| Archived Save the Train forum articles - 2005 to 2010. See below
MAJOR NEWS - new draft timetables - 200/487 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Monday, 3rd April 2006 First Great Western announces changes to draft December timetable 3 April 2006 - http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/NewsItem.aspx?id=302 Train operator First Great Western will make significant changes to its draft timetable for December 2006 following extensive consultation with stakeholders and customers. The company received more than 9,000 responses during a month-long consultation process which closed on 8 March. Senior management from First Great Western also attended numerous meetings with customers and stakeholders to discuss the draft timetable in detail. Since then, First Great Western timetable experts have analysed the feedback and identified with the Department for Transport where changes can be made. The framework for the new timetable has now been agreed, including a range of improvements made as a result of the consultation (see below). Alison Forster, Managing Director of First Great Western, says: Re: MAJOR NEWS - new draft timetables - 200/488 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Monday, 3rd April 2006 I spoke with Tim Bocock, a customer support manager at First group, on the phone this morning; they have announced improvements in many services but there was no mention of Melksham and I wanted to get the full story before I wrote. Tim tells me: a) The service will be as per the DRAFT TIMETABLE although services may vary from it by a FEW MINUTES. b) The service is "not a commercial one that we can add to" Re: MAJOR NEWS - new draft timetables - 200/489 Written by Nick Field on Monday, 3rd April 2006 Very disappointing but I note Alison Foster says that 'we will continue to make additional changes over the next few weeks' so perhaps there is still a very small chink of light or am I grasping at straws? My initial thought is that if they are improving services for Dean and Dunbridge on the Wesbury to Southampton section then surely it would make sense to include the Westbury to Swindon section as well? It almost seems that everywhere else has at least got some improvements apart from us folks on the Swindon to Westbury line, why? Re: MAJOR NEWS - new draft timetables - 200/490 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Monday, 3rd April 2006 [quote author=Nick Field link=topic=200.msg489#msg489 date=1144071779] Very disappointing but I note Alison Foster says that 'we will continue to make additional changes over the next few weeks' so perhaps there is still a very small chink of light or am I grasping at straws? It almost seems that everywhere else has at least got some improvements apart from us folks on the Swindon to Westbury line, why? [/quote] You might be grasping at straws, I'm afraid. The statement I got when I phoned the press office was, basically, "we can do nothing to improve that service. The only change you may see is a small adjustment of the times". Re: MAJOR NEWS - new draft timetables - 200/491 Written by Graz on Monday, 3rd April 2006 That is a real shame. In addition, there's no mention to the concerns I put forward either. It's this quote that I don't understand: [Quote] The service is "not a commercial one that we can add to"[/Quote] How do First know this after less than one day of running it? Re: MAJOR NEWS - new draft timetables - 200/492 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Monday, 3rd April 2006 [quote author=Graz link=topic=200.msg491#msg491 date=1144086314] That is a real shame. In addition, there's no mention to the concerns I put forward either. It's this quote that I don't understand: [Quote] The service is "not a commercial one that we can add to"[/Quote] How do First know this after less than one day of running it? [/quote] They've probably taken the DfT (ex SRA) usage figured for a year ago that show (for example) 11 passengers on the 17:02 from Melksham, and the ticket sales from a couple of years ago that showed around 20,000 per annum in the previous year, and assumed that those figures were (a) realistic, (b) flat and (c) not improvable. (a) The 17:02 regularly carries between 25 and 30 (b) Ticket sales grew 35% in ONE year from 20000 to 27000 (c) Melksham and the service is vastly improvable - compare annual rail journeys per head of population with other local towns and you find that it's around one twentieth the journeys from Melksham (5 trains a day) compared to Bradford on Avon (hourly train). Re: MAJOR NEWS - new draft timetables - 200/496 Written by Nick Field on Thursday, 6th April 2006 [quote][/quote] Why? Choose from: 1. They must save face and can't give way on everything. 2. There's a hidden agenda to run the service down to extinction 3. The line is too valuable as a diversionary route to have it clogged with scheduled trains 4. The decision maker's ex lives in Melksham 5. First Bus and First Great Western have come to an arrangement 6. Even with traffic rising 35% per year compound, that's not enough for them! 7. They get just as much money if someone drives from Melksham to Chippenham and parks there to go on by train as they do if someone parks free at Melksham and travels up by train. This is written tongue in cheek - I'm not seriously suggesting all of these factors are the cause - but at times you do wonder! [quote][/quote] 2, 6 and 7 would be the one I would think would be most likely :-X >:( 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 | |||
|
|||
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