| Archived Save the Train forum articles - 2005 to 2010. See below
Traffic Chaos in Melksham - 7932/12799 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Saturday, 11th October 2008 The buses from the Town Centre in Melksham that go to Bath are currently going non-stop from the Market Place to the outskirts at Shurnhold (out beyond the station), missing several town centre stops including those which are nearest to Sainsbury's, Somerfield, and Cooper Avon Tires.  The roads to Sainsburys and Cooper Tires are actually open - but an intermediate section of the main road (Bank Street) is shut:  There was a closure of the same road earlier this year, and the traders were [color=Red]furious[/color] about it as it hit their businesses quite badly. But unfortunately something was wrong with the closure order so that the extra work (widening the pavement outside the Liberal club) wasn't done at the same time. The traders are, once again, very unhappy - this was to be a closure of around 10 weeks, I understand, and the people with businesses effected were concerned about the loss of business in the run up to Christmas. But that's all right now :-\ as the closure has been reduced to 4 weeks, with another one in the new year.  The owner of this shop was telling one of the delegates who came on the course I was running this week that he'd only had four customers come in on the whole of the previous day. I don't know what his regular figures are (to make a comparison) nor how much the regular traffic would be down because of the financial issues as the moment - but I'm sure this street scene plays at least some part. link to index of articles |
|||
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 | |||
|
|||
Further Information:
Home
Current Summary
Daily update
User forum
Consultation
Service now
Service future
Future Analysis
Recent Statistics
Recent letters
Letter to DfT
Save the train
Presentation
Support us
Other Maps
Station facilities
Station approach
Pictures
Trains diverted
History
About Melksham
Site Map
About this site