| Welcome to News and Views Three weeks ago, I launched "Save the Train" and in three weeks ... from a standing start ... I've had 300 visitors to the web site. Every day, I receive emails of encouragements to help Save the Train on the Swindon - Chippneham - Melksham - Trowbridge - Westbury corridor and every day I think "I want to add THAT to the web site. What better mechanism that this daily diary, or Blog? Written2005-09-07 07:04:25 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Welcome to News and Views Every day, something crops up and I think "that's useful information" and ... then ... I often forget it. What better, then, than a diary / notebook / blog. Published, comments welcome. You can help keep me "on track" and the train running ... Swindon -> Chippenham -> Melksham -> Trowbridge -> Westbury! Written2005-09-07 07:43:40 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The story so far History Closed in the Beeching era, Melksham Station was re-opened in the early 1990s with a limited service - a train to Swindon in the morning and a return in the evening. In May 2001, under (I believe) an agreement between Wiltshire Country Council and Wales and West Trains increased the service to 5 trains a day each way on Monday to Friday, 4 on Saturdays and 3 on Sundays, all running through from Swindon to Southampton. This service became a part of the "Wessex trains" operation when Wales and West was split into two franchises; it's not clear to me how the agreement with Wilts County Council was effected by this, there's a hint in correspondence that Wessex trains carried on running the service but outside any agreement. Spring 2005, and the Wessex Franchise, together with Great Western and Great Western Link come up for renewal next year as a combined franchise. The Strategic rail authority asks for the bidders to quote for a service level that provides only for the peak hour train - Swindon to Southampton "to be discontinued". The withdrawal is a single line on page 52 of a long document, and the first point at which it came to my attention was in early August - at a time after any possible consultations; at that stage, the three bidders (National Express, First Group and Stagecoach) were getting the final stages of their bids together. When I wrote to the bidders, all three replied with great courtesy but offered no real positive news; their replies were somewhat at odds with one another. Which leads me to believe that in at least once case the answer reflected rather less than the real situation. I can, however, appreciate that the bidders are vehicles of the system and can't themselves go right against the dictates of the (now defunct, so unable to answer for its actions!) SRA without lessening their chances of winning the franchise as a whole. So where do we go from here I use the trains from Melksham. My customers use the trains. The trains are busier than anyone will "admit" - there were the best part of 40 on the other Sunday when I travelled, for example. So I say how can we save the train? As a start, let's let everyone know that we don't want to loose this service without a fight. But also let the running companies involved know that we want to work with the for the service / mutual good. So, personally, I've been "learning in". And let's get the service better known yet. Hence this web site. Hence letters from myself and other press activities. Hence ... meeting ... 20th September 2005. I don't know what the outcome will be exactly ... but I do know my goals! Written2005-09-08 19:13:23 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Looking slightly wider I've concentrated on Swindon to Westbury, with three intermediate stops - but there are other services / patterns outside the area that should be looked at / considered. Some are wild suggestions, others sensible. Some have major cost (Sponsorship ?) implications. Logged here ... to have all the cards on the table and NOT to dilute the specific campaign Salisbury and Southampton The present Swindon - Chippenham - Melksham - Trowbridge - Westbury service rus through - in theory - to Warminster, Salisbury, Romsey and Southampton. In 2001, most trains ran through. But in the last couple of years, more trains have stopped short, have had a layover of up to 30 minutes added at Westbury, or are running through but advertised as a connecting not a through service. One of the trickier things that I'm considering at the moment is whether I should be looking to represent / save the whole through service, or have a more specific target of the Swindon to Westbury section. Onwards from there, there are other train services and the Swindon train fills in part of a pattern; I don't know loadings or the metrics of stations like Dean, Dunbridge and (closer to home) Dilton Marsh. Part of me says the whole service should be discussed / saved. And another part says that a good connection onwards at Westbury might be a good or better solution. I do have letters from Southampton and Salisbury councils offering at least a degree of support / concern into the train loss - all be it that the support is much more concerned with loss of local frequency there. Southampton Airport A daily service used to run direct to / from Southampton airport but that queitly slipped away. Good airport, useful link. Shame it went. A fully retained / revitalised Swindon to Southampton could "loop" Romsey - Eastleigh - Southampton Airport - Southampton - Romsey and would provide an excellent and useful through service from Salisbury, North and West Wilts and Swindon. But it would need to be most / every service not just the last train of the day! The Bradford on Avon Curve The North Curve at Bradford on Avon was taken out of use in about 1990. Prior to that point it allowed the line through Melksham to be an even more useful diversionary route if there were engineering works in Corsham / Box tunnel. Correspondents have suggested that the curve be re-instated and that it would give the opportunity for a through commuter (and more) service to Bath / Bristol / Abbey Wood without any need to change; these are all Melksham commuter flows. A train every 2 hours With a selfcontained service on the Swindon to Westbury section, reliability could be improved (dependent on connections being kept / allowed to miss / timing of them) and with a single train set service could increase to a train every two hours. A preliminary look suggests ex Westbury at 05:45, 07:45, 09:45, 12:45, 14:45, 16:45, 18:45 and 20:45, returning from Swindon at 06:45, 08:45, 10:45, 13:45, 15:45, 17:45, 19:45 and 21:45. Nice regular pattern, with a one hour break during the day for staff / servicing of the set, and the pattern fits the current services / user flows with minimal major change. Wootton Bassett and West Swindon Parkway There have been suggestions of a West Swindon park and ride / commuter service and a re-opened station at Wootton Bassett. The Westbury service is the ONLY train along this line that isn't a 125 mph express and is the logical service to provide the extra stops. The former Bristol to Oxford service would have provided this service (and also a stop in Corsham where a new station was on the cards) until it was withdrawn. (Footnote - why was it withdrawn. I think we were told that it was because the capacity wasn't there / tracks were overused. Rumour suggested that most Train Opperating Companies had to sacrifice a service or two due to capacity, even though in Great Western's case there really wasn't a track capacity problem ... it was done to look fair. What were traffic level like? I know I used the service and Melksham of Chippenham to Oxford has changed from a pleasure to a nightmare with poor connections at Didcot and even from Chippenham, sometimes the need to change twice) Filton Abbey Wood At present, several rush hour services from Filton Abbey Wood run direct (not via Bristol Temple Meads) to Keynsham, Bath, and the West Wilts line. I understand these direct trains may be under threat, with passengers required to change at Temple Meads ... slowing and adding misery to a commute. We have commuter(s) from Melksham who change onto this service at Trowbridge, And Filton / North Bristol is a major employment area. I have used the train to travel to both Abbey Wood and Bristol Parkway on business, and the changes mooted would have a seriously detrimental effect on journey times. To be continued to ... Lacock and Holt Oxford to Westbury Westbury to London Westbury Westward The night sleeper Written2005-09-09 06:34:29 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Don't let this become history! Here's a picture of a daytime train just outside Melksham station; I'll intersperse this update and diary page with pictures from time to time as a picture paints a thousand words.Alas, times do move on - there are already historic aspects to this picture even though it was taken just a few months ago. The factory, former home of GEC Mechanical handling has been demolished and residences are being built on the site as I write. Melksham has strong commuter flows to the neighbouring towns and this new development is ideally placed for people to travel to Chippenham, Swindon and Trowbridge. Let's hope that the trains are still running when they move in and they can get to Swindon in 25 minutes rather than 55 by bus. Written2005-09-10 11:23:05 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Meeting, 20th September - getting nervous I'm getting a bit nervous - probably no bad thing. It's just over a week to go to the Open meeting I have called. I've had over 50 forms filled in on the site, and over 400 distinct visitors. Views expressed have ranged from the mildly supporting through to - and this is the majority - enthusiastic support. That doesn't mean that folks can make it that day and I haven't made the meeting the main theme behind the web site ... so thus I'm nervous between an empty meeting and people queueing at the door. Preparation. Agenda set - yes. Details published on line - yes. Thought given to running the meeting - yes; I'm quite happy about steering a group of up to 60. Still nervous though! Written2005-09-11 22:57:56 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Encouraging traffic not just warm words Last night, I had perhaps the most thought-provoking discussion so far ... the question of how to encourage people to USE the service that everyone says that they want. Perhaps this is the $64000 question; some ideas formulated ;-) .... There's no doubt in my mind that potential customers are driven away by a service that's unreliable, or perceived to be unreliable, and by a service that's infrequent, or is perceived to be infrequent. Would running a local Swindon to Westbury service which wasn't going to be effected by emergency engineering in Salisbury give us better reliability? Would a train every 2 hours rather than sporadically at present increase the traffic to the extent that there would be more people on more trains, or would it just spead out the current numbers, said to be thin? It would require guts and a willingness to take a chance to up the service to - say - once an hour. But do so and, perhaps, the train will start taking that load off the roads; people WOULD use the train to shop in Chippenham or Swindon, to commute to work for non-core hours, to visit friends and contacts. If you've travelled to London from Melksham and you've drive to Chippenham to start your journey, perhaps you would go from Melksham instead. Written2005-09-13 08:16:47 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Official (Government) view ... and I agree From Transport Times The transport secretary [Alistair Darling] stresses that he is in favour of keeping open local branch lines if at all possible. “But there comes a time when a line is carrying two passengers in the morning and two in the evening, you do have to ask yourself what else we can do.” Yes, I agree. If a line is carrying just four passengers a day, something in the current setup isn't working as it should be. That MAY be that there's simply no call for the service, or that it's the wrong service being provided - and sometimes (I suspect) the wrong service is provided by rail-unfriendly people in places of responsibility as an intentional step to supress demand (please do NOT read that as a comment that's local to the Melksham area, by the way). How do the traffic levels for Melksham compare? I have figures that show over fifty passengers a day booked to or from Melksham, and that does NOT include passengers making journeys such as Swindon to Trowbridge. Swindon to Westbury. Chippenham to Westbury. Swindon to Warminster. Swindon to Salisbury .... Written2005-09-14 23:55:04 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Excursion! Have you ever driven round the central car park in Salisbury looking for a parking spot? I know I have! And yet ... Salisbury station is quite close to the centre and directly served from Melksham ... with further connections available.The 09:15 train on Saturday mornings (but there's bus substitution at the moment) gets into Salisbury at 10:06. A return journey ay 15:41 gets you back to Melksham at 17:00, with a change at Westbury. I'm planning a pre-christmas shopping trip in November! Picture - Salisbury Cathedral Written2005-09-15 07:11:52 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Don't believe everything you hear "It's just an empty stock working really" they told me about the train that calls at Melksham at 05:53 on its way up from Westbury to Swindon. And - foolish me - I believed them. This morning, there were three passengers on the train as it arrived in Melksham and another joined - that's four passengers for whom there's no public transport alternative at all ... the very first bus to Chippenham doesn't leave for another 90 minutes .... Written2005-09-16 06:24:04 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Old pictures. Not to be repeated event We went along to the meeting of the Melksham Historic Society the other night ... and they'e going to be sending us a CD with some pictures on to put up here. In the meantime, here is an old picture that shows Melksham station on the last day of service in 1966 ... Please ... don't let's have another last day of service. Please do come along to our meeting on 20th; that won't save the train in itself, but it may help us get the supoprt going to save the train ... or rather to have in progress into a much better and more suitable service.14:49 departure to Southampton via Salisbury, Friday last Written2005-09-18 21:29:42 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Meeting! 20th September, 7 for 7:30, 404, The Spa, Melksham. Sponsored by Graham Ellis (author of this diary). Everyone who's interested is welcome. Written2005-09-19 20:26:04 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Great meeting but just a start. I'm writing this early - VERY early - so that I've got something up for people who visit the site before going off to work (I can hope!!). Big, successful meeting last night and although everyone has a different angle, everyone wants better for Melksham and for the Swindon to Salisbury train service than is currently being offered under the requested franchise bids. That, at least, was very encouraging. I'll be updating this site (and returning 35 chairs we had on loan!) today. If you came - thank you. If you missed it - everyone's very busy and has other commitments, I know .. and we've only had four weeks of publicity from a standing start so yo may not have been aware. If you've already been in touch, I'll send you minutes. If you haven't, please contact me via the petition form, support form, email, phone (01225 708225) fax (01225 707126) or post (404,The Spa, Melksham, SN12 6QL). Thanks! Written2005-09-21 06:53:36 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 35% Growth in one year - Melksham ticket statistics In the year 2003/2004, 20390 tickets were sold for journeys to or from Melksham. In the year 2004/2005, that rose by 35% to 27,435 journeys. With Melksham continuing to grow rapidly, with fuel costs ever higher and with more than ever congestion, I believe that train usage would continue to grow if the level of service were to be maintained at its current level. Written2005-09-23 09:38:09 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Swindon to Trowbridge If you're travelling from Swindon to Trowbridge, the obvious way to go is by train - there's a direct service 5 times a day with a journey time of about 40 minutes. The bus - route 49, known as the "Trans-Wilts Express" - takes about an hour and 25 minutes. Another option by rail is to catch the Bristol train from Swindon and change at Bath.   You need to be fit if you're going to change at Bath - once you arrive there, you'll have to go down the stairs to the tunnel under the station ... .... then back up another long flight of stairs on the other side to catch your onwards train  I was down at Bath station the other day, seeing off visitors who were travelling by train to Barrow in Furness (Sorry - they had to leave Melksham during the big morning gap in service so I couldn't put them on the train there!) and took these pictures. The change is a real struggle with luggage, or for anyone who's not in the best of health. The staff, though, were very helpful. Thank you. Written2005-09-24 12:56:18 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Regularity, Reliability, Realistic connections I was down at the chippie yesterday evening ... and "talking train". "I would use it if it actually ran when I wanted it and it actually turned up" .... "I have to go to Swindon, but I tend to get a lift / drive / go by road into Chippenham and catch the train from there" Traffic levels have leapt since the train service to Melksham was increased in 2001, and they would leap again if the service was regularly timed (at xx minutes after the even hour, for example) and was reliable. Regularity, Reliability and realistic connections keep coming up - time and again - as people's main concerns / the main reasons why they're not using the present service as much as we would like (make no mistake though - the current service IS used). * People would rather have a regular service than one that's irregular, even if the irregular service gives a few more trains per day. * People would rather have a reliable service than one that's so stretched that if fails to turn up sometimes, and they would rather have a service that takes a few minutes longer that one that's so optimisticaly timed that it's always missing connections. * People would rather have a service that did connect even if they had to leave home a few minutes earlier, or if they arrived a few minutes later. There are some - err - gross examples on the current schedule. The first Melksham to Southampton train calls at Westbury TWO MINUTES after the London Express has left. Returning from Weymouth on Saturday evening, the train from Weymouth pulls in to Westbury 7 minutes after the Swindon train has left ... Written2005-09-25 08:09:26 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Core meeting After last week's launch meeting, the rapidly-called "core" follow up is this evening; to investigate boosting use of current services, gathering statistics, and lobbying to get "on the radar". Also looking at what service is required for the future (let's not be luddites!) and how to best organise ourselves or fit into another organisation to help meet these objectives effectively! 19:30 at 404, The Spa. If you're last-minute interested, please call me on 01225 708225 or email me through graham@wellho.net. Written2005-09-27 08:33:05 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Didn't you read page 52 of web document? With apologies to Douglas Adams (and I paraphrase) "Hadn't you seen the notice that Earth was going to be destroyed to make way for a hyperspace bypass - the notice was at the library on planet xxxxx for 9 years and if you had asked the assistant there about it, she would have moved the coffee machine so that you could read it ...." I was reminded of Douglas Adam's hyperspace bypass yesterday by a letter from "Whitehall" telling me that the plans for the new service levels were sent out for consultation in the spring and they got very little feedback about Melksham. Small wonder if those of us who use the service, or have a business that relies on the service, didn't see the consultation documents; perhaps they went to the wrong place. And perhaps our line was hidden (and I've used the word hidden intentionally) within some other deep document. I first became aware that there was an issue with service reduction in August. An article in the paper lead me to a 100 page SRA document at a fairly obsure URL. The Melksham service was an implication of a single line on page 52 ..... Written2005-09-29 08:51:34 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| An easy timetable - Melksham to Chippenham and Swindon I was reading in this morning's Wiltshire Times a letter describing the problems of finding out the times of the direct Trowbridge to Waterloo train service, even at Trowbridge station. Dear letter writer, I know how you feel; the signs at Melksham are entitled "South Wales to Brighton", and if you're travelling from Melksham to Swindon you need to look under the "Brighton to South Wales" part Of course! What's needed? Well - I personally would like to see a simple statement along the lines of: Trains leave Melksham station for CHIPPENHAM and SWINDON as follows: Monday to Friday: 05:52 07:45 13:35 17:02 21:33 Saturday: 08:01 13:35 17:00 21:50 Sunday: 12:44 16:43 21:03 and arrive at Chippenham about 10 minutes later, and Swindon about 25 minutes later. Trains return from Swindon to MELKSHAM at Monday to Friday: 06:30 08:46 14:23 17:43 22:11 Saturday: 08:50 14:23 17:50 22:25 Sunday: 13:21 17:23 21:41 These trains leave CHIPPENHAM about 15 minutes after Swindon, and arrive at Melksham 25 minutes after Swindon. I need just one footnote - please note that up to and including Sunday, 6th November, the weekend service is replaced by a bus running to a slightly different timetable. See here Written2005-09-30 08:56:07 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Would this government close a station completely? Yes, they would. Yesterday was the last day of services at Etruria station, near Stoke on Trent. A spokesman for the Department of Transport said that the decision had been made to allow faster journey times for other passengers, claiming that few journeys started or ended at the station. The pressure group Transport 2000 said it had been well used until services were drastically cut 3 years ago ... full official story Written2005-10-01 13:32:41 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Quotes from Government I've spent much of today preparing an argued case to have the level of service on the Swindon (Melksham, Trowbridge, Salisbury) - Southampton route reconsidered at the time that the Greater Western Franchise is awarded and beyond. We've got a good case, I feel - six very good factors for them to consider which have arisen AFTER the invitation to tender was prepared, rather than asking them to go over ground on which they've already taken a position. The web ... and freedom of information ... are a marvellous source of data, though it can take many hours to find things. And sometimes you find some real nuggets! "DfT has asked for proposals on how consultation on forthcoming Franchise Specifications may be minimised ... " Oh - wow. I think that says that they want to set up the new franchises with as little possible outside input as they can get away with ... "On GW, XXX noted that consultation being conducted concurrently with issuing of ITT would be unpopular with stakeholders, although some consultation was already being carried out through the Great Western RUS. It was agreed that simultaneous consultation and issuing of the ITT was the only viable option remaining. If any substantial changes became necessary as a result of consultation they could be implemented either at the preferred bidder stage or through the variation mechanism after the start of the franchise." And I think that says that they're issuing the invitation to tender even though the consultation process as to what should be in it isn't complete. But never mind, there's a mechanism to alter it later if that has to be ... Actually, I'm heartened by the quotes. It gives me high moral ground (at least) to say "You didn't consult properly" and "it's not too late - you CAN take your customers into account; you DO have a mechanism". But at the same time, I'll admit to sitting here for a minute or two, open mouthed, when I found http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_foi/documents/divisionhomepage/041078.hcsp Written2005-10-02 21:26:24 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tuesday, 18th October - Kiss and Ride day On Tuesday, 18th October, we'll be serving coffee to commuters and others leaving on the 07:45 from Melksham to Chippenham and Swindon, and on the 09:12 to Trowbridge and Westbury. If you're a commuter, but you're not a regular user of the line, please come along and try it that morning. There's plenty of space to get dropped off at the station - let your partner keep the car for the day rather than fighting your way up the A350 into Chippenham, along the M4 to Swindon, or into Bythesea Road in Trowbridge (yes, I'm encouraging county workers ;-) ). There's also parking at Melksham station ... and (you won't hear this very often) ... it's FREE. If you're not a commuter but know someone who is ... please tell them too. The more the merrier - it's NOT just by invite. The train is there for all to use and we should all use it when appropriate! Written2005-10-04 07:21:50 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Six NEW factors why the TransWilts train that serves Melksham should be enhanced and not cut 1. Ticket sales from and to Melksham station (served only by trains on that route) rose from 20390 in 2003-2004 to 27485 in 2004-2005 - that's a 35% increase in tickets 2. Weekend and offpeak use of the line has increased. As a long standing user of this service, I have felt that it has been getting busier. When I became aware of the proposed new frachise service level, I noted down some current figures and can tell you that weekend services I have used in the last couple of months have conveyed 35 and 22 passengers respectively. 3. The local transport plan for Wiltshire puts this line at the heart of its rail strategy. "The Swindon / West Wilts / Southampton service should be developed as it has considerable potential to help relieve local transport and environmental problems". It is my understanding that this strategy was being revised at the same time as the franchise bid levels, and so it may not have been considered when the levels were being set for the bid requests. 4. Consultations and Invitation to tender for the franchise were concurrent activities, so there was little or no stakeholder input into the proposed service levels. (Indeed, there were discussions held as to how consultations might be minimised) Such input has now become more available and should be considered. The fact that no input was received at a time that no input had been requested cannot be used to draw the conclusion that the local community does not care about the rail service! See next point. 5. I became aware as a private individual, and operator of a local business in Melksham, of the proposed level of service from a newspaper article in August, and it came as a surprise. In order to gauge support along the travel corridor of the railway, I wrote to the local paper and put up a web site (ref 6). In the following month, some 500 different people visited the web site and some 60 went to the trouble of completing forms of support to add their name to the cause. A meeting called with little publicity - and by me as a private individual - drew some 30 people to a meeting with a similar number of apologies received. 6. Business and housing development in Melksham, the removal or reduction of medical facilities at the intermediate towns served and their concentration at the end of this railway line, and the building of the County record office at Chippenham (as an offshoot of the council which is based in Trowbridge, also on the route) are all recent factors that will lead to a continued growth of use of this railway service over the next year ... and beyond should the service still be offered. *** All of the above came to light AFTER the Strategic Rail Authority drew up their Invitition to Tender with the through services on the West Wilts route totally withdrawn. *** These are additions to the other good reasons already listed for saving the service - see main web site *** There IS a variation mechanism in place under which the Department for Transport can vary the level of service to be provided at the preferred bidder stage, or after the award Written2005-10-07 08:13:45 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
And more train users ... A busy week for me - an Apache Tomcat course to present on Monday and Tuesday, and a Python course (that's a programming language) on Thursday and Friday contrived to fill my time.Fairly typically, there were two or less customer cars parked at our training centre each day, even though we had seven trainees on the first course and six on the second. Why so few cars? Because people prefer to use the train ... or have to use the train because they don't have a car, or can't drive. Friday evening ... we wrap up the course at 16:30 and run a lift to the station for three trainees; that's two journeys, Melksham to Derby and one journey, Melksham to London. I was at the station early; I don't know how many others came along from elsewhere to board, or how busy the 17:02 (a threatened service) was. I do know that one of our trainees had arrived at that time on Tuesday and told me that there were between 10 and 20 passengers. Written2005-10-08 12:41:15 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Try the train on 18th October Tuesday, 18th October is Kiss 'n' Ride day! We're handing out hot drinks (teas and coffees) to anyone joining the 07:45 to Chippenham and Swindon and the 09:12 to Trowbridge and Westbury. Why slog into work by car that day? Get your partner to drop you off at Melksham station, and let the train take the strain. Or drive yourself to the station - there's free partking available. Return trains from Wesbury and Trowbridge arrive in Melksham just after 5, and from Swindon just after 6 that evening. This day is being run with the help of the Melksham Rail Development group and Wessex Trains Written2005-10-09 20:35:01 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tracking codes for TransWilts stations These days, all stations have 3 letter tracking codes that you can use when calling up information online or on your mobile phone. Here they are for the "TransWilts" line ... with links to the current train running and station information databases SWI - Swindon --- Links - Train Running and Station Information CPM - Chippenham --- Links - Train Running and Station Information MKM - Melksham --- Links - Train Running and Station Information TRO - Trowbridge --- Links - Train Running and Station Information WSB - Westbury --- Links - Train Running and Station Information DMH - Dilton Marsh --- Links - Train Running and Station Information WMN - Warminster --- Links - Train Running and Station Information SAL - Salisbury --- Links - Train Running and Station Information DEN - Dean --- Links - Train Running and Station Information DBG - Dunbridge --- Links - Train Running and Station Information ROM - Romsey --- Links - Train Running and Station Information SOU - Southampton Central --- Links - Train Running and Station Information Written2005-10-11 14:05:42 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| New stats prove it - the service IS used Delighted to see that people are writing to the MPs and Department for Transport ... that's from personal emails copied to me. Excellent. Case made even stronger by new statistics from the Office of the Rail Regulator this morning - see stats page Please excuse my language here ... Jesus! if an increase of traffic by over 7 times in five years isn't enough, what do the Department for Transport want? Blood?? Written2005-10-12 12:15:01 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bump from Glasgow I want to remind you of the "Kiss and Ride" Next Tuesday Morning. We'll be serving teas and coffees to commuters and we'll have some new quick reference timetables, lists of addresses and other publicity pieces and really useful information to hand out. They're currently in draft form ... The term "bump" is a techical one to bounce a subject up to the top of the pile on a diary such as this ... and if you wonder about the Glasow reference ... I'm giving a course in Glasgow today, and posting this from my hotel room in the City. Written2005-10-14 07:39:14 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ready for Tuesday This will sound like a well worn record KISS AND RIDE - TUESDAY .... Under normal circumstances, I would have to explain to the wife when I'm pictured in the Melksham Independent News with a lady who's not my wife kissing me. Fortunatley, these are not normal circumstances as the shot was actually posed by my wife, who's the photographer. Come along on Tuesday morning - early for your train, or between trains if you're not travelling, and I'll tell you the full story. I also have new handouts ... Quick Timetables for Melksham to Bath and Bristol, and Melksham to London Some facts and figures ... and some addresses to write to Pocket timetable - Swindon - Chippenham - Melksham - Trowbridge - Westbury - Salisbury of the sort that really should be easily available but apparently isn't. Oh - and the rear of the page tells you all about the Santa special. Written2005-10-16 21:24:31 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Kiss and Ride report Perhaps it's not every eveyone's ideal Tuesday Morning, but I really enjoyed being at the station as the 06:56, the 07:45 and the 09:12 went through - meeting commuters, handing out coffees, and discussing the use and future of the service. Many thanks to Wessex Trains for giving their permission for the event (as promised, we left just a dry patch on the platform), and to all the people who came along to help or simply to offer their support.  The lull between the trains I've never seen the station car park at Melksham full to overflowing before! Written2005-10-18 21:05:10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A case of the tail wagging the dog?? Is the service level requirement set by the passenger requirement, or by the number of trains that happen to be available? Outside the current franchise, but I was on the South West Trains service from Keynsham into Bristol Temple Meads at 07:44 this morning. Full, standing, and indeed standing so close to one another it was almost uncomfortable. Is it possible that some of the current problems / reduced specification is due to the lack of equipment due to no-one having the foresight and/or motivation and/or responsibility to make sure that there are acutally enough trains / seats to go up and down the line? Written2005-10-20 19:16:29 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The system is overcomplex - no wonder some odd things happen I travelled one stop on the train - from Keynsham to Bristol - yesterday morning. The tracks over which I travelled are owned by Network Rail - that's a government owned sorta-quango that's set up in such a way that its assets don't actually appear in government stats. I bought my ticket from Wessex Trains - they're a part of the National Express group. I travelled on a train operated by South West Trains - they're part of the Stagecoach group. And I arrived at a station at which my ticket was checked upon exit by First Great Western. The whole shooting match is administered by the Department for Transport who have taken over in the last few months from the Strategic Rail Authority, and the whole shooting match is regulated by the Office of the Rail Regulator. I dread to think how much of my 3 pound fare for the six minute ride was spend in allocating my payment around between the 10 names I have quoted. And I think it's little wonder that with such an overcomplex system that services being specified for the future are being criticised as inappropriate in Bicester, in Cornwall, in Westbury, and in Melksham. Written2005-10-21 06:08:27 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Warminster Bus Running Day, 2005 We attended the Warmister Bus Running day today - a huge number of veteran and vintage buses dating back to 1948 running a variety of routes centred on the town. Great time had by all.I'm all for integration of transport and for modernisation. The bus pictured here was from the old route 50 which started in (?) Bath then ran through Melksham, Devizes and Shrewton then ot to Salisbury. A route that's no longer operated ... although many of the sections are. Perhaps that's due to changing demand. When I was in town yesteday, it stuck me the number of people who wanted to discuss the train with me and the points they came up with. So MANY people tell me that they would use the train if it was more frequent and regular; "hourly" seems the key. Alas, that would require some forward thinking and perhaps a trimming of the route to Chippenham-to-Westbury if it was to be serviced by a single train, or for it to run up from Salisbury which would be far more logical in terms of providing the increased frequency that's needed on Salisbury to Westbury too, and the through service. Like I say, great time had by all today. Buses from all around; we joined the Bristol Omnibus at Westbury station to feed into the even, seeing various rail replacement buses there including one from a company in Ledury. I really wonder at the effectiveness of using such distant suppliers, but no doubt someone knows what they're doing Written2005-10-23 20:58:12 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The storm's eye? These are the weeks during which the Department for Transport will be going through the three bids for the Greater Western Franchise, and deciding who's going to be awarded the service for the next seven years. To some extent, we're at the "eye of the storm". I've corresponded with all three bid teams and had replies from the top ponchos (at least, they're signed by the top ponchos!) and done my best to contribute a strong and argued case for Melksham without sending so much correspondence that it get to the stage of "it's that Graham Ellis from Melksham AGAIN", and without stretching any point beyond what is reasonable. I've corresponded with my MP and he's duly acknowledged and asked the Department for Transport for further information and passed my point on; I await a substantive reply but really I should allow a little longer for that. I've corresponded with the Department for Transport (mostly a one way traffic, I regret to say - but then thay say that they can't even acknowledge every letter on a subject if they get a flood) to make them aware of the TransWilts line and Melksham, and new data that wasn't available at the time that the Invitation to Tender was issued. I've generated local interest; there's been 12000 "Save the Train" / "Melksham Station" leaflets printed and posted through almost every door ... to the extent that I've nearly run out. We've had a couple of meetings and a Kiss and Ride and last Saturday I could be seen walking through the town with a mask and a "Save the train" badge. Now, really, we need to see who's going to be running the service. Last Saturday in town, rumours were rife. Someone told me he had it that the First group were hot favourites, and someone else said that he had it on good authority that Stagecoach had good as won it. I don't know; I do know that we should be ready, as we come out of the eye of the storm, to congratulate the successful bidder and see how we can work best with them in the interests of travellers from Melksham, and travellers who want to go across Wiltshire - Chippenham to Salisbury, Swindon to Trowbridge, and so on. Written2005-10-25 07:17:17 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A disappointing letter I've just received a copy of a letter signed by Derek Twigg, the Minister with responsibility for rail at the Depratment for Transport in which he states that the line through Melksham is lightly used, and that they are looking to match supply with demand. As a newcomer to this role in May, it wasn't Mr Twigg who made the original decision and I'm taking the view that he's simply regurgitating old figures, so I've dropped him a note pointing out that traffic has grown by eight TIMES in 5 years, and if it continued at that rate the train would be overcrowded halfway through the period of the next frachnise. I've also asked him to define "lightly used"; his boss Alastair Darling defined it as being 2 users per train a while ago ... we currently have over 10 times than number ... Written2005-11-03 16:25:43 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Some scenes at Melksham Station Many thanks to Melksham Historic Society and Tony Seagers for old pictures of Melksham station. I'm putting a couple of them here with this post and other will be sprinkled throught the site - the idea is that you're going to look around and find them ;-)Melksham Station was opened in 1847, closed in 1966, reopened in 1985. I've now got pictures of all of those (I question the 1847 picture - were there photographs THAT early?). There isn't quite the threat of complete re-closure at the moment, but the threat to decimate the service would - in my view - take usage back to 2001 levels of 3000 ticket sales per year as against current levels or around 8 times that, and that represents 20000+ journeys, per year, forced onto the roads that are already more than busy. If each of 20000 people takes an extra half hour on their journey, it represents 416 days of people's time being wasted ... and remember that's only the people who leave or join the train at Melksham!  The top picture here shows "The Flying Scotsman" - the engine, not the train, approaching Melksham on a special excursion. I don't know the date, but it was probably just after 1960.The second picture was take perhaps 12 years later. The station had closed and beel demolished with just platforms left. One of the two running lines had been taken out of service, but the additional track hadn't been lifted - at least through the station. Written2005-11-06 18:03:34 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Monday morning, Melksham Station Monday morning saw me down at the station to meet a client off the morning train from Swindon (one of the one's that's threatened, remember) and it was heartening to see half a dozen people getting off and four getting on. Not great numbers, but a great deal more that I would have dreamed of seeing there even a couple of years ago. Did I tell you that the new Greater Westerrn Francishe bidders have been requested to draw up their plans for the next 7 years based on an average traffic growth of between 1% and 2% per annum? Did I tell you that ticket sales from Melksham (the only statistic that anyone's able to quote me to cover entire periods not just snapshots) have risen by a compound average of 50% per year for the past 5 years (3000 to 27000)? Did you hear that apporval has just been given for another 750 new houses to be built in Melksham? Written2005-11-08 06:23:50 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Busy train at Melksham Station pickup of a customer yesterday morning ... off the 09:12 arrival from Swindon. And the train was packed - not QUITE standing but nearly so; I estimate that there were 50 passenger or so. Another statistic to add to the pot! But, seriously, why so busy? I understand that a train had broken down on the main line, and passengers from Chippenham to Bath and Bristol were travelling via the Swindon to Southampton service as far as Trowbridge and changing there onto the Portsmouth to Bristol and Cardiff line. Is it fair to include this use in our statistics then? Yes, absolutely it is. It's not the first time that the line has been used for diversions such as this, and I'm sure it won't be the last. And is we started excluding exceptional days (either because they're especially quiet or busy) from our logs, then we're not painting a true overall picture. Yesterday, those travellers on the line who are NOT regulars were using and valuing it every bit as much as the regulars. Written2005-11-11 05:06:54 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Forum Archives available The forum archives are now available for you to browse from an index page, with the most recent listed first. Written2005-11-12 17:25:04 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A THOUSAND visitors I'm not a great one for page counts on web sites - the last thing you want to be told when you visit Tesco is that you're their 1000-th customer that day. However, I made an excpetion on this site by putting a visitor counter on our front page so that anyone (including you, and including any represenatives, officials and decision makers who come by) can get a realistic impression of the interest that this one personal site alone has generated. Ladies and Gentlemen, in just three months from a standing start, we've had over 1000 DIFFERENT visitors here. "There was little reaction when we published our consultation document" say the folks who put out the invitation to tender for the Greater Western Franchise, and who am I to doubt them? But perhaps that was because the withdrawal of the TransWilts service was hidden deep in a long document which (in its web form at least) was at an obscure URL. Did you know that papers published in September under Freedom of Information even reported discussion between various groups of civil servants as to how they could lessen the reaction to consultation! I put it to you that a thousand visitors to this site represents many more who would be interested too if they had stumbled across it (it's just my private site, remember, with a domain name I registered for 2 quid and worked on by my wife and I!), and many many more who aren't on line and looking. 27000 tickets sold last year .... A nearly full train last Wednesday when I was last at the station ... Queueing in thge tourist information behind people booking for the Santa special ... Please, Mr Whitehall, be brave and actually respond to the interest and give us the service that we're crying out for and which I'm sure you know, in your heart, WILL continue to boom. Written2005-11-15 23:27:14 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| What does it cost to run a train? I use the train. I've done so all my 50 years ... from commuting to school in the London suburbs from the age of 7 right through to taking the train into Bristol a week or two back. I've been shocked at some fares that I feel are extortionate (open return, Chippenham to London , 90 pounds, springs to mind) and delighted at the good value of others (3 quid from Keynsham into Bristol recently). But I've taken the finances for granted - I've never though whether I'm paying less of more than the service costs to provide. Such figures are hard to come by. What have I learnt? By heresay, by mental arithemetic and more, I can draw you up a balance sheet for running a single coach train on (and dedicated to) the Westbury to Chippenham-or-Swindon route. Hire of train 100000 (one hundred thousand) pounds per year Staffing 250000 (quarter of a million) pounds per year Track access charges and fuel 100000 (one hundred thousand) pounds per year Other costs - say 50000 (fifty thousand) pounds per year. The top three figures were given to me as the major, encompassing expenses so I think that servicing, replacement vehicle when in for major service, etc are included. My final 50k is a bit of contingency. Now - let's take a traffic level of 75000 passengers per annum (my current estimate is above this based on Melksham ticket sales and the proportion of people staying on / getting off the train) and you have an income, at 8 pounds per journey (current prices - 9.60 single, Westbury to Swindon; 6.80, single, Melksham to Swindon), of 600,000 pounds - or a profit of 20%. But this is the cost for the train on Westbury - Chippenham or Swindon full time; that's allowing for another four round trips a day (to Swindon) or a total of about 15 journeys a day (hourly) Westbury to Chippneham both of whihc would give a higher income. So why isn't this service being run for a profit? 1. It is - I don't think Wessex trains is subsidised except for 1 train a day at the moment. 2. They want to keep rolling stock requirements and main line occupation down under the new franchise 3. There's so much extra paperwork and admin that I haven't costed 4. As things stand, under the distribution of income for this line only 40% goes to the company running the service. The other 60% goes to the company running the London to Bristol service under a knock for knock agreement known as orcat Point 4 is a "killer". The service takes 600000 pounds. It costs 500000 to run. But the company running it is only allowed to have 240000 pounds of the money it takes. Please, dear knowledgable readers (I know there are a few of you there), send me feedback and corrections to this expose. It's probably not a suprise, but these figures aren't exactly published and easily to hand! Written2005-11-16 15:52:13 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Timetable - Melksham to Reading and London Many people find the timetable sheets displayed at the station hard to follow ... so I've put together a summary set for the new schedule (from 10th December). Timetable link here - separate sections for Swindon to Southampton via Melskam, for Melksham to Bath and Bristol, and for Melksham to London. Here's a sample:
