can be run as a continuation / adaptation of the current service. Whom do I speak for?1. I run an education establishment in Melksham - my company provides niche high technology training courses. The majority of our customers travel long distance to Melksham, a sizeable minority by train, and we can collect them from
the station - usually off the 09:12 arrival, returning them for the 17:02
departure. ((Picture - course delegates boarding a train at Melksham)) I have
some 85 recent names - see appendix A.
2. In August 2005, I started a web site concerning the proposed new service levels to Melksham, and asked people to sign up to offer their support. I have some 121 names of people who have signed the petition to offer their support - see Appendix B. 3. Some 35 people attended a public meeting that I arranged in September, and the meeting offered me unanimous support. Some of those people have signed the online petition, but many of them are not online so don't occur in the previous lists. 4. My dedicated web site has been visited by 1,998 distinct different host computers since I set it up at http://www.savethetrain.org.uk in August 2005. Of those 1,998, I have been able to positively identify 807 as UK-based computers that are being used to browse the web site (the rest of the traffic is overseas, or cannot be identified to a location, or is from automated "crawlers"). The IP addresses of those 807 British visitors are described in Appendix C. 5. Nearly 90% of respondents to the Strategic Rail Authority's consultation on the franchise last Spring (which took place in parallel with the invitation to tender) who mentioned the Swindon to Southampton service were in favour of it being retained and / or improved. Only a single respondent wrote in favour of the cuts requested by the SRA. 6. A number of others have written to me, or telephoned or stopped me in the street and offered their support too. I'm very clear that I represent the view of the majority of the people of Melksham, and of the users of the train service through Melksham. I support most of the activities and aims of the Melksham Rail Development Group, and of the West Wilts Rail Users Group, but I do not represent either organisation. Current traffic levels / profit and loss account.Ticket sales (from the Office of the Rail regulator):Journeys to and from Melksham 2000/2001 3,267 2001/02 13,701 2002/03 19,135 2003/04 20,841 2004/05 27,435 During 2004/05, an accident at Ufton Nervet caused all local trains to be cancelled for a period of around two weeks while the line was given over to diverted main line express trains. This will have caused an immediate 4% loss of sales and also a knock-on effect, i.e. ticket sales would otherwise have been over 28,500. Personal observation (all trains on 16th September and 16th December) show that between three and four people remain on the train at Melksham for every one who leaves of joins. So ticket sales of 27,500 imply a total number of journeys of between 110,000 and 137,500 per annum. At a fare of 7 pounds per return journey, 120,000 passengers would represent an income to the railway of 420,000 pounds per annum. I am told that the cost of hiring a 153 unit for a year is around 100,000 pounds, and that the cost of crewing it is around 250,000 pounds. Line access charges, servicing, etc, add another 50,000 to 100,000 pounds giving a total bill of between 400,000 pounds and 450,000 pounds. However, these figures are for a unit assigned full time to the line. At present, just five services a day are offered when an exclusive train could provide eight, so our share of the costs is between 250,000 and 280,000 pounds. In other words, the line makes a profit. These calculations are as accurate as I can be, based on information supplied to me. Net profit - 145,000 pounds Projected profit and loss - service reduces to two trains per dayTicket sales - back to the levels of 2000/01, when a similar service level was on offer. So ticket income at 7 pounds per return journey of about 40,000 pounds.Operating costs - our share would be one quarter of the cost of the train - 106,250 pounds. Net LOSS - 66,250 Projected profit and loss - service increases to 8 trains per day.Let's say that ticket sales increased to 100,000 per annum - that's a very conservative estimate as it's just half the sales for Bradford on Avon, and Melksham has twice the population. Let's also assume that the through passengers don't increase at the same rate - so that there are now just two people staying on the train for every one leaving or joining. Income at 7 pounds per return journey = 1,050,000 pounds.Operating costs - 450,000 pounds Net profit - 600,000 pounds. I appreciate that I have not allowed for capital investment here and that I'm looking at operating costs only. But a profit of half a million pounds must be preferable to a loss? Note also that the fares could be increased in real terms by around 25% without a significant loss of revenue, and that would raise the net profit on operation to over 850,000 pounds per annum. Some immediate traffic increase opportunities / revenuea) Providing a more reliable service (i.e. having sufficient crews available to run the trains) would bring back significant traffic.b) Moving the 07:30 from Westbury about 15 minutes later would bring it in to Swindon at a more acceptable time and would retrieve traffic that was lost when it moved to this early time. It would also mean that the train didn't have to sit at Thingley waiting for access to the main line every day. c) Moving the 17:50 evening train from Swindon forward to 17:35 would make it a more acceptable evening commute time and would again help recover traffic. d) Better integration with main line trains and publicity. There are many instances (last Saturday, for example) where the rail replacement bus service to Westbury wasn't advertised at Chippenham - the signage was exclusively for the Swindon buses and the Bristol trains. e) Running the first train from Swindon