| Archived Save the Train forum articles - 2005 to 2010. See below
Perhaps the problem is just that people are addicted to their cars... - 6379/10843 Written by Nick on Sunday, 16th March 2008 Perhaps the problem is just that people are addicted to their cars...people just hop into their cars without a second thought. Perhaps the trains need better publicity.... Re: Perhaps the problem is just that people are addicted to their cars... - 6379/11099 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Thursday, 27th March 2008 Indeed, Nick, the trains DO need better publicity ... but it's not [color=Orange]just[/color] that. We also need trains at an appropriate time. In 2006 with 5 trains each way daily, at sensible times, some 120,000 journeys were made (FGW's figures). In 2007, with two trains that started out at 06:18 and 18:45 only, we estimate journeys were under 10,000 The need is there ... and the publicity can be done (and will if we get a service back - this site and the activities elsewhere will NOT go away!) but we [color=Maroon]also need some more trains[/color] Re: Perhaps the problem is just that people are addicted to their cars... - 6379/11388 Written by Nick on Tuesday, 8th April 2008 Do you know roughly what proportion of people use the trains we have? How much income is currently recieved from the services? How does this compare with other stations? Is it economical for FGW to hire out another few carriages? :-\ Re: Perhaps the problem is just that people are addicted to their cars... - 6379/11389 Written by Nick on Tuesday, 8th April 2008 Perhaps we could encourage FGW by giving them a surge of new passengers...(and extra income). Re: Perhaps the problem is just that people are addicted to their cars... - 6379/11391 Written by Lee on Tuesday, 8th April 2008 In reply to this and other posts from your good self, I recommend reading this section of the Save The Train Pledge Campaign pages (link below.) http://www.savethetrain.org.uk/pabout.html [quote="Save The Train Pledge Campaign pages"]There are currently just TWO southbound trains each way a day on the middle section of the line - leaving Swindon at a quarter past six in the morning and a quarter to 7 at night. Northbound, there are no through trains at all - you have to change at Westbury if you're travelling from Salisbury to Melksham, Chippenham or Swindon, with Salisbury departure times of 12 minutes after 6 in the morning, and twenty to 7 in the evening. If you consider these timings to be rather curious, we understand that they are run this early so that the train operating company (First Great Western) can meet its contractual obligations to the Department for Transport in what is known as "marginal time", releasing the trains used for peak hour services on the lines between Swindon and Gloucester, and Salisbury and Southampton. Prior to the current timetable, Wessex Trains operated a service of 5 trains per day each way - 2 around the morning peak, one in the middle of the day, and an afternoon peak and an evening service. According to the Office of the Rail Regulator, ticket sales at Melksham which is served ONLY by the TransWilts line grew from around 3000 in 2001/2 to 27500 5 years later - just before the plug was pulled on the useful services in December 2006. That is a 35% compound growth, as compared to a 0.8% growth figure assumed on 2002/3 figures by the Department for Transport as their basis for the new service level. The current TransWilts train services run at a time of day when only a limited number of people want to travel, and they are so widely spaced that they make for an impractically long day for any commuter who wishes to use them. As a result, the five trains which had reasonable loadings prior to the service reduction in 2006 have been replace by 2 trains which are nearly empty - the line has lost 90%+ of its traffic. The gap in service at Melksham from 07:17 to 19:11 makes the service virtually useless for round trips, and the trains have a fearsomely poor reliability record.[/quote] It is unlikely that we could generate a surge of new passengers with what we have now, which is one of the many reasons we are campaigning for far better. Re: Perhaps the problem is just that people are addicted to their cars... - 6379/11418 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Wednesday, 9th April 2008 [quote author=Nick link=topic=6379.msg11389#msg11389 date=1207667958] Perhaps we could encourage FGW by giving them a surge of new passengers...(and extra income). [/quote] I wish, but the current service is "scarcely an attractive proposition" - that's a quote from an FGW Manager. We're showing a huge interest via our pledges of support [url]http://www.savethetrain.org.uk/sf.html[/url] with about 150 names in just 7 days (dear reader, please add your name!) and everyone is fully committed to regain AND RETAIN the service which means helping market it / push it ... we've been around here for nearly three years and it's highly unlikely we'll simply rest on our laurels when the service comes back ... after a service that was showing such staggering growth from 2001 to 2006 was killed because .... well, frankly because someone misjudged its potential, and we failed to realise that just becaise something was growing well didn't mean it was safe. 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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