| Archived Save the Train forum articles - 2005 to 2010. See below
More Train , Less Strain - 971/2713 Written by Lee on Wednesday, 3rd January 2007 A campaign to cut over-crowding has been launched by frustrated rail commuters in the west of England (link below.) http://www.rmtbristol.org.uk/2007/01/rail_commuters_want_more_train.html#more The More Train , Less Strain group wants First Great Western to provide more trains on its routes. Re: More Train , Less Strain - 971/2724 Written by Nick Field on Thursday, 4th January 2007 Looks like all the current problems are still making the news, and I hope they continue to do so until its sorted. Re: More Train , Less Strain - 971/2735 Written by bubblecat on Thursday, 4th January 2007 I think I saw that petition and I signed it. On the 8.05 train from Weymouth to Cardiff Central. Didn't see a name on it - and it was, surprise surprise, too crowded for me to find out. If I do manage to find out, I will let you know. Re: More Train , Less Strain - 971/2808 Written by Lee on Monday, 8th January 2007 If anyone from More Train , Less Strain happens to be reading this (or if any Save The Train supporters / site visitors bump into anyone from More Train , Less Strain) then I would very much like to hear from them , as I have received several e-mails regarding this. Re: More Train , Less Strain - 971/2823 Written by tonya on Monday, 8th January 2007 Hi lee, Yes this campaign was started by Simon Carpenter of Frome, and has taken off as I have used it's name to start a similar campaign based in Bath. I commute regularly from Bath to Bristol Basically the gropup is jsut three or four of us, but with judicious use of press releases, mostly by email, we have achieved publicity for the cause out of proportion to our size. We are seeing Andrew Griffiths on Wed at 11:30 at Temple Meads and will be feeding back to the bbc, GWR Bath Chronicle and Rail manager on Line as requested and any one else who asks.8I don't expect he will tell us much knew, but I will go with an open mind. This risks becoming a full time job, but as I already have one I hope that we will have a date fixed for a public meeting in Bath next week where we will focus on building the campaign and broadening it out, so more people can take action. We are likely to plan leafletting of passengers and a demonstration. I would like to make the jump from the locals to the nationals because that is when the politcians at Westminster begin to take more notice. Tony Ambrose Re: More Train , Less Strain - 971/2832 Written by Lee on Tuesday, 9th January 2007 Thanks Tony , if you could keep us informed of your progress / events / demos then that would be great. CANBER has endorsed your campaign and Save The Train has received offers of webspace for you (links / quotes below.) http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/actionnetwork/G1517 [quote author=Graham Ellis link=topic=941.msg2740#msg2740 date=1167980808] [quote author=bubblecat link=topic=941.msg2734#msg2734 date=1167939927] My communte has been, well as you all know, absolutely appalling. I'm interested in the whole "let the train take the strain" campaign that I've seen - is there a forum for this as yet? If not - I have spare web-space available. [/quote] Posts are very welcome in this "Greater Western" area, and I'm minded to provide specific extra boards in this area for groups who are looking at particular servcies based in Bristol and using the 143 / 150 / 153 / 158 fleets (i.e. the 1, 2, 3 coach trains that First run from Bristol - ex Wessex Trains), and who don't have other such sites available.[/quote] Re: More Train , Less Strain - 971/2841 Written by Sion Bretton on Tuesday, 9th January 2007 Hi Tony I also travel daily into Bristol by train if there is a meeting in Bath I would love to come along, let me know Sion Re: More Train , Less Strain - 971/2842 Written by tonya on Tuesday, 9th January 2007 A meeting has been organised for next Tues 16th Jan, 6:15-7:15 pm at United Reform Church Hall, Grove Street, Bath off Pultney Bridge. It is deliberately short because we all have enough to do! It will be closely focussed on organising a demonstration in Bath to win national publicity, and leafletting commuters, rather than discussing the woes of the train netwok, as we can do that here!! If you can help with leafletting and a demonstrartion, please come along. Andrew Griffiths has put back his meeting with us by a couple of hours tomorrow as he has been summoned (his words) to a meeting in Swindon to review the timetable. Tony Re: More Train , Less Strain - 971/2873 Written by Ruthg on Wednesday, 10th January 2007 This campaign seems to have worked as it was on the local BBC news last night that some more