a few minutes earlier so that it connects with the London train at Westbury rather than missing by two minutes. f) Better publicity at Stations along the route - this should now be much easier to arrange and co-ordinate as the trains and stations at Chippenham and Swindon will be operated by the same company. g) Better integration / connection with buses. I understand that there are already station improvements planned for Westbury, and connection improvements planned for Chippenham and Trowbridge. The Station approach road at Melksham was recently improved, and the Bloor Homes development will make a loop road with bus parking available at the station. The trains there can then connect with the First Group's services X71, X72 and 234 giving service to other parts of Melksham, Devizes, Lavington, Atworth, Lacock, Semington and other places that are not rail connected. h) An increase in fares in real terms of around 25% would increase revenues without having a major effect on traffic levels. i) Innovative through marketing to other parts of the Greater Western area - in particular, trips to London and Oxford and airport links to Gatwick and Heathrow - would bring income for the line in question AND for other parts of the First franchise area.  The result of a bit of marketing - a crowded Melksham platform Personally, I would be delighted to help with local publicity and upgrade my web site to encourage further traffic. Although there has been a degree of apathy in Melksham in particular in the past, the current threats have very much re-awakened an interest. The lack of publicity for the line by the previous operator meant that many people didn't even know that Melksham HAS a train service, but that's already been changed somewhat and a relatively small ongoing publicity campaign / investment will bring substantially more visibility.  Faded sign at Melksham - the dereliction that has put people off Appendix A:Recent Well House Consultants customers who have asked us to collect them from Melksham Station prior to their course. Note - others have arrived by train and NOT requested a lift, or have arrived the night before the course and we have then returned them to the station after the course. Also note - there was no suitable train for some of these trainees, and some trains missed connections or were cancelled. The list include pickups from Westbury, Chippenham, Bradford on Avon and Bristol Parkway, and also delegates who ended up taking taxis from Chippenham and Swindon.This list of 84 names has been removed for privacy reasons on this public facing web page. It has been submitted to parties such as the First group, and I'm happy to share if and as appropriate with other parties Appendix B:People who have signed the online petition offering support to:"I believe that the train service to Melksham should be retained in full, and should NOT be reduced from the current service to just two round trips per day, weekdays only" People were asked, optionally, to state where they lived. Of the 121 signatures, 59 live in Melksham, 17 elsewhere in Wiltshire, and 33 elsewhere in the UK. Note that the latter group includes a number of residents of Frome, Somerset, who use the service regularly to travel to Swindon, and a number of other long distance user who live in places as diverse as Cornwall, Essex, York and Bolton and travel by train to Melksham from time to time. The remaining 12 names did not state where they lived, or are not from the UK. Note that some Well House Consultants customers travel from overseas and use the train for the last "leg" of their journey. This list of 121 names has been removed for privacy reasons on this public facing web page. It has been submitted to parties such as the First group, and I'm happy to share if and as appropriate with other parties Some user comments as they signed the petition: "This service running through from Swindon through Melksham south to Westbury is extremely helpful for my travels. Keep the service! More services are bound to increase the amount of regular users." "This service is extremely useful for traveling south, rather than traveling further for other longer routes. I am sure the people of Melksham also find this service of great use. More trains would increase interest of wiltshire (inc. Swindon) peoples use of this line. SAVE THE SERVICE PLEASE!" "Melksham needs a hourly train Service to and From Chippenham . If this was advertised widely advertised say in the Melksham news and The Bowerhill Newsletter it would be used. Melksham expands daily with new people moving into the area from far and Wide." "I moved to Frome in July 2005 because I thought I would be able to get a train to work and back in Swindon everyday. I use the morning and evening service but have also made use of the early afternoon train as well. The service in the evening is frequently cancelled which leads me to feel that not only do they want to reduce the service but that they also want to cut it altogether. This is ridiculous when we're supposedly being encouraged by the government to use alternative methods of transport rather than the car. Everybody who uses this service relies on it, some of us not having cars and we're angry at how poor the service is getting. We need this service to improve not get worse." "My impression is that numbers of passengers are increasing. Daft to kill the service when it is starting to bear fruit." "I think it is imperative that the train service for Melksham is kept at his full service level. The buses are not good enough so its important that the trains remain as they are." "I grew up in Melksham and would dearly have liked a train service to travel for leisure activities. The bus services were not good and there was little for young people to do. Now the bus services are further diminished and the train service is a vital link for all in the community, especially those without access to a car. I have used the service to visit Melksham and hope to do so in the future." "Several