| Archived Save the Train forum articles - 2005 to 2010. See below
"DfT Is Too Timid" - 959/2685 Written by Lee on Tuesday, 2nd January 2007 A very interesting article (link below.) http://www.christianwolmar.co.uk/articles/tt/dec15,06.shtml CW argues that "The Department for Transport is particularly bad at challenging established thinking. It is always too ready to play safe without considering radical new options. Worse, once something becomes orthodoxy, such as rail franchising or PFIs for light rail schemes, then that becomes the only game in town." Further quotes : "A couple of recent examples spring to mind. The Department has taken a dislike to light rail schemes and, instead, is keen on guided busways which it sees as a cheaper and more flexible alternative. Indeed, it has approved a scheme for a 10-mile route converting an old rail line between St Ives and Cambridge, and is funding directly most of the staggering 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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