| Archived Save the Train forum articles - 2005 to 2010. See below
06.00 Ports Hbr - Cardiff - 1098/3122 Written by stuj on Tuesday, 16th January 2007 Dear All, I have been reading this forum now for many weeks with much dispare, I have been a regular traveller on the Southampton to Bath section of the route for many years on and off, but enough to realise it's gone to the dogs since FGW took over. Anyway, with this, and from what I've been reading off late, does anyone know if the 06.00 Portsmouth Harbour - Cardiff Central is prone to any problems cancellation or overcrowding wise? I'm getting it on Thursday from Southampton to Bath and this is one day I could do without it being a problem! I am moving to Bath soon so I hope that the trains generally pick up their act soon, although I don't hold out much hope. And to think I've thought South West Trains have been bad over the years, at least their trains are clean (do the carriage washers not work at the moment?) and presentable and run pretty smoothly without much cancellation... Cheers. S Re: 06.00 Ports Hbr - Cardiff - 1098/3131 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Wednesday, 17th January 2007 Hi, Stuj ... and welcome. I'll let others answer on that particular train; I can tell you it'll be a "short" working - starting from Fareham rather than Portsmouth, but that shouldn't effect you from Southampton ... I think the FGW franchise award was something of a low point in passenger service - with the pendulum swung heavily towards maximising money for the DfT. It's said that First bid rather more than was expected and that the extra 300 million pound or so is very useful in paying for over-budget road projects! link to index of articles |
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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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