Save the Melksham Train
Archived Save the Train forum articles - 2005 to 2010. See below
To those who use the train between Swindon and Westbury - 1021/2846
Written by WyvusArconius on Tuesday, 9th January 2007

Hello. I am new to this forum, so I am still trying to build a fuller picture of how things are at the moment. If anyone feels they have a story to tell, please do so. I am a Uni student looking to do a dissertation on "rural railways" so any understanding of the key issues involved here would be useful.

ALSO - To those floating around in the "Guest" ether.. HELLO!! Come, join in, tell us your stories and join in the campaign to restore reliable rail services to wiltshire!

Daniel

Re: To those who use the train between Swindon and Westbury - 1021/2850
Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Tuesday, 9th January 2007

Hi, Welcome Daniel ....

We're feeling a bit shellshocked at the moment ... we've dropped from 68 trains a week with a 3% to 4% cancellation rate to 26 scheduled, with up to 50% of them cancelled.  So that's just ONE weekday train from Swindon to Westbury each day this week ... assuming it doesn't get cancelled any day!

Re: To those who use the train between Swindon and Westbury - 1021/2851
Written by WyvusArconius on Tuesday, 9th January 2007

Have the cancellations been a continual theme since the new TT or are they recent? Is this likely to still be the case over the next few weeks when I do my Patron Count?

 
link to index of articles


Save the Train was the campaign to bring an approriate train service back to and through Melksham.

Most big contributors are still around writing at the Coffee shop forum where new members are very welcome.

The train has been saved - sort of - we have stepped back up from an unusable service to a poorish one but it's doing very well. We did that through setting up the TransWilts Community Rail Partnership. That fulfilled its early objectives; it has been taken over by local and regional government types who are now doing medium and long term work. The team from this forun can also be found at the Melksham Rail User Group (which was the Melksham Rail Development Group at the time these articles were written and we had no users.

We mustn't loose sight, though, that the train service remains poor and needs our community support in marketing and campaigning to keep it going in a positive direction ... and all the more so when we're expecting to find a different normallity once we get out of the Coronavirus Pandemic and head for zero carbon via the climate crisis. Yes, it's saved ... it's now a key community facility ... the need for enhancement and the strong and near-universal local support remain, and the rail industry and goverment remain slow to move and provide the enhancements even to level us up with other towns. Please support the Melksham Rail User Group - now very much in partnership rather than protest with the rail industry and local government, including GWR, TransWilts and unitary and town councils. And please use the trains and buses, and cycle and walk when you can.

-- Graham Ellis, (webmaster), February 2021


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