carriages were going to be provided as from 15th January, see also http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/6248061.stm Re: More Train , Less Strain - 971/2898 Written by tonya on Wednesday, 10th January 2007 Met with Andrew Griffiths regional director, , he had nothing to offer us. He sauid FGW gave back 20% of their roilling stock with the new franchise. He hopes that they will be to run the Dec 11th Timetable within 2 weeks. He would not make a gaurantee that they would be able to pick up all passnegers at BATH, oLDFILED park and KEYNSHAM. He predicatbly said that FGW could lease more coaches but as they are a commercial company, they will not do this because they would not genereate revenue for most of the day. He said it was not possible to make changes to the timetable, let alone revert to the summer one, which we ae demanding. Frankly I DON'T BELIEVE HIM. He said about 7 coaches are currently tied up in maintenance, and that he will lenghthen a couple fo trains by using these when they are repaired or by tarnsferring coaches from else where. If I WAS YOU i wouldn't hold youtr breath about the extra coaches. I doubt it will happen or if it is it wont be wth any consistency. Public meeting for those who want to particpate in or organise a protest, Tuesday 16th 6:15 to 7:15, Grove Street Church Hall, Bath. If anyone is out there who can help with the More Train Less Strain website, or who can leaflet at Keynsham, Oldfield PARK OR bath Spa let me know. Re: More Train , Less Strain - 971/2902 Written by Steve35 on Thursday, 11th January 2007 [quote author=tonya link=topic=971.msg2898#msg2898 date=1168458416] He said it was not possible to make changes to the timetable, let alone revert to the summer one, which we ae demanding. Frankly I DON'T BELIEVE HIM. [/quote] Can't just revert to the previous timetable because FGW aren't the only train operator in the area. Off the top of my head there's Arriva Wales, South West Trains, Virgin Cross Country, Southern, Chiltern, Central Trains, EWS, Freightliner, DRS and GBRf that use some of the same lines as FGW. If FGW reverted to the previous timetable you'd get a situation where FGW trains would clash (in the timetable) with trains run by the companies I've just mentioned. So these companies would have to alter their timetables as well to make it all work. Then you'd get a snowball effect across the country, e.g. if a Plymouth to Edinburgh Virgin train had to be altered to run 10 mins later between Plymouth and Bristol to fit in with FGW's reinstated old timetable the Virgin train would get to Birmingham 10 mins later where it would probably then clash with Central Trains services. Then north of Derby it might clash with Midland Main Line. At Sheffield there's Northern Rail to consider and north of York you've got GNER and Transpennine Express plus Scotrail at Edinburgh. So you've now affected about half the country's train companies. The only way you'd get a previous timetable reinstated is if FGW was a totally self contained network that didn't interact with any other train operators. That's why c2c just managed to revert to their old timetable - they're self contained. Re: More Train , Less Strain - 971/2906 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Thursday, 11th January 2007 [quote author=tonya link=topic=971.msg2898#msg2898 date=1168458416] Public meeting for those who want to particpate in or organise a protest, Tuesday 16th 6:15 to 7:15, Grove Street Church Hall, Bath. If anyone is out there who can help with the More Train Less Strain website, or who can leaflet at Keynsham, Oldfield PARK OR bath Spa let me know. [/quote] Tony, there's scope for various campains to co-ordinate / learn from each other, I think. Re: More Train , Less Strain - 971/2908 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Thursday, 11th January 2007 You might also be interested in my post here where First's director - that's 2 levels above Andrew - has refused to be drawn into making any efforts to provide a service that meets the needs of the traffic flows they took over from Wessex. Re: More Train , Less Strain - 971/2910 Written by tonya on Thursday, 11th January 2007 Thanks for offers of webspace, forum links etc. Will discuss with Simon in More Train Less Strain and sort something soon. Re: More Train , Less Strain - 971/2949 Written by Lee on Friday, 12th January 2007 [quote author=Steve35 link=topic=971.msg2902#msg2902 date=1168478440]The only way you'd get a previous timetable reinstated is if FGW was a totally self contained network that didn't interact with any other train operators. That's why c2c just managed to revert to their old timetable - they're self contained.