Save the Melksham Train
Archived Save the Train forum articles - 2005 to 2010. See below
Group Seeks Support For St Andrews Rail Link - 4951/9016
Written by Lee on Wednesday, 12th December 2007

A campaign group aiming to bring a rail link to St Andrews has sent out 20,000 questionnaires to gauge demand (link below.)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/7136954.stm

The Starlink group , which has been fighting for a railway station since 1989 , said it hoped the responses would strengthen the case.

The group has said it would take only five miles of track to link the city to the existing Dundee to Edinburgh line.

St Andrews is considered Scotland's only university city not to have a railway station.

It closed along with the Leven loop in 1969.

Re: Group Seeks Support For St Andrews Rail Link - 4951/9024
Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Wednesday, 12th December 2007

It does seem sensible for St. Andrews to have a rail connection - or at least for the prospect to be evaluated.

According to wikiperdia, St. Andrews has a population of around 20,000.    Which means it's a smaller town that Melksham which had most of its trains removed last year.  Is this difference in approach something to do with the regional government in the area?  Is the Scottish Assembly rather more pro-rail than our own GOSW?

Re: Group Seeks Support For St Andrews Rail Link - 4951/10465
Written by Lee on Friday, 29th February 2008

A survey has revealed that more than three quarters of people in St Andrews would use a reinstated train link (link below.)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/7270758.stm

Local campaign group Starlink sent questionnaires to residents and existing bus commuters to establish if there was any support for trains.

Of those who responded, 78% of those who do not use buses said they would ditch the car in favour of rail.

Respondents said the train would be quicker and more convenient the present journey involving changing at Leuchars.

The survey also found that 80% of existing bus commuters would increase their use of public transport if the train link was re-established.

 
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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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