Save the Melksham Train
Archived Save the Train forum articles - 2005 to 2010. See below
Early Day Motion On Portsmouth - Waterloo Rolling Stock - 4798/8757
Written by Lee on Friday, 23rd November 2007

EDM 62

SOUTH WEST TRAINS
06.11.2007

Hancock, Mike
9 signatures

Caton, Martin

Corbyn, Jeremy

Cryer, Ann

Dean, Janet

Flynn, Paul

Gidley, Sandra

Stringer, Graham

Vis, Rudi

That this House believes that the decision by South West Trains to replace the Wessex Electric trains with 450s on the Portsmouth mainline route to Waterloo was a cynical move to increase profits at the expense of customer comfort; notes that Stagecoach has made little effort to remedy the situation and to accept that 450s are unacceptable on long journeys; believes that their attitude to passenger comfort, their aggressive policy on penalty fares and the increases in off-peak fares further show that there must be a long-term solution to the problems on Britain's railways that puts passengers first and not the profits of franchisees; and urges the Government to take action to bring the whole of the rail network back into public ownership.

 
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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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