[/quote] As well as a mixture of commuter and leisure traffic on the c2c routes , are there not also substantial freight movements to and from North Thameside operated by EWS , Freightliner & GB Railfreight? Did you mean that the act of c2c reverting to the old timetable was merely the following , Steve? "Morning and evening peak schedules to return to previous patterns" (link below.) http://www.c2c-online.co.uk/templates/Timetables.aspx?id=19 Quote from the Rail Freight Group (link below.) http://www.railfreightgroup.com/download.asp?file=fot7.pdf "Rail freight exists comfortably on the rail network alongside ESSENTIAL passenger services. Many freight trains can run in the evenings, during the middle of the day and at night when passenger demand is lower. Most freight trains run at average speeds which are similar to a semi-fast passenger service so their impact on network capacity is less than fast intercity or slow all-stations trains. Freight trains don Re: More Train , Less Strain - 971/2952 Written by Lee on Friday, 12th January 2007 [quote author=Lee link=topic=826.msg2895#msg2895 date=1168453364]A meeting of "More Train , Less Strain" has been organised for Tuesday 16th January , 6:15-7:15 pm at United Reform Church Hall , Grove Street , Bath off Pultney Bridge. If you can help with their activities , then please come along. The More Train, Less Strain Campaign is leafleting commuters on the Frome to Bristol line and they now have an online petition which can be found at www.moretrainlessstrain.org.uk and also a discussion group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/moretrainlessstrain/[/quote] Re: More Train , Less Strain - 971/2999 Written by Nick Field on Saturday, 13th January 2007 Here's another BBC news article mentioning the MTLS fares boycott: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/6259027.stm Re: More Train , Less Strain - 971/3102 Written by JamesS on Tuesday, 16th January 2007 To all those people that moan and live in Bath/Bristol but commute the other way each day... Why don't you just move there!!!!!!!! I live half an hour walk from where I work. Yes it's near the centre of Bristol and yes I'd rather live in a leafy village. I am sooo sick of people feeling that public transport is their god given right to any destination at any time. Most of the trains each day are full of these people who insist on living in one place but want to work in another. What's the Bath to London protest about?? It's about people who have full time jobs in London and commute EVERY DAY there in order to pay for the exorberant price of property in Bath. Lets face it, how many big blue-chip employers are there in finance, technology in Bath? Why is the price of property so high in Bath? Partly due to these people in London earning wacking salaries and then commuting down to spend it on homes in Bath! Then this bumps up the house price.... MOVE CLOSER TO WHERE YOU WORK!!! Re: More Train , Less Strain - 971/3120 Written by bubblecat on Tuesday, 16th January 2007 This guy is most probably a Troll - that's for people who don't use forums regularly. This is to get a response - do not give him one. Re: More Train , Less Strain - 971/3129 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Wednesday, 17th January 2007 [quote author=bubblecat link=topic=971.msg3120#msg3120 date=1168989827] This is to get a response - do not give him one. [/quote] Each to their own. I'm much more concerned to hear views as to how last night went; I'm REALLY sorry that I had an unshiftable (business/job critical level) presentation in London relating to my 'day job'. Any feedback from the Bath meeting? Re: More Train , Less Strain - 971/3138 Written by Lee on Wednesday, 17th January 2007 There is support from as far afield as Cumbria (link below.) http://www.rmtbristol.org.uk/2007/01/take_a_stand_on_shoddy_service.html#more Plus this article (link below.) http://www.rmtbristol.org.uk/2007/01/off_the_rails_1.html#more Interesting quotes : "The visiting British ambassador was fuming. Dumped with the rest of us on an overcrowded Reading station on a Sunday afternoon, he let loose: "No information, no apology and the loos are out of order. And we think we're the model economy of Europe and can't even run a railway!" "His Excellency was so angry he was minded to join, anonymously, More Trains Less Strain, the pressure group of passengers from the area around Bristol planning to hold a fares boycott on January 22 at the appalling conditions on First Great Western services. So were we all." Re: More Train , Less Strain - 971/3148 Written by JamesS on Wednesday, 17th January 2007 Yes Bubblecat I am a Troll. I accept that people do need to travel with work. However there's the phone, email and video conferrencing