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| Plus a footnote - Melksham to London Addition to yesterday's Melksham - London - Melksham timetable The 07:41 service to London that arrives at 11:15 is the National Express Coach - although it's not a train I've included it in the timetable as it does provide a hassle-free alternative route to London to the train. I have NOT included local buses to Chippenham and train connections from there, since most people don't want to struggle of local buses and onto trains with a need (in Chippenham) to haul their luggage over the footbridge. Oh - and am I right in thinking that the 234 bus still does NOT serve Chippenham station even though there's what must be an expensive new bus interchange there? Written2005-11-21 19:11:10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A bustle before the 17:02 I seem to have spent all my week on pickup / dropoff runs for the station .... our training course today was attended by six people ... only two drove, three had arrived (and left) by train, and we offered the final one a lift to Bristol Airport. The station was brutally windswept and cold when I dropped our customers off there a few minutes before the 17:02 .... I didn't know whether to laugh of cry when I saw that our little shelter was already filled with numerous people waiting for the train! Written2005-11-24 20:46:12 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| STILL worth writing. To MP, To Dft, to bidders. [i]" I have been meaning to write to my MP about this for a while now, and your site has spurred me into action."[/i] .... quoted with permission. Excellent. Internally at Department for Transport, the decision has probably been made already as to who is to operate our train (or if we can do better trains, plural) for the next seven years. [b]But as the service levels and timetables are fine tuned, it can do nothing but good for the parties concerned to continually be reminded just how important the TransWilts service that provides the ONLY rail service to the growing town of Melksham is. That ticket sales are up, up, up - all be it from a very low point five years ago ... and so on.[/b] In fact ... it's probably more important that the successful bidder gets some updates from us over the next couple of months as they negotiate / plan details. Written2005-11-25 07:50:02 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Keeping the campaign tail up I was delighted to get a call from the Wiltshire Times yesterday evening ... looking for an update on "Save the Train" and one or two other things. Hopefully we'll get a few more mentions in the next edition or two. I had been expecting new visitors to this web site to tail off as the story got older - it's a tough to keep something in the headlines - but on the contrary I have noticed that the new visitors to the front page that I log are getting more-per-week not less. We're getting on the map. On a purely personal (and own work) level, it's been a quiet week train-wise for me. For that last couple of weeks "the station run" was almost daily with customers arriving and leaving, but this week we're running rather different private stuff and it's not bringing the train traffic. Written2005-11-30 06:16:09 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Don't drink and drive - drink and train. I was watching Alastair Darling, the minister for transport, on the TV last night ... on the set of Coronation Street, and launching the Christmas "don't drink and drive" campaign. Good for him - he has my support in that. Public transport - if it's available and running - is an excellent way for folks to get home after an evening in the pub. We're fortunate to have an evening train from Swindon, and a late bus (11 p.m.) from Bath to Melksham. An excellent way to get home after the office party! Written2005-12-02 07:37:14 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Driving customers away? We had customers commuting by train to Melksham on Thursday and Friday last week for a course - or so they (and we) had hoped. On Thursday, they travelled on the 08:30 Bristol to London express to Chippenham, changed into the Melksham train there, and arrived on time. A good journey - how it should be. Thursday evening and the 17:02 from Melksham was cancelled. I telephone National Rail Enquiries to ask about alternative arrangements and was told that they knew of none and that the next train was at 21:33. I put my customers on the bus to Bath! Friday morning, and I got a phone call from Bath. The Bristol express was being diverted and after Bath it wasn't stopping until Reading; no-one at Bath could tell them when the next service to Chippenham would be, and in any case the connection would have long gone. They got the bus again and arrived with us about an hour late and not in the best of spirits / moods. On Friday evening, they didn't even try for the train ... and who can blame them? Written2005-12-04 08:10:47 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Latest official answer To me, via my MP "The Greater Western franchise will commence in April 2005, with the proposed timetable being introduced in December 2006. Under the proposal the trains that run from Swindon to Westbury are planned to be reduced from five trains a day to two trains a day. These trains are lightly loaded, require significant subsidy and are poor value for money. The remaining two trains will be timed to allow for commuting journeys between Melksham and Swindon. Feedback from consultees will be used in negotiations with the preferred bidder whilst finalising the specification for the new frachise - DEREK TWIGG" Signed by Derek Twigg, a minister at the Department for Transport, on 8th November. Forwarded to me by my MP on 28th November, received within the last couple of days. I note the work "proposal" still in use and that feeback WILL be used. So there's an encouragement for us to write to Derek at 76 Marsham Street, London SW1 4DR and let him know our views and point out the rapidly growing traffic figures, the usage in spite of all the reliability problems we've had ... Written2005-12-04 08:14:01 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| At Temple Meads today I was at Temple Meads today (5th December) looking to pick up pocket timetables for the service that starts next Sunday, but "we haven't got them in yet". Never mind ... WH Smiths had a copy of the National Rail Timetable for sale, and I'm now 12 pounds poorer and with 2752 pages to read. I'll be checking the Swindon - Chippenham - Melksham - Trowbridge - Westbury - Warminster - Salisbury - Southampton timetable that I put up recently from online sources. I think I got it mostly right ... I certainly surmised the the sunday evening train is now scheduled to arrive in Melksham at 20:49 and not leave until 20:59. Written2005-12-05 16:42:10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Melksham and TransWilts train service - closure by stealth? * Melksham is a town with a population of over 20,000 and growing - there's much new construction in the area and a further 750 house development was approved just last month. * Melksham is served by five trains a day (slightly fewer at weekends) on the Swindon to Southampton service, and ticket sales have grown steadily from 3200 per year (five years ago) to 27435 last year. That's a seven fold increase. For every passenger who joins or leaves a train, 3 or 4 stay on (personal observation of all trains on a single day). * The request for bids for the new Greater Western Franchise calls for the current service of 68 trains a week to be replaced by just 20 trains a week with a commuter run to Swindon in the morning, back in the late afternoon, and a round trip during the evening. * This "proposed" new service is due to come into effect in December 2006. Consultation has been poor and I believe that local requirements / suggestions have not been taken into account. It should be a "no brainer" that a service that's grown this rapidly should be encouraged and nurtured but the reverse seems to be the case. Government actions: 1. The bid request announced the proposed withdrawal of the service in one line on 32 of a long document. No reason was given. 2. Consultations on what should be in the bid were held AT THE SAME TIME as the invitation to tender was issued, so that responses could not effect the initial bid process though - perhaps - they can now effect the fine tuning of the contract awarded. 3. The Department for Transport consulted with the Strategic rail authority and discussed how consultation could be minimised. (Information obtained under Freedom of Information). 4. Although the bidding process is running quickly, the Department for Transport is very slow to answer questions. I'm still waiting for a reply to a letter of 5th October, for example. The Department wrote to my MP on 8th November telling him that Roger Jones would reply ... I still await that reply. 5. Such replies as we HAVE received consistently tell us that traffic levels are low and that's why the service is being reduced, but requests to define what is meant by low traffic levels have never been answered. Ticket sales for Melksham are higher than for many other stations - even termini such as Wick and Fishguard rank lower. It looks rather like the planned new service has been dreamed up to run a service without having a train assigned to the line at all. An early service will go up to Swindon in the morning and the stock will run the Swindon to Cheltenham service during the day. It will come back in the evening and provide an extra train as - perhaps - a token gesture; the current evening train is the least used of the day and I can only think that the new service proposed is for operational reasons rather than passenger level reasons. The current operating environment: 1. Trains on the Swindon to Westbury and Southampton line always seem to be the first to be cancelled. I know of 5 services (that's 7%) in the last week, yet Wessex Trains clain to run over 99% of their services. 2. Northbound through trains to Southampton have already been cut back to Westbury (although Southbound ones are most still through services). 3. Waits of up to 27 minutes have been introduced into schedules of the remaining through trains at Westbury. As from 11th December, there's even a service that's scheduled to sit at Melksham station for 10 minutes. 4. The morning train from Westbury to Swindon was retimed to run 20 minutes earlier making it much less attractive for people working in that town - it just gets there too early. 5. In the event of engineering works or accident on nearby mainlines, the service through Melksham is delayed or withdrawn. We were without local trains (apart from the 05:52 to Swindon and 06:56 to Southampton) for 2 weeks in August 2004, for example. Requests to stop the expresses which have to slow right down for the curve through the station were rejected. 6. Connections at Swindon are NOT held so that anyone travelling from London will find that there's no onward train available in the event of a delay on the main line. That's happened twice (to my knowledge) just to the afternoon train in the last 2 weeks. 7. Some connections at Westbury are truely dreadful. It's now impractical to make a return journey on what used to the main line from Weymouth unless you leave there just after lunch. The one later train leaves you stranded for 2 and a half hours at Westbury. The 06:56 to Southampton which should provide a good connection to a London train at Westbury misses the connection by 3 minutes. 8. For 8 weekends recently, the trains were replaced by buses from Westbury right through to Swindon even though the works were limited to / on the Westbury to Bristol stretch. I know that work was being done at Bradford on Avon and at Keynsham on some weekends (neither on our line), and question whether our service really had to be suspended of if it was just stopped as an operating convenience. 9. Although goverment and operator talk a great deal about the Swindon commuter run (probably because they're saving that element), in practise much of the traffic on the line is long distance and oddball journeys. On a recent day, travellers questioned were making journeys that included to/from Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, South Wales and London. I can also document recent journeys ... York, Bolton, Colchester, Edinburgh. I estimate that such journeys make up a good proportion (perhaps even 50%) of the traffic. The station at Melksham: 1. There's no public telephone as there is supposed to be at every station; Wesses trains have a special dispensation NOT to provide one. 2. Timetables are part of a complex table and don't show the connections that people want to London, Bath and Bristol. 3. Signage is poor and the stations' in the back of an industrial estate which discourages timid travellers. 4. Interchange to bus services in non-existant. Even though buses pass the end of the station approach, they don't stop anywhere nearby and they are timed such that they do not connect. Publicity: 1. First Group's publicity suggests catching a bus to Melksham from Chippenham if you're coming by train - even though that's a walk across Chippenham whereas the connecting train leaves from the same platform. 2. Wessex trains make little mention of the line in their publicity and include it only in a complex timetable that doesn't show the journeys that many people want to make. The new timetable handout from 11th December still wasn't available (at Temple Meads, Bristol) on 5th. 3. Q Jump (on line booking - part of TheTrainLine.com) can't find the service to Melksham (I've had this reported several times and had to assure people that there really IS a train). 4. National Rail Enquiries could only off the advise that "the next train is at 21:33" when I asked them for alternative suggestions when the 17:02 to Swindon was cancelled last Thursday. 5. The West Wiltshire Public Transport timetable that used to be issued regularly was replaced by a BUS timetable recently, so it no longer shows the train service. What call is there for service? Speak to people in Melksham and they'll tell you 1. They would use the service if it was more reliable 2. They would use the service if it was more frequent 3. They would use the service if it the station was improved 4. They would use the service if they knew about it! A recent survey by the county council at Chippenham Station estimated that some 70 people a day from Melksham drive to Chippenham and park there to go on the train. That probably makes more money in car parking charges than they would get from having everyone on the train! The platforms at Chippenham are signalled for two way working and trains can be / have been reversed there. With a single 153 running an hourly shuttle from Chippenham to Westbury, I estimate that traffic levels would increase a further 3 fold. I encourage research to prove (or otherwise) this estimate In other words ... if only the mandrins actually LOOKED at the service and situation and allowed the provision of something appropriate, it would really work out logistically, environmentally and even financially. On 13th November, I invited Roger Jones, divisional manager from franchies at the department for transport, to visit the line for himself. I've yet to receive a reply. Written2005-12-06 07:13:09 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| From the rumour mill At a time when everyone's waiting with baited breath to find out who's going to be operating our trains (such as remain) from next April, there seems to be a lot of rumours and not a great deal of hard fact cloating around. Alas, the only rumour that is NOT floating around is any thought of a reprive for the Melksham services. Putting it all together ... I THINK that one of the bidders is being dropped about now - and it's up to that bidder whether or not they go public and admit it. The announcement is still scheduled for the week of 19th December and I've even heard it said that two sets of papers will be signed so that there are no authoritative leaks ahead of time with one set of papers just being torn up. But coming from left field ... a suggestion that the announcemnt may be sprung on us next Wednesday. In all cases / rumours, there's no suggestion we'll know any details which will trickle out and be planned after the main announcement. And that perhaps means that this will be a good time to do a little further lobbying! I'm not exactly sure how the EXACT date matters to us as rail users, mind; it's certainly coming in the run up to Christmas and looks a bit like an "announce and run" where the folks concerned may be hoping that any fuss has time to die down before they're called on to answer it. So who gets it? Ah - rumours for First Group, and rumours for Stagecoach, with perhaps the favourite being First Group and them being followed be Stagecoach and then talk of the SW trains franchise (currently held by Stagecoach) going to First. There's a lack of positive rumours for National Express but, frankly, I don't know. ADDED - MIDDAY From today's Guardian ... Stagecoach is likely to lose out on two key rail franchises which are due to be awarded by the end of the year, and said bidding was at such a "fever pitch" that prices had reached unreasonable levels. The firm, based in Perth, Scotland, recently missed out on the Integrated Kent franchise and expects to hear by Christmas that it has also failed to win the Thameslink/Great Northern and Greater Western licences. Stagecoach has not held discussions with the Department for Transport in recent weeks even though it believed talks would be necessary to agree terms on the two franchises. Details Written2005-12-08 06:18:41 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A Quandry Thank goodness I'm independent! That I can express my views and ideas without having to ensure that they're the views of others too. I had a crazy idea. A silly thought playing around with figures and schedules and data, and something that David Redgewell said at the West Wilts User Group meeting on Wednesday; struck a chord and perhaps not in a direction he intended, It's radical. But there's a way to increase passenger journeys on trains by around half a million a year on the TransWilts corridor (i.e. on trains to and through Melksham) AND to reduce the operating costs / save money in the grand scheme of things. Problem is, it involves taking off some duplicated / parallel running on the neighbouring line and using some of the stock released to provide a service on a line which is otherwise closed (to all intents and purposes) except in the evening. Questions: a) If Melksham had a reliable hourly train to Chippenham, would people be prepared to change there for Swindon, Reading and London? b) If you want to get from Salisbury to Bristol in the early afternoon, how about using the 13:41. Is the 13:51 really needed too? c) If you want to get from Bristol to Salisbury mid afternoon, how about the 15:40. Or is that unacceptable and will you insist on travelling on the 15:52? d) There's a train from Westbury to Salisbury at 09:31. There's another at 09:37. Is this because there's a lot of traffic to be carried at that time of day? Is the 09:37 really needed? Written2005-12-09 06:58:00 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Santa Claus at Melksham Station To Swindon on the 13:35 from Melksham - a two car set that was pretty full of people headed for an afternoon's shopping and to see Santa on the return train. A fair sprinkling of other people on board too, and there were already about a dozen regular passengers waiting to get on the return train there - which wasn't even due to set off for another quarter of an hour.The return train was - well - like rush hour. People standing all over the place, people having to push to get to the door at Chippenham and other having to step off the train to let them off before reboarding. Good to see the train this busy. Santa didn't have time to make his full rounds, so he graciously got off at Melksham and we arranged to take him on to Westbury when he had seen all the children. All had a good time - THANK YOU SANTA, and thank you Gordon, and Wessex trains, and everyone else who helped to make it possible. Further pictures on my own web site via this link. Would put them here, but I'm set up on the "wellho" site to throw up a lot of pictures very quickly. Please let me know if you would like a complete image of any pictures that show your son / daughter / mum / dad with Santa! Written2005-12-10 19:54:29 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Train service fading away too? The one remaining sign at Melksham station is badly faded. We used to have a second sign but it disappeared and hasn't been replaced; I understood that there were to be two new signs shortly (that was a while ago) - perhaps I misunderstood, or perhaps it takes twice as long and cost twice as much as a normal sign would because it has to be up to "railway standards" for health and saftey reasons.The train service appears to be fading away too - after the PACKED train we were on on Saturday evening, I understand that there was a crew shortage and the evening train wasn't going to be running. Yesterday, following the lunchtime train on line, it disappeared in a puff of smoke ... and I'm strongly suspecting it didn't run. A quick glance through other schedules / trains that were about at the time and I think that the line was probably chocker with diverted 125s anyway. But ending on a positive note - I see that the 07:45 to Swindon is shown as ON TIME this morning ... Written2005-12-12 07:38:13 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greater Western Franchise awarded The First Group - currently running the Great Western and Great Western Link - has been awarded the franchise to operate the Greater Westerrn Franchise for the next 7 (or is it 10?) years. Lots of news and press releases around - all talking very positive things including some of the threatened services - but I've not been able to find any mention on Melksham. Fading, like the sign at the station ...Anyhow, I've dropped them a line so that I know what to say here (!) ... am awaiting a reply. Congratulations on winning the Greater Western Franchise. I've had a read through the information there and I can't find any mention of Melksham. As there was some doubt with regards to the future of services here, I wounder if you can confirm whether they're to be maintained at the current level, or if the service level is to be improved or otherwise. I look after the web site http://www.savethetrain.org.uk and I'm looking to update it with accurate information very soon - a quick reply would be much appreciated. Further links - BBC First Group DFT - First and second pages Picture - on board a recent weekend train from Swindon to Southampton Written2005-12-13 21:37:40 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First Group - First answer on Melksham Yesterday, the Greater Western Franchise which includes the operation of trains on the TransWilts service (Swindon to Salisbury and Southampton) was awarded to the First Group. Although detailed press releases were issued by the Department for Transport and First Group, I could find no mention of Melksham, so I dropped them an email asking for clarification. The following is quoted from their response: "First Great Western is committed to maintaining and improving the service we provide. We very much appreciate the support from our customer and we will be looking at the faculties provided at all station including Melksham. I hope that we will continue to provide the level of service you would expect ..." Current services scheduled are 68 trains a week (5 each way Monday to Friday, 4 on Saturday and 3 on Sunday). Bidders for the franchise were asked to quote for a base service reduced to 20 trains a week, but also to submit enhanced plans. I remain unclear as to what level of service First Group are planning to provide and I hope to hear from them, and report, further. Melksham is a growing town with a population of some 24000, and just under 1000 new homes approved or under construction. From a low base five years ago, rail ticket sales (the statistic quoted by the office of rail regulator) have increase at 35% per annum and what were near-empty trains are now much better loaded. The nearby town of Bradford-on-Avon, half the size of Melksham, has 10 time Melksham's ticket sales ... in no small measure due to the fact that the train calls there once an hour. People in Melksham tell me that they would use the train if it was more frequent and reliable, and I have no reason to doubt that an increase to an hourly service (even if it was a short working such as Chippenham to Westbury) would lead to a dramatic increase in traffic levels. I am glad to read that First Group is committed to maintain and improve the services they provide .... perhaps along these lines? I certainly hope so. Written2005-12-14 04:52:26 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First specific Melksham rumour ... From a "reliable source" .... "The word from First Group is that the spec for Melksham is as per the bid document, so I'm afraid it looks like the service will be cut." Written2005-12-14 08:33:46 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Virtually no service - or excellent service. Request the latter. My contacts at both the BBC and the Wiltshire Times have been told by First Group (when pressed) that the Melksham service is to be "at the ITT level" - in other words slashed. It hasn't been confirmed direct to me you; I'm awaiting an answer from them. The First Group is a commercial company and is profit motivated. And they could make a profit - and a handsome one - from a good service to Melksham. See front page of the site (now changed to reflect this) and my open letter to their MD. Timetabling takes place early next year for the service from December. Please ... write to the company and our representative on their user panel ... Written2005-12-15 12:10:02 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Should badgers be culled? Why am I writing about badger culls this morning? Because I was listening to the radio as I drove to the station for the 05:52 (Melksham to Swindon) this morning and I heard a minister interviewed on Radio 4's farming today ... {b}"This is a genuine consultation exercise"[/b} he said concerning requests for input. And that struck me as a very odd comment ... [i]why on earth would a consultation NOT be genuine[/i] The consultation on the services to be provided on our railway line in the future was done in parallel with the issue of the tender documents - thus cannot have had any influence on the tender documents. The only effect it can have had (and it HAS for the sleeper service who got support from their MPs) was to have the decision makers say - "Oops - can't do that - too much public protest" about certain issues. In other words, we started with a playing field that wasn't level. Oh well. Makes me hopping mad ... but the game has moved on ... the game has moved on ... [i]the game has moved on[/i]. (I keep reminding myself). We have one last opportunity to influence - now - the First Group to realise that it's in their interest as a commercial operation to provide a decent train service to Melksham. And - have a look at the new front page, my letter to Alison Forster, and you'll see that it IS in their interest. Let's hope that they are open to a genuine consultation over the next few short weeks before the timetabling meetings for 2007 after which any change of direction would be something of a miracle. Written2005-12-16 06:20:43 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Melksham rail traffic up 33% in 3 months Yesterday, I went down to Melksham Station and counted passengers on every train, and numbers boarding / leaving too (good to meet some of you I've not met before, and put faces to names too). I had done exactly the same things three months ago to the day - also a Friday - so that it gives me two sets of numbers I can realisically compare. Details of each count: 16th September 2005 16th December 2005 In summary - 33% more traffic yesterday than in September; I'm not terribly sure I can give any specific reasons for the increase - I didn't / don't ask detailed questions especially of people on their own at night. Some people, though, I do talk with and destinations yesterday included London, Tiverton and Neath as well as the more local traffic - a lot of people up and down to Swindon, Bristol Abbey Wood, Salisbury, etc. Several issues struck me. Firstly, the utter desparate hardship that the loss of the service would put onto some people who cannot drive for medical reasons, and how expensive and tough things are for them already. Secondly, how the whole system is integrated and the people who travel up on the one "outbound" train in the morning come back on VARIOUS trains - so the cutting our of the less used trains would also lead to a loss of traffic on the few remaining ones. The survey's a snapshot on two days that, as far as I know, were both typical. Is the general trend towards upward traffic levels? I believe so. I used to be the only one waiting for my train on the platform, but now there are always other people - a quote from one passenger I was chatting to. The 07:45 was standing room only yesterday according to another. Written2005-12-17 10:17:46 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Upside Down It's all upside down.Melksham is growing. Traffic on the roads is growing to beyond the point of congestion ... and it's growing on the trains too, which can comfortably take the extra load. So "they" are pruning the train service to a withered arm and piling more traffic on the roads "Traffic figures are low" they tell me, and point me to ticket sales figures that are a year out of date but were the latest available when the invitation to tender went out. "What do you mean by low" I ask, and they don't reply. But I know that if they keep growing compound by 35% per annum ... as they have for five years, and they did in the year recently published, that they won't be low for long. Quoting Private Eye (not my normal reading, but Dad had a copy): "Growing Road congestion is a potential banana skin for the Department of Transport and its new policy of slashing tail services in English regions. But officials have a cunning plan: ignore it" Written2005-12-18 18:12:38 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Every journey has a story Last Friday, I counted 158 train journeys from, to, or through Melksham. And that's 158 stories as to who and why people are travelling. Some people travelling regularly for work, some for pleasure, some to visit family. Some short distance, many long distance. Lisa suggest to me that I tell individuals' stories - I know many - once a week, and copy them to the people who are going to be deciding timetabling issues in the new year. But that would be an invasion of privacy to name names. But I'll give you a flavour ... only the name is being changed. Darren is a friendly guy, who loves life and the countryside and he works on a local farm, living there most of the time in a tied flat. He used to drive, but due to health problems he's no longer allowed to, so he relies on public transport and taxis which drain his income terribly ... so he often gets lifts. I met him at the station last Friday, when I was "counting" the 17:02 to Swindon - he strolled up a few minutes before the train was due and I asked him if was heading for Chippenham or Swindon. "No - Salisbury" he says. The opportunity of a lift from a colleague had been too good for him to pass up - saving a taxi - so he was going to stand in the freezing cold for an hour and wait for the Salisbury train, where he had a lift arranged. A charming young man - I chatted with him for much of that hour and learnt of his love of horses. I admire his positive approach in spite of the pack he's been dealt, and I come to realise what a lifeline this little train service of ours is to some remarkable people. Wouldn't it be a crying shame and a slap in the face to Darren, and others like him, to withdraw such a vital link. Written2005-12-19 08:59:15 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| New fares from 2nd January 2006 Most UK train fares are increasing on 2nd January; in the case of Wessex trains, by an average of 3.9%. Here are some fares (old and new) from Melksham, with a variety of others thrown in for comparison. Note - there is a fearsome range of alternative fares. For the following table, I have priced the cost of a ticket purchased at the time of travel, for an unrestricted return journey made within a single weekday - in other words, a standard class open return OR a day return if it's valid by any train. Pence per mile travelled makes a vey interesting study!
Note - I understand that the Chippenham fare may be used for Melksham to London provided that both journeys are made via Chippenham / Swindon. The fare above is also valid via Westbury or via Trowbridge and Bath. In all cases, prices from The Trainline - E & O E Written2005-12-20 06:18:32 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No final decision yet Evening of 20th December, I received strong confirmation from First's Customer Services that (quote) "Final decisions HAVE NOT YET BEEN MADE". Can I ask you to let people know, and to encourage people to contact First Great Western's MD - Alison Forster - at 1, Milford Street, Swindon or their customer service department at Freepost SWB40576, Plymouth PL4 6ZZ * The train service through Melksham is likely to be slashed by 68% in spite of a rise in use (ticket sale statistics from the Office of the Rail Regulator) compound 35% for each of the last five years. * Whereas trains were quiet five years ago, they're now much busier and there's every likelyhood that the growth would continue - especially if the reliability - one of First's great selling points - and timetable was improved. This can be done, I believe, at little extra cost. * First have committed to listen to Customer's input and have JUST written to tell me that a final decision has NOT yet ben made. Link back to main site --------------------------------------------- Copy of correspondence f.y.i. -------------------------------------------- On 14th December, I wrote: I look after the web site http://www.savethetrain.org.uk and I'm looking to update it with accurate information very soon - a quick reply would be much appreciated. On 20th December, Gary Badcoe for First replied: First Great Western is determine to improve the quality of service throughout Greater Western franchise when it comes into operation. This will mean that some services may be withdrawn, however this will only be done with careful consideration and after evaluating the needs of customers in effected areas. Final decisions have not yet been made and I will certainly make sure that your valuable comments are passed on to the relevant managers. Written2005-12-21 06:45:31 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Even new stations don't always survive Between 1985 and 1990, 116 new stations opened on British Railways, including Melksham, and 14 closed. Some new lines were even opened around that period and some new services added, and most have done well. But the odd one has closed again - the train from Kettering to Corby is, once again, a bus ...  The economics of running the train service through Melksham stack up well against Corby - in that case, the train was the only passenger service on the line and so the track upkeep had all to be offset against the fares; not so in the case of the line through Melksham, where the line is maintained anyway for trains on diversion, such as this Cheltenham to London express pictured last Saturday morning. What a suprise it was for the regulars when the distant two-tone horn turned into this rather then the "153" unit!Melksham is an integral location on First Greater Western's network! They've just been awarded the contract to provide the service for the next 10 years and the next couple of weeks is an excellent time to let them know what sort of service would suit YOU and the town. Remember - although they're old hands at running railways, they're new to stopping at Melksham so I'm sure they'll appreciate friendly but honest input. Written2005-12-23 12:53:50 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
A comparison across the world Yesterday morning, we took the tram from Powell Street up to Fisherman's Wharf and returned at lunchtime. In the afternoon, we rode the BART (again from Powell) out to the International Airport to meet-and-greet the last member of our Christmas group, then we rode back into the city centre together. We have a car available to us, but in this City I wouldn't dream of using it - the public transport is frequent and reliable, the boarding points and stations clean and welcoming, and they're grouped together to provide great interchanges. System maps show all the modes of transport, and a system of interchange tickets lets you transfer easily between them. The fare system is easy enough to be understandable. Prices are low, and that encourages high utilisation. The systems run daily, even including Christmas day, from 5 or 6 in the morning to beyond midnight. I'm not trying to paint a perfect picture - BARTs were being delayed by 5 to 7 minutes due to wet rail conditions yesterday, and display signs asking you to please keep your tickets dry so they don't jam the machines. The number of people asking for money around the station entrances is even worse that Bath.You may have guessed that Lisa and I are not spending Christmas in the UK - we're on an occasional visit to her country of origin, and I find myself drawn to make comparisons. Any quantitative comparisons are unfair - the economy here is very different, we're in a major city - but still we can observe what works well here for public transportation and think how that does, could, or should apply to our own areas of North West and West Wiltshire. I couldn't resist the picture - utterly nothing to do with public transport, save that people have to travel to see the sealions at Pier 39. I haven't told you, but I guess you know where we are? You can see pictures, and more comment on my "wiki" ... Written2005-12-24 15:06:54 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Christmas service - unrequired, or just unprovided? The rail network right across the UK was shut down yesterday, and it's pretty close to that today. That's not always been the case ... I recall in my youth a skeleton service on Christmas day, and quite a good selection on Boxing day. For Christmas day, fair enough - in the UK few people are wanting to travel, but 26th is much more a get out and do things day, and perhaps the railways are missing out on an opportunity - perhaps they're being run of the convenience of the managers and staff at this time of year, rather than for the customers. It must have been about five years ago that my son Chris was coming home to Melksham for Christmas, from Bognor Regis. Christmas Eve, and the last train was earlier-than-usual and so that was the service he had to take after work. He got nearly to Southampton, where the train stopped about a mile short of the station for an extended period - information was that someone had committed suicide - and so he dragged in to Southampton after the last train to anywhere "Salisbury and beyond" had left. A sea of people, all who had missed the last connection for Christmas, and abandoned by the railway companies. No alternative transport ("Look - it's not our fault that someone committed suicide"), and utterly inadequate taxis. So a call from Chris and I drove all the way down there. Incredibly. some hour or two after the problem started, still a sea of people as I plucked Chris and a couple of people he'd been chatting with up, and we headed home for the holidays.  Here's a picture I took yesterday. I'm not in the UK this Christmas - this is what comes of having a partner who's roots were originally in another part of the world - and we were riding streetcars yesterday (25th December). I wish I had a better picture but it was wet, drab, and the crowds were such that I couldn't get much of a clear shotWritten2005-12-26 15:28:17 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Update Even in the quieter time around Christmas, I've received a letter from the First group promising me a personal reply in due course from their MD, and a letter from the Rail Passenger Commitees (I hope I have the right wording there) telling me that they ... will obviously be monitoring the situations such as Melksham and other affected stations ... Written2005-12-29 14:25:46 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| New year, 2006 I WAS going to say "HAPPY new year" and indeed, I personally make that wish. However, this is the year that the train service GETS SLASHED unless we can persuade the First Group to have a last minute change of heart. That's not impossible - the Bicester service is NOT to be cut as was proposed by the SRA and DfT - First DOES listen. But we don't have long - timetabling meetings happen very shortly now, so before you return to work, PLEASE write and express your view - I've put appropriate addresses here. First wrote to me a couple of days before Christmas telling me that a final decision had NOT been made, so here's your opportunity! Written2006-01-01 15:46:28 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bustitution - buses for trains on Saturdays and Sundays Note - trains are replaced by buses on Saturdays and Sundays throughout January. I've not been able to find an online timetable, but I have made a couple of enquires through timetable sites and find the journey time is extended from 25 to 55 minutes to Swindon. And I HAVE found this map:  Here's my guess as to the full bus timetable ... this is the one that Wessex trains used last September to November during the previous lot of engineering works. Update, 8th January. Pretty much correct - there's a sign up at the station now. Only difference is that the last SATURDAY bus from Swindon leaves at 23:06, Chippenham at 23:41, Melksham at 00:01 and arrives at Trowbridge at 00:16 and Wesbury at 00:31.  Written2006-01-06 18:02:13 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| New Sign Two new signs at Melksham station ....  Wesses trains - THANK YOU. New users (and remember that many people who travel to Melksham are long distance arrivals who have never been by train before) will now know where to get off, and won't get quite the same feeling of desolation when they arrive ... I do find it slighly ironic that the signs are labelled "Wessex Trains" ... Wesses trains have been operating the service for years, but have only put up signs with there name on 12 weeks before their franchise expires. Written2006-01-08 15:35:53 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The Meeting Season Now that Christmas and New Year are over, we're into the meeting season. And what a vital season this will be, with the First Group putting together their plans for the services on our line, which is a new service to them. I really hope they listen to inputs from the staff currently operating the service, and from their customers, and offer us a service which is both appropriate for their customers and profitable for them. My current ideal is a "clock face" service every 2 hours Westbury to Swindon and back and I have seen hints that this may be on the cards. 11th January - First's Customer Panel meets and Roger Newman is the representative for Melksham customers 13th January - Melksham Rail Development Group meets 16th January - First are holding a "meet the managers" session in Bristol; I'm looking for further details and hope to attend. Calendar and links to individual details Written2006-01-11 02:53:52 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Reply from MD of First Great Western I'm rarely slow to comment ... but today I'm a bit lost for words. And there's some things that I don't understand too. Have a look at the reply just received to my letter of a month ago from Alison Forster, who's the MD of First Great Western. Written2006-01-12 19:46:43 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wilts County Council could save the Melksham / Transwilts train Yesteday evening, I attended the meeting of the Melksham Rail Development Group. You can imagine some of the disappointment that the franchise has been awared for a decimated service in spite of all the growth in recent years. Indeed, the First group wrote (in a letter received this morning) "There are sound arguments against the planned changes, many of which you have detailed in your letter" (See that letter / report) but the decision appears to have been taken ... EXCEPT .... There's now a second stage of negotiation going on. Various county councils are "buying back" services from First - the Barnstaple line in Devon was quoted as an example. I'm told that they'll be getting to Wiltshire in due course. Wiltshire County Council's head of Environmental Services, which include public transport, is George Batten. He can be reached via G Batten Esq Director of Environmental Services Wiltshire County Council, Bythesea Road Trowbridge Wiltshire BA14 8JN and it might be worth dropping him a note; he has to deal with all of Wiltshire, so he might not be totally familiar with Melksham and the TransWilts train service. I've written to him, including a copy of my letter / report to First described above. It shouldn't cost a great deal to "buy back" the service; it would actually make better financial sense to fully utilise the resources that First will have than to run the rump service. Interestingly, the current service was arranged by Wiltshire County Council in association with Wales and West trains a few years ago. I would like to say "under a similar buyback arrangement" but the exact details are lost in the fog of time. Written2006-01-14 13:27:41 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| What does First pay the government for Greater Western? Here's a breakdown of the payments that First receives (for the next three years) then makes (for the following four years) for the task / honour of running trains Westward from London. 2006/07 First to RECEIVE a SUBSIDY of 97 million pounds 2007/08 First to RECEIVE a SUBSIDY of 46 million pounds 2008/09 First to RECEIVE a SUBSIDY of 14 million pounds 2009/10 First to make a PREMIUM PAYMENT of 20 million pounds 2010/11 First to make a PREMIUM PAYMENT of 111 million pounds 2011/12 First to make a PREMIUM PAYMENT of 168 million pounds 2012/13 First to make a PREMIUM PAYMENT of 233 million pounds At the end of 7 years, First will have made a net premium payment of 375 million pounds - an average of 53 million pounds per year. The figures sound huge, but then so are passenger numbers. To put them in perspective, there are 25 million journeys made into or out of Paddington station, First's busiest, every year. The 53 million pound payment is the equivalent of a 2 pound per head tax for arriving and departing passengers at Paddington, with no tax at all for customers using their services between any other two stations. First can relinquish the contract at that point without penalty, or they can carry on for a further 3 years: 2013/14 First to make a PREMIUM PAYMENT of 302 million pounds 2014/15 First to make a PREMIUM PAYMENT of 363 million pounds 2015/16 First to make a PREMIUM PAYMENT of 427 million pounds The headline figure of "First awareded a contract under which they pay the government 1.5 billion" is only strictly true if they chose to take those final three years, and if the figure aren't stacking up by that time I guess they might well decide they would do better to end at that point and bid for the next period. Sources - Local Transport Today and Office Of Rail Regulator Written2006-01-15 00:39:56 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Railway statistics and Melksham comparisons - how do we stand?
The average passenger journey was 33km in 1955 but that rose to 39km by 2004/05. In the same period, the number of passengers passing along a typical point on the railway system in a year rose from 1.37 million to 2.96 million. The passenger network shrunk by 40% in that period, and the freight-only network by a huge 75% to just 25% of what it was 50 years earlier. The longer average journey reflects the movement of trains away from the branch line of the pre-beeching era, and perhaps the movement of populations from inner suburbs to longer distance commutes. The figure that shows over twice the number of passengers along the average piece of track is a bit of a statistical quirk; that sort of rise will be very rare on any particular track section. It's just that it was the less used lines that were close in the 1960s so that the average is pushed up artificially. Looking at the quietest section of the TransWilts line from Thingley Junction via Melksham to Bradford South junction, we're "passing" some 100000 passengers a year at present on the local train and that will DROP even further below the national average if the service is slashed. I have no figures for how many passengers travel via Melksham at the weekend on trains on diversion in a typical year. But then if I look (and not too hard) I can find much higher figures - 25 million on the line out of London Paddington - and much lower figures such as 20000 on the line from Wick to Georgemas. In both cases I'm simply quoting ticket sales as they're line ends to a terminus. Written2006-01-16 01:27:20 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Winners and losers in the Devizes constituency There are three stations in the Devizes constituency of Michael Ancram and all of them look like they have a major change in service level or pattern under the new Greater Western franchise for which timetable changes come in to effect at the end of this year (December 2006). Through trains from London to Bedwyn are extended to Westbury (and one per day on to Frome). The extended service continues to run every hour, but published suggested timing show that only alternate trains will call at Bedwyn - that's a 50% cut in London services. The extended through trains will call at Pewsey - I don't know calling pattern details but the extra trains and stops will lead to the creation of new local travel possibilities such as Pewsey to Hungerford, and a vastly increased service to Reading, London and also to Westbury. All long distance trains through Melksham are to be withdrawn. A "rump" local service is to be provided on Monday to Friday, with one journey only to Swindon in the morning and back in the evening, and a single extra train at some other (as yet unconfirmed) time in the day. In summary, this is a 68% cut in services. I live in Melksham, so of course I'm a bit biased ... but I note that the Bedwyn cuts mean that people have to wait there for up to an hour for the next train, I note that the Melksham cuts will mean most train users will have to find alternative routes that will start them off on a bus and be much slower, and I note that our MP lives in Pewsey. Links - Current case for Melksham. The most effective way to get a sensible service for the future is to let the decision makers know what would be used and be profitable for them. Write to WILTS COUNTY COUNCIL to ask them to act - write to FIRST GREAT WESTERN to ask for more appropriate services - write to OUR MP to ask him to make representations - write to DEREK TWIGG, the minister with responsibility for rail services at the Department for Transport Written2006-01-17 04:56:44 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First want to hear your aspirations Source - Stakeholder meeting held by First Great Western in Bristol on Monday, 16th January: The timetable from December 2006 (known as "SLC2") based on the reduced service via Melksham in the franchise Invitation to Tender (known as "SLC1") is currently in progress and could be improved BASED ON A SOLID BUSINESS CASE. First Great Western and the Department for Transport are currently COLLECTING AND COLLATING DETAILS OF ASPIRATIONS and the contacts are: Lesley Coleman First Great Western Milford House 1, Milford Street Swindon SN1 1HL Peter West Great Western Franchise Manager Zone 31 Floor 3 Department for Transport Great Minster House 76 Marsham Street London SW1P 4DR I've put forward my case ( link - on line copy) to First and DfT but NOT to these names; I'll do so at the weekend with an intro letter tying it back to the Stakeholder meeting. My case is for a service every 2 hours (that's 8 trains a day each way) which makes, I believe, the strongest and most appropriate business case. I have NOT simply asked for "as is" retention as I believe that the best forward case for the next 7 to 10 years is not identical to what we've previously had - by correcting some issues with the old service (and with one or two difficult desisions especially on ticket prices) I know it can be profitable. Please write to the people named above too, saying what you think.. I'll be flattered if you choose to use some of my words, and equalyy delighted if you submit something that's a little different / from your own perspective. You might also write to other possible funders and supporters such as Wilts County Council and the South West Regional Assembly, encouraging them to contact Lesley and Peter. Both WCC and the SWRA can help with integrating transport to encourage higher traffic levels, and also in funding of infrastructure; extra help in these areas would make the service more attractive and up passenger numbers further. Written2006-01-19 08:13:55 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Repeat - PLEASE write in with your aspirations There are some days that my comments are so important that I don't want to overpost them too quickly. My please write to Lesley Coleman and Peter West to help save the service posted a couple of days ago was one of those. If you're reading this on the main forum, the article in question should be directly below. If you're in the archive, please follow the archive link. This will work if you don't know where you are too! Written2006-01-22 07:28:19 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Were they purchasing votes? I see in the newspaper this morning that the Government is writing off a load of 6.5 million pounds it made to the Rover group just before the last election in a vain, last-ditch attempt to save the company. That 6.5 million could have bought TWO brand new trains for the TransWilts service - to provide a through service every 2 hours direct from Salisbury to Swindon - and would have paid the running costs completely for the first three years too. Written2006-01-29 08:59:57 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Current status ... * Wessex trains run the service up to and including 31st March * First take over as from 1st April * Service of 5 trains per day each way (4 on Saturday, 3 on Sunday) continues until the 2nd weekend in December * Service is then reduced to 2 trains each way daily, Monday to Friday only. Timetables are already in place for the first three steps listed above, but there is still an element of doubt concerning the service as from December. At a stakeholder meeting in January, the First group stated that they were still collecting "aspirations" in order to plan the services that they should provide - however, they have also written to me and told me that without Department for Transport approval they cannot increase the service level. This is a small but important service that, frankly, I wouldn't have expected to have got the same careful attention as London to Bristol ... but it DOES deserve careful consideration and there's still time - probably just a week or two - for you to get your inputs to people like Peter West at the Department for Transport and Lesley Coleman at First (links to their addresses) so that - together - they can come to a careful decision. Ticket sales have grown - again - by 35% in the figures published AFTER the new service level was specified, and even since those newest figures I've noticed trains getting busier and busier. If Peter or Lesley is reading this, can I tell them that they'll earn our huge thanks and custom and respect if they're able to admit that the service level should be improved in the light of the recent data that the original decision makers simply didn't have. Written2006-01-29 18:06:53 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Further threats News of another threat - or perhaps a "Beeching 2" scare story - in the Independent. Article by Christian Woolmar. I've written myself horse over the last few weeks and I know that many of you have got in touch with Lesley Coleman and the illusive Peter West (has ANYONE heard back from him or from Roger Jones at the Department for Transport) and at least we have raised visibility of TransWilts and Melksham. I'm also looking to the County Council who consider the route has importance in their transport plan and to others to back up the case and perhaps (shock, horror) dip fingers in pockets. I'm keeping in touch with updates and snippets to all and sundry, and I've a couple of questions in to First that I'm waiting to hear back on ... but otherwise there's an element of "and now we must wait and see". If you're reading this but you've not written to both the Department for Transport AND First to let them know what you think, please take a few minutes to do so - there's postal addresses available and perhaps that's going to be noticed better than an email. Written2006-01-30 18:57:14 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Keep watching - coming to the boil! Theatre trip - after a long week, Lisa and I took the 17:02 north from Melksham which sat at Thingley junction for 20 minutes before pulling in to Chippenham and turning around to head back, empty stock, to Westbury .... Meanwhile - or rather, over the last couple of days, letters in from all and sundry ... and web site to be updated tomorrow as a result. We returned on the evening train. On time, and a cheerful conductor. Got chatting to a regular reader and occasional poster ... learnt a little more of yet another life to be made more complicated if the service goes .... Written2006-02-03 23:20:42 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Recent Correspondence Major update of incoming coirrespondence - see here. * George Batten of the County Council writes that it's unlikley they can afford to buy in services (but I note that planning signs have gone up in our street for bus stop improvements on what is a perfectly good pavement) * A reply from Peter West at the Department for Transport. Have a look at this one here. Odd positive flickers - for example it seems that we WILL have 2 trains each way each day on Saturday and Sunday, but also much of the story I've heard before about light responses and loading, while lacking any definition of what's meant by "light" ... and missing the point that I'm looking to help them lower the subsidy needed by providing a more appropriate service. * Lesley Coleman at First, confirming that she IS the one to pass the information on to appropriate people there. I still think - heck, it's her job - that she's managing the information flow to the people at the sharp end .... Written2006-02-05 08:54:03 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| From my postbag ... "After using the service again after a break of a couple of years I have been pleasantly suprised to find more people using it than before. It seems perverse to prune the service just when it is starting to bear fruit." I couldn't have put it better ... Written2006-02-07 07:14:42 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Timetable consultation coming up The timetabling meetings for 2007 (i.e. service from Dec 2006 onwards) are taking place this week with all the railway companies involved, and a draft is being sent out to the "Consultation List" on Friday or Monday. I'm told I'm on the list, so I'll be able to fill you all in here; please give me until late on Tuesday (that's 14th February) to get the appropriate information on line here. There's said to be a couple of weeks for feedback on the new timetables, and as well as posting up the details of the timings I'll tell you about any arrangements I know if you want to put feedback in. Written2006-02-08 05:25:22 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Waiting, with baited breath We should see some draft timetables over the next few days. What will they show? Any effect from our campaign? I'm hoping so, but, frankly, I think it's unlikely that we'll see the big prize of services at an appropriate level. The original ITT document provided for a rush hour train up to Swindon in the morning, back in the evening peak, and an additional return journey during the evening. That was Monday to Friday; weekend was woolly / not mentioned / taken to be a zero service. I'm hopeful that we'll have a couple of trains on Saturday and a couple on Sunday. I'm hopeful that the timing of services will be more "practical" than the original proposal. And if this is indeed the case, I'll feel some tinyt degree of success in getting the original ridiculous proposal looked at. I do get the impression, reading between the lines, that First have been instructed to cut the number of trains they have on the track and there's severe pressure to run our line with zero trains assigned to it. I've an open mind about the draft timetables; I want to look at the detail before I comment but I'm certainly prepared to help make suggestions of what would be good small alterations if necessary. And faciitating others to do so by helping with publicity while the consultation is open. Written2006-02-09 07:14:07 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Meeting with a local MP Yesterday, I spent 20 minutes with Dr Andrew Murrison who's the MP for Westbury - covering Trowbridge, Westbury, Dilton Marsh and Warminster stations on the "TransWilts". A part of the discussion related to the various threats / changes on other lines in his constituency - he's particularly concerned about the Bristol to Waterloo through service at the moment which is in a far earlier stage of consultation, but the discussions ranged much more widely too, especially looking at footfall statistics, ticket sales stats, and what they do (and don't) show.  I left behind a whole load of information for his researcher, who has a rail background, to look into further. in going through the highlights, one of the things that especially interested Andrew was the dramatic ticket increases for Melksham - and he was surpised to find that these were industry official figures rather than something we had come up with. Andrew has asked for a meeting with Derek Twigg at the Department for Transport - main topic on his agenda is "The Wateloo" but "The TransWilts" and services through Melksham should now come up too.Main threats to train services in the Westbury constituency at present. 1. TransWilts service - Swindon to Salisbury and Southampton (red) All through trains withdrawn. Just 2 local trains per day retained northwards from Westbury. 2. Bristol to Waterloo service (yellow) Through services may not be retained in re-franchise operation. 3. Express services to London (blue) Largely withdrawn; replaced by an extension of the local train from Bedwyn. 