times a year I visit friends in Melksham and use the station when I visit my brother near Weymouth. The station is very convenient although the existing train service is not. Should the service be reduced I would probably take a taxi to Trowbridge to pick up the Weymouth line (at five times the cost). The bus is not really a viable alternative when carrying luggage." "I live in Holt, and I would dearly love to use the Melksham service more. I currently have a teeth-grindingly annoying commute to Chippenham, because a) the times from Melksham are terrible - 7.45 is too early for Swindon, 17.43 return too late - and b) it is hopelessly unreliable, due to being seen as an easy train to cancel when train crew is short. The only reason this service does not have more support is that the timings are poor (8 minute wait at Thingley every day?), reliability is a joke, and when things go wrong there isn't even a monitor at Melksham to let you know you have to walk." "Although I live in Cornwall my daughter lives in Trowbridge and the train service to Swindon by me on most visits. Please fight to protect it." "I attended a training course in Melksham while employed by the BBC. Without the train from Swindon it would have been unnecessarily costly to travel to the training centre. It made a convenient and quick journey for both inbound and outbound journey. I don't think limiting the service to peak hours is in favour of local businesses that may rely on the train to attract their customers and partners over. Keep it running as it is." "If anything the service should be improved and so should the station." "The train service to Melksham is already restricted enough. A further reduction in the service is just inappropriate and very selfish. Moreover, it would not encourage people to leave cars at home and be more friendly to the environment. It is definitely the wrong path to take." "there should be MORE trains, not less." "I have found the Melksham train service very useful over the last few years. Between 1998 - 2000 I used it to travel to and from Cardiff (via Swindon). I also used it regularly during 2002 and 2003 to travel to and from my job in Bristol (via Chippenham). In 2003/2004 my stepson also used it to travel to Swindon College. It would be a great shame if the service was reduced. Furthermore, I believe that the service would be used to a greater extent if there was a more regular service running. At a time when there is widespread concern over road congestion we should be looking at maximising the public transport resources available to us." "Main problem is that services are too infrequent and do not link in to other services, eg from Trowbridge to Bath Spa, or at Chippenham, to the Paddington service. Also station needs massive improvement..." "Trains very much appreciated for Saturday outings to the shops in Swindon,where car parking and traffic is a nightmare!" "I regularly use the train and would like the current train schedule to continue not decreased." "I believe the service provided is first class and the number of new houses being built is likely to increase the need for trains. The main downside at the station is the lack of parking spaces. I am sure if this could be improved then more would use the service. Most people require a lift to get to the station." "I use this train to go you Winchester for work so very important that this is kept running" "Certainly the train service should not be reduced at all. Melksham needs this service improved not reduced. There should be a proper time-table at the station with proper connection time table with other stations.we are shortly going to have another 600-800 houses in Melksham. The railway station is not advertised enough in the town.Do people know they could have a nice little day out by going to Trowbridge then getting the sprinter Train from there into Bath through the Limpley Stoke Valley. Lovely little trip for the family with children or even retired persons who could get off at any of the villages en-route spend several hours there and catch the sprinter Back.How about "Special sprinter" Days out?Special price for Families. Great for those who do not have a car or cannot Drive." "Melksham NEEDS it's train service, and if future town improvements such as those suggested for the river happen, the area and public transport services into it will only become more popular. Personally, I've had an illness for the past 12 months that can leave me very weak (M.E), but work in Swindon on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Over the past 12 months I have used, and do use the trains regularly when I've been too weak to make my own way to Swindon, which has been quite often. I am originally from the North of England and would struggle to get there if it were not for the local train service - I (as any sane person would) refuse to get a National Express coach all the way to London in order to get to Manchester!!! The train service has been invaluable to me and will continue to be so, as long as it is retained at it's current level." "As a user of the service since it was originally reinstated, it is noticeable that the current provision has encouraged more patrons. The ability to reach Swindon, Salisbury and Southampton for shopping and work and have a choice of when to return has aided the improvement in customer numbers. Going back to a single service to Swindon in the morning rush and a single service returning in the evening rush is ludicrous. It will only return and add people into using their cars. The reduction is a very short-sighted Government policy." "This is a service which has great potential for growth in useage as Melksham continues to attract inward investment. The line is also very useful for West Wiltshire residents and others to access Chippenham and Swindon directly without changing at Bath." "I think the train service in Melksham is already a joke! To reduce it even further will have to result in myself and my partner moving out of Wiltshire. I