Save the Melksham Train
Archived Save the Train forum articles - 2005 to 2010. See below
Douglas Alexander Transport 2000 Speech - 646/1950
Written by Lee on Wednesday, 15th November 2006

Here is a link to a 14 November 2006 Douglas Alexander speech.
http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_railways/documents/page/dft_railways_613636.hcsp

Key passage :

"But frankly, the converse is also true. Here is an uncomfortable statistic. If 10 or fewer people travel in a Sprinter, it would be less environmentally damaging to give them each a Land Rover Freelander and tell them to drive."

"Be clear - that is not code for rail closures. Far from it. We want to see the railways grow. And in order to do so, we need to encourage better use on all parts of our railway."



 
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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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