4. Services to the West of England (orange) Only 2 main line trains heading West per day to stop. Written2006-02-11 09:10:43 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Today or tomorrow "Friday or Monday we'll be sending out draft timetables". Well - it's Monday and I've seen nowt, so they should be here electronically today OR in a paper form tomorrow. I'll post TransWilts / Melksham proposals without comment initially to let people form their own views, but I'll follow up with my thoughts fairly soon. And since I don't know what's in the proposals, I can't attenpt to second guess them. I do know that if they fall a long way short of a sensible solution, I'll consider a two-pronged reply: a) What's the best approach / my thoughts based on proposed service levels and b) What the approach should be under the "sensible solution" option. Written2006-02-13 04:39:48 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Draft Timetable is here First have published the draft Monday to Friday timetable proposed from December 2006. I've put Swindon to Westbury via Melksham details on the site. Full .pdf timetables are on the First Great Western site - look under "Cardiff and Bristol TM to Weymouth / Portsmouth / Brighton" for our service. Their web page states: Melksham 3 trains each way withdrawn, with remaining 2 running north of Westbury only (as specified by DfT). Morning train to arrives into Swindon earlier at 0803, instead of 0818. Evening train from Swindon runs later at 1812, instead of 1738. Written2006-02-14 01:14:39 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Out with the old users, in with the new There was disappointment when the current train to Swindon moved some 20 minutes earlier from Melksham, as it now gets into Swindon inconveniently early for many people. So it's unfortunate to say the least that it's going to be earlier again from December. The return service at 17:35 was plenty late enough for most users - any who continue to use the train will have more than another half hour to wait (until 18:12) from December, and it will make for a very long day. Being selfish, the new times proposed, with the 09:12 arrival and 17:02 departures withdrawn, completely mash our business use of the trains. We have regularly collected hundreds of long distance travellers from the 09:12, or dropped them off for the 17:02, each year since 2001 but in the future other arrangements will be needed. I would anticipate many more people using their cars - we've been proud of "40% by public transport" but can't continue with that if there IS no long distance public transport. Where the new timings may gain is in long-distance outbound commuting. It does look like Melksham could be a London commuter town in the future, with two morning departures at 06:46 and 07:37 getting into London at 09:29 and 09:15, returning from London at 17:00 and 17:33 with Melksham arrivals at 18:38 and 19:28. Perhaps the current market (users) are being cleared out in favour of this more lucrative traffic - after all, the operator IS looking to make a profit and a return to London on the only trains that will be available in the future will bring in over a hundred pound per round trip. Written2006-02-15 05:42:30 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| On the 05:52 this morning From a regular passenger, on seeing the new timetable this morning: "It will certainly drive me away from the train". He is a regular commuter on the 05:52 train from Melksham to Swindon - one of the trains to be withdrawn. He's commuted by train every day for a couple of years, and tells me that the altenative buses are impractical for him. The train left Melksham with about a dozen people on board; no doubt each of them has a similar story. Written2006-02-16 06:03:45 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Background and opinion The Swindon to Westbury, Salisbury and Southampton line will be operated by First Group from 1st April, taking over from National Express (Wessex Trains).The Department for Transport has told First to run just two trains a day and that one is a commuter train up to Swindon in the morning rush hour and back in the evening rush hour. After that, it's up to First. So we need to tell First about the need for any tuning, and the DfT about service level. The service proposed is operationally covenient for First as it runs the train early in the morning commute and late in the evening commute, leaving the same train they use for the peak train on the Stroud Valley line. It provides, for the first time, a practical commuter service from Melksham to London. It is less good for many Swindon commuters who will arrive there much earlier than they wish, and have to wait around until much later to return. For businesses like mine which has relied on customers arriving in Melksham (from far afield) by train at 9 in the morning and leaving at 5 in the evening, it is a disaster. I've spent some time studying the service and options, and I believe that the service offered should be a train every 2 hours. That's just a single train running between Swindon and Westbury. The financial model is better than the proposed service which would lose a great deal of traffic. Up to this point there have been no studies published and the decision is based on old figures and minimal feedback from a near-secret consultation process. LINK to new times Written2006-02-17 05:15:12 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Draft timetables (continued) I'm disappointed at the proposal - cynically, it looks like a minimal commuter train that's run at the very start / end of the rushhour so that the train used can also provide a commuter trip to and from Gloucester, with our second train being used as a stock working to get the commuter train to Westbury abd back from there. Using a Westbury based train for the run - slighly later up to Swindon, returning in the evening slighly earlier than proposed, and then running the second service to get the train back to Westbury and up again would have many advantages - more traffic , one train with off peak fares available, practical use of train for people coming too Melksham ... I'm out of the country and posting "dial in" from a hotel line at the moment - so please excuse the brief rant. Much more substanting comments on the user forum! Written2006-02-21 07:16:39 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Three and a half answers out of 4 Some clarification on questions I asked about the draft timetable. 1. Connections are NOT guaranteed, except where they're made into the last train of the day in which case the train will probably be held 2. There will be no cheap day return fares bookable on the day (Monday to Friday) from Melksham to London, since there will be no offpeak trains. First will NOT offer a "derrogation" on this. 3. We don't know the timing of Saturday or Sunday trains yet (this was the one that wasn't really answered) and First don't know what proportion of the weekend trains will in fact end up being replaced by buses until much closer to the time 4. When asked about alternative arrangements for customers of all the trains that are being withdrawn, First told me that they are talking with First bus with a view to extending the 231 and 234 services to Chippenham (I think they meant "Chippenham Station") from 1st April. Written2006-02-22 10:39:56 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A week is a long time I'm home after a long week away - from Melksham to London, Liverpool, Dublin, Belfast, Glasgow and then home to Melksham. I was giving training courses, and on this occasion drove most of the way because I had to carry around a dozen laptop cumputers with me to each venue. And guess where the worst traffic jam was all week? Why - it was on the A350 through Beanacre on my way back into Melksham yesterday lunch time! My post bag this week has included links from Warminster, where there's a furrore about a reduction in the service, and from Dean / Dunbridge where there's also a belated "oops" going on. I do notice that First Great Western's MD, Alison Forster, is talking about taking the Dean / Dunbridge issue up with the Department for transport after the completion of the consultation with a view to having them, presumably, endorse an improved service. Alison speaks next Saturday at the SWPTUF meeting in Taunton, and I'll be there. I hope to be able to ask one or two questions - with a view to making the lady stop, look, consider what she and her team are doing to rail users to and through Melksham First - transforming travel they say. Yes - driving us away from their services to the mutual detriment of us and them. Doesn't seem sensible, does it? Written2006-02-26 10:20:54 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Roger Jones answers 5 months later! I have just received a response to my letter of 2nd October 2005 to Roger Jones at the Department for Transport. Full Text of letter. You may recall that five month ago there were three companies bidding to run the train service on our line, and each of them was looking to provide a good bid to meet both what the Department for Transport wanted and also to consider the views of local opinion; in a competitive situation, they were obliged - at least to some extent - to take into account local inputs and feelings, and we were busy writing to Narional Express, to Stagecoach, and to First. We've got a rather different situation now. To be fair, Mr Jones has updated his answer to reflect the last five months of activity ... but I'm stopping short of calling it an "answer", for to do so would imply that it substantively answered by questions. Mr Jones is, at least, straightforward enough to tell me that it's a minister's decision to "can" the service (a pleasant change from DfT pointing to First and First pointing to the DfT). However, there is still no answer what so ever on what they consider to be "low" traffic levels, on which year's figures they used (important on a line that has grown by a factor of 8 TIMES in 5 years, or on any of the studies and reports that formed the background to their decision. Perhaps no-one looked at any figures, then ... perhaps the decision was taken purely because some guy at the SRA hadn't heard of Melksham ... Written2006-02-27 18:10:53 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Safer current trains - the 06:56, 07:45 and 18:09 I have updated the "service now" page. I'm now indicating the evening train as being under threat having seen the draft timetable, but I have marked the 06:56 as being "appears safe" along with the 07:45 and 18:09. All relative, mind you, and all safe trains with timing changes that make them LESS convenient to most travellers. The proposed 19:28 train to Swindon doesn't correspond to any existing service - so it doesn't provide an "appears safe" to any of the existing 10 services. I'm at something of a loss to see that this service will get much use. Seems very silly for a company to run a train when there's not much traffic likely to be offered, or am I blind to some market or other? P.S. I have not marked any of the weekend trains as "safe". We're told there will be two trains on each of Saturday and Sunday, but First are unable to give me any idea as yet as to their timing and in light of the odd weekday draft, we cannot be sure that they will be the most useful ones, or even at any time that they will get capture significant traffic Written2006-02-28 06:25:58 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| INPUTS NEEDED by 8th March I visited Taunton yesterday - a very full room at the SWTUPF meeting (details to follow) with folks from all over the South West listening to Alison Forster, MD of First Great Western. Alison highly recommends that everyone gets input in on the draft timetable by 8th March and I back her up in the recommendation. They have received 2000 inputs so far and will categorise / consider all of them. I sense that there's an excellent change of additional stops being recommended at places like Dean and Ivybridge where trains are passing through anyway. There's a very good chance that sensible, practical suggestions within the current proposed service level could be achieved elsewhere - for example that the proposed 2nd train through Melksham could be adjusted. I would rate the battle to have a suitable level of service through Melksham as being a tougher nut to crack, but - folks - don't rule it out. Please PLEASE have a look at the form here that lets you input from our site direct to the timetabling folks. I've provided a number of suggestions you might like to endorse, or you can make your own. Thanks Graham Written2006-03-05 11:08:19 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Meetings and Consultation Responses A big rush over the last few days! I went to Taunton on Sunday and listened to Alison Forster, the MD of First Great Western talk, and then to Warminster on Monday to listen to Julian Crow, operations manager for the West of England. And that gave me 24 hours to get in my consultation response. I've also put up an input form through which you still have a few hours to express your view (or email tt06@firstgroup.com directly). It seems that there are quite good chances of changing train schedules to suit needs - especially away from Bristol, London, Reading and other major hubs. Some chance of getting extra stops added to services - and that's easier at places like Dilton Marsh were it would add just a minute or two onto the schedule that at Westbury where it would add 7 minutes to a main line express. Prospects of extra trains? Where the stock is there (e.g. early morning, Gunnislake) there is a good chance. Where we're told that extra stock would be needed - e.g. Melksham - it's a much tougher prospect but in my view it's live enough to keep telling 'em. In fact, I think Alison and Julian are almost willing us to put on an unbearable pressure ... to their consultantion, to DfT, to MPs, etc! Written2006-03-08 06:56:11 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
A whole pile of responses I have in my hand ... a grain of sand.Is it a pile of sand? No - it's just a GRAIN of sand. One grain can't make a pile. Let's add a second grain. Is that a pile? Clearly not. And how about with a third grain? It's very hard to draw the line, and it's very hard to say "THAT is a pile but THAT wasn't" at any time you add a grain. Seven responses to a government consultation concerning the withdrawal of train services from Swindon to Southampton, and the knock on effect on Melksham in particular which loses most of its trains, can't be considered to be a significant pile but then it didn't make the grade because meny of us weren't even aware that the consultation was happening. Now, with just a little bit of local publicity, there's been many more responses to First Group's consultation on the detail of the plans - I know personally of around 40 people who have responded in the last 48 hours. THAT is, by any sensible measure, is much more significant. And I suspect it's just the tip of the iceberg, for why should people tell me that they're responding? Many, many thanks to everyone who's heeded the calls from me, from other active groups, and from First for inputs to the current timetabling exercise. I don't know whether it will lead to any better timetable but it very well might, and I'm sure it won't lead to a backward step from the draft! Photo - public information from National Institute of Standards and Technology Written2006-03-08 17:13:37 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ploughing back OUR money, not theirs. I was watching "why the trains don't work" on Channel 4 at 04:55 this morning (don't ask!), and noted Alastair Darling talking about how goverment isn't starving money from the trains - quoting as an example of investment - in the same sentence - 200 million to be spent on the new Great Western franchise. I thought that 200 million was the passengers money, being invested by First group. Raised by previous business activities and fares. Did you realise that in the 10 years since privatisation, some fares out of Paddington have risen by 90%, compared to a rise of 30% if the rises were inflation based alone? Written2006-03-09 07:43:06 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| New pages and information A spray of tiny points ... 1. Draft WEEKEND timetable is summarised here 2. Meeting at Bedwyn with our MP - summary of constituency stations effected here 3. Political inputs still mey be effective - people to write to page has been added And I need something of a break from all these meetings. Written2006-03-12 18:49:55 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| On supporting other campaigns ... With limited resources, and an immediate threat of loosing ALL SIX trains that currently call at Melksham (a town of some 24,000 people) between 07:45 and 18:15, my site has always and must continue to concentrate on making "powers that be" see sense on that subject. I wish I had the time to support other campaigns much more actively, and I'm always delighed when we can all take advantage of sharing and pooling information. I'm also painfully aware than any little victories in the present round - be they Melksham, Bedwyn or the early train from Gunnislake - can come up for review again in the very near future under "Beeching 2" and could turn out to be no more than a year or two's reprive before a much more major axe falls in the area. Written2006-03-14 06:34:14 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Not just the TransWilts and Melksham ... Aricle in The Times ... "Fewer carriages on trains across the West Country will mean uncomfortable journeys for many people this summer. Other services will be withdrawn altogether. DOZENS of train carriages used on rural lines are to be taken out of service by Britain’s biggest train company to save money ....." Written2006-03-21 06:33:04 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Service failure looses more customers I'm training a load of London folks this week; previous groups from the same company have come by train from London and we've picked them up at Melksham station. But this week, they've driven. Why's that? "Our colleagues warned us that the service was unreliable" they said. We put that previous group on the 17:02, to connect with the 17:25 onward from Chippenham to London - about 30 people left Melksham on that train, a couple of minutes late. But then it got held up for a quarter of an hour at Thingley before joining the main line .... and our customers had no options to wait while their onward train was let through ahead. The Wessex train crew on the 17:02 were very apologetic, very much trying to help people plan their onward journeys (I happened to be travelling too, going West from Chippenham), but there was just a bleak platform and no customer care staff to look after people at Chippenham on a draughty platorm and a crammed waiting room. In all honesty, I can't blame our customers but all it needs is a bit of joined up activity. Should it be better when one company runs both services? Well - it should but I have my doubts; First have already said there can be no instant cure for some of the ills and problems and I do understand this. I do wonder, though, at their proud statement that eveyone will have smart new uniforms on April Fool's day and wonder if their priorities are quite right. My priority would be to have a train service that ran, and connected rather than beautiful stations and well turned out staff ... with no trains from before 8 in the morning to after 6 at night. Written2006-03-22 00:55:27 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The Waiting Game More than 3000 timetable inputs were received by 8th March, and First are working on them / consulting with other parties to get this stage completed by 27th April. Pressure on politicians still useful. There's a circophany (Oops - spelling) of protest against some of the much more major cuts such as 8 trains gone daily on the Looe branch, and 5 x longer trains from Bedwyn to London cut - and there seems to be much more press interest in these bigger issues. Yes - they ARE important, but remaining services on those lines mean that victims of the proposed withdrawls would "only" have an hour or two to wait (maximum chance at Bedwyn - 48 minutes) whereas anyone planning to catch - say - the 09:12 from Melksham would have to wait until half past six in the evening. I'm hoping that a strong case and a lot of inputs to the consultations from here mean that we will get an improvement rather than an excuse or an ignoring of our legitimate gripes / concerns - perhaps all the other bigger cost cases might even encourage First / DfT to let our case go through. But alhough I'm an optimist, I'm not counting on anything and I look also at "plan b". Written2006-03-29 07:12:48 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Real time train monitoring Oops - my real time train monitoring script - the program I've been using to see how the trains have been doing on punctuality and reliability - didn't notice when the clocks went forward. There's a bit of a glitch in what's shown for Monday and Tuesday of this week ... Please read blanks and "no report"s as "I don't know". The cancellation shown would be genuine, and that probably means that the up run to Swindon was cancelled too - giving at best a 90% record for the two days. I do wonder if Wessex is going out with a bang or a whimper. Written2006-03-30 00:21:42 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Someone can't wait! Even before the Wessex Trains franchise expires tonight, I see that someone has replaced the posters at the station with First posters and painted over the "Wessex Trains" logo on the station signs ... Gone is the local information showing the way to the town, gone is the sign pointing to Swindon one way and Westbury the other, and gone is the sign in the waiting shelter that was used by the West Wilts Rail user's group - at least the top of it has been removed so that notices can't be posted there any longer. We now have a poster telling us about engineering works throughout the Great Western area for the next month (good) and another telling us of the replacement of the last Saturday and lunchtime Sunday trains by buses for the whole of April. Bad news, but at least we're told. Written2006-03-31 18:19:52 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| High emotion On one hand, I feel a shock that First couldn't even wait until they had officially taken over to change the signs and paint out the Wessex name at the station ... and on the other hand I look forward to a future with, perhaps, slightly more optimism than I had a week or two back. Why's that? Because it seems that there might - just might - be a chink in the Department for Transport's view of some of the cuts based on the outcry at the draft timetables. See South West Passenger Transport User's Forum which states: We are not after all, holding a meeting on 4th April regarding the Greater Western Rail franchise. SWPTUF are now confident that the proposed rail cuts are beng re-visited by the Department for Transport, this as a result of much lobbying by ourselves and other stakeholders, although progress is very uncertain. We advise all to lobby hard and will keep passengers informed the best we can over the coming weeks. It is not too late to voice your opinion on the proposed cuts, although the offical date for comments has now passed. You may want have a look at the Save our Train Service web site which links to many useful documents on the subject I'm taking that with a pinch of salt since SWPTUF is partly sponsored by First, but never the less it may be some good news. And, yes, keep lobbying / asking questions / ... Written2006-04-03 05:02:56 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UPDATE - new timetables First have just published a revised set of timetable proposals http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/NewsItem.aspx?id=302 with lots of good news including the Southampton to Westbury service but I see no mention on the leg on via Melksham to Swindon. Written2006-04-03 11:14:07 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| An update - BAD, BAD news for Melksham ... I spoke with Tim Bocock, a customer support manager at First group, on the phone this morning; they have announced improvements in many services but there was no mention of Melksham and I wanted to get the full story before I wrote. Tim tells me: a) The service will be as per the DRAFT TIMETABLE although services may vary from it by a FEW MINUTES. b) The service is "not a commercial one that we can add to" Written2006-04-03 12:10:16 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First - transforming travel Melksham to Swindon, lunchtime TOMORROW:  Melksham to Swindon, lunchtime a year from now ??  Written2006-04-04 00:45:27 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Constituency Changes The boundary commision has recommended that both Chippneham and Melksham be stripped out of their current consituencies and be included in a new seat, also to include Bradford on Avon. Perhaps this explains a lack of interest from the current MPs concerned, especially bearing in mind that both of them have consituencies with a far bigger electorate than most of their fellow MPs. See here for more details Written2006-04-07 11:02:25 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Southampton to Westbury RESTORED On the 3rd April draft timetable, the Southampton to Westbury section of the service is restored - many thanks to Chris Grayling, who's the Conservative spokeman for transport and has a Hampshire consituency ... publicity at Dean and Dunbridge, and the department for Transport has contributed a million pounds for the service for the next 12 months, to then be reviewed as part of the South West trains franchise. What a pity that the service restoration stops short of the section of the line that's most dramatically effected by the curring of the services. What a pity that Southampton and Salisbuury still loose their service to Chippenham and Swindon. What a pity that cuts remain from Melksham, where there are more ticket sales than at Dean and Dunbridge added together. Written2006-04-11 23:04:51 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Friday, 21st, Trowbridge With the news that the government has thrown some million pounds at the Southampton to Westbury section of the service - arguably much more marginal than the Westbury to Swindon section, and somewhat illogical as it's just part of the route .... there remains a possibility that minds CAN be changed. Can I ask as many people as possible to CONTACT THEIR POLITICIANS yet again - point out the success so far - Michael Ancram spoke for Bedwyn and WON, Chris Grayling spoke for Dean and Dunbridge and WON. And ask them to attend the meeting on 21st February that's being arranged by "save our trains" (not associated with savethetrain) and Transport 2000. 19:30, Bridge House, Stallard Street, Trowbridge, BA14 9AE Friday, 21st April 2006 ALL welcome Map Major topics: * Loss of capacity and service, Portsmouth, Southampton, Salisbury to Bath, Bristol Cardiff * Loss of service Southampton and Salisbury to Chippenham and Swindon * Severe service cuts from stations such as Melksham Written2006-04-12 05:29:43 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Meeting, Friday 21st I know I said 19:30 ... but if you can get there as soon after 6 as possible that would be great - Andrew Murrison MP is able to pop in - but only for half an hour from 18:15 to 18:45 ... and (see my previous comments) he's one of the more likely MPs to be able to help West Wilts. Good turnout - please ;-) Written2006-04-17 22:17:20 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Celebrating a closure Crich Tramway museum has some beautifully restored trams - I was up there on Saturday - but I had to say I think this paint job, authentic though it is, is in very poor taste The Last Tram in Sheffield .... and they CELEBRATED? Of course, the irony is that there are now trams BACK in Sheffield. Perhaps it hurt the more seeing that Melksham Station was closed 40 years ago today ... and then re-opened 21 years ago. I'm frankly fearful that our current battle against service cuts, if lost, will lead to a further cut of all the remaining services .... Written2006-04-17 22:19:30 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Meeting, tonight Meeting by Trowbridge station, Tonight (Friday, 21st April) from 6 p.m. onwards. I've been planning to travel down on the 18:09 from Melksham but see it was cancelled - AGAIN - last night; I really don't want to miss the meeting so I have a conundrum .... to risk the train service or to drive. Yesterday's train running was truely dreadful - looks like 4 out of the 10 trains were cancelled and that can't be put down to a single "incident" as it was the morning rush hour round trip and the evening rush hour round trip. When it gets to this sort of level, the average user is going to be saying to him or her self "why bother" or "what's the alternative" .... I'll be there tonight. On the train if it runs. By car if it doesn't .... I'm one of the lucky ones as I can drive. Think of the guy who can't drive for medical reasons who I met at the station a few weeks ago; what position do the operators put HIM in when they cancel the train Written2006-04-21 05:21:42 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Friday's meeting Minutes from the Friday night meeting, including a link through which you can contact the MPs should be up on the SWPTUF web site during today. The URL is http://www.accesssouthwest.org/. I have already written to Michael Ancram, who's my MP, in the following terms: Letter to M Ancram Written2006-04-23 14:53:56 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| What SWPTUF says I hope that the South West Passenger Transport User's Forum won't mind me making this quote from their web site.. Service connections from Swindon, one of the region's growth centres, to the South are much valued. It is very disappointing that the Swindon- Chippenham-Melksham- Trowbridge - Southampton service is proposed to be withdrawn, especially given the growth that West Wiltshire has asked for along the A350 corridor. The 12-hourly service now proposed between Chippenham (45,000), Melksham (growing to 25,000) and Trowbridge (growing to 47,000) is woefully inadequate. SWPTUF is a body which is sponsored by The First Group, Stagecoach, National Express and the South West Regional assembly. See their site at http://www.accesssouthwest.org Written2006-04-23 17:55:34 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Meeting, 21st - notes Friday 21st April, Trowbridge. I arrived on the 18:09 from Melksham, walked in after Dr Andrew Murrison (MP for Westbury) had started talking; he was emphasising the through Bristol to Waterloo trains as that, he told us, what the big railway subject in his postbag. He did confirm that he'll be attending the debate on the Greater Western Franchise in parliament on Tuesday, and urged us to let him (if his constituents) know of our concerns by then. I've written to my own MP, Michael Ancram, to encourage him to attend too. Main Meeting South West Public Transport Users' Forum , Chris Irwin in the chair. Chris introduced Andrew Griffiths, new General Manager for Bristol and Somerset for First, who was seated beside him on the platform. Andrew was formerly with Wessex Trains, looking after the Cornish Branch lines, and did a sterling job in growing use and traffic there. We welcome him to this part of the network. In his introduction, Chris told us that any improvements would likely have to be based on availability of stock, and that in the current climate it would be unlikely for the government to sanction any extra capital expenditure such as restoring track to the third platform at Chippenham or the fourth at Westbury. And he said that any changes would need to be based on strong evidence. GORDON EDWARDS has analysed in some detail the draft timetables and replied to the 8th March consultation for SWPTUF. His reply stated that the draft timetable had so many holes in it, with two trains in opposite directions on the same single line at the same time, many missed connections and so little regard to current customer flows that it really wasn't fit for purpose. He highlighted Keynsham, where the 4 three-coach trains that run from Bristol in the evening peak are reduced to 2 two-coach trains. He highlighted Frome, with an 07:04 departure to Bristol followed by a 2 hour gap ... Gordon was unable to comment on First's planned changes of 3rd April as they're only proposals to be put to the DfT yet and so they're even more wooly in their definition than the draft timetables. KATE HOARE. Head of Strategic Development. Planning Transport and. Sustainable Development. Kate highlighted how the new timetables abandoned the needs of the poorer sector of society; there's a much higher proportion of schools traffic and relatively local travel to work, hospital type traffic - as well as leisure and tourism - on the Portsmouth and Southampton to Bristol and Swindon lines, and their needs seem to have come below other user's aspirations. ANDREW GRIFFITHS. General Manager for the Area, First. Andrew told us that the 9000 or so responses to the consultation basically filtered down to around 40 areas of concern. He believes that the 3rd April proposals solve around a half of these, and address to some degree a lot (but not all) of the other issues. [[Speaking with Andrew personally, it seems that the Swindon to Southamton service and trains to Melksham is one of the issues that has not been dealt with. He offered a sympathetic ear, and a willingness to provide much more information to me which I have followed up already by email. He also took away a copy of our various reports which I think were new to him (could be wrong on that) and will read them through. Most notably, the report that Julian Crow said there was "nothing wrong" with that advocated a two-hourly service]] The timetable from December will be available, subject to Network Rail and ministerial signoff, on the web from June. At that point it is said that major changes would not be possible. First will consult again on services from December 2007, starting in January 2007. The FLOOR WAS THROWN OPEN to questions (Chris Irwin is excellent at giving everyone a fair word at these events!) and many points were raised and discussed. One of these was the Swindon to Westbury Service, and it was notable that there was considerable support there for the line - I would say a sizable minority of the audience. There were some gasps of surprise when the new service was described from delegates from other parts. Several speakers spoke (including a professional Transport planner) spoke of moving to Melksham because of the current service, and having now to reconsider. Andrew offered no hope / suggestions other than to keep writing and for the local authorities to work together on this one, which doesn't happen enough in this part of the country and is one of the reasons we're coming poorly out of this current series of reviews. Officers from Wiltshire suggested that they co-operate across borders, citing the case of the Community rail line from Bristol to Weymouth even though they decided not to join the Severnside Transport Group; they didn't mention any co-operation with Swindon or Hampshire as regards the Swindon to Southampton line. Written2006-04-23 20:18:19 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Parliamentary Debate, 25th April Private Member's debate, Westminster Hall. We encouraged all our MPs to go / speak on the "Greater Western Franchise". Alastair Darling / Derek Twigg should have been there (I have no confirmation which of them was ...). Michael Ancram wrote to me: Thank you for your message about the debate on trains in the south west held in Westminster Hall this morning. It was well attended by MPs from across the region. I intervened in the debate to raise the specific points about Melksham and the reduction in services and also the more general points about the effects of these reductions on road usage, the environment, business and the mobility of the elderly. By definition these debates are short and more about putting things on the record rather than getting answers. I will continue therefore to press Melksham’s case. Written2006-04-25 17:02:25 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First back down or buses too. Very interesting email from First Bus this morning (a) It seems that PART OF THEIR BID for the franchise included the extension of the 234 service bus to Chippenham station (to provide replecements for the trains) (b) Their local bus manager tells me that they are NOT now going to provide he bus link which was part of the winning bid. Written2006-04-26 09:58:42 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Diary Date - 12th May It's the AGM of the Melksham Rail Development Group ... I'm afraid I've cheekily hijacked the meeting somewhat by getting Andrew Griffiths - newly appointed as General Manager Central, First Great Western to come along, say a few words and answer some questions. We're hoping to start the meeting early - say 18:15 - as Andrew has to leave for a train at about 19:30, but I'm hoping we can have a full discussion on the new services, but also on bus substitution, costings and economics of the line, the lack of cheap fares after the changes and what we can do to at this stage to persuade the powers that be to retain the service. Anyone will be welcome ... Written2006-04-29 07:14:13 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Waverley I've been a little quiet these last few days - I took the May Day holiday off after an exhausting first four months of the year when I seem to have been training day in and day out, and went up to Scotland to travel on the PS (Paddle Steamer) Waverley from Oban to Iona and back. Waverley entered service with the London and North Eastern Railway in 1947, and was withdrawn about 25 years later from the Clyde Excursion trade because she was deemed to be unprofitable. Taken over by a preservation group, she's now being running longer in their hands than she ran before preservation. The crew were talking about having 600 on board on Sunday and it can't have been far short of that on Monday ... and that's "big bucks" at fares that rise to over 30 pounds a head. Economics dictate against preserved boat operation too. The engine has to be in far better condition than that on a train; if a train should break down (as we've seen happen locally) it's just a nuisance but if Waverley breaks down, she's liable to drift onto the rocks. And then she's only got a seven month seasoson whereas the trains run day in, day out (if we should choose to ignore bustitution).  Waverley moored overnight at North Pier, Oban  Crowds disembark in Oban Caledonian MacBraynes through away a wonderful service when they pulled Waverley and their other boat, known as the Queen Mary II, of the Clyde runs in 1972 and 1974 (ish). Although it might not have been paying in that current form, it was viable with a bit of adjustment and it's not just down to their finances - it also down to the finances of destinations like Dunoon, Rothesay, Brodick and Tighnabruiach which they serves. I think that First / Department for transport are making the same mistake again with the Swindon to Southampton train service. Slashed back, it will cost them less for sure but they'll also loose a lot of income. And they'll inconvenience a lot of users - they've even pulled back from a bid promise to extend the 234 bus to Chippenham Station. What's needed is a degree of insite and co-operation - from us, from our local representitives, and from both First and the DfT to make it work for our mutual profitable benefit. Written2006-05-04 09:02:32 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| RailFuture meeting today Off today to the RailFuture meeting in Swindon to listen (amongst others) to Glenda Lamont, Commercial Director of First Great Western, give a talk. There's no title on her talk, and so I'll make no assumptions, nor do I know if there will be a question and answer session ... but I'll report back P.S. - Yes, I am going up on the 8 O'Clock. Written2006-05-06 05:05:07 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| RailFuture meeting - some gems Glenda Lamont, Customer Services Director of First Great Western, told us that the following matters are still under discussion / looking for resolution between First and the Department for Transport: 1. The early morning service to Gatwick 2. Ivybridge 3. Stengthening the Cardiff to Porsmouth trains She believes that they are "close to resolving" issue 3 by moving some stock around. Significantly, no mention of the Swindon to Southampton service. A rumour I had heard before - but repeated as part of a keynote speech by a presenter who's views and information I respect: The Deparement for Transport hadn't budgeted for anything like the 1.3 billion that First Group bid for the franchise - it's some 300 million more that they thought they would get. The Treasury is allowing the Department to keep the money which will be used to pay for overspends on road building programs. In other words, a decent train service between Swindon and Westbury, which would cost 10 million pounds to run for 10 years, and 30 other such services, have been sacrifised by First in their keenness to win the bid, and the extra money that First will have to charge customers to make its payments to the government will in part go to the funding of overbudget / mismanaged road building programs. I was saddened to hear that one of our elected bodies here in Melksham responded to the South West trains franchise suggesting that a saving in rolling stock could be made by cutting out the Bristol, Plymouth and Torbay services - cutting back the service from Waterloo to Salisbury and Exeter. I am very much in favour of everyone expressing their views, but this council view does not represent my view nor, as far as I can gauge, the view of other local electors around here. Frankly, most Melksham electors have little interest in (or knowledge of) public transport in Devon. The letter in question is, I understand, being taken as an example of how official bodies in the area support the pruning of services, and has made the Minister's "red box" so that he's espcially aware of such views. And the people at RailFuture who campaign tirelessly for an appropriate level of service are not best pleased, as you might imagine. There's a further irony. The southern end of the Southampton to Swindon service has been given a one year reprive under First, and will then form a part of the South West trains franchise. By suggesting that the South West Franchise is trimmed back to Salisbury / Exeter, the council that wrote is advocating the withdrawal of the extra trains that could also have been used to extend the Southampton to Westbury service of the next year on through to Melksham, Chippenham and Swindon. I'm going to post each of these three notes in a separate thread in the forum so that you can answer / discuss / respond if you wish. I have NOT named the local council involved in the third item, as I want to find out a bit more before shooting my mouth off. But the fury of other campaigners is real enough, and the words that silly *%$@* from Melksham were ringing in my ears yesterday! Written2006-05-07 08:43:58 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First way to get rid of customers? A course, three delegates ... but not one brought their own car. I used to say to people that around 40% of our customers came by train, but this week it's 66% and that's not been unusual of late. Anyone using the train to Melksham finds it isn't easy - you just try to find out about it in Swindon, where it starts. Go up to the timetable sheets that list departures and you'll find no mention of Melksham on there ... nor Trowbridge, nor Westbury. And you'll be lucky if the timetable racks contain the approprpriate timetable. "Sorry - they're out of print" the young lady who was filling the rack on Saturday told me. "You could go up to the ticket counter and they'll print something out for you" she said, pointing me in the direction of a queue. "There's only three trains a day, otherwise you change at Bath".  It isn't as if these trains are unused, either. Here's a picture that I look last Saturday afternoon of a service that's to be withdrawn from December. Do you know what I think it is? Until last month, the train service to Melksham was run by Wessex Trains - part of National Express - and was a limb of their services that ran into First Group territory; it always felt like an unwelcome guest and information was hard to come by. The First Group told us that there would be no magic solution to all the problems and issues, but the did pull their finger our by removing the Wesses trains name from our station in the days BEFORE they took over, and getting new noices there within a couple of days and new uniforms for all their staff too, so surely they have now had plenty of time to put up fresh timetables to cover the new service they've just taken into their fold?  Here's the Saturday train again, on its way back to Melksham. Pretty busy, eh? Where's the "Fresh Air" that the previous secretary of state thinks our train is carrying around?I don't actually object to the staff who fill the brochure rack at Swindon not knowing about train services, but I do object to them getting it wrong. There are NOT "only three trains a day", there are five. And you do NOT change at Bath at other times - or at least, if you change at Bath, it's a dogleg journey and a change into a BUS at the nearby bus station. Was my experience unfortunate and unique? I wish it was! On Monday morning, I went to meet a customer off the 09:12 and no-one arrived. Indeed the train looked very quiet indeed ... never seen it quite so bad for many months. The mystery was solved when we got a phone call from our customer telling us that he was stuck in Swindon; the London connection had been 20 minutes late, and so had missed. I'm told that the staff at Swindon suggested he wait for the next train at about 14:30 ... indeed, they advised him that these were the ONLY TWO trains each day to Melksham ... Isn't it ironic that with the huge increase in traffic on this line over the past few years, and with the roads getting more and more clogged, it IS to be killed back to 2 trains a day in the Autumn. Looks like the First staff at Swindon just can't wait for it to happen! Written2006-05-09 10:48:50 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Friday meeting - invite and details THIS Friday evening - 12th May - 18:30 at Melksham Town Hall. Andrew Griffiths, who's the newly appointed General Manager (Central) for First Great Western will be addressing talking to the Melksham Rail Development Group, and taking questions. All welcome, but best let me know if you'll be coming so that I can advise the MRDG secretary of rough numbers. (No need to email me apologies if you can't make it) Andrew is one of four General Managers and looks after all the services in our area, but on Friday he'll be particularly addressing matters of interest to us here in Melksham - i.e. the Swindon to Southampton service. As well as the reduction of services that I would still like to see reversed, he'll be answering points I have raised about connections, better timing of remaining services, the possible extension of the 234 bus to Chippenham Station and why that seems to have been aborted, and on fares which for anyone wanting to do a day trip to London will double when the offpeak train at 09:12 is withdrawn. Andrew has to leave us just after 19:30, and the meeting will continue with the MRDG AGM. Again, all welcome. And no doubt discussions will range wider as regards and further possible follow ups and activities. --- You might like to know that Michael Ancram our MP, and also the MPs for Swindon, Chippenham, Trowbridge and Westbury all spoke in a debate in Parliament on 25th April that concerned the Great Western Franchinse. All four of the MPs for the line specifically mentioned the Swindon to Westbury Service and Melksham, and objected to the planned service reduction. Regrettably, Derek Twigg answering for the goverment simply ignored the questions on this service and only addressed other issues. --- I attended a national meeting at Swindon last Saturday, and met and listed to an address by the customer relations director of First. Much of the talk was a fairly standard presentation some intersting points did come up. One was that three issues in the franchise remain unresolved - two are out of our area (Ivybridge and early morning trains to Gatwick), but the third relates to the strengthing of Cardiff to Portsmouth trains which she thought will be achieved by "moving stock around within First". Good - and perhaps they can find the stock to serve Melksham off this (but not excellent as Melksham is NOT a subject she mentioned as still being open). --- Realistically, it still seems very much more likely than not that Melksham will loose most of its trains in December, and I question the viability of the few that remain - one of the two remaining weekday trains in each direction will run at a time which seems more suited to the operational convenience of the company running the service than to their customer's need, and the draft weekend service is peculiar and inappropriate to put it mildy. Your continued support WOULD be much appreciated - each letter written, each meeting attended and point made pushes the pendulum very slightly and, who knows, we might just be able to push it far enough to make a difference. Graham (Ellis) Written2006-05-11 06:46:37 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| It gets worse What a depressing story from Andrew Griffith's, First's Regional Manager for the Severn / Solent area, who came to talk to the Melksham Rail Development Group and others who wanted to attend on Friday evening. Andrew was able to tell us of a number of campaigning successes over the new train and franchise arrangements in the Great Western Area, including recently the buy-back of "Part of the Swindon to Southampton Service" - i.e. the section from Westbury to Southampton, and it sounds like there's better hope for Ivybridge which is threatened with service cuts. For the Swindon to Westbury section? Congratulations from Andrew on raising the traffic levels by 100% in the last 3 years, but telling us that it's still not enough. Astonishing news to those of us who have travelled of late - at times it's getting hard to find a seating bay free now. We're still two trains a day. And the peak hour trains have been moved even further away from the true time they're needed, CONTRARY to all the requests that have been copied to me (at least) in reply to the consultation process that First ran. A real slap in the face! If it's getting hard to get a seat now, and "even with another doubling of traffic the line still wouldn't be profitable", Andrew's telling us that ANY operation based on a single 153 train isn't economically justified and even if we fill the train, First will have to take it off. However, the Government has specified two trains a day one of which is to be in the rush-hour, and the planners and decision makers have come up with this clever scheme to raid the Gloucester to Swindon train for a couple of hours before the morning rush hour and after the evening rush hour to fill in the service. The train isn't well timed, and there's a strong chance it will be carrying fresh air. And I can't see how it can fail to make a bigger loss. Crazy! Written2006-05-15 07:43:05 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Every so often, stop and look Every so often, it's worth stopping for a few minutes and looking at where we started and where we are now - the whole story so far - if you like. I've just done this for a press article and thought you might be interested - it's here to read. Written2006-05-16 07:40:58 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bus service costs 25 pounds per passenger to run? Wiltshire's Wiggley Bus is provided to give public transport access to people who aren't near the regular services. You phone up, and it drops by your way on part of its flexiroute from Devizes to Pewsey, or whatever. Wiggley Bus in Calne (about 6 miles from Melksham) is a newish operation, and I was talking with a local councillor the other day who had been chatting with the lady from Wilts County Council. I understand that it costs TWENTY FIVE POUNDS for each journey made, and I'm sure the fares taken can't be that high. [[Edit - added later - I have just been emailed to tell me that the figures I have been given incorrect and the subsidy per journey is only a fraction of that - more like 4 pounds per journey. And that's from a source I trust. So why was Xxxxx told the 25 pound figure? Honest mistake? Perhaps. I know I get tired of being quoted anywhere from 100k to 630k pounds to hire a train appropriate for a line as it all depends on what's counted in and what's counted out ...]] Wiggley bus is run under a startup grant and after two years faces having to run without that grant. The county are most anxious to find a co-sponsor or pathner to take overe responsibility. Hearing this leads me to think ... these startup grants ARE still available; what if our county council help acquire a new grant for a new regular, 2 hourly train service from Swindon to Westbury with connections on to Salisbury and Southampton. It couldn't start until mid December since that's when the next timetable change is due, but the new two-hourly service could take over and grow from the service that had prevously used the line. [[Edit to add - I'm reminded that the wigglybus is subsidised by a bus-specific grant and so the same source would NOT pay for a new train service. Sounds a bit like Animal Farm. "4 legs good, 2 legs bad" becomes "Rubber wheels good, Steel wheels bad"]] A problem with funding after two years? I think not - there's a huge history of growth on the corridor, and after two years the service should be self sufficient. People would use regular trains, reliable trains. The County Council has the resiting of Melksham station in its plans, and that would boost traffic from there ... new housing right beside the new station would help. Good value? I applaud Wiltshire County Council's efforts to get good public transport for all. And if the Wiggley bus is good value, then the TransWilts train is superb value. Written2006-05-18 23:44:55 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Carrying fresh air around? On Heathrow connect this morning, there were only TWO passengers getting of at the terminus - terminals 1,2 and 3 ... from a 4 coach train. Makes the Swindon to Southampton look OVERCROWDED! I am NOT critisizing other services. But I AM pointing out that the service through Melksham is NOT the least used around. And remember that Melksham ticket sales were 1974th out of 2503 in 2003/04, so it's not even in the 20% of quietest stations. Oh - and that was on 20k ticket sales, not the 27k of the following year, for which I don't have all-station stats. Written2006-05-19 09:14:40 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Home soon. I'm coming towards the end of a couple of weeks working in Saudi Arabia. I've put some postings up onto the forum while I've been here, but the internet connection has been - shall we say - sufficienly poor for me to really appreciate it at home. And getting out has been sufficiently impractical for me to come to appreciate the UK, including the public transport there -- Graham Written2006-05-31 05:33:43 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Put yourself in their shoes It's good to be back in England .... even though already frustrated by the "hourly" bus from Heathrow to Chippenham, except that there isn't a service at 08:00 - the very time when interconinental travellers are getting back into the country. And already amused by all the signs at terminal 4 advertising the great non-stop Heathrow express to London' Paddington ... except it also stops on the way at Heathrow Central. Back to the land of doubletalk. I've been keeping somewhat quiet on one or two developments that were going on around the time I left the country - in the three weeks that's just about concluded now there was one "last" chance to get in some political clout, and indeed I and others were writing to ... all the familiar names. I was very heartened to see some, somewhat belated in my view, signs of interest from our MP, who you may recall spoke along with all the others on the threatened northern section of Swindon - Southampton at Westminster about a month ago. Plans were afoot for him and the shadow transport secretary to visit Melksham; it was after a similar such visit to Dean / Dunbridge that the southern section was reprieved. Alas, all I have is "holding" emails and I'm fearful that any visit will be too late; I WAS going to write "too little, too late" but, no, I think a visit of this type before the timetables were quite as cast as they propbaly are now might well have been the impetus. It's very easy to believe "consiparcy theory", but I have no smoking gun I can point you to. The line from Westbury to Chippenham and Swindon is scheduled on various plans for significant growth, and it's shown as a major freight artery. Me thinks that the growth can ONLY come from freight if there's no passenger trains at all from dawn to dusk. And me wonders ... perhaps there's a plan. Putting myself in other's shoes .... Let me put myself in the shoes of a passenger train, bus, and freight train operator. A company that's there for its shareholders. If I can run my freight on the rail and make a profit, and offload my train passengers onto a bus, isn't that far more profitable and far less of an organisational job? If I can persuade my potential rail passengers to drive to a nearby railhead and pay just as much as their train fare would be on the "local" train to park there, isn't that more profit? And I still get those passengers into my expresses - more seats filled with little operational extra cost. And the big joke is that the local county council subsidises my bus operation, and that the express rail fares I charge are 3 times the rate per mile I'm capped to on the local service. Does that sound like an implausible scenario? Let's apply some specifics: Let me put myself in the shoes of The First group. A company that's there for its shareholders. If I can run my freight on the rail and make a profit, and offload my Westbury - Melksham - Swindon passengers onto the 234 bus, isn't that far more profitable and far less of an organisational job? If I can persuade my potential rail passengers to drive to a Chippenham and pay just as much as their train fare would be on the "local" train to park there, isn't that more profit? And I still get those passengers into my expresses - more seats filled with little operational extra cost. And the big joke is that the Wiltshire County Council subsidises my bus operation, and that the express rail fares I charge are 50p per mile per mile compare to the 16p per mile I'm capped to on the local service. Let's put myself in the shoes of an elected represnentative. I cover a wide area, and it's NOT a "marginal" - mostly people who are very much of my political view. But there's one small town at the end of my area where my support is, to say the least, patchy. It was added to my consituency at a previous boundary review and really doesn't fit, and at the last election when I visited, I was photographed with my car parked in a disabled bay there. Thank goodness, before the next election that town will go to another constituency again. This town's train service is poor, but its use has grown significantly over the past five years. But it and some other services in my constituency are under threat. I think my best tactic is to deal with the services that will remain in my constituancy first and not let the waters get muddied by my unwanted appendage, but then when my core area is fixed I can give lip service to the other place - damage limitation, and I can plead that it's really not an easy battle, so don't expect too much. Does that sound like an implausible scenario? Let's apply some specifics: Let's put myself in the shoes of Michael Ancram. I cover a wide area, and it's NOT a "marginal" - mostly people who are very much Conservatives. But the town of Melksham at the end of my area where my support is, to say the least, patchy. It was added to my consituency at a previous boundary review and really doesn't fit, and at the last election when I visited, I was photographed with my car parked in a disabled bay there. Thank goodness, before the next election Melksham will go to another constituency again. This town's train service is poor, but its use has grown Eight fold over the past five years. But it and also the service to Bedwyn in my constituency are under threat. I think my best tactic is to deal with the Bedwyn that will remain in my constituancy first and not let the waters get muddied by my Melksham, but then when my core area is fixed I can talk in a debate, email that I plan to visit - damage limitation, and I can send emails that that it's really not an easy battle, so don't expect too much. Let's put myself in the shoes of a central government minister. Although I'm a minister, I'm also an elected representative for my own area, and I'll want to make sure that my own area and those of other members of my party are looked after when I'm making regional decisions. Other areas of the country which routinely elect MPs for other parties can be shortchanged, as there's no point in even trying to buy their votes. But we are taxing them to pay for the rest of us. "Best look after your own", eh? Does that sound like an implausible scenario? Let's apply some specifics: Let's put myself in the shoes of Derek Twigg / Douglas Alexander. Although I'm a minister, I'm also an elected representative for Widnes / Paisley, and I'll want to make sure that my own area and those of other members of my party are looked after when I'm making regional decisions Please, I'm NOT saying that these are the exact thoughts / reasons / actions of First, Michael Ancram, Derek Twigg, and Douglas Alexander. But the pieces do seem to fit remarkably well, don't they? Written2006-06-01 19:53:29 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lies, damned lies and statistics Re-visiting a quote from nearly a year ago ... at a time I knew no better than to accept the figures issued by the now-defunct SRA "Swindon-Southampton service discontinued (apart from 1 service in each peak the services were, on average, less than 25% loaded i.e. less than 20 people on each train). The peak services between Westbury and Swindon (calling at Trowbridge, Melksham and Chippenham) will remain." The quotation and figures, I have come to understand, is based on the number of tickets sold divided by the number of trains shown in the timetable ... November 2004 ... no trains apart from the 05:50 to Swindon ran for two weeks. No warning was given of this closure, which was because main line trains were being diverted along the single track and required all the capacity. Since last Autumn, a full weekend service has only been run on a handful of weekends. For many weekends, there have been no trains at all and on others Sunday trains have been suspended, or other cancellation patterns have applied. I would estimate that only between 25% and 35% of weekend trains have run. Concerned at a fearsome reputation for unreliability, I have been monitoring weekday trains via the web since January, and there are weeks where up to 20% of trains have been cancelled, with the figure rising to 25% of the "key" commuter trains being cancelled. Many services which I regard as being cancelled do NOT show in any official statics as such, since they are only withdrawn over a part of their route ... they do reach their terminus of Southampton ... it's just that they didn't serve Melksham This August, the line from Swindon to Chippenham is going to be closed for 9 days, including over the Bank Holiday. I made several journeys over the Bank holiday weekend last year, and the train was very busy indeed. Note that although the sections that's closed is just one extreme end of the line (between the last two stations), it's to be cut back and services withdrawn for the period between the last 5 stations one of which (Melksham again) has no other train services at all. Overall? I would estimate that of 64 services scheduled each week in the published timetable, an average or around 40 to 45 run - that depends on the period you take to look at. August 2 years ago, perhaps 25% ran. And THAT is a part of the period that's been used in so many statistics I've had quoted at me. Bryan Drysdale, who committed suicide by stopping his car on the level crossing near Reading, caused 6 more deaths on the train he derailed. He has also provided the ammunition which certain parties are using to "rubbish" our train service. * Traffic figure, I understand, do NOT include people travelling on rover tickets, children under 3 who travel for free, people who use the train but manage to get away without paying a fare, travellers who use the train for journeys where the "normal" route is not via Melksham, but who legitimately use the route because the timing is convenient for them .... * ANY line has its quieter and busier services. Not withstanding all my comments above, I note that the statisticians have carefully chosen to slice the service up to skew the apparently poor figures they're highlighting. Figures quoted to me by Andrew Griffiths of First. 