now. Look at the roads, most are overcrowded, they build more and those are filled up too. Just the same as the rail whether it be new lines or extra rolling stock. True we want more people using public transport but for the right reason. Not just motivated by cost. I was simply making the point people need to think more about DO they need to make that journey. Long distance travel is still far too cheap and that's why people are not giving it sufficient thought. Try driving to Bath and back each day for Re: More Train , Less Strain - 971/3164 Written by PennyFrench on Wednesday, 17th January 2007 I think I'm getting confused between campaigns here. I am very keen to get involved in the More Train, Less Strain campaign and start up a specific arm of the group on the Reading to Paddington stretch. Can anyone let me know who to contact? Re: More Train , Less Strain - 971/3173 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Wednesday, 17th January 2007 Yes, it is a bit confusing. "Save the Train" was set up to deal with the "Transwilts" service from Swindon to Chippenham, Melksham, Trowbridge, Westbury, Salisbury and beyond - threatened with a 60% reduction from 5 to 2 trains a day. Re: More Train , Less Strain - 971/3190 Written by tonya on Wednesday, 17th January 2007 Around 120 people at the BathMeeting, committed to the Fare strike on Monday 7.30-8:30 at Bath, Oldfiled and Keynsham to Bristol, and lots more people have come forward to help in the organisation of the campaign. We now have a steering group, and hope to seek a meeting with the undersecretary of state for transport, but lets get Monday over first. National coverage is oretty well guaranteed. Re: More Train , Less Strain - 971/3305 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Monday, 22nd January 2007 I see a lot of readers on this thread today ... not a surprise as the "Fare Strike" is on today. This thread is a discussion of the "More train ..." campaign - a different one to ours, and I simply don't know the legal or organisational basis of their campaign. We are campaining for 1) A return to a train service to suit the needs of passengers across the Bristol regional services - and you can support that via the government's official site for such things: [url]http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/wessextrains/[/url] 2. In particular a return to a sensible (train numbers, timing, relaibality) on the Swindon - Melksham - Westbury line that was decimated in December with most of the already-few trains removed, and the remaining ones badly timed and running on less that 60% of the occasions they're scheduled. Re: More Train , Less Strain - 971/3330 Written by streety7 on Monday, 22nd January 2007 I heard More Train Less Strain on BBC Radio Five Live earlier in the car, however the presenter called it More Trains Less Strain... don't know which one is right... "The gates have been open to ticket holders, whether fake or valid, which sort of shows a sign of guilt from FGW?" was one of the rhetorical questions asked. I can't remember much else, because I just heard the end of it... Re: More Train , Less Strain - 971/3356 Written by Disco on Tuesday, 23rd January 2007 PennyF & others, I'm on the same line (I travel Paddington to Slough). 45% rise in my ticket price in two years only to see services cut. And the trains are still late. Very high "on time" stats reported, but I'd like to see stats on rush hour trains. About 3/4 of the time I go to get the Slough to Paddington train in the evening, it's late. I think we need a More Train, Less Strain chapter down our way. Not sure I can offer to run it, but I can help! When FGW is running a near-monopoly they can get away with lifting prices and decreasing service. After all, as commercial company it should only care about profits, not customers. The only way to combat them is by publicity and the More Train, Less Strain guys are doing a sterling job for their area at the moment! Cheers, DM Re: More Train , Less Strain - 971/3369 Written by tonya on Tuesday, 23rd January 2007 If anyone wants to start a local more train less strain group, leave a message for me on this site. Happy to help with tips about we set up in the West country Tony Re: More Train , Less Strain - 971/3370 Written by AFCChris on Tuesday, 23rd January 2007 Hi I am a bit like "Disco" on this subject. I am keen to be involved in something like More Train Less Strain but I've seriously not got the time to get into it so much as to run a local branch. Would be interested if there is anyone who is on the Didcot to Paddington route who gets involved..... Regards Chris 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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