| Archived Save the Train forum articles - 2005 to 2010. See below
Has our line been abandoned for the holiday season? - 5129/9243 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Monday, 31st December 2007 As far as I can tell, we haven't had a SINGLE train run the whole way from Westbury to Swindon (or vice versa) since before Christmas - buses running on weekdays and Saturday (Why? There have NOT been engineering works on the route) and on Sundaythe train one ran 1.5 return trips between Westbury and Chippenham. As someone posted elsewhere "surely it must get better". Well it can't get much worse, can it? Re: Has our line been abandoned for the holiday season? - 5129/9247 Written by Sion Bretton on Tuesday, 1st January 2008 There has been engineering works on the line Swindon to Gloucester I understand. Re: Has our line been abandoned for the holiday season? - 5129/9249 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Tuesday, 1st January 2008 [quote author=Sion Bretton link=topic=5129.msg9247#msg9247 date=1199195142] There has been engineering works on the line Swindon to Gloucester I understand. [/quote] Indeed there has, Sion. And I know that line is linked to the TransWilts for the operational convenience of First Great Western. But think about it ... if there are engineering works between Plymouth and Penzance, do First cancel the trains over the whole of the Paddington to Penzance route and make everyone use a bus from London? No, they don't - they are perfectly capable of turning trains around in a different pattern at Plymouth! 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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