109,000 passenger used the line in the year that's being used for all the various statistics. At 64 trains per week, 52 weeks per year, that's an average of 32 passengers per train. At 45 trains per week actually running, that's 46 passengers per train ... to which you must add rover tickets, Brit Rail pass holders, Inter-Rail ticket holders, toddlers .... Quote from Greentourism.org.uk: ... many overseas visitors, especially visitors from Germany and the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Japan, and North America and Australia ....... do not wish to hire a car (and indeed who may be nervous of driving along what for them is the “wrong” side of the road). Many will have either a Brit Rail pass or an Inter-Rail ticket, committing them to extensive use of the rail network. Written2006-06-09 05:11:09 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Our battle .... [This is the first of a pair of articles and looks at the Swindon - Melksham - Salisbury - Southampton service. A second article (link) goes on to have a look at implications beyond just "Melksham" and concludes that we're just an early battle in a gathering storm] When I set up the "Save the Train" website about a year ago, it was in response to a threat under the new Great Western Franchise to withdraw all Swindon to Southampton trains. The threat seemed quite astounding - to cut out a service between two major centres, based on one line slipped into a middle page of a consultation request that ran to nearly 100 pages. Our company, based here at Melksham in Wiltshire (which is served ONLY be the train under threat) has many customers who use the train - but perhaps our customers are a dying breed of railway users? That turns out, emphaticallly, to NOT be the case. Traffic on the line has risen at a compound rate of 35% per annum for the last five years. In other words, ticket sales have risen from 3,000 to 27,000 per year at Melksham, and the First group (who won the franchise) have told me that there are 109,000 passengers per annum using the train on the section through Melksham. Melksham, Chippenham, Trowbridge, Westbury, Warminster, Dilton Marsh are all growing dramatically, and no-one has doubted that traffic would continue to grow if the service was retained, nor that it would increase dramatically if it became a regular service every 2 hours - such a service being providable by a single 153 class (single coach) train. Speak to the First managers and they tell me that there's "nothing wrong" with the financial case that I make - that a service of 8 trains a day would indeed be a better economic proposition that the skeleton/remenant service of two trains a day that's proposed in the very early morning (06:20 our of Swindon) and early evening (18:12 out of Swindon). So why - in spite of vigorous campaigning - are we hitting a brick wall? Perhaps the reduction of the service to an inappropriate level is just one step that's planned. Perhaps there's a plan somewhere to render the service un-viable before it grows too much, so that it can then be withdrawn when the new service manifestly fails? Perhaps you think I'm being too melodramatic? Alas, this "background plan" is the one that makes the most sense to explain what's being going on. In the short term, screwing up what service are left is a nonsense. In the long term, with a wish to kill the line, it makes perfect sense. This hasn't happened just on the Swindon to Southampton service. You'll find that other lines / issues have received similar rough justice. And that there are great inconsistencies in information provided too. I've been told that it costs somewhere from 150,000 to 650,000 pounds to hire a train for a year. I've been told that buses to replace trains are NOT under consideration, but that a bus service to take the place of the removed trains IS (or has been) under consideration. I don't, in truth, know exactly why there's such a brick wall. Does the Transport Minister's ex live in Melksham and it's a personal feud? Are they looking for some line to make an example of, prefereably where there's no chance of them loosing any seats at the next election? I'm much more inclined to look at the freight possibilities of the line - single track - and the talk of major freight depots at Westbury and perhaps elsewhere in the A350 / A36 corridor. All the major policical parties seem keen on appearing green and supporting schemes such as this one to get freight off the roads. But none seems to be considering the effect on / displacement of existing services on the same railway tracks. The line through Melksham is slated for major growth, and that ain't going to be through a packed passenger train before dawn, is it?? New laws / guidance for railway line / passenger service closure are being proposed at the moment. It will no longer be the minister's decision, but a purely financial one, and it will look at issues such as how much money would be made selling railway land, and how much extra tax would be taken from motorists forced into their cars. There's not a hardship / convenience case, though - in other words, the fact that a 25 minute journey on a train is turned into over an hour by bus, with a change, with issues for those with special needs and people with luggage ... that's NOT taken into account. Oh - and there's a variety of interested parties who can challenge the viability of a line to start the process rolling. I don't think the new law is being passed as an academic exercise - what would be the point? I think it's being passed to make it easier to close lines that are wanted for freight traffic, withdraw services from smaller stations on busy lines or that run into busy junctions, and replace services that aren't easily paralleled by roads by giving aside vital railway land to the railway lobby. I'm going to conclude this first part of this article by widening the scope of what I'm saying ... by telling you that it's not JUST Swindon - Melksham - Southampton that's under threat. [This is the first of a pair of articles and looks at the Swindon - Melksham - Salisbury - Southampton service. A second article (link) goes on to have a look at implications beyond just "Melksham" and concludes that we're just an early battle in a gathering storm] Written2006-06-12 05:28:00 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ... is part of a planned war [Read this after the slightly earlier post "Our Battle", which talks of the specifics of the Southampton to Swindon / TransWilts / via Melksham services - link to earlier article] Under the Greater Western Franchise, services are slashed ... * Swindon to Westbury * Trains stopping at Ivybridge * Tamar Valley (Plymouth to Gunnislake) * Liskeard to Looe * Par to Newquay * The Salisbury to Southampton local service only has a 1 year repreive * The train service from Bristol to Severn Beach remains off peak only In each case, one of the reasons outlined in my previous article for the "powers that be" to want to withdraw the service completely could be made. So I'm predicting a glooms future for these lines - I expect in 2 years time to see Ivybridge passengers for Plymouth taking the bus, and cars running over the viaduct at Bere Ferrers rather than trains. Express trains will fly past the site of Dean and Dunbridge stations, and extra freight will trundle through between. Severn Beach will be served by a bus running where the railway line used to be, and if you go down to the old site of Melksham station you'll find the railway land sold off for housing, and you'll hear the new residents in "Spencer's Gate", being built as I write, complaining about the all night noise of First's freight trains. Will this happen elsewhere in the country too? I'm no expert, but I've just been looking through the new proposals for the East and West Midlands franchises, and the corresponding freight proposals, and the following services cause me concern: * Watford to St. Albans * Bletchley to Bedford * Coventry to Nuneaton * Walsall to Wolverhampton * Stourbridge junction to Stourbridge town * Birmingham to Stafford via Rugeley * Stafford to Stoke on Trent local trains (already "temporary" buses to 2009) * Crewe to Derby * Nottingham to Skegness * Nottingham to Mansfield * Lincoln to Cleethorpes * Derby to Matlock * Doncaster to Peterborough via Lincoln * Leicester to Loughborough local trains * Cleethorpes / Grimsby to Barton on Humber * Gainsborough to Grimsby I have steered away from direct comparisons that say "our service is better used than theirs" in the past - I do not want to point fingers and I don not know of local issues. I suspect that some of these services mentioned will be lost because paths are needed for proposed freight services, others will be lost because a monopoly public transport operator wishes that to be, and that perhaps some will be saved because they're serving marginal constituencies. East Midlands link West Midlands link Rail freight link - GB Rail Government Rail Freight link Freight on Rail Written2006-06-12 05:29:31 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political pressure - press release [[To Wiltshire Times - for publication]] There's still a chance to save the Swindon to Southampton train service! I've just been told that Shadow Transport spokesman Chris Grayling, and local MP Michael Ancram will be visiting MELKSHAM STATION on 7th July as the culmination of a last minute campaign to save the Swindon - Chippenham - Melksham - Trowbridge - Westbury - Salisbury - Southampton train service. Ticket sales at Melksham rose from 3,000 per annum five years ago to 27,000 the year before last, before falling back slightly last year - a year when the service was shut down completley on most weekends due to engineering works, and in which the service was fearsomely unreliable. Annual passenger journeys on the line to and through Melksham are now around 110,000. The alternative A350 road is notoriously overcrowded, with bottlenecks at Westbury, Beanacre and around Chippenham. In spite of the rapid growth, all existing services were slated for withdrawal from December 2006, to be replaced by just a return trip from Swindon to Westbury at 06:20 in the morning, and another return trip at 18:12 in the evening. Service calling at Melksham between 07:30 and 18:30 (currently six trains) are slashed to no trains at all. Earlier this week, it was announced that the Department for Transport has found funding and an extra train to provide a local service from Newton Abbott to Plymouth, serving Totnes and Ivybridge. This service was under similar threat to the 'TransWilts'. Andrew Griffiths, the regional manager for First Great Western who now operate the service, writes: "Somehow thought this news would be of interest to you. It only goes to show that concerted lobbying can have results. As to why funding has been found for Ivybridge and not Melksham you will need to ask DfT... No doubt your MP and the media might be interested too. The comparison in footfall for the year 2005/06 shows 48,423 for Ivybridge and 24,417 for Melksham; I will leave you to work out the number of people boarding/alighting per service call but on that measure I guess it shows a greater rate of use for Melksham." * Visit our web site at http://www.savethetrain.org.uk for an update * PLEASE lobby your MP, the Department for Transport and Ministers - there's a link on the web site that will be updated this weekend. * Put the 7th July date in your diary, come along to the station and show your support for the service and your appreciation of the work that Michael and Chris are dooing to help raise the profile of our case. "Save the Train" is a web site operated by local man Graham Ellis. Graham runs training courses in Melksham, and around 40% of his customers arrive and depart on the trains that are under threat. From trains that were, frankly, very quiet five years ago Graham has watched the service grow so to the extent that there are now between 40 and 50 people on each single coach train, and he's delighted to report that at times he's had to stand ... even at the weekends. [[Please feel free to email or call for further information and to publish my name and contact details]] Written2006-06-15 08:34:55 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| How to catch the 18:48 from Chippenham - the DfT suggests According to the Transport Direct Web site, I need to catch the 17:34 bus from the centre of Melksham to connect into the 18:48 train from Chippenham ... at the start of an evening journey I'm planning to Liverpool. Transport Direct is an "official" site, sponsored by the Department for Transport, the Welsh Assembly, and a few others. Here's their suggestion for how I get from Melksham onto a train at Chippenham, 7 miles away (and there IS a direct Melksham to Chippenham train .... at least at present ... that takes 10 minutes)  1. The routing is daft ... it takes you on the 17:34 bus for about a mile out of the town, then has you walk back in to a stop a few yards from where you started to catch a bus at 18:04 ... 2. I'm very concerned to see the official site refer to the 18:04 bus as a Rail Replacement. Th e transport minister denies that buses are replacing trains, and yet here's this on a site he sponsors 3. The walk from Bath Road to the station in Chippenham is regrettable, poorly signposted and impractical for anyone who's a bit unhealthy or with heavy luggage - dodging High Street traffic, then a stiff hill climb. I visited the commercial Xephos web site to which I have a 2 pounds a month subscription, and they suggested that I catch the 18:02 bus at Melksham and change at Bath - a much more sensible answer in my view, with a single bus ride and a "same interchange" connection in Bath to the same onward train. Written2006-06-16 08:37:36 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Internet connection issues Just a brief update ... I've been unable to reach the site for a few days due to internet routing problems - won't get too technical (that's my day job!), but I'm back briefly now and will be around better during the coming week. I do note that First are talking of adding extra coaches to the sleeper because all the publicity has lead to a surge in business. Tell 'em that publicity would / will do wonders for Melksham too ... already a success story except it's scheduled to be overpruned and I fear that, like a tree with all young shoot cut off , might die completely. Written2006-06-25 15:53:10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Selling off any possibility of improvement I understand the the British Railways Residual Board, which owns some land at Melksham station, is selling some of it off .... INCLUDING the section that's earmaked in the local transport development plan to provide a link from the new "Spencer's Gate" development to the station. This is the same section of land that would be needed to provide access to a new station site behind MacDonald's .. a further aspiration of the local transport plan. Passenger ticket sales to and from Melksham has shown a staggering growth in the past five years, and the network rail plans schedule the line for strong growth in the next ten years. I've spoken with many people who are NOT currently users of Melksham station in the past 12 months, but would be willing to use it if the service was improved. Chief amongst the reasons cited for their lack of use are: a) Infrequent / irregular / unreliable service. b) The poor loaction of the station at the back of an industial estate, with no possibility of the bus being routed past as it's at the end of a cul de sac. I think that passenger growth will NOT continue to grow strongly if 60% of the trains are cut, as shown in the provisional timetables published by the operator, and if the station location and access improvements are not carried through in due course. Written2006-06-27 19:34:57 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Letter from Derek Twigg Department for Transport, 20th June 2006 to Michael Ancram QC, MP Dear Michael, Thank you for your letter of 30th May, enclosing correspondence from your constituent Mr Graham Ellis of Well House Consultants, 404 The Spa, Melksham, about the Swindon to Southampton train service. We did look very carefully at this when we were drawing up the specification for new Greater Western franchise. Mr Ellis reports that trains on the route regularly carry thirty or forty passengers. The findings from our research were that, although the morning peak train to Swindon and the evening return sometimes achieved those sorts of numbers, average loadings were appreciably lower. The highest numbers tend to be found between Chippenham and Swindon in the eastbound direction and, in the mornings, between Trowbridge and Westbury westbound. Alternative services are available on both these sections of route. Mr Ellis also asks about the timings of the remaining services. I was sorry to hear that the retimed services will be less convenient to him. I hope, though, he will understand that it is not always possible to satisfy all passengers with the train services they would like. First Great Western have agreed to run the Westbury to Southampton "shuttle" service until December 2007. Mr Ellis suggests that this might be extended to Swindon. He acknowledges that this might need extra rolling stock, however, it is a cost that we could not reasonably justify. Derek Twigg ======================================================= I'm going to comment, and add in some pictures as I do. All these pictures were taken of services which are NOT the commuter train - i.e. of trains that are said to be too little used to justify retention.  I has seen the statistics quoted by the Department for Transport at the time of the original franchise specification, and noted they were taken over a relatively short period (8 days) which he suspects might have included the Easter weekend. As someone with a University Degree which included a major statistics element, I can assure the minister that a sample of this size is insufficient to be statistically significant - he would need the statistics from around 15 to 20 days, chosen at random throughout the year, to be able to read anything into the figuures that could relate to overall usage on a service which may well have a seasonal element.  Fortunatley, other statistics are available. First Great Western quoted a figure of 109,000 journeys for the year up to the franchise specification, and at 64 trains per week, that's an average of 32 passengers per train - very much in line with my observations to Mr Ancram, and (if gathered correctly), statistically significant.  That's not the full story. The line has suffered from numerous cancellations and a great deal of replacement of trains by buses in recent years, so the number of trains that actually carried the 109,000 passengers is somewhat lower that the number I've used ... pushing the average up to perhaps 35.  Me thinks the Minister is trying to blind us with figures! It appears that Mr Twigg thinks that my quest for retiming the trains is a personal one, telling me I can't have what I want like some spoilt child. In practise, you would be hard pressed to find many of the current users of the trains who welcome the new timings/service. I'm not saying "none", but I know that it would be just a couple of percent.  I have learnt in the past year ... I have learnt that a station that LOOKS quiet can be busy. That train pulling out has 30 people on board. And the 10 who got off just 60 seconds ago have disappeared like water running through a grate towards their homes and work. Written2006-06-28 18:38:07 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Important but not refreshing meeting This Friday, 7th July, at 11 a.m. Our MP, Michael Ancram, meets the shadow transport minister Chris Graying at Melksham Station. All welcome. I had hoped to be able to have refreshments on hand at the station. The "Kiss and Ride" morning we ran last Autumn, with teas and coffees was a memorable one, and certainly helped with our publicity. Alas, we're not allowed to set up an urn this time due to health and safety concerns, and we could only serve other refreshments if a member of the FGW team is present. 3 days before the MPs visit, and over 2 weeks after my request for permission, I have decided that it's too late to set anything up on this if we could - after all, [b]resfreshements are peripheral to the main business, which is to attempt to reverse the proposed slashing back of the train service[/b]. I've also heard that there's an important timetabling meeting o DISCUSS the timings in London on 7th July, and the important managers will all be at that London meeting. I've written to contacts, wishing them good luck in coming up with train schedules that are [b]suitable for the DfT, for the operators and for their customers[/b] and requesting that they remember the meering that's going on as they negotiate. Written2006-07-05 08:38:49 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Welcome for Michael Ancram and Chris Grayling Looks like tomorrow will be a big day, with our MP and the Shadow Transport spokeman in town. There will be some press there, a representative of First, a representative of Wilts County Council, a representative of the South West Regional assembly and many more. I don't know whether we'll have anyone from Government Offices South West, or from the Department for Transport, but I would very much hope so. As I'm not really used to organising these things, I don't know exactly what to expect; I'll have a couple of possible agendas to hand to be able to make the visti effective whatever the metrics turn out to be, and I've even started to write myself some notes / possible 10 minute intro so I don't have to "wing" it too much and leave something out. ALL welcome. If you can let me know, so much the better. If not, just turn up. If I find myself talking, perhaps this is what I might say: 1. Welcome a) I'm Graham Ellis - I run computer training courses here in Melksham. Many of our customers arrive and leave by train from their homes all over the country, and me and my family use the train and other public transport whenever we can for business and personal trips. b) Welcome to Chris Grayling, shadow Transport Minister, and Michael Ancram who represents the Devizes constituency, which includes Melksham, in Parliament. 2. History and current service. a) Melksham's train service comprises 5 trains each way Monday through Friday on the Swindon to Southampton service, with 4 on Saturday and 3 on Sunday. b) Ticket sales for journeys to and from Melksham rose from about 3,000 in 2000/2001 to over 27,000 five years later, with around 109,000 journeys made on the stopping service through the station annually. That works out at an average of 32 passengers per train. Some trains are considerably busier, and some are quieter. One of the features of the traffic flow is that passenger numbers on the same train, same day of the week can vary dramatically from week to week. b) Tickets to and from Melksham are bought to and from Swindon, Bristol, and Salisbury in significant numbers (over 5% of sales each). There is also around 25% of long distance traffic; I have spoken with travellers to and from Neath, Exmouth, London, Bolton, Edinburgh, Cornwall, Bognor Regis, Southampton and York amongst others all within a few days. c) The single track section of the line through Melksham is frequently used for diversion of express trains. For example, for 9 days at the end of September the line will be used for express trains from Chippenham to London which will pass through Melksham nonstop, and the local service will be replaced by buses from Westbury to Swindon. The service operator has explained to me that they cannot stop their expresses at Melksham. d) Engineering works frequently close the line for all or part of the weekend. We have had only a handful of "regular service" weekend in the past 9 months. e) Replacement buses are much slower (journey times doubled or worse) and unpopular; they convey perhaps a quarter of the passengers that would ride the equivalent train. Tickets have rarely been collected on the buses in the past, and in many cases no-one is provided to collect fares at either end of the journey either. This means that bus users are often riding free of charge and are NOT include in the usage statistics. f) The weekday service has a fearsome cancellation record, and publicity and information is almost non-existent even at Swindon and Chippenham. g) The station site in Melksham is unattractively positioned in the back of an industrial estate. Land has been earmarked to provide improved access via the new Spencer's Gate housing area, and the shops and restaurants close by. This land also provides for a relocated station a few hundred yards to the North of the present one. h) The line is maintained to a high standard and has a generous loading gauge making it ideal for freight trains, which are seen from time to time. I understand from people who live within earshot of the railway that it can be pretty busy at night. i) In spite of the negative factors described, traffic has grown over the years to the extent that I've travelled on trains - and NOT the peak trains either - where I've not been able to get a seat. 3. Threats and case a) The Strategic Rail Authority specified the complete withdrawal of the Swindon to Southampton service in their request for bids for the new Great Western franchise that was awarded to the First group last December. b) An alternative service of 2 per day in each direction is to be provided, with a specification that one train arrives in Swindon in the morning peak and another leaves in the evening peak. c) All bidders were invited to put additional cases in their bids to the Department for Transport, and there have been stakeholder consultations and some service modifications through the area covered by the new franchise since then. d) The latest draft timetable shows trains leaving Swindon for Chippenham, Melksham, Trowbridge and Westbury only at 06:20 and 18:32, arriving back there at 07:44 and 20:10. Only the 06:20 train runs within 30 minutes of an existing service. e) Trains from Swindon at 08:43, 14:23, 17:42 and 22:11 are withdrawn. Trains arriving back there at 06:20, 08:18, 14:01, 17:21 and 22:01 are withdrawn. f) If the proposed new service replaces the current one, it will no longer be possible to travel by train from London to Melksham except leaving London at 17:00 or 17:33. g) If the proposed service changes go ahead, it will no longer be practical for commuters and business people to travel from Swindon and Chippenham to Melksham, Trowbridge, Westbury, Warminster or Salisbury to work, nor for them to return by train at the end of the day. h) Commuters from Frome, Westbury, Trowbridge and Melksham to Chippenham and Swindon face a much longer day - they will arrive in Swindon 34 minutes earlier than at present, and not be able to leave again until 42 minutes later than at present. The morning service from Frome will no longer be direct. i) Train users who work part time or evenings will not have any suitable train service available. j) Most of the weekend travel opportunities, including the option to work / spend the day in Swindon, will be removed under the draft weekend timetables. These have not been circulated as widely as the weekday drafts. k) The First 234 bus service, which also serves Trowbridge, Melksham and Chippenham does NOT serve the station in Chippenham, even though there's a new road / rail interchange there, and First have promoted this as a part of their franchise publicity. Requests for the 234 bus to serve the station in Chippenham have been politely rejected on cost grounds. l) New legislation (consultation was last April) relating to the complete closure of stations and services that do not meet certain economic criteria is likely to catch the much reduced Melksham service in its net. A service that continued to grow as the current service has done would most likely be safeguarded. m) The British Rail Board Residual Body is planning to sell by auction on 31st October 2006 land which has been safeguarded for improved station access, and for the new station site. n) Chippenham, Melksham, Trowbridge and Westbury all continue to grow, and are forecast to have some of the highest rates of growth anywhere in the UK. The road link between the (A350) is mostly single carriageway and has significant bottlenecks at Westbury, near Melksham Station, and at Beanacre. Road access into Swindon is congested and slow at peak times, and parking there is expensive. o) Current train travel per head of population in Melksham is less than one twentieth of that of neighbouring towns such as Bradford on Avon and Chippenham, both of which have (and will retain) much more frequent services. p) When asked to look at / review their decision, the Department for Transport quotes an SRA survey taken over a period of just over a week in Spring of 2005. Usage of the trains in that week was significantly lower than the averages revealed by section 2(b). Taking a short sample of traffic on a railway service that has significant peaks and troughs, and extending it to a complete year, is statistically flawed, and the evidence gathered is of little scientific and commercial use. 4. Discussion a) With services cut back as proposed, I foresee a rapid drop in the number of passengers using the service. b) If the current service was retained, I would see continued growth at the sort of levels we've seen averaged over the past few years. Such growth would be stimulated by a more reliable service (promised by First throughout the Franchise area), improved station facilities (also promised by First), and by better information and marketing. c) If the current service was replaced by a regular interval (2 hourly) service leaving Westbury at 05:45, 07:45, 09:45 and 11:45, then 14:45, 16:45, 18:45 and 20:45, returning from Swindon 1 hour later, traffic levels would increase dramatically. This service could be provided by a single type "153" coach and could be run as an extension of the Southampton to Westbury service through 2007, perhaps being taken over by the new operator of the South West franchise at that point. d) The economic case (best financial balance sheet) of these three cases is in favour of the regular interval service. This option also provides the best solution for passenger convenience and for the economics of the towns served, and encourages their continued prosperity. 4. Where from here a) We strongly encourage the Department for Transport and the First group to provide an appropriate train service from this December. As a minimum, this service should be at the current level, but the better case, economically and socially, is for a train every 2 hours. b) We request that the more detailed timetable review re-times the morning train into Swindon to arrive shortly after 8 a.m. and to leave on its return shortly before 6 p.m. so that it retains its utility as a commuter service. c) We request that the land safeguarded for station access / improvements at Melksham remains safeguarded. 5. Conclusion a) I would like to thank everyone who has supported the "TransWilts" train service and the case for its retention; they are too numerous to mention, but I would especially like to thank to Michael Ancram and to Chris Grayling, for all their efforts on our behalf so far. They are truely appreciated. b) We must continue to press the case for the TransWilts train. Although things may look bleak today, I'm reminded of the railway line to Looe that was within 2 weeks of complete closure in the time of Dr Beeching, but was reprived at the last minute. Today, trains are so busy in the summer that the conductor can't even get around to everyone during the journey. It CAN be done, even at this 11th hour. Written2006-07-06 10:05:27 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Visit by Chris Grayling and Michael Ancram A Huge THANK YOU to Chris Grayling (shadow transport secretary) and Michael Ancram (our MP) for coming along today and giving us their support. They take to Westmister with them a view of a service that shows much that's good in secondary rail services - a real success story that's had traffic rise 8 fold in 5 years to 109,000 journeys per annum, through towns such as Chippenham (44,000) and Melksham (24,000) which are set to grow by 30% in the next few years. Fantastic also to see senior representatitves of First, local councils, the county council, the BBC (national coverage), local press, users, local business people, Melksham Rail Development group .. and please forgive me anyone I've missed out. A dreary morning ... no passenger trains (after the 09:12, we have nothing to 13:35 as it is) but a unanymous view from everyone who spoke that cutting down from the current service to trains at 7:15 a.m. and p.m. only ... will result in a service that carrys fresh air around - exaclty what the previous transport secretary, Alastair Darling, said he did NOT want to happen. Derek Twigg, Douglas Alexander. I challenge you. Take action to safeguard the service and to let the bud bloom into a flower. Don't let it gown down the "fresh air" route that is NOT your stated policy. More about what Chris Graying had to say on the forum, and to follow later Written2006-07-07 19:21:26 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Friday, 7th July - Melksham I don't know where to start writing today .... No, seriously, I DO know where to start, which is yesterday's visit by Chris Grayling MP, Shadow Transport Minister, Michael Ancram QC, MP, the BBC, and many, many others to the station. I did a little introduction, Chris spoke about the crazyness of the current DfT policy that's pushing Melksham back to just 2 trains a day in December and looks like it could be a step in a "closure by stealth" campaign from them that's been repeated elsewhere in the Great Western area and in other upcoming franchises, and we had a very good informal discussion around the platform. No-one had a good word to say for the Department for transport's plans as they relate to Swindon - Melksham - Southampton. Sufficient people there for the First represenentative to have to remind us to keep back from the platform edge (and indeed, as the final few stragglers left a long, long freight train passed through at speed). Yesterday was also an important timetable discussion meeting in London and most of First's managers were there; our Region General Manager made an exception to join us in Melksham. Alison Forster, First Great Western's MD promised by email that she would ... "make sure you are fully updated as soon as a final decision is made". There's some promise in that - there is still a final decision in the offing What else? I've been looking at / reading into some of the new proposed freight routes from Southampton, as per a Freighliner announcement of the last few days and it looks like many of the services will be routed via Melksham ... indeed, our section could well be a bottleneck if we retain a reasonable passenger service (do I spot a DfT plan / motive there? If so, they haven't told us that) Yesterday's local paper had a huge 2 page advertising spead by Knorr-Bremse, designers and manufacturers of railway equipment here in Melksham employing hundreds of staff, which declared Melksham - Now a Centre of World Leading Rail Technology. How ironic on the very day that we were holding a critical meeting to discuss the future of the whole railway service to the town. I also learnt yesterday that "supersaver" fares were quietly withdrawn by First Great Western a few weeks ago, I presume as a part of their simplification of the fare structure. Supersavers offered the lowest cost "walk up" - i.e. not advanced purchase - fares on many journeys to London on days that are NOT considered peak days. i.e. they were typically available Monday through Thursday, Sundays and Winter Saturdays, but were NOT available around holiday periods. The lowest walk up fares are now the Savers, available on all days but with restrictions on which trains can be used; previous users of Supersavers must now step up to these more expensive tickets. This morning, I passed by the station just before the 09:15 to Southampton left - gladdened to be able to report about a dozen people waiting. I'm nor a great user of certain services, and that includes the southbound 09:15 at the weekend. Gladdened to see so many there in spite of all the engineering cancellations this particular train suffers, and I wondered how many more would already be on board from Swindon and Chippenham when it comes through. ---OOO--- Finally, I must end a piece dated exactly one year on from the London Tube bombings by adding a few words here to remind us of all those people who died, who were injured, and their friends and relatives for whom the suffering goes on. Written2006-07-08 10:38:04 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rail future - the First Alternative These are growth times for the First Group, with their clever strategy of bidding everyone else off court for rail franchises. They read into government policy a requirement for a big financial return from rail, and that's what they're providing. They read that there's no need to continue to provide more than a token service to towns such as Newquay, Barnstaple, Looe, Ivybridge, Melksham, Saltash, Severn Beach. They read that there's no need to provide reasonable cost travel, so they've withdrawn tickets such as the SuperSaver with replacements all being more restrictive and/or more expensive. So the norm for the future is the 50p - per - mile service between main centres, and a network that in a few years time will simply end at those centres. Derek Twigg, the Minister with Rail Responsibility, answered a quesion from his opposition opposite number Chris Grayling telling him that "All premium payments received from rail franchises are appropriated in aid by the Department and the funds are made available for spending on transport." In other words, Mr Twigg, the money that you're collecting from the First group bids will be subsidising other programs such as roads and buses ... there's just been 42 Million pounds awarded to the Bristol Showcase bus scheme and - guess what - First stand to benefit as the operator of most of those routes. They're getting their money back by playing the game the way the Department for Transport wish is to be played. This has implications beyond just the Great Western area. The South West trains franchise is coming up soon, and it's rumoured that First will put in another massive bid and win it. I don't know how good the rumours are, but a leopard doesn't change its spots, so that would be a logical step for them. And that other leopard - the DfT - won't change its spots either, so chances are that First will get it. How long, then, trains to Lymington, already running with the last two slam-door trains because the electrics on the line can't take current units? Does Alton really need a train service? Wouldn't it be logical to transfer diesel operations to the Great Western operation? What about a host of stations along the coast - wouldn't a simple Southampton - Bournemouth - Poole - Dorchester - Weymouth service be all that's needed, with customers from Brockenhurst, from Wareham, from Moreton being encouraged to "railhead". Far fetched? Maybe. But consider this ... the population of Brockenhurst is around 6,000. Of Wareham, around 8,000. Of Melksham, currently under threat of loosing most of its trains, around 24,000. Of Alton, 16,500. And also consider ... the tender specification for the Great Western was for 7 to 10 years of operation, but already this summer, First are surveying usage of trains on the "Cornish Branch Lines" at least. It looks rather as if the inclusion of a service in a 7 to 10 year franchise won't preclude the culling of services during that time. After all, I rather suspect that the new general railway legislation that makes rail closure easier is being put onto the statute book for use, and not just as a paper exercise. Will Melksham still have trains in 2008? Will Cornwall be just the Penzance line by 2013? Will Brunel's Saltash bridge still carry passengers in 2018? Will the seawall at Dawlish simply fall into the sea in 2023, and trains be cut back to Exeter or Bristol? Will the old GWR line from London to Bristol, run as a heritage railway, be all that is left by 2028? And will that too be closed by 2033 under a weight of tax and regulation? Written2006-07-11 05:41:17 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pivotal decison - to grow or to strangle? Alison Forster, First Great Western's Managing Director, wrote to me earlier this month: "I regret that I will not be able to join you on the platform at Melksham on Friday [7th]. I will be in London appropriately enough negotiating on the December timetable!." I replied "I hope the meeting in London has a good outcome for all interested parties, and certainly appreciate that such meetings are key.", and I briefly re-iterated the case for a service level / timing better than the drafts we have seen for the Swindon to Westbury and onwards services. She followed up with: "Thank you for your email and for the information. We are aware of the MPs interest and that of other passengers and I will make sure you are fully updated as soon as a final decision is made." And so, I wait with bated breath to hear of the next stage. A further week has passed, and no news - so perhaps they left their meeting, now over a week ago with work still to do. This is at a time when Chris Grayling, the Shadow Transport minister, is asking the Government "what steps the Government has taken to improve rail services between Swindon and Westbury and at intermediate towns to provide transport alternatives for the new housing planned in the area" and "what the reason is for the delay in his reply to the letter of 24th April 2006 from Wiltshire County Council about rail services in Wiltshire". This is also a time when reliability continues to be a real issue. We've had 4% of weekday trains (including the busiet train of the day) cancelled for each of the last two weeks. We've got rail replacement but services for at least some of the trains every weekend throughout July. Yet this is also a time that the train use continues to flourish. I saw a dozen passengers waiting for the morning Southamton train on Saturday [8th] July, and when I dropped off a customer for the train of Friday [14th] ... waited for it, and it was crowded (I can't be more accurate - my prime role was to see my customer safely away, with directions on where he should change). This morning, I've been reading a history of the Devizes line, closed on the same day in 1966 that Melksham originally lost its service. I quote: "Further cuts in services were introduced from March 1962 ... this had a serious effect ... " "It was apparent that BR's policy in cutting out the well used services was their covert way of making the line unviable, resulting in inevitable closure" "By the summer of 1965, the branch and its services were almost dead ..." The very last train from Devizes left at 20:57 on Saturday, 16th April 1966. The population of Devizes rose from 8,495 in the 1961 census to 11,296 in the 2001 census. The population of Melksham (including Melksham Without) over the same period rose from 12,465 to 20,424. Today, it's estimated to be 24,000 and is projected and planned to continue to grow. The meetings on 7th July and the discussions that have followed it may be pivotal. A turning point that - at the 11th hour - could retain the train services from Swindon and Melksham and on to Westbury, Salisbury and beyond. Usage statistics and observation are showing a strongly growing service. Forward projections and planning are showing massive growth of travel along the corridor. And so, I wait with baited breath. On one hand, sense could prevail. On the other hand, it might be that a historian in 10 years time could paraphrase the authors of the Devizes book: "It was apparent that First / the DfT policy in cutting out the well used services was their covert way of making the line unviable, resulting in inevitable closure". Written2006-07-16 08:07:47 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bad news coming? I've had an email telling me unofficially that I'm likely to be "very disappointed" with the final December timetable which I should see in the next few days. If I'm very disappointed, then many others who make up the 109,000 annual journeys will be disappointed too. For some of them it will cut a lifeline and have enormous personal effect. And it remains ludicrously un-necessary to cull the service! Written2006-07-19 07:27:47 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In praise of estate agents I thought that subject line would get your attention! I've just been prompted to check with thetrainline for services from Swindon to Melksham on Monday evening, and I said I wanted to travel at 18:00. So it offered me the 22:11 .... Have you ever walked into an Estate Agent and asked for a house with a maximum price of (say) 150k, and been given houses to look at in the 140k to 160k range. "Cheeky" you might say, but it IS worthwhile them adding in a bit of elastic. Why can't trainline do the same thing? The person who prompted me to check was looking to commute into Swindon by train - to try it for the first time. Alas, the thought of a wait around from 18:00 until 22:11 has put him off .... damage limitation exercise in place herei; I'm emailing him about the 17:43, not that I'll get much thanks from the train operator for it [[I'll follow up if I do!]] Written2006-07-22 20:21:43 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Press Release - Open Access operator negotiations Press release - 26th July 2006 "Save The Train" invites open access operators to provide a Swindon - Chippenham - Melksham - Trowbridge - Westbury train service. On Friday, 28th July, First will publish their final train timetable for the service to run from December 2006. They currently provide 5 trains a day from Swindon to Melksham (pop 24,000), Trowbridge (pop 30,000) and Westbury (pop 12,000) and we anticipate a cut to just two trains - timed anti-socially at around 06:20 and 18:45 from Swindon. And yet the current service is a success, growing at around 35% (compound) per annum, with 109,000 journeys annually. And further growth can continue if the trains can continue. Our campaign to Save the Train has commanded community support at all levels, and crossparty support in Parliament. We submitted our original 2-hourly Swindon - Westbury proposal to the Department for Transport and First but, despite being told that there was "nothing wrong" with our business case, our proposals were rejected by both. We have now began consulting with various other interested parties on our proposals, including talking to other rail operating companies under the "Open Access" scheme", and will make a further statement soon. We believe that with funding and other required factors in place, our proposals should be cleared by the Office of Rail Regulation. Further details of our approach can be found at http://www.savethetrain.org.uk/open.html?printer=1 Written2006-07-26 11:10:08 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Open Access case strengthened A big thank you to a contributor to our forum for playing "Devil's Advocate" with the plans we published late last week to invite another TOC (Train Operating Company) to have a look at providing a Swindon - Westbury (and possibly beyond) every 2 hours from this December. Most of our proposal stood up well - bl**dy well - and it seems that all the hard work that's been done in the last six months really is remarkably accurate. I have made one change, though. My pricings were previously based on what it would have cost First to provide the service, with a train taken from a fleet of similar units based at the same depot ... in other words with a single train to provide the service. That was a "best case" scenario. A "worst case" scenario - for an out-of-area TOC to be basing a unit specifically to work the service, a second unit would be required as backup and to cover maintainance periods. This adds around 150k per annum and my pricing now reflects the worst case. Even with the service run in this more expensive manner, it's into profit in the second year My "devil's advocate" feels that freight paths are a red herring .... maybe (or maybe not) but it really doen't matter as my proposal goes into some details as to how the line's capacity can be increased if need be without the need to lay extra tracks. His bottom line price seems high, but he hasn't given me a breadown of how he reached the figure (even when askied by email), and I suspect that he's just quoting a figure he's been fed, or he's taken an average statitic from somewhere rather than studying the service as I, and others, have done. Many thanks to the folks who have helped further with the case ... my role here is both to corrolate it and re-assure myself that it's sane, Done that. Onward, Stronger! The case is now looking even stronger. See - the updated case Written2006-07-30 18:18:49 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A desire for honesty I get very tired of lies. Of the truth being hidden. Of information being published at strategic time like just after the boys and girls we've elected to Westminster are away on their holidays ... I would actually like to see responses / inputs along the lines of ... "We've looked at the current passenger traffic level figures supplied by First / the Office of the Rail Regulator / yourself and the growth of West Wiltshire, and in spite of the huge growth of the service shown, we're slashing it now because ...." from the Department for Transport "We've listened to the views of travellers on the Frome, Westbury, Trowbridge and Melksham to Swindon service. In spite of their requests for a peak hour train, we've provided them with a very early morning train and an evening train that do not meet their needs because ...." from First Great Western A might not like the answers that go in to the "..." sections, but at least we would all know where we stood and we could all look to doing something forwardlooking and practical in terms of "where do we go from here". Written2006-08-03 07:29:58 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Flowers for Melksham. Flowers at Melksham. The train service to Melksham is much valued by the local community. The station may be set in the back of an industrial estate, and it may be pretty minimalistic, but it's cherished and cared for. This year, with the First Group operating the service, you'll see that one of the unpaid friends of the station has carefully planted flowers in First's colours as a welcome to them. I'm told it's no easy matter keeping the flowers up at the station; it doesn't have a water supply and water has to be carried in from elsewhere - perhaps liaising with a local business on the estate at times that they're open, or bringing the water further if need be.We do care for our train service in Melksham. And we do use it, in ever increasing numbers. There have been reliability issues over the years, and of late engineering works have disrupted the already limited service nearly every weekend - August's no exception with every weekend day effected in some way, and the month ending with complete closure for 9 days. On current plans, our new train operator will cease running most of our trains in December. They're not being forced to give them up and there's a strong commercial case to run the service - see We're not taking the planned removal of most of our trains lying down. You'll find activity on this site and elsewhere - including some very high places. Last week, I met our MP for the - let's see - 3rd or 4th time. I also met with some of the folks from the RMT union, and I'm meeting further senior politicians too. Everyone's very much on side to retain / improve the service. Everyone's pressing the case. They and we owe it to the people of Melksham; they care for their service, and if we don't shout about it, it looks like the users who really care for their station and service will be shafted. Written2006-08-06 07:54:54 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Has our publicity reached the right people? Sadly, I have to admit that a lot of the publicity from this site hasn't reached the right people. Three years ago, there were six train services from Swindon They were to London, to Bristol, to South Wales, to Gloucester, to Southampton and to Oxford. The Oxford service was lost, we were told, because of network overcrowding in the Bristol / Bath area. The there were five ... This December, the Southampton service is scheduled to cease - the last through train running at 17:43 on Friday, 8th December. Then there will be four ... Now I would not expect every train user at Swindon to realise that they're about to loose yet another service, especially if it's not one they use on a regular basis personally. But I would have expected that user groups, individuals, committees that represent customers to the operators would have been been aware of the proposed withdrawal. Sadly, not the case Incredible though it may seem, although we've had over 9,700 different visitors to this site in just under a year, there are huge gaps in who we have reached - I never cease to be amazed. What it DOES tell me is that this thing is far bigger that I had thought - if 9,700 visitors is poor market penetration, then what could we have achieved with good penetration? And just how many people are going to be effected by the cuts? Oh - wait - we've already been told. 109,000 journeys per year are curently made on the service that's to go. Written2006-08-10 09:17:11 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| One year on It's a year to the day since this web site was launched ... and in that time we've had Nine thousand, Nine hundred and Thiry six different visitors to this web site. We've been in touch with hundred and hundreds of people - on our forum, by email, by phone, by post and in person. I've spoken on the radio, appeared on TV, received excellent coverage in the local paper. Support has come from all sides of the political spectrum, and from a-political bodies too - from small local setups to national campaign groups, from the left and from the right. The Swindon to Westbury and beyond train service was raised by all 4 MPs along the line at a debate in Westminster, and senior politicians have visited us to add their weight to the campaign. Not bad going for a domain I registered for 2 quid for the year, and only possible because I'm pushing a cause with huge interest and support. During the year, I've learnt a lot. What is costs to hire a train, how train timetabling works, all the various levels of government. I've learnt how the current franchise and regulation system doesn't work (at least in our case) to the benefit of the community that it's supposed to serve - how vested political interests, shareholder's interests, the interests of a civil service that feels that consultation is an evil necessity, and more, have lead to a system that's far from being a level playing field. Putting it another way, "it stinks". I've also learnt of a train service that's grown from 3,000 to 27,000 ticket sales per annum to / from Melksham, with passenger numbers on the line (for through journeys) also growing at around the same rate, reaching a high of 109,000 annual journeys. That's broadly compatable with branch lines such as Liskeard to Looe and Plymouth to Gunnislake, which - although slashed - will continue to enjoy a service we would envy after this coming December. I've met individuals - many individuals - who will be seriously inconveninenced by a withdrawal of the train. People who have no car but will have to buy one. People who cannot drive for medical reasons who's journeys will be extended by an hour on the bus. People with prams and luggage and disabillities who find changing at Bath stressful to put it mildly. Visitors to Melksham who cannot hop off a train onto a bus at Chippenham ... where they could connect into a train. I've learnt of local transport plans, and seen the regional spatial strategy develop. New housing going in right beside the station at Melksham, growth in Chippenham, in Trowbridge, in Westbury ... and I've read the plans that show the growth will be continuing. I've spoken to people on the train, people on the street, people on line. People who may or may not use the train much now, but who WOULD use it that much more if it was reliable, regular,the station was welcoming, and information was easily available. I have every confidence that the 27,000 ticket sales would continue to grown, compound, 25% per annum for the next 5 years given these conditions. So why, in the face of overwhelming evidence in favour of the service, are we about to loose the majority of services and have the remaining ones retimed away from when they're needed? 