am an IT consultant and have to work where ever when ever, this includes carrying out shift work. The service at the moment is not acceptable to reduce it even further will be disgusting. I honestly thought when I moved to Melksham 3 years ago that the service may improve, now to state that it may deteriorate even further is a joke!!" "I have lived near (or in) Melksham for 28 years and was at the reopening of the station many years ago - I don't want to be at the closing. Whenever I travel to my parents I make sure I get the train from London that connects with the Melksham train (and vice versa) so do not want to see it go. A taxi fare from Chippenham costs almost as much as the train fare all the way from London! If, for some silly reason, trains are made to go through Melksham instead of stopping, can it not become a request stop (like Dilton Marsh). This will ensure that both the train company and passengers are happy - a minor miracle in itself!" "my son catches the train at Melksham regularly" "Why cut rail services, when usage levels nationally are growing all the time. When you consider the price of petrol these days, I could forsee more people switching to rail. The station at Melksham I agree isn't necessarily in the correct position especially for access, but I'm sure with support from the local & county council and the travelling public there is enough people to warrant the services continuing as it is." "Transport planning would indicate that far from reducing train services, local services such as this should be at the forefront. Unless frequent and reliable public transport is available - as it is elsewhere in Europe - road congestion will increase." "Use train regularly to commute from Melksham to Westbury." "The train services that are being proposed to cut are necessary to maintain the development of Melksham - the trains are not empty and the population of Melksham is continuing to rise with new housing development." "I live in Trowbridge and use the train to avoid driving wherever possible. The route from to Swindon via Melksham has huge potential to reduce traffic on the A350 and roads to Swindon and to provide an efficient service for commuters and shoppers alike, so to reduce the service to make it virtually unusable beggars belief. Your point about the line being used as a diversionary route is interesting. I find it amazing that the northern chord of the Bradford South junction has not been re-instated. This would provide a much shorter diversionary route to avoid Corsham/Box, but could also offer direct slow services to Bath and Bristol - reducing road traffic further. They may also be a case for doubling to support the diversions and avoid wholesale suspensions of the local service, but we can't expect miracles." "Please save the service! i generally use the last two night trains home if I'm out late, provides useful, more services are better, there is space for more, I would use it if there was more, as even 2 trains, they just don't suit me!" "I'm a regular user of the train services from Melksham, and was there when it reopened. I travel almost weekly to and from London (either Paddington via either Swindon or Westbury, or Waterloo via Salisbury, depending on how much of a hurry I'm in), and first class at that - the guard often jokes that my ticket alone more than doubles the weekly takings from Melksham! Long may it continue - although I do believe the community has missed a trick by not building themselves a decent waiting room and showing they actually CARE about the train service in Melksham. Maybe this shock will teach us all a lesson" "I have used Melksham station on numerous occasions and find it convenient when the train times allow. If the service is reduced then it will mean added hassle of bus journeys to Bath or Chippenham." "It is obvious that Melksham is growing and needs public transport facilities to match that growth. The SRA needed to be innovative rather than coming out with the same tired old solutions the discredited Dr Beeching did years ago. Why has the loop to Bradford-on-Avon been removed? Not only would that have provided relief for the Paddington-Bristol service as necessary but also opened the opportunity for a Swindon-Chippenham-Melksham-Bath-Bristol service, which is I guess where a lot of Melkshamers jobs are. Mad." "Swindon is the largest town in Wiltshire and without this service a journey from the south of the county is impossible without a change at Bath. ( A station that has no lift and few staff) The much proposed much reduced service from the west of England to London via Westbury also means that a service to London via Melksham is an alternative." "I cannot get out of my car if the transport links get worse, they need to get better so i help the world in reducing greenhouse gases, which is a huge priority to me." "I've used the train from Swindon to Melksham to attend training courses in the town. Being able to travel this way was quite an important factor in choosing a training course. Although I can drive I would much prefer not to. Reducing this service is foolishness - both environmentally, socially and economically. Please keep the present service." Appendix Cwww.savethetrain.org.uk web site visitors from UK based browsers from August 2005 to January 2006. We can positively identify 807 addreeeses to this country, and we can be sure are real users rather than automatic indexing programs (bots and spiders).(This information is available on request. We can identify IP addresses, time and date and pages visited, and which browser each visitor was using) Graham Ellis, January 2006 Link Recent comments / inputs from First |
|||
|
|||
Further Information:
Home
Current Summary
Daily update
User forum
Consultation
Service now
Service future
Future Analysis
Recent Statistics
Recent letters
Letter to DfT
Save the train
Presentation
Support us
Other Maps
Station facilities
Station approach
Pictures
Trains diverted
History
About Melksham
Site Map
About this site