| Archived Save the Train forum articles - 2005 to 2010. See below
Oral Questions To The Secretary of State for Transport - 557/1640 Written by Lee on Monday, 16th October 2006 These are due to take place tommorrow (link below.) http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmordbk2/61017o01.htm There are several of interest , including this one : Natascha Engel (North East Derbyshire): What account is taken of the population of the town served when determining the number of rail services which stop at any particular station. Re: Oral Questions To The Secretary of State for Transport - 557/1648 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Tuesday, 17th October 2006 Lee, the link you gave has gone ... and the question should have been answered by now. Can we find out what the Minister said - I would be most interested as to what (if any) account is taken of local population when deciding service to a station. I'm thinking of a comparision recently between Aberystwyth (21,000) looking for an increase from a train every 2 hours to a train every hour, and Melksham (24,000) dropping back from 10 trains to 2 round trips a day. Re: Oral Questions To The Secretary of State for Transport - 557/1649 Written by Lee on Tuesday, 17th October 2006 Should be online tommorrow. Re: Oral Questions To The Secretary of State for Transport - 557/1656 Written by Lee on Wednesday, 18th October 2006 Natascha Engel (North-East Derbyshire) (Lab): What account is taken of the population of the town served when determining the number of rail services which stop at any particular station. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Mr. Tom Harris): Population changes are among a range of factors that the Department routinely takes into account when assessing the demand for train services. Other factors include line and station capacity, the number of train services already using the line and the availability of alternative transport modes. Applied to Melksham , this could well be interpreted as : 1) No room on the line. 2) Why not use the 234 bus? Re: Oral Questions To The Secretary of State for Transport - 557/1762 Written by Lee on Saturday, 28th October 2006 From the same set of oral questions : Natascha Engel: I welcome the Minister to the Dispatch Box, and I hope that he has a long and illustrious career. As he knows, Dronfield, the largest town in my constituency, has a population of some 25,000. Ten trains stop at Dronfield railway station every day. Let us compare that with Alfreton, a nearby town, which has a population a third the size of that of Dronfield but three times as many trains. Ninety-three trains a day stop in Long Eaton, which is far smaller than Dronfield. What is my hon. Friend doing to influence the current round of bids for the east midlands rail franchise to ensure that demographic changes in places such as Derbyshire are taken into account? Mr. Harris: I am grateful to my hon. Friend for her kind comments, and I pay tribute to her for her energetic campaign of work on behalf of her constituents on the subject of her question Re: Oral Questions To The Secretary of State for Transport - 557/2049 Written by Lee on Friday, 24th November 2006 A big increase in trains between Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire is on the way after the Government yesterday pledged Re: Oral Questions To The Secretary of State for Transport - 557/2061 Written by Lee on Saturday, 25th November 2006 Here is a link to the "Route 11" section of the Network Rail Business Plan 2006. Check out the map on Page 2. http://www.networkrail.co.uk/documents/3109_Route%2011%20South%20Transpennine.pdf The original idea was for the Nottingham - Leeds service to be created by EXTENDING the "fast" Sheffield - Leeds service , which replaced the local services that Stop The Train are fighting to save / reinstate. However , it now appears that the new Nottingham - Leeds service will run ALONGSIDE the "fast" Sheffield - Leeds service. [quote author=Lee link=topic=557.msg1762#msg1762 date=1162041650]The DfT has initiated exploratory discussions with Northern Rail about providing such a service, by extending to Nottingham the existing semi-fast service between Leeds and Sheffield (via Barnsley). This poses significant operational complexities, particularly at Nottingham station and between Leeds and Sheffield, and an even interval frequency with other services on all sections of the route may not prove possible.[/quote] http://www.stopthetrain.org.uk/documents/SY3booklet.pdf The new Nottingham - Leeds service will require train paths on a congested line. As you can see from the timetable link above , these are likely to come from either removing the other Sheffield - Leeds local service or.... Removing the Penistone line service (link below.) http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,5068050-103630,00.html It should also be noted that a park & ride stop in the "fast" Sheffield - Leeds service is planned at Wombwell. The service does not currently stop there (link below.) http://www.savethetrain.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=469.msg1375#msg1375 Wombwell station is very close to the A6195 dual carriageway , which in turn links on to the M1 between Sheffield and Leeds. Have another look at the map on Page 2 of the opening link for an idea of its potential catchment area. The other interesting thing is this quote from the "Route 11" section of the Network Rail Business Plan 2006 (Page 10 of the opening link.) "The rail freight industry has recently provided to Network Rail a set of 10 year traffic forecasts, and we are presently assessing their implications. The key route section within this route that has been identified as a fragile route and has clearly defined additional tonnage/train numbers projected by the industry is Gainsborough 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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