1. The same commercial company runs the buses, the trains that are being cut, and the competing trains via Bath. It's a public transport monopoly, and people have no choice but put up with whatever they're given. 2. The government's railway budget is out of control, and the Department for Transport needs its little victories over minnows such as us in order to save face. 3. There's about a dozen extra freight trains a day planned along the single track line in coming years, (it depends how far you look ahead as to how the numbers rise), and there's not the capacity without signalling improvements. Better kill the service now with 109,000 journeys a year that wait until the freight capacity is required - by that time you may be up to a quarter of a million journeys a year and it would be that much harder to kill. And so, one year on, we have the absurd situation of a real success story that's going to be killed off in a few months time. The major decision maker - the Department for Transport - continues to stonewall requests to reconsider; in a letter as recently written as last Friday, they tell me that the decison was NOT based only on a single survey that's old and questionable, but they don't go on to tell me what (other) data was used as well. From the tone of the letter, it's clearly still old evidence that the author had in mind; no doubt things like the 3,000 ticket sales the previous time the franchise was awarded. The Department for Transport does also talk of growth assumptions made by the service specifiers in the early part of last year. Again - no details of what those assumptions were. I wonder ... I was always taught that to assume is to make an ASS out of U and ME. I don't know about me, but they've certainly made an ass out of themselves in my view. My year's registration of the "savethetrain.org.uk" domain that I bought for 2 quid a year ago ... has been renewed. I'll continue to press the argued case for an appropriate TransWilts train service, and in the short term I consider that a service every 2 hours each way is appropriate. With future growth, "appropriate" may well extend to add in stops at Wootton Bassett, Lacock, Staverton / Holt, White Horse and Wilton. Service may grow to hourly, and be linked at Salisbury into the Waterloo to Salisbury service. It's a strong commercial case, both to ptovide the TransWilts service and to bring some real competition in on routes such as Chippenham to London. Written2006-08-14 06:39:54 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A year on - an empty bank holiday As I write this update over August Bank holiday, we have a sad scene indeed. Last year at this time, I was newly involved in the plight of the train service through Melksham, and travelling up and down over the holiday, I met numberous users - some local, but many tourists, and it taught me what a useful link the service provided. This year, our train service has been suspended for 9 days. At the busiest time of year. "We have to replace tracks at Wootton Bassett" says Network Rail ... so "we have to suspect the service" say First. Now I'm sure it is operationally convenient for them to suspend the whole line from Westbury to Swindon, but I don't believe it's necessary - the trains could be turned at Chippenham. A variety of excuses offered (a new one conveniently provided when the falasy in a previous excuse is pointed out) seems par for the course. Sadly, I have long learnt that what I'm told is not necessarily the real situation, or even true Written2006-08-29 06:58:35 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bus connections to Melksham from Chippenham From 17th September, it looks like Melksham will have some morning buses to Chippenham that call at the station there, and later afternoon and evening buses back direct from Chippenham station. I've long advocated improved rail / bus connections, and I've long lamented the absurdity of the 234 bus service to Chippenham going to the bus station at the top of the town without calling at the railway station at the other end of the town. It's made through journeys in the past a nightmare, and it became all the more absurd when the railway station forecourt was remodelled to provide better services there for rail/bus interchange. "Three cheers" you might expect me to say. And indeed, I am cheering - but it's perhaps one or one-and-a-half cheers, not three. It seems that just 3 buses a day (the LAST one at 09:24 in the morning!) from Melksham will go via the station in Chippenham. What about people who want to leave Melksham after a day's work and who currently catch the 17:02 train (typical loading - around 30 people)? And what about those people who arrive in to Melksham at 09:11 in the morning? The first bus from Chippenham station doesn't get in until half past four. You would think, wouldn't you, that with just three services on offer by road, and two by train, that there was scope for spacing them out ... well - there's a train at 07:17 and a bus at 07:22. Hmm - at least that means that if the train (and remember, our trains have a truely drreadful cancellation record) is cancelled, First can easily tell the bus driver to go via Melksham station. Is this by accident or design? I don't know, but I can tell you that I'm very impressed by how First coordinate things. What's needed is a regular, connecting service. It's what I've advocated for trains, and buses. The buses DO run a regular timing from Melksham to Chippenham during the day - but it's a local service with no on-going connection with the trains. I DO wish the new bus service well; I know that in an evening, it'll make return journeys from London much, much easier and it's a necessary part of a truely needed integrated transport system for the area. Alas, I hope it doesn't turn out to be one isolated part of a jigsaw that we've been given, which would fail to build up into the whole picture we need. P.S. Did you notice how woolly I am about the timings of the new service? A timetable I was given, by First, a couple of weeks ago showed me a better service that the one that I found on the West Wilts amendment sheet I picked up over the weekend. Written2006-08-29 07:12:24 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Is this train used? I'm buoyed up, enthusiastic concerning news / figures / infomation received and observed, even if also tinged with a little dark clound that says "perhaps too late". We'll see. I found myself on the 05:52 from Melksham to Swindon this morning, with 18 people on from Melksham to Chippenham, and no less that 42 from there to Swindon. Yes, I had raised a group but my group save ticket was actually a minority of people on the train. Here are some pictures:
These are both views of the same train; what I see is a whole lot of passengers and talking to them I see a whole wide range of journeys, and I hear of problems for them when the train is no longer available. What the DfT see is a very nice, expensive train with no-one around. Dear Mr DfT, please come down while you've still got a chance and look inside the train! If you change you mind at the 11th hour and reprieve the service, you won't be admitting weakness - you'll be showing strength of character in changing a decision that is no longer the right one, even if that change gives you a bit of extra work in getting the December timetables through. Click on either image to enlarge. Written2006-09-04 18:54:23 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| If its working well, change it so it doesnt. An exhausting week (away from the train issue) for your diarist ... just letting you know that I've far from forgotten the train issue. I was in Melksham this lunchtime, by car. A year ago, one hour's free parking was introduced in two car parks on the edge of town and it did a great deal of good to the town centre - people were popping in to town and able to park for a five minute bank run or to pick up bagettes and the local economy was hugely helped. The car parks selected meant that people didn't bring their cars right into the centre and cause more conjestion, with the central (and awkward) car park receiving the visitors who were staying for a few hours - so that was well occupied without leading to a major traffic jam. A success story? Yes, until someone in Trowbridge (where they control these things from) noticed that the total number of free parking spaces in the two car parks was more than they had budgeted for and by moving the free parking hour into town, and charging on the outskirts, their targetyed space budget could be reached. So on August 7th, it was all change. What's the result * A lot of people driving into the very centre when they had been walking for the past year. * An overcrowded central car park with people cruising and lookig for spaces * Very quiet outer car parks. In fact, it's probably much easier now for us to pop into Devizes to deposit a cheque - or at least we won't resent 40p for 5 minutes if we go there! When something is working well, yes, look and see if t can be even better but why the **** kick a success story in the teeth just because of regional targets that do damage when applied locally. Of course, the same can be said for our train service, blooming at 35% per annum, but slashed back based on old figures from which there's an assumed growth rate on 1.7%. Written2006-09-15 15:05:45 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 20% service cut = 40% traffic cut? Here's a picture that I took on the lunchtime train from Melksham one day last week - 13:35 from Melksham to Chippenham. It's probably the quietest train of the day (the 07:45 is generally accepted to be the busiest, the 17:02 typically has about 25 people on it these days, and I was amazed at the 42 on the 05:52 at the start of this month.  Not exactly full, not exactly empty. But consider this. Each person travelling up from or via Melksham has to make their way back at sometime, and that's NOT going to be on the same train when it turn around at Swindon, is it? So that's around a dozen people who, if and when this train ceases, will shift away from their rail trip in BOTH directions. Add to that the dozen or so who are on the return trip (that's at Melksham at about 14:50), and further the people who use the train South from Melksham and you've got, at a conservative esimate, some 30 journeys lost on the lunchtime train and 30 journeys lost on other trains too. Take out the lunctime service and you're sucking lifeblood from the other trains too. And the twits (sorry, I'm getting frustrated) are taking out the 09:12 and 17:02 as well - twice as busy as the lunchtime train, and another 120 journeys lost. Then you take out the 42 on the morning service and THEIR returns .... and there's an evening train with a dozen or so that's going and THEY won't be coming back even if their return train survives. Doing the maths, I think that's around85% of weekday passengers lost by cutting the 60% least busy of the weekday trains. On a service that was twice an hour, cutting it to once an hour MIGHT not loose too much as people would wait around. But if I can't catch the 08:47 from Swindon, I'm NOT going to opt to wait for the 18:43, now am I? The cuts still don't make any sense, and the resulting service has gone from draft to daft. Written2006-09-17 19:08:26 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A difficult choice for voters It was good to meet with Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones at Melksham station on Friday. He's the propsective Tory candidate for the Chippenham Consituency at the next general election. I've also met with Duncan Hames, the Lib-Dem candidate - indeed, Duncan spent several hours with me going through situation and options a few weeks back, and gave his support by coming along on our 4th September pre-dawn trip. Both are excellent candidates and for those of you who are votes in Chippenham (Chippenham / Melksham / Corsham / Box), you have a very difficult choice indeed based on the individuals. Neither strikes me as being a party stooge, and both are taking a very clear local interest. Duncan is already very familiar with the area as he lives here, and represents part of the area at a local level. Wilfred is building up his base very well ahead of time. Both are exceptionally supportive of the campaign for an appropriate TransWilts train service, though of course a prospective candidate has far less ability to influence than a sitting MP (they're also all actively supportive, remember). See picture and links from Friday. Written2006-09-23 05:44:25 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Consultant's reports recommended a modest INCREASE The Department for Transport has published (under my Freedom of Information request) two consultants reports from 2004, showing various options that were considered for the TransWilts service from December 2006. The Consultants looked at options that included the reduction of the service to just ONE train each way daily, at options that included moving the evening train earlier (16:38 off Swindon) and later (18:38 off Swindon). Another option considered was 3 daytime trains between the commuter train (that's one more than at present) packaged with retaining the evening train. They concluded that the daytime trains made sense, and that the evening train should NOT be moved. Which makes it somewhat ironic and disappointing that the daytime trains are gone, and the evening train has been moved later. The report clearly notes the negative impact on the economy of the area that would be caused by culling most of the trains. [i]Why on earth get specialist advise if you're going to ignore it?[/i]. I suspect that some 'clever' person noticed that a bit of immediate money could be saved by operating a remenant TransWilts service in 'marginal time' with a train borrowed off another line, and that smart Alec's ideas were given precedence over a researched and presumably quite expensive set of consultants reports that for the whole GW area add up to nearly 300 pages. See Freedom of Information - the Consultant's reports for FGW As well as the "TransWilts" service, the FOI reports cover other services in the FGW area. Written2006-09-24 05:59:07 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| From Ystrad Mynach I've been working in the Welsh Valleys for the last couple of days, and one of the delegates on my course was telling me how he used to commute by train - from Cardiff where he lives close to the station - up the valley to Ystrad Mynach to work. It's cheaper in the long run that the car, and if the train turns up it's more relaxing too. Problem is, though, that the train he catches keeps getting "pulled" to fillin for other more popular services.   I had a few minutes to look around in South Wales early this evening, and it's lovely. I've posted a picture or two on my other site. But this pair struck me. Standing more of less in one spot, but turning 180 degrees. On one side, the magnificend old railway viaduct, expensively turned into a path with a single walker. And on the other side, the road traffic that, were there still a train service across, would at least be shared.What a crazy situation. The current operator / regime is not looking after its customers (pehaps it has so many that it doesn't mind loosing some?), there's unused trackbed expensively turned into walkways and roads clogged with cars and buses. And I keep hearing the cry I would use the train if I practically could . Written2006-09-26 20:41:35 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Taunton meeting The SWPTUF (South West Passenger Transport Users Forum) - now known as "Travel Watch South West" - meeting last Saturday was an interesting opportunity to meet with others interested in public transport in the South West - ranging from campaign groups through specific service interests, train and bus operators, local representatives and officers and government officials. Whilst I can't come back waving an flag that says "Melksham is safer today because", I do come back with the ability to say that I have spoken in person with "x" and with "y" and with "z" - all of whom are important players in games played and still to be played, and have an element of influence over the decisions. I have learnt some of their points of view, understand a little more of what makes them tick (and thus what view they're likely to take of things crossing their desks) and I come back somewhat less pessimistic than I might have been. I wish I had hours and hours to write everything up; I don't. I've got another big load of FOI information in. I've got a hotel to open on Sunday and - yikes - my job to start in 10 minutes time. But I WILL be finding time, for example, to be putting a case together for perhaps the highest level / pressure meeting yet at the end of the month. In the meantime, can I leave you with a picture in words. The 18:06 (Saturday) arrival pulls in to Melksham from Swidnon and Chippenham. Of the 50 or so people on the train, 20 get off; a few get into cars but most walk up the road and away, 3 more join, the train leaves and all is quiet. When is this - in the distant past when everyone used the train? In the future, when oil is running out? No - this was last Saturday, our well used and well loved service that was, coach for coach, JUST as busy (and busier) that any of the other 4 trains I was on last Saturday Written2006-10-04 08:18:01 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| More cancellations I see the service is up to its old tricks again this evening ... with the busiest train of the day cancelled. Not a month goes by without commuters having to catch the bus ... (no - that's unfair - I don't think that a commuter train was cancelled in May ... but it has happened every other month this year, and in some months on numerous occasions. No wonder that Wilts County Council wrote the the DfT that the service should be picking up and dropping off around 40 TIMES the number of passengers it does in Melksham; the reliability's been lousy. Written2006-10-10 20:32:31 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Passenger or lemmings I recall playing 'lemmings' a number of years ago ... and I was reminded of the game when I saw someone playing a similar game with penguins the other day. The idea is that you have a flow of lemmings coming from "A" and needing to get to "B" passing all sorts of perils on the way. A certain percentage need to make it in a certain time for you to pass. Other get lost on the way / die in the interest of others. Reading about Great Central having trouble getting trains from the leasing companies for their services, and seeing how desparately short we're going to be in this area in a couple of months, I drew a parallel between a level of lemmings and the current system. The operators of the trains are running the game, and the lemmings are the passengers. Mucking up the odd journey / timing out some passengers is no big deal - there's plenty more coming and provided you do enough to meet your target, you'll be congratulated rather than penalised. The game itself is written by the ROScos and Network Rail, where they provide just enough (and at a high price) for it to be possible to meet the target of a level. And pity the poor lemmings. Late, lost, overcrowded ... Written2006-10-11 08:46:02 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Behind the new timetable Looking through the new timetable, I've got a feeling that the vestigial service that we're being provided with isn't being sourced purely off the Stroud Valley line. The 05:29 from Gloucester gets in to Westbury at 07:02, which is exactly the same time that the return trip leaves. Then there's an 07:05 departure from Westbury to Southampton. I suspect that the 05:29 from Gloucester runs all the way through to Southampton and in practise, yes, we do still have a through Southampton train. A cause for celebration, then, even to a very minor degree? Especially as it looks like the evening train from Westbury may start further south too. Alas, it raises other concerns. It shows a disregard by the operator for the specification which allows them to run through services to and from Gloucester and Weymouth but NOT Southampton. And it appears to merge in the service through Melksham with the Westbury - Southampton shuttle which is to run for one year only, before it's transferred to South West Trains and cut back to Salisbury. What then? I was talking on the phone yesterday evening with a concerned and knowledgable party, musing over whether or not the operator is genuine in their stated aim of coming up with the best of a bad job this year, and improving the situation next year, or whether such stated aims and comments are simply made to give us - their customers - a warm and fuzzy feeling while they continue to pull the rug out from under the service. Our conversation didn't result in any conclusion one way of the other. Written2006-10-19 09:22:56 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Is this fare? I'm proud to be British. Correction - I'm usually proud to be British, but there are times that I squirm with embarrasment at what we do to visitors to our country. Last night (or, rather, early this morning) I was up at Chippenham Station meeting 3 people off the train due in at 00:56 - they had flow into the UK in the evening and made their way from Stanstead, rebooking tickets for each leg of the journey as they went. And they were in a state of some shock as the said that they hadn't realised it would cost 200 pounds for them to get from Paddington to Chippenham. I feel that they have been ripped off. And ripped off by a system that seems to be set up to maximise its income from those who don't know the tricks and techniques for getting a good fare. Looking at the same journey for the same time next week, the online booking service is telling me about no less that 27 different fares available for that single journey and, guess what, my delegates were charged the highest possible fare. With a premium of 1.1 billion pounds to be paid to the government, First Great Western has to maximise its income - but is this selling of overpriced tickets to vulnerable groups who know no better really a morally acceptable way of doing it? And is this the way to encourage the tourist business? Written2006-10-26 06:40:22 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Returning from their UK course A correction to "is it fare" - my previous post. I undertstand the three single fares came to 120 pounds (that's for a journey on an off-peak train, which could not be booked ahead due to possible delays to an incoming airline flight). Still a lot of money for three people to occupy seats for an hour which would otherwise have been vacant. As you might imagine, my customers were less that happy with the prospect of leaving Melksham on the 17:02 last night (which did run ... so that gives it a 60% record for the week) and changing into an express of the same type / price as the one they arrived on. Indeed, they required me to recommend an alternative and although their journey was going to be slower, they saved well over half the money and left happy. Written2006-10-28 06:30:07 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| End of term - don't care This Monday morning on the Transwilts started with a cancellation - the very first return trip of the week failed to make it, making this (already) the third week out of four that we've suffered cancellations - and we have so few trains anyway that even one round trip cancelled is already a service that's 3.5% down on what it should be - more that twice the objective that's set by the Department for Transport for the operator. Oh - in two of the past weeks, the cancellation rate was around the 10% mark. This evening, I'll be attending the talk in Trowbridge by the DfT's guy in the South West - the one who's job it is, as I understand it, to represent the region / area to Central government. If I've understood his role correctly, he clearly failed to get out point across strongly enough for it to have any effect on the service's future - decimated next month - and I fear that we'll not get any great sensible change of heart tonight. It rather seems that the Department for Transport and First Great Western have washed their hands of the TransWilts, and Melksham, and would like us to just fade away. "It's the easiet train for us to cancel" said a First correspondent recently - "we don't care about this service" would have been another way of putting it, perhaps. Written2006-11-07 07:39:57 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Current and future summary The Final timetable for December was published last Friday - 10th November - with just two trains a day on the truncated Transwilts - from Swindon at 06:19 and 18:42, returning from Westbury at 07:02 and 19:35. Our first officlal glance at Weekend trains show a Saturday service from Westbury at 09:00 or so, and anothe rmid afternoon. There are return trains mid afternoon and mid-evening. Sunday trains are limited to 2 evening trains from Westbury to Swindon, with no return trips at all. Reliability of the current service remains an issue, with the 17:02 and 18:09 services cancelled again during the week - that seems to happen every week at some point now. And it's not as is there was another train half an hour earlier or later - the previous train is at lunchtime and the following train starts out from Westbury well after 9 p.m. The current service is virtually unusable because of its horrendous reliability issues. The future services timing make it virtually unusable because of the total lack of trains at times they're needed. Written2006-11-13 04:09:32 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 weeks to go Just over 2 weeks to go to the end of the train service that my customer have used for the past 5 years in increasing numbers to come to their courses in Melksham. 8th december will be the end of an era for us, as I puty my last passenger onto the 17:02 to Swindon, connection on to London, with my car at hand to give him a lift in case it's cancelled. It's been a fabulous service for us - and we account for perhaps 0.05% of the journeys made on the line - so know that our heartache is shared many times over. Over 14,600 separate host computers have visited this website in just over a year, and each one - each visitor - has a story to tell. Many lies and halftruths have been told over the last year, and many officials in Government and train operating companies have been less that helpful. I'm not a great one for conspiracy theories but at times I have wondered. I conclude that we're loosing the service because no-one can be bothered to market it and make a living from it as it's not dig enough, that we're loosing the service because some clever statistitians have seen that they can (technically) run a line without a train, and perhaps that our train gets in the way of mainline trains ... even when it's on time, it can cause THEM further delay and FGW's expresses have a poor timekeeping record. The long single line section and lack of loops doesn't help .... On indicators such as current performance trends, environment, planned growth, surveys such as Jacobs, economic effect on the area the withdrawl is just plain stupid. Written2006-11-21 11:47:45 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Fading away? I met a customer off the 14:48 arrival on Friday and there were the best part of 20 on the train. Hang on - isn't that nearly twice the AVERAGE number quoted by First and the DfT for all of our trains, on what they tell us is one of the quietest of the day? This service is canned in two week time - fading away. Have we been lied to about loadings? I don't know - but I do know the evidence of my own eyes. Written2006-11-26 07:50:56 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coming to a course in Melksham Clearly, our customers cannot use phantom trains as from 11th December; here's our business statement telling people who to get to and from our courses in future. A bit of a personal post today ...I really wish I could offer the 234 bus service via Chippenham station as a good option - alas, it goes TO Chippenham in the morning and FROM in the evening which isn't the wrong time of day that our customers would be wanting to use it in each direction...  If you're travelling by train to a Well House Consultants course, we can meet you off the 19:08 arrival (Mondays to Fridays) from Swindon, which has a connection leaving London Paddington at 17:30.If your course starts on a Monday, a train leaves Paddington at 18:00 on Sunday evening and arrives in Melksham (change at Westbury) at 19:51. There is also a later train on Sunday evenings. Please check Sunday times with the train operator, as engineering works at weekends frequently lead to schedule changes, diversions and bus substitutions. For delegates who live near Paddington station, the early train at 07:00 will get you to Chippenham at 08:15, which gives you ample time to reach Well House Manor by taxi (approx 6 miles) for your 09:00 course start. At the end of your course, we can help with arrangements for you to get home. We can drop you off at Melksham station for the 19:08 or 19:35 departures, or arrange a taxi to take you to Chippenham to catch the 17:55 train to London. Some delegates prefer to stay over an extra night ... we can provide you with an early breakfast and give you a lift to Melksham station for the 07:17 train on Monday to Friday, connecting into the London train at Swindon. You'll be scheduled to arrive in Paddington at 09:00. This morning service runs 2 hours later on a Saturday. Over the past five years, around 40% of our customers have arrived and left by public transport. Although we have plenty of parking and good car access, you don't need a vehicle if you're on one of our courses. We also have covered garage parking for cycles and motor cycles, and welcome delegates coming on two wheels.  Melksham to Paddington train service, weedays from 11.12.06  Paddington to Melksham train service, weekdays from 11.12.06 Written2006-11-28 07:04:15 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Week - Press Release PRESS RELEASE ** Train Service to be withdrawn as from this weekend without adequate alternative This weekend sees the end of most train services on the Swindon - MELKSHAM - Westbury route, leaving Melksham (population 24,000) without weekday daytime or commuter trains. The last commuter train out of Melksham leaves this Friday at 17:02 (for Swindon) and returns from Swindon at 17:43. There are usually around 20 to 30 passengers on the train up to Swindon, and about twice that number on the return journey. As from Monday, 11th December the passengers from Melksham for Swindon will have to catch the 16:47 or 18:03 buses, and walk across Chippenham to the train station to continue their journey to Swindon. A journey that takes 25 minutes this week will take 83 minutes next (16:47 bus, 17:12 into Chippenham, 17:55 train, 18:10 Swindon). ACTIVITIES Members of the press are very welcome to ride on the 17:02 from Melksham on 8th December and 17:43 return to cover this withdrawal of service. Some local campaigners who are also regular users will be on the service, and First group have been invited to send a representative to explain to passengers how the new services (very early morning and mid evening only) meet their customer's needs. On Saturday, 9th December Santa Claus will be on board the 17:00 Saturday train to Swindon and he'll be back in Melksham at 18:16. BACKGROUND Under the Greater Western Frnchise, the Department for Transport specified that the Swindon to Southampton train service should be withdrawn. Service on the Southampton to Westbury section is provided by other services. On Westbury to Swindon, just two trains are to be run which the First group, who sucessfully bid for the franchise, are choosing to operate in what is described as "marginal" time - i.e. at a time that's convenient to the operator when their trains are not required elsewhere. The new (and only) trains that serve Melksham will leave Swindon at 06:19, and return there at 20:20. The "TransWilts" service is the only train service that has linked the North and South of the county, connecting the largest towns in the country which are Swindon, Salisbury, Trowbridge, Chippenham, Warminster and Melksham. All of these towns are expected to grow over the next 20 years, with the Regional Spatial Strategy forecasting 15000 new homes in West Wilts alone - that's an increase at Melksham (for example) from 24,000 to 34,000 residents by 2026. The A350 corridor, which serves this route, is congested with bottlenecks in and out of Swindon, around Chippeham, through the village of Beanace, through the Northern part of Melksham, and through Westbury. Use of the train service has grown dramatically over the past 5 years - ticket sales from and to Melksham grew from 3000 per annum 5 years ago to 27400 in the latest published figures Trains that once were quiet are now busy, with 110000 journeys made on the service annually. We understand from paper revealed under FOI (Freedom of Information) legistlation that the decison to withdraw the service was based on a growth forcast of between 0.8% and 1.7%, and old (so low) data, but never the less came down in favour of a service to run every 2 hours. First indicated to the Department for Transport that they would be willing to provide an appropriate service for an extra 300,000 pounds per year (that should be set against their overall bid on 1,100,000,000 pounds for the Greater Western Franchise), but the Department for Transport failed to take up this element. They have also been in discussions with Wiltshire County Council, for whom the train service on the A350 corridor is a key element in the local transport plan. "TransWilts" trains are wheelchair friendly, but alternatives such as a change of train in Bath or a transfer to and from the bus across Chippenham are impractical for the disabled, those with pushchairs or heavy luggage. CONTACT See http://www.savethereain.org.uk This press release issued by Graham Ellis, who has been campaiging through "Save the Train" for this service, which is vital to his business and the livelyhood of the community of Melksham too. Graham may be reached on 01225 708225 or via email - graham@wellho.net Pictures available 404, The Spa, Melksham, SN12 6QL Written2006-12-05 13:22:47 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Fizzle Last weekday service to speak of for a while ... we're down to 40% of the service, and that at marginal time, from Monday. A ray of hope offered for "from December 2007" but just a ray. I'm not sure if it's just the First folks looking to have today pass off as peacefully as possible, but there's nothing to loose by encouraging the approach even if it'n not substantive - which it MAY be. And I have some sympathy for the railmen who are having to slash the services they and we know that we need! If you're on the 17:02 Melksham to Swindon, 17:43 return, lunchtime train up tomorrow or 17:50 tomorrow evening, see you there. Written2006-12-08 08:46:39 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| They're gone ... but ... The last of the old services ran yesterday ... and indeed the 17:50 our from Swindon was packed with Father Christmas on board. A great time had by all, and a lot of pictures - but also a very sad time. A battle has been lost. But there's still a war tobe fought. And we retain the moral high ground. In term of usage, future, etc, the decisions taken by the DfT / First can - at best - be said to be out of date and misguided. At worst, they're an abuse of position on a hidden agenda. It's amazing what the Freedom of Information has revealed - meetings to discuss how to minimise consultation effects, specialists reports that say that the evening train should NOT be retimed being blatently ignored. And add to that the cavelier nature with which the service has been so frequently cancelled of late "because it's the easiest service to replace by a bus". But I'm spouting on there far, far too negative for our own good. There IS a ray of light - might just be a kite but let's fly it. "What would you like to see in terms of timing with a hypothetical train dedicated tothe line'. Talk is December, 2007. Perhaps, belatedly, someone is seeing the right way to do this and if they do, I'll be delighted to work with them Written2006-12-10 07:37:57 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| New service - first impressions Three days into the new service, and what impression do I have? That - as predicted - the trains in their new timing through Melksham aren't well suited to the existing customer base who have deserted them for other means of transport. I myself had to give delegates a lift up to Chippenham on Monday, and to drive to Swindon on Tuesday where last week I would have used the train. Yesterday evening, I did meet two delegates off a very quiet train at Melksham at 19:08 ... they were travelling long distance afetr a day's work so actually the new times suited them well, although last week I'm sure they would still have come in by train arriving at 18:09 or 21:34 - so this does not, I regret, mean any new business. It WILL take time to build up a new market for that's what First will have to look for with such a radical change in train times. Or rather, if they're sincere they'll have to look for a new market; I guess if their plan is to provide an inappropriate service so that they can kill it later, then they'll just let it run quietly and near-empty for a month or two. There's signs of teething troubles in the first few days - 143 units having trouble keeping up with the schedules, cancellation rates even higher than recent weeks in spite of the reduced services they're having to provide. I think it would be upfair to judge them based on the three days. I wait to see how they're doing by next week, and in the first weeks of the New Year. How will I judge whether or not First are sincere in wanting to do their best for their customers? By seeing if they correct some of the ommisions from their signage that they've been told about. By seeing if they have any marketing initiatives coming along. By watching the pattern of any cancellations - seeing if (as has been the recent case) the TransWilts service continues to be the first to be cancelled. I'll also get a pretty good idea based on futher inputs to the positive move that their Andrew Griffiths made about a week ago in terms of asking how the service should develop in the future, based on a single extra train. My input to Andrew, and confirmed by lots of discussions, cae down in favour of a service from Swindon at 06:45, every 2 hours to 10:45, 13:45 and every 2 hours to 21:45, returning from Westbury an hour earlier / later. Andrew - if you're reading this, you've just had the most enormous proof that the level of loading on this line does depend on the train frequency ... remove 60% of the trains and you loose 80% of the business. So, please, let's increas the service by 50% from where it was last week, advertise it, nd see the traffic figures rise from 109k per year to perhaps 250k. It's a very acheivable, and financially viable, target. Written2006-12-14 07:46:41 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "Told you so" The cry of "Told you so" rings out from Warminster to Severn Tunnel, from Swindon to Severn Beach, and from Melksham to Keynsham, Oldfield Park, Trowbridge and more. The first two weeks of the new timetable, with a lack of trains, and a lack of a carriages on those remaining, has lead to many lost journeys, much discomfort, much frustration. Tom Harris, the transport minister tells us that a new timetable is always a difficult time and we must try to get used to it. Tom, I thinks it's deeper than that. Written2006-12-20 12:31:12 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Christmas, 2006 "Not with a roar, but ith a whimper". The last day of train service before Chistmas 2006 and Melksham, population 24,000 and growing rapidly, has just a single train calliung today at 19:51. What a pretty mess for a service that grew many-fold in the first five years of this decade, from a quiet service with the occasional passenger to - this summer and autumn - vibrant, well used trains; snuffed out by the DfT/First timetable "changes" on 10th December. This is not a day for a heavy post. Just one to say that I do, I can see a candle in the wind and that could grow to a great fire. I hope it's not a mirage, but I see no harm in encouraging it - if it IS a miage all I'll be wasting is my time, and if it's not there is still the prize of an appropriate train service. Have a good Christmas, everyone. 2007 might be the year of resurgaece ... there's better chance that I would have anticipated :-) Written2006-12-24 14:14:13 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Welcome to 2007 We're nearly a month into the new timetable .... passenger numbers on the remaining TransWilts trains through Melksham have plummeted, which is PROOF that the service is highly dependent on timing and frequency. But it gives me no pleasure in saying "told you so". And - at least in some professional quarters I'm nor reading "We knew that would happen too". The promise of an improvement in reliability once the new service started have also proved to be false. The commuter train from Swindon (but, honestly, you can't call it that any more - it's too late and the commuters are using cars or going via Bath) has been cancelled 2 working days out of 4 this week. One wonders if the operator doesn't care, or is incompetent, or is doing this intentionally, or has a contract that's impossible to meet. There IS political unrest, pressure. There IS talk of getting a service back (I'm reluctant to call the current trains a 'service', you'll appreciate!) and there is an 18th January consultation deadline. For December 2007. In the meantime, a few of my customers have still been using the train. But I'm mightly glad that we've got plenty of car parking at our place for those who can't any longer, and hotel rooms for those for whom travelling down on the morning their course starts is no longer an option. Written2007-01-06 07:03:28 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| PLEASE LOBBY - First, Dft, County Council, your MP Now is a good time to make your voice count .... please have a look through this and email your opinions about the future of the service to the movers and shakers. There's a chance they might even move and shake! Thanks! -- Graham In December, the First group, under a specification set out by the Department for Transport, slashed the service by two thirds, and there are now just 2 trains a day each way. Worse, the new service runs at times that are (to put it mildly) far from what the customers want - 06:19 and 18:42 from Swindon. And worse AGAIN - as many as 1 in 2 of the remaining trains are cancelled. Little wonder that a service that had grown, compound, 35% per annum for each of the previous five years has lost 90% of its traffic. And the alternatives are miserable - driving up and down the A350, changing trains with an awkard interchange at Bath, or using a bus that sporadically goes to the station at Chippenham where you have to change. All with much longer journey times. First are in serious trouble with the Department for Transport over their performance and they're having a series of crisis meetings, and also reviewing the timetables to run from now, and from May 2007, and from December 2007. Can I ask you, please, to have a look through the text below and make YOUR inputs to the key players - "if you don't ask you don't get" over the next few days. There's a consultation closing next Monday, then further dates and deadlines beyond that for other changes. Please ask for: a) Provision of a service that actually runs according to the timetable then b) An immediate service that meet the 9 key travel needs of the West Wilts corridor - which is no more than a return to the needs that were met prior to December then c) From May or December 2007, a 2 hourly service - from Swindon at 06:45, 08:45, 10:45, 13:45, 15:45, 17:45, 19:45 returning from Westbury 1 hour later. That's just one train on the line - a realistic minimum service. The key players to write to are: Andrew Griffiths andrew.griffiths@firstgroup.com Alison Forster alison.forster@firstgroup.com Dean Finch dean.finch@firstgroup.com Peter West Peter.West@dft.gsi.gov.uk Tom Harris Tom.Harris@dft.gsi.gov.uk Andrew Seedhouse Andrew.SEEDHOUSE@gosw.gsi.gov.uk George Batten georgebatten@wiltshire.gov.uk Eric Egar ericegar@wiltshire.gov.uk Fleur de Rhe-Philipe fleurderhephilipe@wiltshire.gov.uk and IMPORTANTLY your MP: Michael Ancram ancramm@parliament.uk Andrew Murrison murrisona@parliament.uk James Gray grayj@parliament.uk Anne Snelgrove SNELGROVEA@parliament.uk This make sense for Wiltshire as a whole (the line links the five largest population centres, with stong travel links needed), for West Wiltshire (Warminster, Westbury and Trowbridge links to Chippenham and Swindon) and especially for Melksham which currently has no viable train service at all. I enclose (following) a letter I sent to Peter West yesterday, as it provide a great deal of extra background information if you wish to read further in to theis subject. Many thanks. Graham Graham Ellis 404 The Spa, Melksham, Wilts http://www.wellho.net graham@wellho.net See also http://www.savethetrain.org.uk +44 (0) 1225 708225 (phone) +44 (0) 1225 707126 (fax) Dear Peter, I'm writing to you concerning train services on FGW's Swindon to Westbury line, where traffic grew by between 8% and 35% per annum from 2000 to 2005 (depending on which statistics you use), but has evaporated since the new timetable of 11th December as the service is infrequent and often cancelled (1 in 2 already for this week), with no trains at all left at the time that people need to travel. I understand (email copy at the end) that you have been reading with interest various letters copied to you, but haven't to date responded as they weren't asking you questions directly. So please can I ask some questions directly? ((I'm going to put "QUESTION" in my text where I would like a response, but I'm also going to give a lot of supporting background as I'm copying other parties who may not be as well informed as - I hope you are ;-) )) *** BACKGROUND GEOGRAPHY AND PASSENGER FLOWS The line / service concerned is from Swindon to Chippenham, Melksham, Trowbridge, Westbury with potential service onward to Warminster and Salisbury, and / or to Frome. Passengers from the northern 2 stations (Swindon and Chippenham) to the southern stations (Trowbridge and beyond) can travel by other services changing at Bath. This is a 'dogleg' journey with connections that are "hit and miss" and a change at a station that's far from good for the change. Journey times are much extended. Melksham, population 24,000 and estimated to rise to 32,000 under the RSS (Regional Spatial Strategy) has no alternative train service, and the bus to London (for example) takes 3.5 hours rather that 1.5 hours by train. Journey times from Melksham to Swindon - perhaps the most popular journey - extend from 25 minutes to over an hour when you add in connection time in Chippenham. Under the RSS, Westbury, Warminster, Chippenham, and Trowbridge will also grow rapidly, and Swindon is earmarked for major growth too. Swindon, Salisbury, Chippenham, Trowbridge and Melksham are the five largest towns in Wiltshire, and there are many people living in Melksham / Trowbridge / Westbury / Frome / Warminster who work in Swindon. There is also considerable other flows between the towns. The "West Wilts Corridor" as it's known has a trunk road - the A350 - servicing it. It's single carriageway for the most part, with some new bypass sections and other sections that run through towns and villages - Westbury, part of Melksham, Beanacre, and Yarnbrook. The road is crowded at the best of times, with a number of accident blackspots and severe jams at the rush hour and at times when road works / service maintainence are in progress. RAIL TRANSPORT Until December 2006, The train service on the TransWilts line (as I'm choosing to call it) was 5 trains each way on Mondays to Fridays, 4 each way on Saturdays, 3 on Sundays. Key features of the service were: 1. A service arriving in Swindon at around 08:30 and a service leaving at 17:30 for commuter traffic. 2. A Service arriving in Melksham at around 09:00 (and a few minutes later in Trowbridge) and returning at around 17:00 made it practical to commute from Swindon to both of these towns, and to travel to them from London / return afterwards and get in a whole day's work 4. A service in each direction in the middle of the day which provided half day work / leisure opportunities and long distance connection options. 5. A really early train each way, which gave West Wilts passengers the ability to get to London for a full day's work by train, and also to Salisbury and beyond. 6. A through service between Chippenham and Salisbury, Swindon and Southampton. 7. A direct daytime train service between the county town (Trowbridge) and the largest town in the county (Swindon) 8. A Saturday train in the later afternoon from Swindon, suitable for shoppers and soccer fans 9. A Sunday / Bank Holiday daytime service both ways. With all of these travel opportunities, ticket sales for journeys to and from Melksham rose in five years from 3000 to 27000. And that was with very little sales and marketing input. And it's important to note that this in not JUST about Melksham - journeys on the line as a whole rose similarly; I don't have figures for early years, but I understand from First that journeys rose to 109000 per annum. These are impressive growth figures but they could have been even better; the timings were wise, but the following factors should be noted: a) There was very little publicity about the service in the area covered b) There was a lack of information about the service at Swindon and Chippenham - almost as if First wanted to pretend that the Wessex Trains service didn't exist. I was told to get the First train to Bath and then the bus to Melksham, even after First took over. c) The service was notoriously unreliable, with frequent cancellations during the week, and some weekend trains replaced by buses on the majority of weekends. d) No train service at all was provided to Melksham, nor for other local journeys, for extended periods when the line was in use for diversions. e) The station at Melksham is unwelcoming - currently in the back of an industrial estate. But there is an opportunity to put a new access / entrance via a new development which requires a few yards of road across a piece of BRB residuary land. f) Passenger use at Melksham peaked at around 1 journey per annum per head of population, compared to 20 journeys at the broadly comparable town on Bradford on Avon. So there was much more scope for growth. *** Current Status The "SLC2" service under the Greater Western franchise called for removal of the through trains south of Westbury, and the running of 2 trains each way daily between Swindon and Westbury. The bidders were given freedom of timing, except that one train was to be a commuter service into Swindon and arrive between 08:00 and 08:30, and a return commuter train was to leave between 17:30 and 19:00. The service actually provided arrives in Swindon at 07:50 and 20:08, and leaves Swindon at 06:19 and 18:42. The new service is even less reliable than the previous service, in spite of First's assurances that matters would improve (a) from 90 days after they took over the franchise then (b) from the timetable change in December 2006. QUESTION ONE. I understand that the SLC2 has been modified to allow First to arrive in Swindon before 08:00. Why was this done? Are you aware that consultation inputs suggested an arrival of around 08:30, and yet the time was made even earlier in the final timetable than it was in the early drafts? QUESTION TWO. Are you aware that the consultation inputs suggested that the then-current 17:43 evening departure was about right, and yet that crept later and later? Did the DfT make any inputs on this / have any say? Current traffic levels have plummeted, since the new service has removed ALL NINE key features of the previous timetable. The morning train toward Swindon now has about 12 passengers on it into Chippenham (i.e. at the end of the section it uniquely serves) whereas the previous loading was between 40 and 50. The evening train had 6 people on it the other day, whereas it used to be over 50. The other two trains also have only a handful of passengers. Further calculating on this, I estimate that an extra 60,000 journeys per year are being made on the road, with around 30,000 being made via the Bath dogleg and around 20,000 journeys are not being made at all. QUESTION THREE. What consideration was given to passengers making use of the key features of the previous timetable and their alternative travel plans? Which of the nine travel patterns did you look at? QUESTION FOUR. What do you consider the potential market to be for the new services, or have they been provided (in your opinion) at times which are EITHER operationally convenient for the operator OR intentionally timed when they won't be used as a prelude to closure? However, Peter, I do NOT want to concentrate on the current disaster - I would like to work with you, with First and with other interested parties to provide an appropriate service that: a) Meets the needs of the previous travellers b) Encourages new travellers c) Is cost effective for First (or another operator) to run d) Requires minimal financial input from the taxpayer via the DfT and that it meets aspriation (a) AS SOON AS possible. *** FUTURE POTENTIAL TRAFFIC FLOWS The rapid growth of passenger numbers on this service in the early part of the decade and the recent loss of most of it indicates that this service's use is dependent on it meeting user's requirements in terms of its timing, and that the current service supply does NOT meet the demand. This now historic behaviour also suggests that an increase in service will, with time, give an our-of-proportionally good return on numbers. THIS IS NOT A SERVICE where doubling the trains would halve the passengers on each - with the right timing, and with a service as frequent as every hour, you would find that more trains gave you more passengers PER TRAIN. I can supply further data / contacts / references if required to back this us. Potential traffic - with a single train (class 153 single coach would suffise for the first year or two) running a "clockface" service - every 2 hours, from Swindon at 06:45, 08:45, 10:45, 13:45, 15:45, 17:45, 19:45, returning from Westbury 1 hour later: 2007 - 100,000 journeys 2008 - 120,000 journeys 2009 - 142,000 journeys 2010 - 170,000 journeys 2011 - 204,000 journeys That's started from a forcast DROP in the first year due to the current (we hope short-term) unreliablity and lack of service. And it assumes a conservative growth figure compared to what the ORR tell us was acheived historically. OPERATIONAL SUGGESTIONS and QUESTIONS There IS a need to meet the travel needs with the service provided - and the nine features that I listed above are an excellent start. Alison Forster wrote (8th January) that the service that First provide "must still meet the needs of the customer". Clearly, it's not doing so at present as the customers aren't travelling on the train. QUESTION FIVE. What action can / will the Department for Transport take in the short term to ensure that the operator meets their committment - which seems a sensible one - to meet the need of their customers in the very short term? This week, five out of 20 trains - 25% of the remaining service - were cancelled even before the week started. A second train was cancelled on Monday (8th January) so that as I write this paragraph at quarter to 7 on Tuesday night, just three out of six trains scheduled so far have run. This is not a new reliability issue. There was a cancellation most weeks under Wessex Trains - the previous operator - and that gave us a 98% record. First assured that although they needed a "honeymoon" period of three months, things would get better. In May, Alison Forster was writing on the First web site about how things had improved since they had taken over, but she was a bit premature; services became progressively more prone to cancellation to the extent that (I understand) there was a standby bus always on hand in late November / Early December for certain service - at it was frequently called in to action. "Never mind" said First - once we've cut your trains by 60% we'll be able to operate the remaining ones reliably". Performance has deteriorated further, and the latest promise is that the service will be up to snuff soon. "We expect to be up to full strength with the fleet by 22 January at the very latest." writes First's Andrew Griffiths. As this is the latest of a line of promises on reliability, with the previous ones broken, I wait to see the outcome. QUESTION SIX. Is the current performance of between 50% and 75% of services running, and the rest cancelled, acceptable performance? If not, what action will the Department for Transport take to rectify it, and when? QUESTION SEVEN. Subject to timetable planning, would the Department for Transport object to service being retimed to provide a Swindon arrival at 08:25, and a Swindon departure at 17:45? Looking at the two-hourly service I described above: QUESTION EIGHT. Would the Department for Transport allow the operator to increase the service to the suggested level if they chose to do so? Would the Department for Transport allow the operator to add an additional train to their resources for the purpose? QUESTION NINE. Are there any capacity issues on the lines which prevent the service level being raised either (a) to its previous level of 5 trains a day or (b) up to a 2-hourly service RESPONSIBILITIES a) I understand that the First group bid to run the Greater Western Franchise for a certain price, and using a certain number of trains, and that their bid was the one that your department chose to accept. Therefore, the number of trains required and the funding thereof was decided by First. b) Once the First bid was accepted and the contract written by the Department for transport, First are no longer able to change it without your agreement. c) If First are unable to perform to the contact they themselves suggested, then it means that they set the hurdle too high and that - although they cannot change it - it's them who set it up like that in the first place. QUESTION TEN. Can you confirm that my understanding of (a), (b) and (c) is correct in each case. I understand that you - Mr Peter West - are the main contact for operation, enforcement and improvement of the FGW franchise at the Depratment for Transport, and that political changes / instruction would come from Mr Tom Harris. Mr Andrew Seedhouse, your office based at Government Office South West, stated (public meeting, 20th November, Trowbridge) that his role is "managing expectations". To me, that indicates that GOSW has no direct role in providing or specifying the service, but rather is there to ensure that passengers accept a reduced level of service with as little fuss as possible. I understand that local government (regoional, county, district, town, parish) has no responsibility for rail services in their area - at least in the rural parts of England. QUESTION ELEVEN. Can you confirm that I have the correct names / contacts, or if not please tell me who has which responsibilities so that I can address the right questions to the right people. QUESTION TWELVE. Can you tell me whether or not you give consideration to inputs received from local government. Do you rate it as highly important to get local input? I understand that the current service (SLC2) has been specified to run for 10 years, and that no services in it will be reduced during that period. In other words - that the SLC2 specifies a minimum 10 year service level. QUESTION THIRTEEN. Can you confirm that understanding is correct? FUNDING I understand that First offered to provide an improved service at a price of about 300,000 per annum on the TransWilts line, but that offer was rejected by the Department for Transport. QUESTION FOURTEEN. Was this offer made at a time when First knew they were likely to win the franchise and could quote a price that was highly profitable for them? QUESTION FIFTEEN. In light of the evidence of the volatility of traffic on the TransWilts line, and the new RSS growth plans, would the Department reconsider their decision of funding the additional trains - perhaps against a reduced bid from First in light of the extra traffic that might now be expected? Under what mechanism, and to what timescale? Although train fares on the FGW network as a whole are the highest in the country, the fares on the "TransWilts" are - per mile - much lower. I suggest that a rise of perhaps 10% above the rate of inflation for 2 years would be acceptable if it bought us a 2-hourly, reliable service. QUESTION SIXTEEN - have funding options such as this been considered? *** WHO WROTE THIS LETTER? This letter is written by Graham Ellis - a resident, voter and business owner in Melksham, Wiltshire. Although I initially got involved with the future of the train service in relation to my own use and business, I have found a great deal of support (and virtually no opposition) in the communities up and down the line. You'll find I've placed a great deal more information on the web site http://www.savethetrain.org.uk ... and you'll find the view of many other there too. Support has also come from all 4 MPs along the course of the route, as well as from MPs on the previous extension to Southampton. That's all three parties who are in favour of the restoration of an appropriate (i.e. 2 hourly) service. Operational railway staff are also very supportive, as are senior union representatives I have met and emailed. Local councils, too, have provided support and the line in question, and an improved service on it, is a key aspiration of Wiltshire County Council's local transport plan. *** CONCLUSION Peter, that's a long letter setting out how the TransWilts service, providing a link between the major five towns of Wiltshire, grew dramatically to December 2006. It provided a service for which there was no practical alternative for many journeys, and all indications were that it was set to continue its growth. Under the FGW franchise between the DfT and First, the service was dramatically reduced last month, with the remaining trains scheduled at times that they're hardly used, and cancelled up to half the time. This has resulted in many journeys being transferred to the road, and a great deal of inconvenience and negative economic effect. There's a golden opportunity to provide a "clockface" two hourly service from Swindon to Westbury. It would meet many transport needs, continue the growth, and bring great utility and benefit to its users at little cost. QUESTION SEVENTEEN. Can we have your support, and the support of the Department as a whole, for the sorting out of the current reliability issues, and for the implementation of the appropriate level of service suggested? Will you take steps to implement this support in effective action as soon as practical? QUESTION EIGHTEEN. What (if anything) can I, and all the people I have ofering me support, do to help you achieve our aspirations? Many thanks for listening, answering and (I hope) acting positively. I would be delighted to supply further information if you need it, or to welcome you on a visit to the area an the line if you would like to see it for yourself. Yours sincerely, Graham Ellis Well House Consultants, 404 The Spa, Melksham, Wilts http://www.wellho.net graham@wellho.net +44 (0) 1225 708225 (phone) +44 (0) 1225 707126 (fax) Written2007-01-10 07:06:44 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Key players The key players to write to are: Andrew Griffiths andrew.griffiths@firstgroup.com Alison Forster alison.forster@firstgroup.com Dean Finch dean.finch@firstgroup.com Peter West Peter.West@dft.gsi.gov.uk Tom Harris Tom.Harris@dft.gsi.gov.uk Andrew Seedhouse Andrew.SEEDHOUSE@gosw.gsi.gov.uk (The following are Wiltshire specific) George Batten georgebatten@wiltshire.gov.uk Eric Egar ericegar@wiltshire.gov.uk Fleur de Rhe-Philipe fleurderhephilipe@wiltshire.gov.uk and IMPORTANTLY your MP: Michael Ancram ancramm@parliament.uk Andrew Murrison murrisona@parliament.uk James Gray grayj@parliament.uk Anne Snelgrove SNELGROVEA@parliament.uk Written2007-01-17 19:14:50 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Keeping the diary rolling I try to write a blog entry every week - indeed, I feel an irrational guilt if I don't put something up. But this has been one heck of a week so far ... let me look at yesterday Started - 05:30 preparing breakfast for 06:00. Ended - 00:45 when we got back from the RUH (Royal United Hospital) in Bath. In between ... a day of training a full class of eight. The usual "stuff" of running a business. Telephone calls to return to the press concerning the train petition that I started late last week and has now got over 600 signatures, including 5 MPs and 3 MEPs. A meeting of Melksham First to push forward on their plans for town rejuevanisation. May I quote from a letter received? " Just a letter of thanks to say there are a lot of us that have not been involved that appreciate your efforts. Unfortunately, those who commute usually have a job to do ....". Funnily enough, I have a job to do - several of them. But time can be and is made. Yesterday was the exception in terms of length and I may suffer tiredness today, by that's how it goes. I have to say i enjoy the "zing". I really appreciate notes such as the one I've quoted above. And I really, really appreciate the help and support of all of those around - work colleagues and especially familiy and double pluse especially Lisa. Couldn't do half of it without her. You notice a "mostly" in my title. The trip to the RUH was because my son had just been in a road traffic accident and - well - I just WANT to be there and offer family support and I felt that we were useful last night as the events unfolded. Although it was a fraught evening (with a touch of black comedy when they reported that they had lost the patient); although Chris remained in hospital overnight, in the huge scheme of things it could have been so much worse and it brought familiy together. Written2007-01-24 07:43:28 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| End game? A mad, mad week ... the petiton which I started a fornight ago has reached the top 10 out of 380 transport petitions to the Prime Minister, and I'm finding I don't have enough hours in the day for all activities I wish to persue. At the same time, though, I feel we're getting somewhere; perhaps an "end game" where First, the DfT and Wiltshire are playing off, brinkmanship, against each other. I hope - i dearly hope, that they don't play the game, roll the dice and loose ... like they lost , for last year, for the rail passenger. Written2007-02-01 09:03:39 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Save the Train v More Train, Less Strain I'm posting up this comparison ... written in answer to an email this morning ... to help people differenetiate between the two groups "Save the Train" was started around 18 months ago (August 2005) with the main goal of providing an appropriate train service from Swindon to Westbury and beyond after December 2006, when it was threatened with reduction by over 60%, in spite of dramatically growing usage. Although we had the support of hundreds of people who actively signed up, and produced evidence of ongoing growth that would have continued had the service done so, it was cut back last December. Worse than that, the 2 remaining trains are now timed such that they don't appear to meet the most important customer needs. The 06:19 leaves Swindon (largest town in Wiltshire) almost empty for Chippenham (4th largest), Melksham (5th), Trowbridge (3rd), Westbury, Warminster and Salisbury (2nd largest). The 18:42 leaves long after the regular commuters from Swindon to these places have left by other means - primarily by private car. The Train Operating Company hasn't provided me with any information as to the potential market they see for these new timings, but that have pointed to the need to re-use the same train on other lines to provide peak services there. "More Train, Less Strain" was formed as a response to the December 2006 cuts in frequency and length of train services from Frome, Trowbridge, Bath and intermediate stations into Bristol, and the unreliability of the remaining services. The changes effect a large number of people and the highly publicised "fare strike" organised by the group appeared to win some respite - although it's very much 10 steps backwards and just 1 forward (a few carriages added back in where many were removed) and questions are being asked as to how permanent, or otherwise, the step forward will prove to be. I am a resident of Melksham, Wiltshire, served ONLY by the Swindon to Westbury service which we have called the "TransWilts"; I host the "Save the Train" website at http://www.savethetrain.org.uk and I started the recent petition to the Prime Minister at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/wessextrains/ which gathered 1690 signatures in 3 weeks, making it number 8 out of 402 petitions on transportation and infrastructure. The key players in "More Train, Less Strain" are Simon Carpenter of Frome, Tony Ambrose and Peter Andrews. Their web site is at http://www.moretrainlessstrain.co.uk . Since this is a new group that "Save the Train", their web visibility is not as high and searches via Google on their name currently rank "Save the Train" higher. I've met with Tony and Peter, and we're in agreement that our groups need to liaise (at the least) as we're both looking for appropriate / decent services using the same pool of trains, with the same operator and regulation system involved. However, the distortions of the current timetable mean we have very different situations currently on the ground, with overcrowded peak hour trains on Peter and Tony's line, and no peak trains at all (passengers now on the road) on the TransWilts. Simon, Tony and Peter are your best contacts for the future direction of "MTLS", but I can tell you something of the future plans for "Save The Train". At "Save the Train", we are very much in touch with all the key players and looking to work with them to sort out the current situation which, frankly, does no-one any good. It's pretty pointless running an empty pre-dawn train ... which is empty because anyone who wanted to use it for their daily commute wouldn't have an appropriate return service 8 hours or so later. So we're working with First (who have been looking at the possibility of timetabling a round trip every 2 hours), the Department for Transport (from whom I've received an email overnight suggesting we might like to look at a community rail service initiative), our MPs (supporting all along the line - right across Wiltshire), county, district and town councils, other rail user groups, rail trades unions and staff, etc. We could well be at a "cusp" - though it's hard to tell - where we CAN continue the push to an appropriate service and get that running before the end of the year. Even before I heard from the DfT, I was planning to call a co-ordination meeting in 4 weeks time and invite all the key players to look at the railway service and its provision from the community's viewpoint - to look at not only providing but also sustaining the service henceforth. That meeting is scheduled for 5th March, in Melksham. The "Save the Train" website has continued to monitor services and developments, and grow. We have had a number of requests for forums in which services on other FGW lines can be discussed by the franchise's customers, and we are now also hosting the http://www.firstgreatwestern.info site for that purpose. There is merit in co-ordination. We are very much aware that the stengthening of one servicve could lead to the reduction or abandonment of another - indeed, the 06:47 Frome to Bristol grew to 4 coaches in a blaze of publicity, in week that the 06:44 from Melksham was cancelled more often than it ran. Written2007-02-09 06:50:00 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Invite letter - 5th March 2007 meeting We're holding what could turn out to be a turning point meeting on 5th March, at 19:30. Here's the invite letter and YOU, dear reader, are invited as an interested party. Please let me know (I need to have a rough idea of numbers) Dear [name], I am writing to invite you to attend a meeting on the evening of Monday, 5th March to focus community support onto the "TransWilts" railway line that links Swindon, via Chippenham, Melksham and Trowbridge to Westbury, Dilton Marsh, Warminster and Salisbury. Formal invites are going out to many organiations involved, but additionally I'm inviting current, past,and potential future users and other interested parties too - this meeting and stong support COULD MAKE A REAL DIFFERENCE. The use of train service linking these towns - including the five largest towns in Wiltshire - grew dramatically up to last December; growth rates of between 8% and 35% per annum are quoted for the five years up to that point, and a service that was very quiet five years ago had become pretty busy by last autumn. But the service was cut back in December to just two trains a day, running at times that are inappropriate for the main traffic flows. The reasons given are poor economic value, but arguments from various parties to the decision were based on older (so lower) usage figures, and consultant's reports that assumed a growth rate of just 0.8% per annum. I have various indications that the service provision is now being reconsidered much more throughly and constructively, with what I believe to be a better chance than at any point previously of us securing an appropriate service to meet customer needs. But we're still not out of the woods - we need a community push to ensure that the optimism isn't stillborn, and that a service - when provided - is well advertised and supported by the community. With the Regional Spatial Strategy proposing a high growth rate all the way from Swindon to West Wiltshire, increasing conjestion on the A350 and other roads in the area, and strong traffic flows between the towns in the county, a two hourly service starting later this year makes sense. The meeting will start at 19:30 (arrive earlier for coffee) at Well House Manor, 48 Spa Road, Melksham SN12 7NY on Monday, 5th March. If you are unable to attend personally, please nominate an appropriate council member or officer to attend in your place. You are also welcome to pass this on to other parties and invitethem to attend on a less formal basis. So that I can plan the meeting, I WOULD like some idea of numbers - it would be much appreciatiated if you can RSVP. I look forward to seeing you at the start of next month Graham Graham Ellis "Save the Train" - http://www.savethetrain.org.uk Campaigning for the return and retention of an appropriate TransWilts service 404, The Spa, Melksham, SN12 6QL 01225 708225 graham@wellho.net =========================================================== "Save the Train" - TransWilts Train service between the major population centres of Wiltshire. 5th March 2007, at Well House Manor, 48 Spa Road, Melksham SN12 7NY. 19:00 (tea and coffee) for 19:30. We will meet attendees off the 19:08 train at Melksham, and ensure that everyone gets home afterwards. Draft Agenda: 1. Welcome 2. Where are we now? 3. How can we get an appropriate service returned? (If we get good news later this month, we may be able to skip) 4. Community support to build, sell and retain the new service. What do we need to do? 5. Action plan - who, how, mechanisms. 6. Conclusion It is anticipated that the meeting will close at around 21:30. ====================== This is a special meeting organised by "Save the Train". We have been campaiging for an appropriate train service for West Wiltshire to Swindon, and from Swindon and Chippenham to Trowbridge, Warminster and Salisbury, for 18 months. A petition to the Prime Minister, which has just closed, drew nearly 1700 signatures including 8 Members of Parliament, 5 MEPs and many councillors, and became the top domestic public transport petition on the PM's web site (8th out of over 400 on transportation and infrasturcture). That's very respectable for a locally based petiton with no formal organisation that ran for just three weeks. The petition and the wider campaign has received good press exposure - a half page in the Sunday Express, a shorter piece in the Daily Telegraph, and an article in the Metro which actually reprinted the current minimalist timetable. An item on HTV West showed just how poor by comparison the bus alternative is from Melksham to Swindon, with me taking well over an hour to make a journey that would have taken less than 30 minutes by train, and pieces on "You and Yours" and "Westminster Hour" on Radio 4 should be noted. And those appearances are in addition to enormous local support from newspapers and radio stations in the area. At Westminster, Ann Snelgrove, James Gray, Michael Ancram and Andrew Murrison - that's all the MPs for the Swindon - Westbury section - stood up and spoke in favour of an appropriate service during a debate, and Robert Key and Sandra Gidley, MPs for the extension to Salisbury and on to Romsey, have also signed up. We have received overwhelming encouragement from other organisations at a local and regional level, and we now hear reports of much more serious discussions involving the Department for Transport and the First Group amongst others. Communications from both organisations within the last few days indicate a door that is pushed far more open to our proposals that at any time previously, with serious attention being given to both the financing and the timetabling of the new service. And these are THE two key players. ================================= Who are "Save the Train"? An Internet / Web Site based group who use (or used) the TransWilts train service, or would use it if appropriate services were provided. Formed in August 2005 by Graham Ellis as a result of seeing the threat to the service that he used in a letter in the local Newspaper, the web site and campaign has grown from strength to strength. Main site: http://www.savethetrain.org.uk Forum: http://www.savethetrain.org.uk/forum/index.php We also run: http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/ Graham's own site: http://www.grahamellis.co.uk/ Business site (training courses): http://www.wellho.net Business site (hotel): http://www.wellhousemanor.co.uk We work well with other local groups such as the West Wilts Rail User group and the Melksham Rail Developemnt Group, and we are members of TravelWatch South West (formerly SWPTUF) and Railfocus. And although we're very much an active and campaigning group, our whole philosophy is to work with the service providers for the benefit of both passengers and operators. Graham Ellis Well House Consultants, 404 The Spa, Melksham, Wilts http://www.wellho.net graham@wellho.net +44 (0) 1225 708225 (phone) +44 (0) 1225 707126 (fax) Written2007-02-12 06:17:06 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| IMPROVED PUBLIC TRANSPORT LINKS ACROSS WILTSHIRE? A draft timetable for a regular train service from Swindon to Westbury, with onward connections to Salisbury, Frome, etc is presently under consideration. A meeting to show community support and discuss how best that support can be harnessed to gain and retain an effective service will be held as follows: Venue - Well House Manor, 48 Spa Road, Melksham, SN12 7NY Date - 5th March 2007, at 19:30 (coffee from 19:00) The "TransWilts" line, currently operated with a skeleton service, links the five largest towns in Wiltshire (Swindon, Salisbury, Chippenham, Trowbridge and Melksham) and also Warminster, Westbury, Frome and Dilton Marsh. We have a real opportunity for a practical service for the benefit of travellers and businesses in the wider area - whether your journey is from Trowbridge to Swindon, Chippenham to Salisbury, Melksham to Warminster, or Frome to Swindon, the new service will make it practical for you to leave your car at home and let the train take the strain. Please come along is you can. Or if you can't, let us know of your interest and support. http://www.savethetrain.org.uk/community.html?printer=1&fill=coc Meeting is open to individuals and organisation representatives. The train operator and county council will be represented at senior levels, and the Department for Transport are taking a keen interest and have asked me to report back, direct, after the meeting; they are considering the possibility of a "community rail" service. Graham Ellis Well House Consultants, 404 The Spa, Melksham, Wilts http://www.wellho.net graham@wellho.net +44 (0) 1225 708225 (phone) +44 (0) 1225 707126 (fax) Written2007-02-20 08:20:12 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Passengers or Customers? Traditional railmen describe train users as "passengers" and I've seen them be very unhapy indeed with talks / documents that describe them as customers. Surely it's just a word isn't is? Does it matter which word is used? There is a - slight - technical difference between the terms. A customer is someone with whom there is a contract, so that a passenger who's travelling without a ticket and has no intention of paying is not a customer, and someone who buys a plaform ticket is, convesley, a customer but not a passenger. But this is fine tuning of the definitions. Yes, it can matter. It can show a psyche - an attitude and a state of mind. When I was on the local railway last (on Wednesday), I was both a customer and a passenger. Three out of the four people I spoke with who were on railway business during the course of my 2-train journey spoke to me as a customer. They were polite, helpful, in one case chatty, and they made me glad that I chose the train. I regret that the fourth person made it very clear to me that he didn't want to be helpful. I was very obviously a nuisance to him, and he would have much preferred it if there had been an emtpy seat when I sat. IMHO, the cost of the smart new uniform he was wearing (he was the best presented of tht four) would have been better invested in giving him a short lesson in customer relations. I like being a customer, and treated as such. But there's a minority - a sizable minority at times - of staff who treat the railway travellers in their care as, first and foremost, passengers. See this forum link. If not my place to tell First what to do, but sometimes I feel I can offer constructive advise. They do have problems in certain areas with a high proportion of travellers without tickets, or so they say (has anyone seen an estimate of what proportion of journeys are made without the due payment?). And my constructive advise to them here is to identify their staff who don't understand how they should look after their customers, and train them better along those lines - reminding staff that the vast majority are paying, law adibing, people who pay their wages and want a pleasant experience. If they can't identify the staff in questions, then make sure EVERYONE knows. Then, perhaps, we'll have a gentler approach to to problems caused by operational difficulties such as that reported at Reading, and no need to post up such stories on these boards for all to see. Written2007-02-24 07:08:17 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A fast-moving story? It looks like we do have a good chance of getting an appropriate service "TransWilts" from December. Please come along to the big meeting, 7 for 7:30 on Monday 5th March for details and / or I'll fill you in on line. Seriously - we need to demonstrate support at this one. Taxi available from the station off the 19:08 arrival from Swinin, and we'll get you home / onwards after. Did I say "fast moving". Important letters in the post this a.m., meetings tonight (Friday) and Saturday, so Monday looks - to us - very much in the future. Written2007-03-02 14:36:00 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The traveller, not the train! On the railways, I've seen so many people interested in the trains and not the travellers - they're often known as the "Gricer"s and "Anorak"s - and I've attended many meetings / seen many pictures they've taken and read many discussions. But the modern day railway is there very much for the passenger, and I was delighted to travel in busy trains yesterday (I don't really mind what class of unit, but f.y.i 3 x HST and 1 x TPE 158) that ran virtually to time. Actually, passengers make for some lovely pictures just like the trains do!  Passenger at Taunton Station  Passengers at Bristol Temple Meads Written2007-03-04 09:14:01 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Report - Monday night's meeting - press brief A packed special meeting in Melksham on Monday night, called by the "Save the Train" Campaign, learnt that there's now a realistic change of the return of an approprriate train service from Swindon to and through West Wiltshire (Melksham, Trowbridge, Westbury, Warminster) and on to Salisbury, Frome, Somerset and Dorset. All the major player are now talking "Turkey" - the First Group, who operate nearly all the train services in this area, and the Department for Transport, acknowledge that there is a strong case for the service. The 1700 signature petitoin recently completed, the packed meeting in Melksham, and continued inputs to all parties and representatives show that there is a public demand too. The meeting resolved to continue to press for the return of a regular service connecting the largest 5 population centes of Wiltshire, and Frome in Somerset, from December 2007. A successful meeting. Resolved: 1. A "Save the train" action committee was formed with representatives from along the route of the service to campaign further for the return of an appropriate train service. Our target date is December, to take over the train that is scheduled to be WITHDRAWN from the Westbury to Southampton service with the potential loss of many services at Warminster and Dilton Marsh. 2. County, District, rail partnership, Train operator and other bodies to meet in a group to co-ordinate their actions with a view to getting the appropriate service running again. 3. A major lobby to be held on March 20th at West Wilts District Council's executive meeting (19:00, Bradley Road council chamber, Trowbridge). All welcome. Please see http://www.savethetrain.org.uk for details or call 01225 708225. Editorial Note - Passenger usage of the Swindon to Westbury, Salisbuy and Southampton train service grew between 8% and 35% per annum in the five years to 2006, but last December's timetable changes withdrew all but two trains (06:19 and 18:42 off Swindon) off part of the route. This new service level is inappropriate for the route and is causing real hardship - commuters from Frome and Trowbridge into Swindon have their day extended by 90 minutes, to travel from Swidon to Salisbury by train ican now take over 2 hours with an awkward change and long wait in Bath, and Melksham (population 24,000 and growing) has no trains at all between 07:17 and 19:08. The new service level was specified in a single line in an 80 page document produced by the Strategic Rail Authority in Spring 2005, relating to all rail services West of London which based future service provision on a 0.8% growth forecast. In order for an appropriate service to return, the local transport authority (Wiltshire County Council) needs to work with the Department for Transport and a Train Operator (First Great Western). We congratulate the Friends of Bristol Suburban Railways for their recent completion of such an agreement which will bring services back to the Severn Beach line, and we note smilar success in Dorset, Devon and Cornwall. Save the Train Graham Ellis - Chair graham@wellho.net 01225 708225 404, The Spa, Melksham, SN12 6QL Written2007-03-07 09:56:12 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| What is happening? It's nearly two weeks now since we hosted the "Save the Train" meeting here in Melksham. And, alas, for much of the time since then I've been layed low - working with halved energy - with a bout of the flu from which I'm only just recoverimg. With training courses to give and a business to run, that's taken up the energy I have and I've been having late starts (for me) and even earlier evenings than is my norm. Here I am at 4 p.m. on Sunday feeling like I could just curl up and go to sleep .... But ... we DID move forward at the meeting. Formed an action group that involves some more bodies, and since then we've got a press release out somewhat wider than I could have reached alone. And we should have a high proportion of that core group at least at the District Council's emergency meeting on Tuesday next. An experts / officers group is also to be set up. That's to allow the rail industry, national and local government experts, perhaps with representatives of other groups, to come together. A prospecive chairman / organiser has been approached and, with my impatient nature, I'm disappointed to have not yet heard back / heard what's happening on this. Of course, I should not be surprised as, really, there's no reason that I should be involved in this group and it can probably do its best by flying a whole range of kites between its members rather than asking for public consultation type inputs at each stage. More evidence / information keeps building up concerning the need to improve public transport in the corridor, to improve the pubclicity and information about that public transport so that people who need it can find it, and about the unsuitability of the current service. Even with just 2 trains a day, and even with the current SLC limits unaltered, I recon they could do a ruddy site better. I conjecture that around 93% of the buisness has been lost ... yet with a compliant service arriving in Swindon at 08:30 and leaving at 08:45, and another arriving in Swindon at 17:30 and leaving at 17:45, that loss could have been limited to around 45%. The DfT tell me that the service isn't working as they had intended. Travellers on the train tell me that surveys are being done because the service is "under review". We need to shout more than ever before to ensure that reviewers look at the complete picture and come up with a positive solution rather than just looking at current train usage and suggesting that (say) only the Sunday trains remain ... Written2007-03-18 15:30:45 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Reply to Petition I have to confess - I'm disappointed, but not suprised. You can't teach an old dog new tricks, even if the old dog is bright enough to realise that it really out to learn a few. We raised 1700 signatures (the biggest domestic public transport petition) over the issue of an inappropriate new train service (or rather lack of train service) from last December from Swindon to Westbury and on other routes. It was worded - VERY carefully - to offer practical routes forward to providing a service fit for the future throught the region, whilst at the same time not backing any of the players into a corner that forced them to admit to past mistakes. Alas - the answer given (local copy here) repeats the old outdated tricks. They may well have been the right tricks in 2004 at the time the reports / specificatiosn were drawn up, but time has proven that they're utterly wrong for now, and for the coming years. Written2007-03-31 08:02:22 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Petition Response - detail, opinion, context Overview: 1. Train services slashed last December 2. Petition for appropriate train service submitted on 7th February 3. Reply by Government last Friday evening blames First, uses old forecasts that have proven to be wrong, and misses the point that we're looking for an APPROPRIATE service and not a return to the previous one! 4. Further timetable changes planned for December 2007, but no big consultation this time 5. Ten 2-coach trains (arguably the best in the fleet) to be transferred away from service operated out of Bristol from this December? Detail Last Friday, the Prime Minister's office has replied to the petition for train service improvements submitted by Melksham businessman Graham Ellis. Graham started the petiton on the Prime Minister's web site in January after regional and local train services throughout the South West of England were cut by up to 80% last December, with remaining trains running unreliably and often overcrowded. The petition asked the Prime Minister to: "provide a reliable train service with adequate capacity at times that travellers wish to make journeys from Swindon to Westbury, Bristol to Severn Beach, Portsmouth and Weymouth to Cardiff, Taunton to Cheltenham, Swindon to Cheltenham. This includes all intermediate stations and journeys in both directions." The petition was signed by over 1700 people, making it the top domestic public transport petition at the time it closed. It was signed by 8 MPs (including James Gray, Michael Ancram, Andrew Murrison, Don Foster and Robert Key from our mmediate area), five MEPs, and dozens of councillors including council leaders and mayors. The reply - published last Friday evening - reads as follows: Thank you for your petition concerning the provision of rail services in the South West of England. Ministers have raised the issue of improving train performance, including cancellations and short formation of trains, directly with First Great Western, which operates the train services in the greater Bristol area. First great Western have given assurances that appropriate measures are being taken, including bringing in additional rolling stock, and have accepted responsibility for underestimating the capacity requirements of the new timetable introduced on 10 December. First Great Western have already taken steps to restore capacity in some areas and expect the position to improve further in the coming weeks. The Department for Transport will, of course, continue to monitor the performance of the FGW franchise to ensure that commitments given to Ministers and the public are met and that a significantly improved service is provided to passengers in future. Performance issues not directly under the control of First great Western itself are the subject of action plans between the company and Network Rail, which are monitored regularly. The petition calls for the number of services at Melksham and other stations to be brought back to the levels provided before the timetable change on 10 December 2006. In planning the new franchise, the former Strategic Rail Authority found that usage of most trains on this route was very low, and set a minimum specification in order to achieve best value for money. First Great Western is free to operate additional services over the route subject to capacity on the track being available. Reaction "It's sad to see that the Government is still quoting a franchise specification based on data from 2002/03 which assumed almost no growth" says Graham Ellis. "In practise, there was very strong growth in train usage over the past five years - growth rates as high as 35% per annum [ticket sales to/from Melksham] so we've been presented with - and look like we're stuck with - a totally inadequete service that's driving passengers off the trains and into their cars." The government has walked away from a wonderful opportunity to provide an appropriate service in the region - it appears to have misread my request for an appropriate service (trains at times people need to travel, reliable, with adequate capacity) as a request for a return to the old timetable which it was not. What Now? We understand that there's to be a further timetable review in December 2007, and that First (who operate the train services) have put proposals to the government already. Included within these discussions are: * A further reconsideration of the Services from West Wiltshire to Chippenham and Swindon, where the two remaining daily trains are poorly timed (06:19 and 18:42 from Swindon, 07:00 and 19:35 from Westbury) and have lost over 90% of the traffic overnight on what had become a busy service. * A further major re-arrangement of services bewtween Westbury and Bristol We also understand that there will be another major reduction in the number of trains available to First Great Western on their "West Fleet" that operates our local services - indications are that 10 x 2 coach trains (of class 158) will be moved to the North of England. Written2007-04-03 10:29:30 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Government pressure to shut up. But let us look forward. Well ... the Government's response to my petition for an appropriate train service made the front page of the Western Daily Press yesterday (article) under the headline "Blair Snubs Rail Misery". And we also got coverage in the Bath Chronicle, the Wiltshire Times and the Wiltshire Gazette and Herald. The Spar shop / garage next door started giving me very funny looks as I kep coming in for more newspapers! The response to the petition was disappointing - very disappointing. After all the hard word work, five year old figures and demonstrably wrong, pessimistic, forecats are regurgitated. The Civil servants know they're incorrect, damn it - and they know that the current service schedules are not appropriate. I can tell you this because I have spent a long time, on the phone in person, to 'Whitehall'. And to compound the disappointment, some "bright spark" has read the request for an appropriate service to mean a return to the old pre-December situation. No - I'm no Luddite and the petition was no request to step back in time - quite the reverse; it was a request to look forward. I agree with the Government response that the service should not revert to what it was - it should develop forward to meet the need. You'll note: * Compound growth between 8% and 35% per annum over 5 years * West Wilts towns to grow by 50% over the next 30 years * Increasing road conjestion making the car commute less practical * Cheaper trains perhaps for hire (to reduce cost) * Envioronmental issues ... But the $64,000 question is how we take this dreadful response from the Prime Minister's office and, never the less, work forward with the other forces that we know are there to a positive conclusion. And how we tie that in with support from the local transport authority (Wilsthire CC) and others around such as Somerset and Swindon to everyone's benefit. So yesterday evening concluded with a most interesting call from a supporter / insider with a political "nose", warning me off criticising the Goverment too hard on their response. "He's trying to shut you up as the Government don't like this publicity" suggest Lisa and, yes, that's a big part of it. But at the same time, we DO have to work with these people - Glaswegian Ministers who don't even look after trains in Scotland - until the next general election in perhaps 2009 or 2010. My purpose is not to score political points with a political football of the railway service. It's to have provided an appropriate service. So, in spite of the idiosyncracies of the system and the distortions it brings, I'll work on with Tom Harris (DfT) , Alison Forster (FGW), Fleur de Rhe_Philipe (Wiltshire) for the joint aims. They can ALL come out as winners, and the travelling public can come out as winners too! Written2007-04-05 08:29:16 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Asking for the political and part views With local elections due to take place early next month, we're in a period of perdour where officials will say very little / cannot make comment on issues or discuss them in the way they normally might. But it's also an opportunity to ask the politicians what their personal and party approach is to the various issues. I have written to a senior local repesentative of each of the major parties, asking them to give me their view, and their official party view, on support (or otherwise) for the Swindon to Westbury train service. The Conservative and Labour politicians, of course, also have the opportunity to answer for the local transport authority (Wiltshire CC, Conservative) and the Department for Transport (Labour) as both have given several responses of late which have appeared to be self-contradicting. Responses to be in by next Tuesday, to be published on "Save the Train" and perhaps elsewhere - we have the tools to hand to reach quite a number of concerned local voters to ensure they know of any party differences that show up. ------------- "Base" letter sent ... I am writing to invite you to put the local [name of party] position forward with regard to their future ongoing support of the train service from Swindon and Chippenham through West Wiltshire (Melksham, Trowbridge, Westbury, Warminster) and on to Salisbury and Frome. With local elections coming up early in May, and with the issue of this service being high on the political agenda, this provides you with the ideal opportunity to publicise how your party, support the return and retention of an appropriate service on this line. The "Save the Train" web site will be featuring replies (and commenting on lack of replies) to this email, and we'll also be wring press releases and getting in touch with our database of interested users prior to local polling day so that they're aware of any differences in position. We may also hand out copies of the responses received to local public transport users at the end of this month. Please feel free to forward a copy of this email to others who might also wish to respond. If you could let me have any reply by Tuesday, 17th April that would be great, thank you. Graham Background ========== The train service linking the five largest towns in Wiltshire, together with Frome in Somerset (close by and substantial) was recently slashed to just 2 round trips a day (60% service cut). The new timings do not meet the user's requirements and between 90% and 95% of the traffic (which had been growing between 8% and 35% per annum) has been lost. Some travellers are making longer journeys via Bath, others are using the bus and some have even given up their jobs, but most of them are now driving along the already-crowded A350 road. The Department for Transport (who specify the franchise / service level), County and Unitary Councils - Wiltshire, Somerset and Swindon (who are the local transport authority), and First Great Western (who operate the services) are all very much aware of the how inappropriate the current service is, and that they need to take some "ownership" in order to return to an appropriate service as called for in my recent petition to the Prime Minister which brought in over 1700 signatures. I understand that discussions between the parties are currently underway, with one of the options being investigated being "community rail" status for the service. This would allow a more frequent and better timed service to be provided with all parties providing support, and with community groups such as "Save the Train", Melksham Rail Development Group, District and Town councils, and users to be much more involved with the service. Written2007-04-12 08:34:29 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Helsinki and Heathrow to Melksham - Saturday I had, mentally, ruled out Saturday for anything more that a day of travelling from Helsinki to Melksham; a good job too as I could - all too easily - have been frustrated many times along the way. The day started well - indeed the Finnish leg was enjoyable, with a chance to see Helsinki (pictures) sandwiched between a trouble-free Metro ride in from the suburb where we had spend the week, and a comfortable bus ride - no wait, no queue, out to the airport. There's even a left luggage facility as the station that isn't so tied up with security that you wonder why you had bothered for a few hours. And Finnair checked us in excellently, easily through and onto the flight. We were glad not to be on the BA flight that was scheduled out earlier - 07:45 - as it didn't leave until 13:15. Heathrow, Terminal one, Baggage - what a zoo! We waited over an hour for our luggage, with (at times) up to 10 other flights also on "wait". I think our flight was especially bad - we were told that baggage couldn't be got off due to a technical problem, but still the business class travellers got theirs in about half the time. Odd, that ;-)  Heathrow to Melksham by public transport isn't great - coach to Chippenham and bus on home is about the best when you're flying in and can't rely on timing. If you're really delayed, you might just get the 18:45 direct bus in the evening. A Spring Saturday, a week after Easter with crowds returning from Holidays, so how was the ticket desk staffed?  Yes, you're right - queue control barriers and too few staff to handle the crowds, who clearly WERE expected. The Bath bus, good on the operator, HAD been doubled up, with a second coach layed on and the two drivers sorting Swindon passengers on to one and passengers for other destinations onto the second bus. Loading, though, was less than efficient with the driver of our (non-Swindon) bus taking each individual he checked in arouns the back of the bus, one by one, to load their luggage, and the coach left some 15 to 20 minutes late. An extra stop at Membury services (I don't know why - I've never had it happen before) added a few minutes and, to my suprise, the bus still went through Swindon even though all the passengers had been sorted ahead of time. A straight "drive through" of course, even down to driving straight in to one end of the bus station and out of the other - but what a wasted opportunity to sensibly make up some time. Chippenham, and we spotted the 234 heading on its loop up to the station as we drove into the town. "Oh - excellent - he'll be back past the bus stop in a couple of minutes". We unloaded our case, thanked our driver, and hailed the 234 as he returned ... and STRAIGHT PAST he drove. Now - I know the evening 234 service is subsidised by Wiltshire County Council, and I do know that the operator puts profit before passengers ... but you would have thought that the driver would have stopped (at the bus stop!), wouldn't you? Well - he didn't. The bus appeared to be empty and perhaps he couldn't be bothered. We caught a taxi from the rank just a few yards away; by this point, I was less than inclined to wait a further 90 minutes or so for a bus that *might* stop next time, and we had an absurdly un-green and inefficient journey in a taxi that passed the bus we should have been on as he turned into Lacock. So why wasn't the transport system able to transfer us from one service to the other neatly in Chippenham? Lack of joined up thinking between operators? No - that's not the case. Our National Express Coach was operated, I kid you not, by the First group. And the 234 bus was also operated by First. I suspect from exactly the same depot. Ah - "Shareholders First" - of course ... Written2007-04-15 09:43:16 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gordon Dodge, Rest in Peace Gordon Dodge, who helped fight such long odds to get Melksham station re-opened in 1985 - and won - passed away yesterday. My deepest sympathy goes to his wife Audrey and family who have lost a remarkable husband and father. When I started the "Save the Train" campaign 2 summers ago, Gordon welcomed this upstart into the fold of campaigning for the retention of an appropriate service under the harsh new Greater Western Franchise which puts profit ahead of passengers - and I am very VERY grateful for that. The Melksham Rail Development Group, and the West Wilts Rail User Group (he was Vice Chairman of both) could so easily have taken umberage at the newcomer, but instead I was welcomed and we worked well together. It didn't take me long to realise that Gordon was far more active in both groups that his "vice chairman" role implied. A Friend of Melksham Station, Gordon tended the flowers, even though he had to carry the water in his car from home (their being no tap at the station), anc last year planted the beds in First Group's colours, even though he shared our disquiet as to what they were doing to our service. That was Gordon for you - welcoming, generous and quietly active.  Gordon Dodge (standing behind Santa) organised the "Santa Special" train trips from Melksham to Swindon in early December each year. Gordon talked about working at "The Avon" in Melksham, and work in the print shop there. It sounded very much like he loved his work, and when he retired he took further work as a pallbearer, working for our local undertakers. Some of the tales he had to tell ... but never at the expense of anyone, I note (as I don't think he had an ounce of that in him!) had us enthralled. Still very much an active supporter, Gordon came along to our train meeting early last month - he wasn't feeling (or looking) well, but he was very much an ACTIVE supporter. We were shocked to hear that he was in hospital a week or two later, and we visited him in there. He knew / we knew that there was no certainty that he would pull throught, but still we talked of trains, and future, and how we hoped we would be able to arrange a special this summer to Weymouth, and that he would be able to join us on the first day of an appropriate service this coming December. Gordon's worked for both the local undertakers, and so he's pretty much aware of what'll go on - indeed, he was talking the other week of planning his own funeral and had some very specific ideas. I only heard of his passing a few hours ago, so I can't pass on the details yet - but I will do so. And I think it would be a good memorial to Gordon is we COULD run a seaside special this summer. And it would be a GREAT memorial if we could get that appropriate service back for the town that he loved, through the station he cherished. Written2007-04-16 17:47:12 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| An update "Long time no post" I think is the saying. The forum has been busy and there's been much activity behind the scenes, some of which I'll be talking about just as and when I get a chance to catch my breath. It looks like the technical group that's going to be looking at the case locally is indeed being chaired by the county, and after a slightly stuttery start that's going to be convened shortly. Six months ago, I would have put our chance of getting an appropriate service on the line at a slim 5%, but now I'm thinking the figure is much higher. The early days of "Graham, we can't run a service just for you" were superceeded by "Melksham on its own doesn't justify a substantive service" and now I'm hearing / seeing real thought being put into what should be provided; with a single train allocated to the line, a two-hourly Swindon to Westbury is practical. As is a slightly less frequent Warminster to Swindon. Or a three-hourly Salisbury to Swindon. And if the discussions come down to "should we choose (a), (b) or (c) rather than "are we going to do anything at all", that's a positive step. Here's an interesting further look forward. What IS an appropriate service level? If you draw a graph of the population within 2 km of each station in Wiltshire, plotted against the number of passengers per day using the station, you'll see that the points all scatter onto a straight line. There's just ONE station a long way from the line - below - and that's Melksham. Why? Because the station's unfriendly, the service has always been thin and with a dreadful reliabiity reputation, and publicity was non-existant. Actually, it didn't do too badly - grew by a whapping 500% + between 1996 and 2006 (next best was 190% growth) - but it was cut off before it had a chance to fully blossom. "Use it or loose it" they said and I THINK the 500% - from county survey data, by the way, WAS a use. but still we lost it. An appropriate TRAFFIC level, in line with other stations in the county, would be 1000 passengers a day to or from Melksham. And the appropriate service level to cope with that is an HOURLY service. So - let's set our initial goals as a single unit service from December, but lets RETAIN the "Stroud Valley Unit" in its current timings too. ON ITS OWN, it doesn't work. IN ASSOCIATION with another unit running every 2 hours, it does. Opportunities to arrive in Swindon at 07:40, 08:40, 10:40, 12:40, 15:40, 17:40, 19:40 and 20:40. And to return at 06:20, 08:45, 10:45, 12:45, 15:45, 17:45, 18:45 and 19:45 Written2007-05-14 18:36:57 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The way forward - improved service and improved station Melksham's bid for an accessible station ... under the "People's Millions" scheme of the Big Lottery Fund. West Wiltshire's bid for a decent train link to Chippenham, Swindon and beyond working with Wiltshire County Council, the Department for Transport and First. Management overviewMelksham is a rapidly growing town (current population around 24,000) with heavy traffic flows to the neighbouring towns such as Chippenham, Swindon and Bath. By road, all of these journeys are along single carriageway roads through villages with low speed limits that are often jammed, even outside the usual rush hours. By public transport, the train to Swindon takes 25 minutes, whereas the journey by bus is 95 minutes - however, most people drive. The train is underutilised because: a) The service is sparse (2 trains a day each way) and poorly timed for most people (the services leave Melksham before 07:30 in the morning and after 19:30 in the evening). b) Buses do not serve the station due to its difficult position at the end of a cul-de-sac. c) The station's only access through an industrial area is intimidating to many travellers. d) A lack of publicity, and a reputation for frequent cancallation. There is currently a two-pronged campaign being run (from which we are seeing practical positive feedback) to correct these various issues. On the SERVICE, Save The Train and many others have been campaigning hard for an appropriate TransWilts service and discussions now underway including Wiltshire County Council, First Great Western and the Department for Transport should result in an appropiate service (level and time) to meet the needs and aspirations of travellers as from December 2007. By using a "shuttle" train rather than a service that interoperates with other trains, the service will run also be much more reliable. On the STATION, the Melksham Railway Development Group is spearheading a bid for "the people's millions" through the big lottery fund, for finance to complete the link road from Spencer's Gate to the station. This involves clearing just 12 metres of land which is already earmarked for the purpose, and finishing the road to the already built roundabout access and the station. Not only will the link road allow buses to serve the station, but it will also provide access from an area of residences, shops and restaurants rather than having the only access through the industrial area. Note that the campaign for an improved service is NOT just a Melksham one - the line provides the ONLY direct public transport link between the five largest towns in Wiltshire and has widespread support across the County. Swindon - Chippenham - Melksham - Trowbridge - Salisbury. Also served by this route - Westbury and Warminster, and the route on to From in Somerset. Written2007-06-01 21:02:21 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A roundup from a MELKSHAM perspective A "What's happening" list I've prepared as notes for the Annual General Meeting of the Melksham Rail Development Group that I'll be attending tonight. These are my personal notes - content is just my view in places and I believe it to be correct but ((legal disclaimer, E & O E, will update as and when I get a chance)) Key points for MRDG / AGM This is "MRDG" - i.e. Melksham - rather than "Save the Train" - i.e. whole service biased and is in the form of personal notes. But it goes provide a good background to all the stuff that's happening at the moment! • Web Site With Peter and John's go ahead, we have registered the web site http://www.mrdg.org.uk and put a holding page there. Lisa would like to volunteer to set up and maintain the whole site. • Lottery for Road We have submitted a lottery bid for "The People's Millions" to the big lottery fund. This is a TV show for awards of up to 80k for projects, where we get a platform for the cause and a change of getting funding (and that can be complete funding). Signed off by Peter and John, independent referee is Chris Irwin of Travel Watch South West and many other hats. Our bid is for 47k; I have roadwork ball park quotes for about half that amount but have not started any local publicity prior to the AGM. • Gordon Special We were all shocked to hear of the passing of Gordon Dodge, the vice chairman of the group, in April after a short illness. Gordon was the powerhouse behind MRDG and a lovely, lovely man with an infectious enthusiasm. He leaves a huge hole and is sadly missed. I have approached FGW about running a seaside special this summer as a tribute to Gordon, but they have come back with a "no specials AT ALL this summer" - not even extending the Sunday morning Westbury to Weymouth to start from Melksham. Alternative suggestion (and good publicity!) ... BUS to Westbury on a Sunday morning, then train trip round. Change at Westbury on the way back into one of the two Sunday trains. • Santa Special I have been advised that we should run this BEFORE the December timetable change. As the current timings (before December) make it near impossible, I wonder as I write this how much worse the next timetable will be. However, teh next item may supreceed that. • Andrew Report I understand there may be some news from Andrew Griffiths of FGW, but I have been told not to expect too much. • 3 x DfT at County and working group A working group has been set up (experts, officials, finance, etc) chaired by WCC as a result of the Save The Train meeting in March. Rather slow starting and as I'm not in any of the categories I'm not a member ... DfT officials have visited the county for discussions on the "TransWilts" service - David Philips is probable better placed to commet than I as he was at the meeting. • WWRUG West Wilts Rail User Group is now looking for someone to represent Melksham on their committee - half a dozen meetings a year to keep them up with the Melksham perspective. John Ingram and Janet Repton are the contacts. • Freight Grants Tom Harris (Minister for Transport) has just announced 44 million in grants for freight service enhancement for environmental reasons, including services through Melksham. He has FAILED to announce any support or the passenger services, where First are looking for a 300k per Annum and that would give major environmental and convenience and economic gains. • South of Salisbury consults 12 week consultantion to start after this coming Friday on CHANGES to the FGW SLC, with a view to reducing what they're committed to do south of Salisbury. Thsi worries me as Andrew Griffiths assured me that the SLC was for 10 years and so he didn't anticipate that Melksham and the TransWilts could loose any more services. I also note that Dilton Marsh may loose half its service as from December. Questions / thoughts. (a) Extend SWT hourly Southampton - Salisbury service to Swindon; deal with all the issues along the way and work around the FGW stock level problems. (b) use the consultation to emphasise the whole corridor not just Mottifont and Dean. NOTE email response from Alison Forster just received. The consultation may not happen as the timetables as "fixed anyway" now. • Transport hub @ TIC The Tourist Information Centre is bidding for lottery funds to become a transport hub, allowing them to sell products that include train tickets. • Asda Asda are planning to build a supermarket (250 parking spaces, 28000 square feet, up to 300 jobs) at West Country Farmers. Co-operation / Transport Hub? • Fares lowered and usage report Fares from Melksham to Chippenham / Swidnon lowered - e.g. Chippenham to Melksham now 2.80 single. Said to be to encourage traffic. The few remaining trains are quiet. I travelled on the train that arrived in Melksham at 21:38 last Saturday. Just 2 people on the train from Chippenham including myself and both got off at Melksham. It is my view that the timing is inappropriate and it's the timing and not the pricing that needs to be fixes, but I would welcome First's explanation otherwise. My view is that fares could have risen by 25% to increas farebox take and help the economics of the line and the case for a decent service. • County grant to buses The County Council has given a further grant (to Stagecoach) for the bus service from Trowbridge to Swindon. The service has the same passenger count in broad terms as the train did last year, but takes 95 minutes rathe than 35 minutes. It was explained to me that the grant was given to the buses because "they server intermediate journeys too". Not a good excuse - the trains ALSO serve intermediate points (indeed, they serve Melksham which the bus does NOT). There is a good case for the bus subsidy. But there is a BETTER case for subsidising the train, so there action on the buses should make their financial support for the trains into a no-brainer. • Letter from Keith Robinson I have received (this morning) a letter from Keith Robinson, chief executive of Wilts CC. Copies available at meeting. Dr Robinson is pointing at First (who, let me remiond you point at the DfT, who point back at the country council). He does, however, confirm that the county does NOT have a closed mind about subsidising trains. • Letters from FGW a) A report on the first year of the franchise , talking / promising more improvements for the future and glossing over (IMHO) the problems. Nothing specific for Melksham SERVICES or TransWilts Services, though we are promised a refit of the trains. b) A "Glenda" - letter from Glenda Lamont to all interested parties - after the recent damning customer satisfaction survey across all railway companies. It explains that FGW was in the throws of settling downafter the timetable change and had some teething troubles when the survey was done, and explains hwo they're putitng thinsg right. Once again, though, NOTHING on service improvements for the TransWilts. I spoke with Glenda Lamont in person in March at the meeting called by West Wilts District Council on the train subject, and she promised to get back with me shortly on what would be happening from December. She HAS got back with me several times, to say teh information is not yet available. Still awaited. • Party in the Park Chance for last minute table? Melksham Carnival, 14th July Written2007-06-08 15:22:38 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Update being updated! The post entitled "a roundup from the Melksham Perspective" has been withdrawn overnight for update. A productive meeting this evening with much clarification for the points I was wondering about / raised. Written2007-06-08 23:25:12 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| News Roundup - a LOT is happening This is an overdue update and I don't know where to start! Gordon Dodge, such a big supporter and so much more, passed away in April. He's left some shoes that will be very hard to fill; I have posted a tribute on the "Save the Train" web site. And his passing has made me, and others, all the more determined to push for an appropriate train service from West and South Wiltshire up to the North of the country and Swindon, incorporating a service fit for use in Melksham, where the station has the lowest ridership per head of population in the county. That's partly down to the infrequent, badly timed and unreliable trains, and partly due to issues to do with the station's accessability. I've started with Gordon, and the issues. And, incredibly, I see the tide starting to turn. Much of the following news comes from the AGM of the Melksham Railway Development Group last night, and as such is in the public domain. 1. After the Save the Train meeting in March, the County Council has agreed to set up an 'experts / professionals' group to push the service provision issue ahead, and this will be chaired by Fleur de Rhe Philipe. I also have a positive letter from Dr Keith Robinson, the chief executive, who I met in person recently. 2. The Department for Transport are now looking very seriously at improving the service - I spent well over an hour on the phone with one of the top civil servants, and I understand that he and several colleagues have had further long meetings with the local transport authority. The answer that *I* got (and the concensus) is no longer to tell me that the current service is appropriate, but to acknowledge that it's not working and needs major positive amendment. 3. At the AGM of the Melksham Rail Development Group (yesterday evening), Andrew Griffiths of First Great Western told that FGW have no extra resources to make available from this December, BUT they have worked up a draft timetable that would take out 3 duplicated trains south of Salisbury (the Southampton stoppers that would, if they remained, double up on the new SWT local service) and use those trains instead to run from Salisbury up to Swindon and back. I've not seen details, but I understand it looks excellent for the morning, and unravels a bit later in the day. Andrew confirmed crew shortages - that even if they hired another train, they would not have the drivers, who it takes a year to train. Andrew also confirmed that extra freight is using the line via Melksham, and that this could start to limit available paths for passenger trains [[Aside - I applaud First in pushing this timetable forward, the DfT in their new and serious look, and the County for their actions and help too. All acknowledge this as being a step in the right direction rather than a final solution - perhaps that will come at December 2008?]] 4. There have been discussions between the officers of the Melksham Railway Development Group and the Save the Train campaign, as the activities of the two could be seen to be converging. We're working in close co-operation (I have taken on the role of Vice Chairman at MRDG, confirmed at the AGM), and of course Peter Blackburn - chair of MRDG - is vice of Save the Train. The groups are, though, and will remain distinct. "Save the Train" is very much concerned with train service across Wiltshire and Mendip whereas the MRDG, as the name implies, is very much Melksham based and extends from the service to the envoirs of the station too. 5. The Melksham Railway Development Group has submitted a bid for lottery funding to complete the road from Spencer's Gate to the station in Melksham. This would provide a circular route via the station over land already reserved for the purpose and allow bus services such as Melksham' s town bus to connect with trains. It would also easier access to the station from North Melksham, and bring a restraurant and conveninence store within a short walk for traveller's use. The bid is via "The People's Millions" - an ITV show where the shortlisted bidders are showcased and the winner is selected by public vote. 6. Asda have announced that they plan to open a new store in Melksham, at West Country Farmers (that shop will remain, though). This offers a good opportunity to work with the store to provide rail access and facilities for the mutual benefit of their customers and railway users, and I understand that the company has a good reputation for being a community player. 7. A suggestion that we run a seaside special this summer from Swindon / Chippenham / Melksham to Weymouth - perhaps by extending the first Sunday train from Westbury - has been declared a non-starter by First who have no capacity for specials, even at the weekend. We are currently investingating whether we can arrange a coach for a part yo join that train at Westbury, leaving from melksham station and returning to there by train at the end of the day. 8. There is every intention of running a Santa special this December; although advised to plan well ahead and use the current service, we don't feel its practical on the limited trains available (21:38 is too late to get the kids back to Melksham, and what WOULD they do through the early evening?). So this will probably be a last minute planning job. 9. MRDG now has a website - www.mrdg.org.uk - and a subcommittee will be working on content and publicity. Key subjects will be the lottery bid, the station's history and other Melksham Specific issues. 10. I have JUST (in the last couple of hours!) booked a table for the two campaigns at Melksham's "Party in the Park" on 14th July. We'll have a 5m x 3m pitch ("a lot of space") to put the case; I'm happy to be on the stand all day (open from 2 p.m. to "fireworks") and would be delighted to have any other VOLUNTEERS - please - along ;-). Excellent chance for publicity. Other events are fastmoving at the moment; we'll see if we're selling seats to Weymouth, congratulating the decision makers and publicising the new services to come, or handing people postcards to lobby with! 11. Sion has agreed (I think - you did agree, didn't you Sion?) to join the committee of the West Wilts Rail Users Group in order that they have a continuing voice / input from Melksham. I was delighted to see their new Chairman, John Ingram, along at yesterday's meeting - we're all pushing very much in the same direction. 12. Wiltshire County Council have provided extra subsidy / support to Stagecoach for the X49 bus service (Trowbridge to Swindon) which last year carried roughly the same number of passengers as used the train (WCC press release figures for bus, FGW's for train). It is good to see the county's acknowledgement of the importance and growth of this corridor. The bus takes 95 minutes and serves neither Melksham nor Chippenham; the train takes just 35 minutes. I applaud the County's decision - it should make a decision to support the train too into a no-brainer. Although the support for a train seat is said to cost three times what it costs to support a bus seat, the train is 3 times faster so that makes it a level playing field, doesn't it? 13. Some fares (including Melksham - Chippenham and Melksham - Swindon) have recently been LOWERED. This means that a Chippenham to Melksham single is now just 2.80. The lowest return fare offered to London if you book on the day / train remains 105.00. For booking ahead, the FGW site lists 20 different single fares - most of them "book ahead" and with very limited availability. These tickets must be posted (extra charge) or collected ahead of time from a ticket machine at Chippenham (or other more distant) station. 14. Melksham's Tourist Information Centre has put in a lottery bid to become a transport hub - allowing it to sell a wide variety of travel tickets (rail tickets too - PLEASE - including the "book ahead" ones I have just mentioned. CONCLUSION? There's a lot happening! I would like to thank all the officers / officials / politicians / Rail Industry people involved in all the thread above, and I'll be circulating this to them as a courtesy copy, and to show them just how the community is behind this - to regain AND RETAIN an APPROPRIATE service. Feedback / comments / information welcome. You'll find more on much of this on the "Save the Train" website at http://www.savethetrain.org.uk and in due course I'm sure the Melksham elements will also appear on http://www.mrdg.org.uk. And THANK YOU for your support / continuing help Graham Written2007-06-09 18:51:47 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Diary notes A mad month! With the AGM of the Melksham Rail Development Group on 8th (see previous reports) and meetings to organise ... * Party in the Park on 14th July * Outing to Weymouth on 5th August * MRDG Web site We're also awaiting (and chasing) timetable plans from December for which a draft proposal is now overdue. Trains continue to be quiet ... no great suprise based on the timing, and instances like last Sunday when one of the two trains failed to turn up at the last minute - one incident like this can put off potential customers for years. But I AM hopeful that we can get enough of an improvement in December to tip the seesaw. Watch this space! Either "Party in the Park" will be a big USE IT FORM DECEMBER push, OR a big campaign marked NOT QUITE GOOD ENOUGH if we don't get to the stage of a decent service that's appropriate, at the very least, for one major traffic flow. Written2007-06-20 08:55:55 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| New faces - mayors and chairs. Lisa and I attended the Civic Service to welcome the new Mayor of Melksham this afternoon. Although attending on behalf of the local Chamber of Commerce, we found ouselves discussing trains with our own mayor, the new Mayor of Salisbury, county councillors and others - inclding John Ingram who's the new chair of the West Wilts Rail Users Group. I have to say how encouraged I am by the support from all of these parties, and also how encouraged I am to see that the WWRUG seems to be embracing Melksham much more fully as a part of West Wilts under its new leadership; John Ingram comes with excellent credentials for his fighting work for "the Waterloo" service, and was telling me of a further meeting they're having with Andrew Murrison on rail matters from West Wilts - and I have no doubt that will also be including more and more services from West Wilts to Swindon, and services to and from Melksham. The local groups have always had very strong support and interest in the history of the rail services - as witnessed by the excellent turnout at Bradford on Avon's 150th for WWRUG. But I can only be delighted that they're now strengtehing their case on current and future services which should be (and perhaps IS) now becoming the major focus. Written2007-06-24 17:55:58 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| We have another hill to climb "Long time no Post". It's been mad, mad busy these past few weeks! Devastating news in that afetr all the hard work, all the ideas, all the draft timetables, First are proposing NOT A SCRAP OF IMPROVEMENT to the serives from December 2007, and are suggesting that we look to December 2008 for any changes. It's very easy at times like this to question the genuine-ness with which the bodies have been taking to us / negotiating - the term "managing expectations" which one of the civil servants quoted as a part of his job role comes ringing back in my ears, and I wonder if we've been lead on and / or conned. There's certainly strong circumstantial evidence to point that way .... but then I really can't believe that everyone would have put in so much time and effort if there was no intent to do what they could to provide an appropriate service all along. "The Jury's out" is the best I can write, and to continue to campaign is the best I can advise - in an hour, I'll be gooing up to the "Party in the Park" here in Melksham and helping to man the "Save the Train" and "Melksham Railway Development Group" booth. Is it worth it? Are the groups needed? The answer is a resounding YES. The Booth is given to us, no charge, by the community who are desparate for proper connections through an appropriate train service. People stop us in the street - complete strangers - and ask how it's going. Often they'll tell us tales of their hardship, and how they would use the service it was half decent. Business leaders - such as the Chanmber of Commerce and the Federation of Small Businesses. Town and Parish councils. Disabled groups. Tourist information. The local press. All on side and united in a rare way to offer their support. With that groundswell of support. With the clear sanity and need for an appropriate service. We'll carry on pushing. We'll take the "No" as a "Not this way" and continue to press for an appropriate service - offering the powers that be any one of three good options - from this December. I've filed a reply to the current consultatitionand I'm encouraging others to send in their views too. Written2007-07-14 09:23:28 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Radio - tomorrow morning? Do I just get rather blasé about things at times? Maybe ... a phone call to return, and it turns out to be a BBC interview looking for comment prior to the release of tomorrow's rail white paper. 40 seconds to put a case. Let me see - from a customer's viewpoint, I would like to see it leading to trains of an adequate capacity (not badly overcrowded) running at times that they're wanted by people who wish to travel (and not to a timetable designed to suit the convenience of operation first and foremost), with an appropriate number of backups / spares to make them relaible, and at a sensible price. And how to achieve that? Now there's the $64,000 question - but I did point out the complex bureacracy of the current system, and all the non-passenger interests it feeds. Thinks that bit may have been "off recording". BBC, Radio 5 live, 06:35 tomorrow! Written2007-07-23 15:02:59 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weymouth, Poor Provisional, and Sunday Today, I have been in Leeds, and tomorrow I'm off to New Jersey. Life has got more rather than less manic in the past two months, and personal messages on this "background" blog have been few and far between. There has been activity - considerable activity - in the "Save the Train" campaign with an active attendance at the West Wilts Show about 10 days ago, and in the Melksham Railway Development Group with a lottery bid, a stand at Party in the Park, and a glorious outing - mostly by train - to Weymouth last Sunday. You'll find pictures, details, and discussions in the forum. Looking to the future, there's a big blow in the provisional timetables for December in that they show not a scrap of movement forward - it really looks as if everyone we've been talking to have been too busy "managing our expectations" to achieve an appropriate service. But I've been careful to say "looks as if" and there's no proof - and it would be churlish of us to move forward and take actions based on that assumption. A further rumour, from an "Insider", talks of an improved service on Sundays from December - no longer Northbound only. As they say "the world's longest journey starts with just a single step". Let's hope that might be the start of a long journey in the right direction. Written2007-08-09 23:16:26 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A Comparison - travel in the USA by train The choice of the train The US is the land where the automobile is King ... and where businessmen fly from city to city, State to State from meeting to meeting. So why - when we visited the USA on what was primarily a business trip last week - did Lisa and I choose to get around by train? Because (even in the USA) it seemed to make logistical sense for this trip. And because I wanted to get an international comparison between rail travel in the UK and USA ... and what better trip to use. And because the price seemed economic / sensible. Friday, 10th August A Rude awakening Transatlantic flights seem to run pretty well these days, with fewer major delays than I can remember in the past, so I'll put it down to pure bad luck that we arrived at the ticket / checkin counter at Newark Airport's Amtrak station about three hours late - which equated to about 15 minutes after our train had left. We weren't too bothered - after all, there are one or two trains every hour until late in the evening on this corridor and it wasn't yet 5 O'Clock. But the desk was unmanned. "Back a 4 O'clock" said the handwritten sign. Hmm. Automated machines demanded a credit card which we were disinclined to give them, as we were picking up pre-bought tickets, but there was a help phone on the wall. Picked it up and spoke to control. "There should be someone there" we were told and, yes, we knew that. "I'll call him". An ongoing confusion (and a mixum concerning Newark Airport v Newark Penn Central) and a few minutes later an agent had been extracted from the back room to assist us. Our "USA Rail Passes" were duely issued. Sold to me as the American equivalent of the BritRail pass, these tickets were to allow us to ride any train in the North East of the USA for up to 15 days - and at $299 each (150 pounds) that's something of a bargain compared to buy-as-you-ride. The same incredible value is offered to USA visitors to the UK on Britrail - or rather, we were just about to discover that we had been oversold on our tickets ... "There's no space left for you to reserve on the rest of today's trains from here" says the agent. "This IS a Friday, you have to have a reservation, and there's only so many per train for these tickets". Wonderful - 5 p.m. in Newark, speaking with a "jobsworth" who isn't really interested in offering solutions but rather in stating problems ... and a hotel booked way down in Virginia. But fortunately, I had studied the maps / timetables a bit. "Any Space on the trains from Newark Penn Central to DC" I asked and, begrudgingly, he checked. "Only on the two minutes past seven". "WE'LL TAKE 'EM!"  Now - how can we get up to Penn Central - the next stop up the line, five or ten minutes away with plenty of suburban trains and some long distances services that call at both of them too. "I can't get you on to any of the long distance trains - they're full and you're US Rail pass doesn't cover the suburban trains" ... and so it was that we found oursleves starting our USA Train Adventure an hour late, heading away from where we wanted to go, and having had to pay $7 each extra over and above our "unlimited train travel" tickets.Newark, Penn Central I write computer software, I train people who write computer software. And I would LOVE to train the people who wrote the software for Amtrak's ticket agents to use as they sell tickets! We took the opportunity of 90 minutes at Newark to make reservaltions for the following Sunday - New Carrolton to New York Penn Central, and then New York Penn Central to Albany for the following Sunday. What a good job we had 90 minutes - I have never seen such an incredibly long process as the one the agent took to issue me with a reservation for the train we wanted from New Carrolton, and then the huge trouble he had trying to locate the ongoing train in his system. It just wasn't showing up. "It must be fully booked" he concluded, leaving me with a three hour layover in New York (great with all that baggage!) and a scheduled arrival in Albany well in the evening on a train that left two hours after I wanted, and then took longer too. And having booked MY reservation, he had to repeat all his keystokes (though, to be fair, he left out the section of trying for the 3:45) to make Lisa reservations on the same train. All tickets have to be signed upon issue, ID provided just like an airline flight. But I was able to present him with Lisa's passport, point to her across the waiting hall, and promise that I would have her sign them straight away and ... we had our tickets for Sunday. I'm so relieved he took pity on us and didn't have me drag Lisa up there and loose our one valuable-in-the-rush hour seat. A human face, a guy trying to do his job within a frustrating system! Tea with the homeless  Still an hour before our train, and no food eaten for a long while. Some interesting looking food places at the station. But wandering around in the great cavern under the tracks, they're all takeaways - no where to sit, and dragging our 49lb cases with us, we're not exactly going to be Mr and Mrs Popular as we stand in line and explore all the options with the foodsellers. Ah - one's a sit in cafe; "Waiter service only" but the waiters are packing up for the day, chairs propped against tables to indicate that they're no longer open for new customers. We find seats in the ticket office, labelled "for ticketed passenger only" and Lisa heads off to one of the stalls.It starts to dawn on me ... the seat that we're on is one of the few labelled that it's for travellers, and the others are clearly occupied by people who are not there so much for the railway facilities, but because it's somewhere that's warm and dry. Some interesting character studies to be had, for sure ... nut also care to be taken that the bags and cases remain in sight and in our control. And I wasn't said as the clock ticked around and it was time to go up onto the platform. Denied Boarding, but a nice train in the end  Some things are the same the world over ... the 5:02 was posted, was signed as being on time, but then just as it was due went "30 minutes late". The story of our journey! The 5:14 - also going down to DC rolled in on time. Very nice looking train ... but a quick word with the conductor elicits the response that even though we have an "unlimited" ticket, that's not really the case and we are limited to travelling on less glamorous and slower trains than his.The 5:02 drags in at - what - around 5:30; busy, but we do get in, find room for our luggage, and find seats - sleeping much of the way on the now-dark Friday evening down through Philadelphia and Baltimore, train getting quieter all the way, and so on to Union Station in Washington DC where the remenants of the passengers alight. The Amtrak carriages all seem pretty well standardised - a similar livery, a similar look and feel, a comfortable ride, airline-style seating but reasobaly spacious; we'll be in other similar trains on subsequent legs of our journey. Across Washington DC We're met at DC with a blanket of hot air, even at 10 p.m. at night; past experience has lead us to travel in shirt sleeves and indeed my one pullover remained in the suitcase all week. Off the train, off the platform, and down into the DC metro having negotiated the ticket machine. At $2.75 (that's just under 1.50 in UK money) for a ride all the way out to the end of the line at Springfield Franconia, it's a bargain - a fifth of what it would cost in London - and the Metro is much smoother and more comfortable as the tube, although just as crowded. Change from the Red line to the Yellow Line, then from the Yellow to the Blue ... and you'll be in Springfield in just half an hour. Except there's a section of the Yellow line that's closed from 10 p.m. this Friday night ... so we have to make a great horseshoe loop on the Blue. Up past Foggy Bottom, across through Roslyn, and back down past Pentagon and Crystal City (what a Misnoma for a concrete cavern of a station!) to Van Doorn and - eventually Springfield. The "Great Way Round" - now where have I heard those GWR letters before? A quick call to the hotel that we've prebooked to have their van pick us up (a common USA practise) brings the news that they don't do pickups after 10:45 and ... of course ... it's now after 10:45. A final 2 miles in a taxi, and a chance to check in and collapse for the night. Sunday, 12th August Springfield-Franconia to Troy, up state New York The DC Metro  A transfer ride from our hotel (we WERE in their time frame today!) and a Metro ride from one extreme of the Metro system to the other brough us to New Carrelton.Even here in the capital of the most powerful nation on earth, Sunday is engineering works day .... and our train clearly labelled "New Carrelton" all the way along was pulled up short two stations early in an interetsing suburb of what is also one of the most violent cities in the nation and we were all dumped out onto the platform. But engineering works don't mean "bustitution" here - they mean single track working, and the service had been sensibly thinned out to alternate trains to th eouter terminus. A service that ran every 15 minutes under normal circumstances was half-hourly; not causing a conjestion problem, efficient, clearly well practised. And it looked like the works were quite major ones too. And so, on to Carrolton still in good time for the Amtrak. Amtrak to New York  You don't wait on the platform in the USA - you wait in the waiting room. You've heard me desribe the one at Newark earlier in this article; the one on Sunday Morning was much cleaner, quieter .... and with fewer facilities. To the extent that we were tempted up onto a bare, bare platform for a boring, boring wait - no seats at all - 20 minutes ahead of time. I have been in trains calling here before and wondered about the bareness, and now I know. An on-time train, seating together, power points at the seats, for the 3 hour ride back up through New Jersey past Newark and under the Hudson river into New York's Penn Central station. A somewhat event-free journey, but a handful of things did strike me. The ticket checking system. Above each seat is a clip rail, and the ticket inspectors - one for every 2 or 3 carriages - come along on each major leg of the journey, collect issued tickets, and put a smaller card in the clip rail above eash passenger's head. Some are near-plain, others have station names coded into them and in spite of a few minutes idly wondering, I wasn't able to suss out the system. But I do know that shortly before passengers are due to leave, the conductor can tell in an instance who's due to leave and he clears their card. The buffer car. "Chicken Sandwich" request Lisa. Yeah - right - that's REALLY gonna be possible! But I find the menu panel offering a Ham and Cheese bagette, and a chicken summat bap. Pictures of both, but with a big cross through the chicken. Hmm - "no Chicken today" I ask. "Yes, we have" replies the lady on the counter and I'm thinking "is this the dry British hurmour come to the USA, or does she mean it". Tursn out she meant it - she went on to explain that one of her colleagues previously operating the buffet car had run out and crossed though the item with a permanent marker; well - actually she wasn't that polite about it, in fact she expressed quite a low opinion of him! Station stops. L-o-n-g-e-r than in the UK as passengers are encouraged, airline-like, to remain in there seats until the trtain has come to a complete halt. So plenty of time to admire the platform at BWI - Baltimore Washington International Airport - and at MetroPark, where we were watching a couple, probably waiting for a subsqeuent local train, handling a teddy bear in a way that would be quite inappropriate to handle a child. The initial clutches were very private and intimate indeed ... and then they moved on to swinging the poor beast by its ears. And so to New York ... Written2007-08-21 19:17:29 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The Ghost Train, Purton There's a degree of irony in the fact that my quest for an appropriate train service from South and West Wilts, Frome, Yeovil and Dorset up to Swindon took me to the village of Purton this morning. What's ironic? Searching around for a meeting venue that "Streetmap" had slightly wrong (or perhaps I had the postcode wrong!), I came across "The Ghost Train" pub. Down beside the railway, a closed station but a pub that was still open. Had I had time to dally, no doubt I would have seen one of "FGW's train's go though. Had there been a station there and appropriate services, I could actually have ridden the train from Melksham up to my 07:00 meeting. That would have been first train of the day - 05:37 off Westbury - last year, and perhaps will be again some future year. Written2007-08-23 16:23:06 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| How to fill platforms, and railway company coffers too! Give us the trains .... and we'll turn this:  into this:  Two West Wiltshire stations, each serving towns with a population of between 20 and 30 thousand. The biggest difference? One has two trains a DAY each way, and the other has two trains an HOUR each way. The road network of West Wiltshire is not suitable for longer distance journeys between North and South - and only a huge investment would improve this. What's the point im making that huge investment when there's a perfectly good railway corridor that's underutilised and that people WOULD use. Written2007-09-01 19:27:57 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| FSB - North and West Wilts Commitee - Federation of Small Businesses I have been a reasonably active member of the local section of the Federation of Small Businesses - a good opportunity for local networking - and have been on their Branch Commitee for the last year. However, the organisation has been severely dragged away from where I think it should be at the local level in the last few months - and that's not a local but a national move. Our branch chairman has been dragged through the mud, and words like "Kangeroo Court" have been bandied about but cannot be used officially as everything is happening behind closed doors. Rather odd - you would have thought that the FSB board (or whatever it is) would want vindication in th eeyes of its member if it was acting in their interest. As it is, their secrecy makes them look like an old boy's club - a clique - who really aren't keen on new ideas. Anyway - I won't be standing for the commitee again for next year - I don't have the time to waste. Reproduced below is my letter informing our branch chairman of my decision and reasons. All pretty personal and boring from my side, really, but the letter is out there in the public domain if you would like to read it. And there is a more formal item here too. Dear Marion, I am writing to confirm my decision not to re-offer myself for election to the North and West Wiltshire Branch Committee of the Federation of Small Businesses at the upcoming Annual General Meeting, and to offer you some explanation of the background. In the spirit of openness, please feel free to copy this letter to other parties as you feel fit. The FSB is marketed as a member-led organisation, looking to provide benefits such as centralised services and local and regional networking opportunities to those members, with these local and regional activities tailored by regional and branch committees to suit the needs of their own locales. That used to work well - looking back earlier in the year, I note a networking event held in West Wiltshire, a multicultural event in Swindon, and an Olympic Event also in Swindon which were all of benefit to many members, including my own small business. All three that I mention were organised by the local branch or region, and I was happy to provide a small element of help with each. In the last three or four months, things have changed. The FSB's higher echelons have disregarded the member's wishes and those of the committees they have elected by suspending, mid year, officers from various roles - right up to suspending the whole of the regional committee. The operation of the region is now in the hands of an executive with a Blackpool (HQ) phone number, and a paid employee who appears to be working outside of local direction (and complaining that there is only one of her with limited time). And the events - the lifeblood of the local organisation - are being cancelled left, right and centre as the HQ person and the Regional Officer struggle to cope and leave the ship with the rudder tied up with a rope. Members have not been informed, to my knowedge, of exactly what is going on and why. I find this amazing for a "Member Led Organisation". Only yesterday, I received a reply to a request I had made for some information regarding a membership survey that appeared out of the blue, instructing me that the reply was for my eyes only - private and confidential - and it could be illegal for me to pass a copy on to anyone. The FSB - at least in this part of the country - is no longer a member-led organisation; it appears to be lead by a Junta, with decisions taken by their civil servants and shrouded in secrecy which is hiding goodness knows what. A comment that suspensions were "until the enquiry had been completed" seem to have been hollow promises too. As I understand it, enquiries completed last month some time, with a concluding vote taken on 1st September, some 10 days ago. But normal service has not been restored. Even before the problems described in this letter, the FSB's organisation was anachronistic. It saddened me to see active business owners scrambling around to fill in paperwork in quadruplicate, and to deal with an overbearing central control, where trivial tasks had to be sent to Blackpool at great expense to members. And little use is made of modern technology; a survey sent out just last week was still "paper only" and we were invited to post or fax it back. That's pretty impractical for the modern small business man, out (as I was last week) meeting customers in the Netherlands and working from a mobile phone and laptop computer. I'm busy, and I don't have the time to fight the system, the secrecy and untruths that I describe above. I have a huge admiration for what you do (when you're allowed and informed), Marion, but I can no longer serve on local committees as they now operate. Truth be known, I would find it hard to sign the full confidentially agreement as I would be sorely tempted to take on the role of a whistleblower, and as such I fear I would be more of a liability than an assistance to the branch and region. But it has been a very educational year ;-) Graham Graham Ellis Well House Consultants, 404 The Spa, Melksham, Wilts http://www.wellho.net graham@wellho.net 0800 043 8225 (freephone) or +44 (0) 1225 708225 (phone) +44 (0) 1225 707126 (fax) Written2007-09-14 07:06:52 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Frustrated but not depairing I fear that I've made a number of negative posts recently to various forums; please put some elements of that down to frustration rather than despair. It's frustrating to be told that we "must be patient" and "things don't happen overnight". I agree - but we have been patient for over 2 years - the seeds of the campaign for an ongoing appropriate TransWilts train service started in the Spring of 2005, and here we are now, some 27 months later, being told not to be hasty in our expectations. It's frustrating to see timetable proposals made and a lot of good work done, but all come to no weekday improvement at all, and all we left with is the carcass to pick over when it's thrown to us (with bits deleted!) under the Freedom of Information act. People need train services to travel on; they cannot travel on stillborn proposals. And it's frustrating to see, still, a minority of key players still manipulating words and statistics rather than looking at a less biased view of the picture as a whole. Just today, I've come across one person comparing trains back to 1994 and claiming credit that there's been no grerat loss of number of services since then ... when in the same period actual passenger number have risen 50%. And another person trying to discount Melksham ticket sales by 2/3 because of the number of tickets sold to people travelling from Trowbridge rather than Melksham - except she was trying to discount actual on-train surveys. I hope both of these ladies are ashamed of themselves. But I would love to leave let all those bygones by bygones, and let us all pull together, for a sensible solution. First Great Western, the Department for Transport, and Wiltshire County Council all employ some very impressive personel, at many levels across each organisation. I'm not going to embarrass any individuals here, but I do feel that it's all too rare that I write in praise and admiration of these people, even if (at times) I might not agree with the message they have to give. I have been reading a comment or three about the "More Train Less Strain" campaign, and comparisons to our forum(s). Different railway line, different metrics, and I suspect different objectives and methods. We have certainly not advocated some of their approaches, but then we have participated in some activities and groupings where they have been conspicuous by their absence. So, once again looking to cut the negarive, may I look forward. Whilst "The system" may or may not be broken, we've not chosen as our battle ground a desire to alter the system - indeed arguments as to whether or not it is broken are something of a distraction. And something people will argue over. Our objective is to regain and retain an appropriate train service across Wiltshire, linking the five largest population centres of Swindon, Salisbury, Chippenham, Trowbridge and Melksham. And we're delighted to add in the significant towns of Westbury and Warminster, Frome which is just as large and logically linked in with transport flows, and Dilton Marsh where you can stand on what was an isolated station platform a few years ago and see the residential housing come marking ever closer month by month. Unlike the political case and some other campaigns, our enjoys near-universal support. It's such a no-brainer once you start getting into the wider case that the "TransWilts" becomes a natural service to provide - as suggested by Parkman in 2000, Jacobs in 2004 and - we trust - provided by Haines, de Phililipe, Kelly and team in 2008. But we need to work with these people's teams in order to pull around the last few doubting Thomases and Rosies, to help provide data for the best solid case to ensure that it won't fall again at the last fence, and to ensure that the train stays on the track once it's been placed there. Written2007-09-21 19:10:35 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Front page update Briefest of notes today - to let you know that I've updated the front page of the site; that's been long overdue. Off to Travel Watch South West, in Taunton, in about an hour. A meeting of individual representatives of local travel and transport groups from Swindon to Penzance - a chance to network and hear how others are doing. Also to listen to some of the movers and shakers in the rail and bus industry. Although it feels at times that the Train Operating Companies, the Department for Transport, and the County Council are on the opposite side of the fence to campaigners, that's really NOT the case. Almosty everyone DOES have the interests of the users and potential users at heart - "without passengers, we couldn't pay our shareholders" was a comment I heard recently. I look forward to meeting old friends right across the board in a few hours time. Written2007-09-29 06:59:05 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Comment on December timetables As this is the "daily update", I'm taking the opportunity to post a press review I've just written about the upcominng timtable and changes. (I was aske about timetables - Melksham specific, then to add any extra more general comments) Trains / Melksham: Weekday trains to and from Melksham are unchanged. They remain at the two services per day (round trips leaving Swindon at 06:19 and 18:45 to Westbury and back), so they're still timed at First's operational convenience in what they call "Marginal time" using the train that's borrowed off the Stroud Valley line when it's not wanted there. "Very disappointing indeed" if you would like a quote. A very great deal of work was undertaken by First Great Western, Wiltshire County Council, and others and draft timetables written in May showed an extra 3 trains a day each way, from Salisbury to Swindon via Westbury, Trowbridge and Melksham at 07:40, 10:30 and 13:30. These service proposals have just been revealed in detail under a freedom of information disclosure, but the disclosure did not extend to giving us the detail as to why the this major improvement was withdrawn before the timetable was finalised. There is one good piece of news. There's going to be the return of a southbound Sunday service, calling at Melksham in the early evening. This means that residents of Melksham can get back to the town after spending the weekend away by public transport, without having to do a bus dogleg via Bath. It also means that people working for the week in Melksham can get here by train on the Sunday evening and check into their hotel or B&B. Although one extra train a week is a tiny improvement, it is very significant in that First Great Western are providing it without financial subsidy, and over and above the Government's minimum specification level. Good news indeed as it shows a first step towards a more appropriate service. Other trains: [West Wilts] The services between Bristol and Westbury have been re-cast to provide a more regular service; until December, the 2 trains per hour arriving at Westbury from Bristol have been within a few minutes of each other, whereas from December they will be more evenly spaced. Overall, a sensible change but like any timetable change it may give rise to specific individual hardships. Alternate trains now head noth from Bristol to Cheltenham and Great Malvern, rather than all carrying on to Newport and Cardiff. Services to Dilton Marsh are reduced very slightly - that's a major victory as at one point it looked at one point as if the service could be halved. With major house building going in close by Dilton Marsh station, it is sensible for all the services there to be retained. Although not strictly a timetable issue, First Great Western are loosing 12 of the 2 coach trains of the type used on the Portsmouth to Cardiff expresses in December (they're being transferred North) and they are being replaced by 30 year old Pacers, the first two of which have arrived in the area out of storage in Manchester. The Pacers cannot be used south of Warminster, but may appear much more often in the future on services that travel northwards from West Wilts. Further stock changes will occur in the new year, when the 6 year old Adelante trains used on some services from Westbury to Exeter and London are phased out, to be replaced by 30 year old "125"s. That's not totally bad - the 125 units are dearly loved and have increased capacity, whereas the Pacers are almost universally unliked. Information: We're running a forum that covers train services across the First Great Western area - "by a customer, for customers" at http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeeshop where we've had over 2500 messages posted in the last 6 months. More specifically for the "TransWilts" via Melksham, the "Save the Train" forum at http://www.savethetrain.org.uk/forum now has over 5000 messages posted since it started. New members very welcome on either forum. FINALLY ,... There's a public meeting on Tuesday 9th October, at 7 p.m. at the Railway inn, Westbury, organised by the West Wilts Rail User group. Andrew Griffiths, First Great Western's Regional Manager for the area, will be talking on "First Great Western - Progress and Future" and, we are told, there will be plenty of time for questions. Written2007-10-03 07:45:26 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A First to Stagecoach comparison [15th October, 08:00, near Basingstoke] I'm on the 07:35 from Andover into Waterloo. Although it's a rush hour train, I have a seat ... and at a table too so that I'm able to have my laptop open and do a little typing. The seat is soft and comfortable, and in spite of the foggy, foggy morning the train is on time. When I get to London, I'll be near enough to my final destination to walk rather than use the tube or a bus. And my fare is only £42.90 return. I checked when I woke this morning to see about the alternative route from Melksham / Chippenham to London, and saw straight away that an least some trains were missing out the Bath and Chippenham stops. I could have spent over £100.00, taken my chances, and ended up in Paddington with that horrid onward journey Eastwards into the heart of London where Brunel's railway expires on the outskirts. Andrew Haines, a former Managing Director of South West Trains is now in charge at First Great Western. My morning comparison shows just how much work he has to do. I understand he's planning to be at the FGW helm for less that a year; I wish him all the best in turning the services around, and look forward to being wooed back onto the more logical western route from my home town for my London journeys. Written2007-10-15 16:24:45 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Does the new man want to play hard? I wrote a letter of introduction to John Curley, who is the new "Route Director, West" at First Great Western. One of his major concerns is the South Wales to Portsmouth service - running at a level of some 20 carriages in daily use on the express services, plus many more on the more local trains, and I felt it was important that he's aware of the TransWilts - services up to Melksham, Chippenhm and Swindon in his early planning days. I get several feelings from his answer. I get the feeling that he wants to position himself as the hard man in initial contacts. I get the feeling that we've got to again go through with him the case for the TransWilts. Both less than great bits of news. But on the positive side, I concur with his statement that kneejerk reactions aren't the best fixes as they can crreate more problems than they solve, and I welcome his suggestion of a meeting to go into the facts and figures behind the headlines which he described as "emotive". Hey - that's headlines for you! Oh - and here is what I wrote ...
And here is the reply
Forum discussion - John Curley's full letter of reply Written2007-10-18 08:13:29 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| And the week ends with two more cancellations! Two cancellations may not sound like very much to you - but it's a lot to us here who rely on the TransWilts line when we've only got two trains each way each day in the first place! Yesterday, both the 19:08 to Westbury and the 19:50 to Swindon were cancelled, leaving just the 06:44 and 07:17 services operating. Yes - I live in Melksham, a town of 24,000 people with a train service schedule of just four a day - that's one train per 6000 population. And First aren't even able to make that limited service run reliably! So - what service level SHOULD a town of this size have? Here are some local comparisons: Trowbridge. Population 30,000, circa 60 trains a day. One train per 500 Bradford-on-Avon. Population 15,000, circa 30 trains a day. Also one train per 500. Westbury. Population 12,000, circa 80 trains per day. One train per 150 inhabitants. Warminster. Population 16,000, circa 40 trains a day. One train per 400 inhabitants. One hundred and fifty ... four hundred .. five hundred ... five hundred .. six Thousand. I'm not going to go so far as to suggest that Melksham should be increased to the same service level as any of the others - just that it should be at a level that can be measured in hundreds too. How about one train per twelve hundred head of population. I make that 10 trains (to Swindon) and 10 trains to (shall we say) Salisbury. Footnotes Service at Bradford-on-avon nearly doubles in December - so they will be at one train per 250 head of population. Good for them!. The County Councillor for Westbury, with the very best ratio in the area, is also the cabinet member for transport. I know that her Westbury is a special case, but I would encourage her to provide a somewhat more level playingfield - otherwise it looks as if she's heavily biased. The weekday service at Melksham does NOT improve in December, and so the ratio of six thousand will remain. With growth in the area, the ratio will actually be getting worse .... The ratio yesterday wasn't six thousand - it was TWELVE THOUSAND. That's why we get a little upset at even a single cancellation. We get rather tired of being spat upon. Written2007-10-21 13:47:48 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Comparing a Wiltshire town with a Norfolk one The good people of Brandon, in Norfolk, have a railway station. There are just two platforms, bare, with the booking office now occupied by a company that's something to do with paint rather than railways. And they've got a train each way every hour or two, I am told. "Really not adequate" says one of them, who is on my course this week. "There's a bus too - going to Thetford as well and leaving at virtually the same time that the train goes". "How big is Brandon" I ask. "Oh - several miles across - quite a big town". Hmm; I'm always interested in Melksham comparisons but "sevearl miles across" isn't the units I'm used to. Another delegate on the course searches online and finds that Brandon, at the last census, had a population around the 6500 mark - that's around a third of the size of Melksham. I think I spot - yet again - a case where Melksham Station is so under-served that it verges on the malicious or negligent by whoever proposed the current service. Which is probably why everyone tries pointing at everyone else ... Written2007-10-24 19:41:34 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Commutes are longer, and in the west we may know why 5% more people now have a commute that takes over an hour ago than was the case in 1996. So says the radio this morning. Why should that be in a country when we're improving technology and supposedly can move things quicker and more efficiently generation by generation? The radio highlighted traffic and conjestion as a cause, and that's where the article lead - indeed, for business journeys where I have to drive I had been reviewing my 2008 strategy and I'll now be staying away in a lot more areas, and staying an extra night when I present (for example) a course in Cambridge.  Picture - Traffic jams become worse - and perhaps more so if and when a Westbury bypass feeds all the traffic that the Bath fathers don't want through here But there are other causes too - changing demographics and the cost of housing in the stockbroker belt have pushed some commuters further out - people travelling in from Chippenham and Hungerford and Andover - a handful in 1996 but a significant flow in 2006.  Picture - Commuters wait for a train at dawn at Andover, a long commute where traffic has rocketed There's other local issues too. Melksham commuters to Swindon used to catch the train - 25 minutes. Some have given up their jobs (yes - THAT is what the FGW / DfT changes did to some people) and others have taken to the roads - pushing them up to over an hour end to end. Looking at other West Wilts to Swindon commuters? Well, there too you find an extra quarter of an hour (minimum) or perhaps more - a dogleg via Bath and often a wait for a connection. So that puts them over the 1 hour mark. Is it just a Swindon issue? No - I've heard that other commutes such as Frome to Bath and Bristol were seriously messed up last December (if you've got a fixed starting time and it used to be convenient for a train, but the train time has changed, that can really mess up your commute time!) and I understand that Keynsham to Severn Tunnel Junction and other cross-Bristol commutes are going to get seriosly bad as from this coming December.  Picture - This is supposed to be the peak of the peak hour, but the train that left at a quarter to 8 has been withdrawn and the resource stands unused. The next train - the 19:50 - is far too late! 25 minutes to Swindon by train, or 95 minutes by bus. And finally ... I note that FGW are allowed up to 15 minutes longer now in train schedules between Oxford and Worcester. I wonder how many more commuters that will push over the magic 1 hour. Over the past month, I've watched how The Coffeeshop has grown in populatity - in posts and viewers who are starting to take more interest in their daily time with the railway - after all, "an hour each way" is 8% of their time which is pretty darned significant! I expect that site will be even busier come the December changes!  Picture - First Great Western are returning this high speed train to the company they lease it from in a couple of months, and I understand it will sit unused in a siding in Hampshire. We are already seeing these high speed trains regularly replaced by slower, shorter trains on the Worcester line (is that why they need the extra 15 minutes?)... although we're told they're replaced by longer high speed trains Written2007-10-29 07:38:53 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Campaigning Mantra - Philosophy behind the case I'm talking at the Rail Users National Conference on Saturday and part of my presentation relates to our philosophy here at "Save the Train". I have tried to quantify some of it in a campaigning Mantra ... On knowing the case * Have a superb case, but understand and admit any weaknesses * Listen to and respect the experts * Understand the case * Understand statistics * Answer all questions - an open debate * Sound Bites On working with people * Right letter to right person * Work with other groups * Keep everyone on side * Push on open doors not closed one * Avoid Party politics * Make your self easily available * Respect Privacy On reaching the right place * Be pracical and flexible within your objectives * Work within the system and don't try to change the system * Look for new ways of doing things * Be Persistant * Beware campaign fatigue * Positively celebrate small victories and honesty * Not just Melksham Some things to avoid * Don't ask for too much * Don't exadurate * Don't knock other campaigns * Don't be afraid to say "no" * Don't be a Luddite * Don't try to fix it for everyone * Don't tell a railwayman how to plan or run a railway * Don't be an anorak * Don't waste people's time And finally * Always have a "where now" "Where NOW?" Have a look at the full presentation at http://www.savethetrain.org.uk/national/ Written2007-11-02 07:06:41 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 30 late, and a bus not a train .... 13:03, Paddington to Bristol Train Manager accepts our FirstMinute tickets politely. Then tells next people who want to buy weekend first that he won't charge them as he's not sure whether or not the train is going to be calling at Bath. It seems that he was given a verbal message as we left Paddington and it may (or may not) be confirmed at Reading. And he'll let them know straight away. Knowing a little about the routes and having some concern, I walk up and ask him about Chippenham and apparently the train may not actually be calling at Chippenham either ... As he goes on down the coach, he doesn't charge some more folks for weekend first - "I'm supposed to, but I never charge children", and then tells the following set of people - also for Bath - of the anticipated problem. "Overrunning engineering works" he says, assuring them the they probably won't have to catch a bus as it'll just be a question of thinning trains out so it'll only mean a wait fo r the next train. Speaking to the train manager (who had made an announcment saying that tickets marked 'LEI' can ONLY be used on the designated train and not any other servie) in the buffet, he tells me it's likely to be a bus. He assures me that, in contrast to his initial announcement, they WILL be flexible and accept our "this train ONLY" tickets on the bus. "Once the train company starts messing you around, it becomes more flexible ..." He's going to suggest to Bath passengers they stay on to Bristol and get the local train back, and us Chippenham folks will - after all - have a bus onwards. "Ahead of schedule, so probably awaiting a platform" at 13:36. 13:45 - announcement from train manager. The train is being diverted after Swindon due to an overrun of engineering works and will not call at Chippenham or Bath Spa. Passengers for Bath have a choice - they may stay on the train which arrived in Bristol at 3 O'clock and get the 10 past 3 back to Bath, or transfer to a road coach at Swindon. Passengers for Chippenham have no choice - you have to change on to the road coach at Swindon. ("Sorry about this - I don't like road coach travel myself ...."). 14:15 arrival into Swindon. Of course the barrier wouldn't take our gate pass, nor that of many others who were unexpectedly decanting there, and there were a couple of FGW staff running back and forth like blue arsed flies checking tickets and trying to get all the people who the gates were rejecting through and sorted out. ((Is it just me, or do others feel a sort of finger being pointed at them when the automatic gate refuses to let them through, even though they're travelling on a valid ticket?)) Bus left a few minutes later (no long wait - well done FGW) and we were in Chippenham a minute of two after 3 - only 30 minutes late. Written2007-11-04 18:15:37 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Staffing-go-round - but the campaigners carry on "What's the next step in your campaign?" asked the lady from the local paper when she called to check up on a [train] story last night. "I'm meeting the Labour Party candidate for the new Chippenham seat in about an hour and 20 minutes" was my reply ... and I suspect that she was expecting a less immediate answer! I'm getting to feel something of an old hand at this campaigning business - when I started, Wessex Trains were in charge and then First Great Western, headed by Alison Forster, were teh people who run our service. Now First Great Western is headed by Andrew Haines, with John Curley as the route director, and I understand that those appointments are regarded as medium rather than long term. On the political side, Derek Twigg has given way to Tom Harris, and Alistair Darling to Douglas Alexander to Ruth Kelly. Our own constituency boundaries have been redrawn, and from a solidly blue Michael Ancram (who is, however, still our representative in parliament), we're now looking at (in alphabetic order)Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones, Duncan Hames and Nicklaus Thomas-Symonds as our prospecitive candidates for the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties. Our West Wilts District coucillors were "all change" in May, and the government has decided that the whole district council tier is to be abolished in Wiltshire in the next year or two ... at which point we'll have fresh elections for Wiltshire Council ... with a new set of wards to be contested, doubling the number of representatives. It can be frustrating! To establish a case / a rapport with one contact / come to understand one organisation, just to have it replace by another. And be back, to a great extent, to ground zero and having to explain, once again, that Melksham is no small village but actually a sizeable town from which people commute to Swindon and really want to work an 8 hour day like the rest of the population ... I've grown to be a bit of a cynic at times, and I find myself wondering if one of the reasons that First have put in a new management team is to toughen the stance to people who are looking for appropriate standards of service rather that the minimal level that First's customer, the Department for Transport, has requested. Change is an opportunity for the new Andrews and Johns to test the waters previously tested by the Alisons and Glendas, and see if reductions and changes that brought howls of protest still bring those same howls, or can now be quietly eased in with the change. But along with this cynicism comes a realisation that there's an opportunity at change too. Last weekend up in Ely, I listened to xxxx talk about the successes of the Cotswold and Malvern line group, and to Robert Stripe talk about the Fen line to King's Lynn in East Anglia. Goodness - he's been involved with that group for a long time, but you can see a town with a 57,000 population and a train service that has risen from 5 a day to 23 and that's an object lesson to us all. New he may be, but I enjoyed talking with Nick last night; like Duncan and Wilfred, he's very much in favour of pushing for the return of an appropriate service, and he is planning to make representations on our behalf. Much appreciated. And it turns out that he's very much a customer of First Great Western, travelling up through Swindon to Didcot where he changes for Oxford on a regular basis. Ah - it's a small world and there are some of the apsects / players who needed little introduction. Written2007-11-08 18:44:23 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rail user groups do NOT represent rail users? "How WRONG you are" I thought to myself as one of the attendees at the Rail Future National Conference last Saturday spoke about how hard it is to get young people onto trains ... and how incorrect he was to alledge that the generation after his won't leave the car at home. But looking around the room and seeing it dominated by ranks of older men, I could understand how he might have that impression.  I don't like to just think that someone may be wrong - I prefer to look at the evidence and be rather more thorough than just thinking it - for it could have been that HE was right and I was wrong. So I looked at the evidence of pictures I have taken of passengers as I have travelled around and I even took another picture as we left Ely the next day.  Evidence - to me - that the membership at the RailFuture National Meeting wasn't demographically typical. And that's not limited to just that meeting either - I can point to other meetings I have attended in Bradford-on-Avon and Westbury and Bristol and Taunton ... and tell you that there' too, the demographics seem to differ between Rail Users and Rail User Groups. Which means that the rail user groups don't truely represent the people they perport to. Goodness me - this is strong stuff and a dramatic conclusion indeed. So - who DOES represent the rail passenger effectively? How about Customer panels? Passenger Focus? Campaign for better transport? Town and parish councils in areas served? Your MP's office? ... or how about "no-one does it properly"? Alas, I have no answer to this! Interestingly, and embryonically, there are elements under which our forums - at "Save the Train" and the "First Great Western Coffeeshop" do represent passengers quite specifically. After the comments made in Ely, and seeing the different age metrics of the real users and the user groups, I took a quick poll on the "First Great Western" side and came up with the following age brackets: Up to 20 - 22% of active members aged 21 to 40 - 48% aged 41 to 60 - 26% aged 61 and over - 4% Which strikes me a being a reasonable mix, age wise at least of the people you'll actually see on the services if you go doen to the station today ... Written2007-11-10 07:16:45 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cancellations, Changes and Crass Christmas * Two trains cancelled on 9th, one on 13th, and I wonder if we'll see some trains not running again this week. * The new timetable - publicly - looks nearly standstill, with one slight improivement that we must hale as a step forward at least - the return of a single southbound train on Sunday. The morning train (06:42) going on through to Southampton, and the evening one coming up from there (18:27) is to be applauded too, but half a cheer rather than three cheers as there would be if we had three more round trips * Away from the published timetable, things don't look good. For saying as there's a Sunday improvement on paper, it's more than taken away by bustitutions for the initial weekends - the new train runs on the very first day of the new timetable from Chippenham only. Then is a bus .... * Bewteen Christmas and the new year wesee the trains turning around at Chippenham (nice to see it can be done) with a wait of FIFTY FIVE MINUTES for anyone who changes from Swindon. We asked for a 17:30 departure from Swindon; well - we have it. But then it's still not into Melksham until after a quarter past seven. Is someone taking the piss, or what? * I have three delegates coming up from Salisbury to Melksham for 4 days this week - that's 24 single journeys - and I don't expect that even one single journey will be made by rail. And I have two other vivitord on Wednesday. Last year, they wopuldl have arrived on the lunchtime train but one has already said"bus" and the other "car". What a far cry from the reasonable through service that Wessex trains provided. Written2007-11-18 19:25:37 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First Great Western's Melksham service branded "a disgrace" I attended a meeting of the Melksham Trust yesterday evening - chaired by the Mayor and attended by a number of movers and shakers. A very interesting presentation by Adam Nardell, the regeneration manager for West Wilts District Council. It was the mayor - not myself - who brought up the train service, though I was asked to provide an update from the floor. Adam described the current service as "a disgrace", and that was the unanimous view of the meeting - notable than on this topic there was no difference of opinion what so ever. Written2007-11-23 08:57:09 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A pile of 160 train tickets for tomorrow I have a stack of 160 (yes one hundred and sixty!) train tickets for tomorrow from Melksham to Swindon and return - 52 adults and 28 children for the Santa trip organised by the Melksham Railway Development Group. Astonishingly good value ... the tickets came to a total of £168.40 which is less that JUST ONE First Day travelcard from Melksham to London which - according to the web site - would cost you £186.00 for next Monday! Second class (sorry - STANDARD class) the quote is still £126.00. If eighty people can make the local journey of about half an hour for less than two people are asked to pay for the long distance journey, which takes perhaps 3 times as long, then is it any wonder that passengers on the long distance service feel their being severly overcharged, and the train operator complains that he cannot make money on the local services? Written2007-11-30 18:22:08 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Santa Claus spotted at Swindon Station On Saturday, 1st December, over 80 people travelled by train from Melksham to Swindon and back to meet Santa Claus on the return train. The group was seen off from Melksham by the town Criers of Melksham and Ilfracombe soon after 9 O'clock, had a great time shopping and visiting the Steam museum in Swindon before lunch, and returned on the early afternoon train accompanied by Santa Claus, who gave presents to over 30 children in the group. The outing was arranged by the Melksham Railway Development Group.  Crowds at Melksham Station  Santa Claus at Swindon  Santa seeing the children on the train Written2007-12-03 10:32:22 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| TransWilts trains ceased a year ago. Lets look forward A year ago today, I saw Andrew Griffiths being verbally attacked by an irate woman who had just got on the train to travel home and learned that it was the very last time the train would run. Come the following Monday, it was to be gone. And I'll admit to being rather happy that FGW's managers were seeing, First hand, just how much they about to mess peoples lives up. Andrew is First Great Western's Severn and Solent Manager - largely managing customer relations - and he was on the final 17:43 from Swindon to Southampton, pretty well packed as it pulled out of Chippenham to leave the main line and head South for the Stragetically Significant towns and growing urban areas and cities of Melksham, Trowbridge, Westbury, Warminster, Salisbury, Romsey and Southampton. Famous quotes from around that time: "We can't run any more trains because the DfT has laid down this specification". "The train has to run at the new time because it also has to provide a commuter service on the Stroud Valley line" "I know you think the current service is unreliable, but at least that should chance when we cut out most of the trains" How do we stand a year on? We have an appalingly timed service on this line now, and the passenger numbers have plummeted. Some people have given up their jobs, some use the bus, some drive to a railhead. Businesswise, some of our customers now stay over as they won't commute any more. From 40% of our customers using the train in the last half of last year, we moved to just four customers using in the first half of this year. The railway line lies as a dreadfully underutilised resource, and travellers up and down the corridor have a great deal of their time wasted. It gives me no pleasure in telling First Great Western I told you so. And yet ... I see mixed signs, rather than all negative signs, looking ahead. A lot of water has flowed under the bridge in the past year, even if it's happened being doors and not on the tracks. Let me get the negative one out of the way first. You were correct Andrew, we did see a change in reliability. Downhill. Up to 40% of remaining scheduled services cancelled in January. Of course, since no-one really wanted the 06:19 from Swindon, it's a moot point as to how much harm that cancelleation did! And you're getting better now - only 2 out of 26 cancelled in the last week, i.e. only 8%. And I applaud your attempts, although they were stillborn, to re-use the remaining trips of the Westbury shuttle to provide a TransWilts service as from next Monday. It shows that the service can be uncoupled from the Stroud Valley and that you can, once again, run a train at times that are appropriate for your customers. Better still, on Sunday you introduce an extra service that's above the DfT's specification and provide, once again, a Southbound Sunday service. That's an excellent (if token) demonstration that it can be done ... (although a pity that engineering works this Sunday will have it start just from Chippenham). I'll be at Melksham Station on Sunday. I'll be meeting a customer off the train ;-). And, no, I didn't have to "engineer" that. Let me reassure you that if you provide an approrpriate service, it will be used. I look forward to working with Andrew, and Andrew, and John, and Fleur, and Peter, and others over the next year. And to be writing a further annual report 52 weeks from now that is telling you about all the new travel opportunities you'll have as from the coming Sunday. A year ago I would have said that was foolish optimism, but today I'll tell you it's a realistic possibility. Written2007-12-07 18:15:55 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Trains to and from Melksham - Timetable from Dec07 to May08 Draft mini-timetable for Melksham trains, December '07 to May '08 Displaying out of column? If so, click here for a link to the archive!
Although technically possible to travel from Melksham to London (Paddington) via Westbury, there are no useful connections via this route in the current timetable. Alternative journeys to Gloucester, Cheltenham and Worcester are possible via Trowbridge. Connections with a minimum of 5 minutes are shown. Written2007-12-08 17:48:03 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Happy Christmas everyone! I've been quiet here for the last couple of weeks, while all around has been chaos. A new set of timetables, new stock allocations that have sent units haring all over the country, continuing staff shortages, and new operating practices such as selective door opening in place of Grandfather rights. Cancellation rates of TransWilts services hit 75% again the other day - three out of four trains cancelled, with 50% gone the day before and 25% the day after ... and I'm being generous there as there are one or two trains that I am assuming ran. Under normal circumstances, that will be a fair assumption but we do not live in normal circumstances these days on the TransWilts, do we? But I can be sure that there will be no cancellations today. It's Christmas day, and I would like to thank everyone for their support for the cause that we're campaigning for here - an appropriate service on the TransWilts line. And I have to say that I'm more optimistic this Christmas than I was last; that may seem incredible - but we have moved forward from an official response of "don't be silly" to an official response of "everyone agrees there's a good case". There's more to follow on that in the new year. Have a great day today, however, whatever and with whoever you choose to celebrate! Written2007-12-25 06:00:04 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| How have trains being doing in the last 48 hours? A new train running log that tells you about cancellations, short workings and shortened trains is now running on our web site. It's in a test form and is being provided in response to various requests from people who want to keep an eye on just how things are going - to be able to praise First as things get better, but also to be able to point out when things are getting worse in one particular area when perhaps they haven't noticed. I'm taking the opportunity to gather - for a few days anyway - further background information on each change recorded. It's arguable as to whether "Jo Public" really cares whether his train doesn't turn up because it's completely cancelled, running a shortened route or skipping stations, and whether he cares if the cause is equipment failure, the lack of the right staff, the weather or a "fatality" - which usually means a suicide for any readers who aren't in the "know". But anyway - I have some extra data for researchers Written2007-12-30 09:57:45 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Asda - an opportunity that can be used or squandered With strong indictations that First Great Western, the Department for Transport, and Wiltshire Council are working together to give us a service that's much closer to what they have identified as "appropriate" later in the year, the new Asda superstore that's proposed to sit right beside the railway, and at a position where railway land is wide enough to build a good platform on former siding land, gives us a golden opportunity to improve the travel interchange AND come up with a good store to the benefit of the community. Unfortunatley, Asda's initial proposal and planning application seems to have been written on the basis of "let's see how little extra infrastructure we can get away with"; it ignores the railwayalmost totally (it does mention staff travelling to work by train), it provides bus stops on the already overcrowded A350, over which it provides just a flat crossing (lights, more delays), and a walkway right alongside the A350 which will be dengerous if unfenced, and unpleasant if fenced. Traffic surveys were limited - VERY limited - to carefully selected times that don't show the road at its worst, and growth figures used in the forecast which seem to indicate a dramatic drop in travelling in the future, or a lack of belief by Asda in the expansion shown in the Regional Spatial Strategy. Curious, that ... so WHY do they want to build a store if they only see low growth in the next 12 years? It adds up to ""how little can we do .... hoe much can we leave a problem for the county to sort out at their expense?" Anyway - I still hold that I would WELCOME a store with appropriate access and links, and I am adding my inputs to the District Council file in the next day or two. Please look at My draft submission and let me know of any comments you have on my suggestions Written2008-01-14 07:22:29 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Another slap in the face from First Great Western Last night ... 1. Local trains take off and 125 put on to come through Melksham in their place 2. 125 rerouted again to B&H 3. Local trains NOT reinstated - road transport arranged instead. Sometimes I get the feeling that we get draw a short straw every time. In the short space of an hour or two, First managed to change what was a sensible reaction to flooding and weather conditions and could have been a PR victory with a 125 stopping at Melksham for - I believe - the first time (I was all ready with camera) into another indication that, seemingly, they don't give a monkey's. Written2008-01-16 07:49:31 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
On truthfully advertising the case I was putting together a web page about a Summer Ball at Bowood - and what's more natural to use than a photograph of Bowood in that item. How about a picture - perhaps stock art - of some guests at a similar event taken goodness only knows where? Well - I COULD have done (and I see it done elsewhere all too often) but it's not my style as prefer true facts and true pictures in advertising. I don't need to tell you where I took the photo, do I? I recall a place I used to work as a trainer buying in a model to appear in their brochure / on their publicity shots. "Why?" I found myself asking - and she didn't act natural, was seated in a coat and with a handbag and it eas all very odd! Here's my approach - a real picture of a delegates on a course, to represent what we really do. Sure - the tables at which the delegates are seated aren't artistically clean. There's a cup of coffee at Sharon's right hand and a very obvious network cable from Patrick's laptop that distracts from the picture. But you also see the truth of how much desk space you get, the training notes, pens, and rest of the paraphenalia of a course. In other aspects of life, too, I see pictures used away from their real environment to support articles and situations. Here's part of a picture that I saw used on the More Train Less Strain web site (I'm allowed to copy small extracts for critical review, by the way) which - sure - helps make a point. Yet my own approach would have been to use a genuine picture take in the Wiltshire / Bath / Bristol area showing their case and their overcrowding. I think I have one somewhere ... Yep, thought so! It's not only the pictures that can provide misleading advertising; I'm also concerened at some marketing taglines that I've seen employed, and even web site names. http://www.ihatefirstgreatwestern.blogspot.com/ is a catchy URL, and it provides a very powerful hit ... but does the lady who writes it really HATE the company? No - that's putting it rather strong. And I know it's lost her some potential supporters who have been put off by the apparent mindless negativity (I say apparent because once you start reading past the word "hate" you see there's a lot to it). This article has strayed a long way for the campaign for a decent, appropriate, train service across Wiltshire. But I do want to leave you with a genuine "TransWilts" picture from Save the Train (perhaps a name that itself needs changing now that we're having to campaign for the return of a servuce that was lost through culpable neglect) ...  Written2008-01-19 10:40:07 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Fare Strike Day It's the morning of More Train Less Strain's highly publicised train strike, and I note that First Great Western's services are on best behaviour. Of course there are many problmes that are outisde their control and there's an element of luck involved in where floods and fataliites occur but I'll bet they've got every available train out there strengthening services, with extra spare crew to hand in the areas where they expect to see the media. Let's face it ... if I were them, I would do the same thing Only one set of cancellations this morning ... yes, you guessed it ... the 05:29 from Gloucester to Southampton is not stopping at Chippenham, Melksham or Trowbridge. Written2008-01-28 07:32:05 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Comparing a different part of the country I'm training this week in Beeston, in Nottingham, with a view from my training room over the station. I'm struck by the number of trains that come through, the high proportion that seem to stop, and by how modern they look - they seem to make even our most modern "158" units look slighly vintage! I know I've read that FGW has the older fleet, but this really brings it home. But some things are the same. One of my delegates commutes from Stoke-on-Trent by train, and was telking about how it works well when there are no delays ... but come delays and connections that miss, he gets stuck at Derby. It must have been about 20 or 30 years ago that there was a tendency to start stringing semifast and crosscountry services together, end to end, to provide a better passenger experience for the people making longer journeys. I know I travelled on the Crewe to Skegness train once - not all the way, but certainly for a substantial time, and I've been on the Manchester to London Waterloo train and the Brighton to Exeter one too. There are still some such services around - Norwich to Liverpool is one I can think of, and now there's Brighton to the Worcester area. But some are getting cut in pieces again for operational / franchise / reilability reasons; I'm certainly not happy with what I have heard about Cross Country trains terminating in Birmingham in all directions, and I wonder about hordes of luggage-laden Grannies souting around having arrived from Bournemouth and looking for the onward train to York. The Crewe to Skegness has gone too - at least at the time of day that my delegate travels. For it used to provide a good service for passengers from Stoke-on-Trent to Beeston. It seems that as well as forward steps which have doubled the number of passengers travelling by train since the low point, we have taken a number of backward steps. Written2008-01-31 18:33:43 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Where has our train gone? I was in Nottingham last week ... and I was impressed by the quality and range of services on offer by rail. I commuted from there to Beeston (up to six services per hour) and took a few pictures to share. Please excuse the poor quality - I was travelling in the rush hour and at this time of year that mean's it's dark or halflight at best.        The internal picture was the busiest train that I was on; the long train you see pictures (at Beeston) was - I think - two five car units and I was struck by the fact that there didn't seem to be a single passenger in the rear unit, and only a very few in the front. Perhaps I got a skewed picture - there was nothing scientific about my observations that would withstand any statistical analysis - but it does look rather like there are some trains that are much longer than necessary floating around and a little bit of stock juggling (if everyone was willing) might actually allow a service to be provided where there's not at all, or people are denied boarding, at present. Written2008-02-04 06:01:09 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Want to comment? You're welcome on the forum I welcome comments on this blog. There's no way that I want to stop any readers coming back with comments on what I have said - such disussions make a very lively ongoing debate on certain subjects, and other viewpoints add so much to what is sometimes somewhat onesided in what I write. But, this morning, I have turned your ability to comment here off. That's because there's been a significant growth in "Comment Spam" - people or automata who are posting up messages off topic to advertise their services and bearing no relationship at all to what this site is about. To give you an idea of the scale of this, I'm seeing about 2 dozen comments an hour and that's 24 x 7 and here on the "Save the Train" blog, I see that over 11000 comments have now been submitted to a blog that has some 250 entries of mine in total Here's a graph of our incoming email traffic  The red section is emails which are rejected by our spam filters, and the blue are emails that are delivered to our email boxes. Each bar is 24 hours, with weekly lines. Horizontal lines every 250 emails. But - PLEASE - comment via the forums that I use / administer. I am posting this to both my Horse's Mouth blog - Open Source programming, Hotel, Wiltshire, Personal stuff and to my Save the Train blog where I'm making dealing with train services (or lack thereof) from Swindon via Chippenham and Melksham to Trowbridge and Salisbury. Forums: Opentalk - Open Source Save the Train - TransWilts Train Service First Great Western Coffee Shop - Rest of First Great Western area I look forward to your - human, real - comments on those places! Written2008-02-06 11:07:48 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| An unusual journey for me - some observations A Single ticket window open, and a long queue; a mature couple making what seemed to be a refund enquiry for a lost ticket. Sign saying "Why queue twice" extolling value of tickets to include London Travel cards, and I wondered "why do have to queue at all - why not open more than one window at this busy time of day?" No, I didn't feel confident in getting the ticket I needed out of the machines! We moved eventually, and the lady in front of me asked for a Southampton ticket; I wondered why she had been particularly anxious, and now realised she was catching the 06:34 from Chippenham ... and the following train on that route isn't until 19:00 - it's a real "Third World" service! An unusual journey for me this morning - I'm working in a suburb of Cardiff and taking the train. The first train out of Melksham wouldn't get me to my destination station until 6 minutes after I'm due to start talking to a class of 12 (yes, that's right - the first train was too LATE for me this morning!) so my via Chippenham adventure. £23.50 fare - Saver Return, Melksham (for return there at end of day) to Cathays. I could have save myself about a pound by buying a ticket to Bristol and a Bristol to Cathays ticket, I know ... The morning gave me a rare chance to look at the 05:29 from Gloucester to Southampton (via Swindon and Melksham) as it came through Chippenham and see how well it's loaded. It came through at about 06:39 - 5 minutes late. Single carriage. 2 passengers on as it pulled into Chippenham and both got off; five joined including a group of 3 clearly on a long distance journey rather than a daily commute (cases, baby), and (I think) the lady I mentioned earlier. Joined 06:40 to Swansea - 5 late, 20 - 30 passengers per carriage ex Chippenham, of who most joined actually at Chippenham. I noted a one hour gap in following Westbound trains. Train cleaner through collecting rubbish between Chippenham and Bath. Lots of people on the platform at Bath (to join?) and yet we didn't seem to get too much busier. I think the 06:40 is the only train from Chippenham direct to South Wales, and I was interested to see how many through passengers there were - how many people remained on the train at Bristol Temple Meads. "Some" is a fair answer; not a lot, but enough got on to make the ongoing load reasonably respectable. But it did strike me just how empty and cavernous Temple Meads appeared, and how crowded busy (steamed up!) the 143 that came in from the North headed for Taunton seemed to be. And at around 07:20 we were away and onwards. "Coaches E through H for Filton Abbey Wood" - ah - we're using SDO, and as there won't have been Grandfather rights there, this must be a new service dating from just last December. It took time - 07:26:45 to 07:29:48 - 183 second stop - and we then gently pulled forward to stop again with the rear of the train in the platform. Final departure - 07:31:30 - 285 seconds. One heck of a slowdown compared to past times, where (on the London suburban runs where I was brought up), just 20 seconds was allowed for a station stop, and 3 minutes was enough time to stop at Pettw Wood and do all the station duties ... AND to do the mile and a half to Chiselhurt and complete station duties there too! I think the double stop was to get a cycle out of the rear 'van' - not sure how often that's done No-one on the platform at Pilning as we dashed through in the semi-light ... Severe Check on the approach to Severn Tunnel Junction, which we passed though slowly; cars in the car park indicated that at least some commuters had already left there, but we were clearly "between stopping trains" at 07:45 as the place look desolate. And we ran into Newport at 07:55. More on than off ... perhaps a third of the seats occupied as we travelled on to Cardiff, and I found my self wondering how busy Bristol commuter trains were getting - it's not as busy in Wales, perhaps ;-). And just a minute to do the station work - what a contrast to Abbey Wood. Written2008-02-12 23:26:02 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Milk producers Why do we drink cow's milk, but not pig's milk? Cows can produce around 65 pints of milk a day, whereas pigs produce around 17 pints. And pigs milk has to be collected from goodness knows how many teats, whereas cows have just 4 bigguns. Then you have the issue that pigs can't become pregnant while lactating whereas cows can, and that pig milk comes out a lot slower than cow's milk .... What has this got to do with trains? The Intercity 125 service from London Paddington to Bristol is a "cash cow" for First Great Western, and services run by 142 / 143 / 150 / 153 / 158 trains are pigs to finance. Not only does a "125" have many more seats, but the train runs faster too. So it takes more money per seat in a certain time, with fewer crew. It keeps taking the money for longer too since journey times tend to be longer, and because of a peverse fare system customers are charged much more per unit of product for the service that's cheaper to provide. Don't shoot the messenger, folks - sorry, that's the gist of the FGW operation and helps to explain why the 125s I was on last week were comfortable, but the "West" trains were overcrowded to the point of discomfort. But there's rather more to it than that. For sure the "West" service will never produce a revenue stream that makes a significant contribution to the Chancellor directly - but it can sure as heck help the financial and economic case for the area and - at least in the case of the TransWilts history - there's a very high proportion of traffic on the local train that goes on to the main line service. The majority of our customers now drive to Melksham. From Yeovil, from Warrington, from London, from Cambridge, from South Wales just recently. Customers who - in the past - would have travelled here all the way by train. But the options of "get a taxi from Chippenham", "get a bus from Bath" or "Sleep on the platform at Swindon and get the 06:18" attract only a minority. And the result is that the cutting of that 10 minute link, just a few times a day, has resulted in a huge loss of profitable business! A return ticket between Melksham and London now costs over 100 pounds. Most customer on the route would travel (our business anyway) on main line 125 trains that have spare capacity anyway (timing details available) so a realistic accountant could put the whole of that 100 pounds down as TransWilts income. Let's see. If that was just 2 round journeys a day, just 5 days a week and 50 weeks a year, we're looking at an income for First of £50,000. And don't I recall that there used to be not 2 but 20 on each train. Me thinks the cows will yield far more milk if they're given the pigs back to keep them company. And they'll all be much happier too. Written2008-02-16 21:57:10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Meeting Season This is the meeting season! On Thursday, I was at the West Wilts Rail User Group public meeting in Bradford-on-Avon, on Friday at the Major's reception in Melksham, and yesterday at TravelWatch SouthWest - the organisation runs, twice a year, a series of talks for local campaining bodies and we were addressed by the CEO of First Great Western, the MD of Thamesdown Transport, the Head of regional Transport at Government Office South West, and others. And a good chance to network too, and to talk to these people and other people at the meeting over lunch - it might not be directly relevant to the TransWilts campaign for me to share a joke with the head of the Stagecoach Devon bus company, but it sure helps to know some of the movers and shakers and to be able to approach them if ever I need a question answered! Before you ask - yes, I did have a chance to talk to the new FGW team, and was impressed (thank goodness!) Behind the scenes, and in front too, some things are changing. It was heartening to hear the CEO of FGW mentioning the Salisbury to Swindon corridor (i.e. the TransWilts) specifically in his speech as one of the things that needs to be resolved. It was heartening to here him talking about carrying on with improvements over and above doing the work necessary to bring the company into compliance with its franchise commitments. And it was heartening to hear him talking about customers and briging disenfranchised passengers back on board. Andrew - you have indeed made a mark in the South West in your first 100 days, and I applaud that. And I applaud your words. But as yet we have seen nothing but paperwork and meetings, and if anything the TransWilts service has been worse rather than better - a complete lack of even a token service over much of Christmas and some "bustitution" almost every weekend from the start of December. And that carries on up to Easter at least. We look forward to seeing a real improvement in due course on the ground - a regular (if infrequent) service through the day from Salisbury to Swindon, with trains at proper Swindon Commuter times - as per the "option b" we've been touting for several years. There is work still to be done, I know - let's work together and do it for the mutuala benefit of the residents of Wiltshire, travellers to and through the area, and First Great Western. Written2008-03-02 10:00:35 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The heart says "public transport", the head forces car Isn't it ridiculous? I'm going to an event called "Social Enterprise and the railways" today - and I'm Driving there - to Swindon. How silly can you get - well - I could have left of the direct train at 19:50 last night. I could catch the hourly but to Chippenham then the hourly train on - but that would leave me with a 56 minute wait as the timetables have been designed to fail the through traveller. Amongst the speakers is Anne Snelgrove - local MP and PPS to the Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly. It will be very interesting to hear what she has to say about the provision of public transport that is capable of meeting the disparate range of travel requirements we have in this area. Here are some recent links: New TransWilts Study Campaign handout - what we have now and what we should have and separate what we have and what we should have sheets. Travel Watch South West handout fo Save the Train First Great Western Coffeeshop flyer Recent Pictures Written2008-03-08 05:38:18 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Not a Swiss clock railway this morning A Typical Morning in my Hotelier's diary here in Melksham, Wiltshire. The end-of-the-week business guests are leaving and making for their next destinations - the intenational set today (for the UK based folks left yesterday, today being Good Friday) "When's the train ... I'm going to London for the day before flying our tomorrow". And then I face the embarrasment of telling my customers that although we have a station in the town, we have no trains today. "Someone suggested Chippenham to me" says my customer, but I offer to go look it up, and discover that journey times from Chippenham are two and a half hours today, with a bus ride to Reading of a train dogleg via Bath! I end up sending my customer to Westbury - from where a 90 minutes ride (at least that is the schedule!) ride will get her to Paddington before half past nine. My guest if from Switzerland ... and can't understand why we have a railway line but no trains today, and why there's so much contrary advise and changes. Written2008-03-21 07:41:46 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Senseless service - could become sensible "It didn't make any sense." So said a delegate on this week's course that I'm running in Melksham. Looking to travel down from Oxford, where he lives, by train ... that's about 60 miles. What did the train website tell him? To arrive for the 9 a.m. course start he was to leave Oxford at 00:05, change at Didcot, and again at Swindon (with a long wait) and get to Melksham at 06:43. Too early an arrival? The next train leaves Oxford at 17:51, and again with two changes gets him to Melksham at 19:10 He's right - it doesn't make any sense. But it's not the web site that's wrong - it's correctly describing the current senseless service. Can you believe that's the whole day's service linking the five largest towns in the county! We do have a prospect - IF we push for it - of an increase to a much more appropriate 6 trains per day. Your support would be much appreciated - please visit our support page to sign up! THANKS Written2008-03-27 08:13:38 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Terminal 5 - a portent for the Olympics? I'm hearing on the news that Heathrow's newly opened Terminal 5 was in a state of some chaos on its first day today, with "Hand baggage only" being order of the daym, and what started as a smooth operation in the morning turning into a chaos of queues snaking right out of the checkin area by tea time ... And, co-incidentally, I attended a meeting last night where we heard from various transport planners associated with getting the transport right for the Olympic games. And I have to say I found the picture they painted inconsistent and worrying. On one hand, the talk of it being "all public transport" with parking only for the most seriously disabled, and on the other hand they talk of buying three thousand cars (that's the London end). On one hand, they talk about building something that will last and on the other hand they end up proudly justifying a bridge because the middle span will be retained to give access to an area of land that will be a prime development site. And on one hand we hear of there being a great train stock shortage - so much so that nothing will be scrapped int he next few years as there's a need to increase capacity, yet on the other hand we hear of the organisers looking to pay the TOCs to retain stock in mothballs for a few years then put it back in to service, together with semi-retired drivers retained as part timres for a while, for the 60 days of the Olympics. In a way it's early and it would be unfair of me to expect full answers, but I had a question about the travel issues that they couldn't answer. To me, a journey has a start and an end and it seems like the Olymic folks have onky considered one end of the journey - they're looking at getting people in and out or venue, of running public transport to and from there until the middle of the night. But where to? It would be too early to suggest that the tactics of each route should have been planned, but it seemed they didn't know about the strategy. Weymouth man seemed to be looking narrowly at the area below the white Jurassic Cliffs - as if the A35 and rail links will magically feed traffic to his relief road whch "is nothing to do with the Olymoics" but should be ready for them, and London man came up with a rather muted "claerly that won't do" when I suggested that a fleet of trains from London dumping everyone at Bristol Temple Meads (say) wasn't going to get paople back to their individual B&Bs and other sleeping places and for the only time all evening an otherwise eloquent gentleman seemed lost for words. I worry that it's not been thought through, and that the plan is going off at half cock. I worry when I hear Weymouth man refer me to a sentence on page 52 of a report that he waves at me and I've never seen before - I've painful memories of a time that was done at it turned out to be the death knell of an appropariate train service in Melksham. And I worry that - even at this early stage - we're headed for a Teminal 5 type startup for the Olympic transport. Problem is ... the games run for two weeks. I do hope we don't bleed the outer ends of people's journeys dry of investment over the next five years to put together a magnificent set of schemes at the centre, only to find that teething troubles for their first two weeks of full use mean they're just about right by the time they're to be finished with, leaving us with some very expensive bridges to nowhere. I hope, but on last night's evidence I fear that it's a vain hope. Written2008-03-28 06:09:15 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Loss of train - loss of job "Hi Graham I used to use this service. Then it was cut so I had to leave my job in Swindon as I couldn't get there by train. I am certainly willing to help on that one it used to be a really busy service - sadly they got basically rid of it." Launching the pledge page on the "Save the Train" Campaign, I posted a message on the Westbury Town forum. It was late at night ... but within half an hour I had received the message above. "Why are you campaigning for this service" I have been asked. Because we know it has popular support. Because we know it should never have been withdrawn in December 2006. And because it's needed. Current service leave Swindon at 06:18 and 18:45. Only. Alternative validated service - 06:18, 09:02, 12:02, 15:02, 17:55 and 18:55 If you support the return of a more appropriate train service on the "TransWilts" line - Swindon to Salisbury via Chippenham, Melksham, Trowbridge, Westbury, Dilton Marsh and Warminster - please visit our page at http://www.savethetrain.org.uk/pledge.html Thank you. --------------- Westbury to Swindon by direct train - 45 minutes Westbury to Swindon by train (change at Bath) - circa 70 minutes Westbury to Swindon by bus (change at Trowbridge) - circa 110 minutes Written2008-04-03 06:46:27 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Population growth, but congested roads Major development is taking place near our local station - here's a view from the platform on Monday evening showing Spencer's Gate Development, which wasn't there 2 years ago, and which was advertised as being "close to the station"  There's a coupld of things the sales literature didn't say ... that the land that is reserved for an access road from Spencer's Gate to the station was going to have a dirty great fence acorss it to stop people using it, and that in any case most of the trains were just about to be withdrawn. How do people get around? In their cars:  That's simplifying it rather; teh 234 Frome - Trowbridge - Melksham - Chippenham bus does run through the day (and evening, subsidised by the council), but carries few passengers. I counted 3 on the service at about a quarter to 7 on Monday evening from Chippenham. But there were no less that 18 on the train at (schedule) 19:01 that evening. So a solution that would - in part - help with those congested roads would be the restoration of trains towards a more apporpriate level. There IS a plan in hand for this, but it's 50/50 for whether it succeeds this year - and it needs your support. If you think that extra trains from here at 08:24, 09:28, 11:17, 12:28, 14:17, 15:28, 17:08 and 18:21 would be a good idea, please have a look here and sign up if youi're happy with the detail too. Written2008-04-18 16:47:49 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Road - busy ... railway - no trains, so no users The A36 is closed for 12 weeks at Limpley Stoke, and the signposted diversion is along the A350 throught the outskirts of Melksham, parallel with the TransWilts Railway line    I had an appointment in Corsham at 9 O'Clock this morning - about 6 miles - but the journey took me half an hour, most of which was spent queuing around Melksham which was solid all the way from the Seminsgton Bypass up to McDonald's If traffic is diverted on a more permanent basis for any reason, or if traffic grows, this is going to become worse. And with the towns along the way all growing dramatically, surely it will get worse unless there's some form of relief all along. Wait - how about some trains? Written2008-04-29 16:51:13 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
One long journey ends and another begins We travelled from Westbury to Minehead yesterday on the "Minehead Marauder" - a special train donated for the day by First Great Western, staff working unpaid, on behalf of The Railway Children charity. At Minehead, you'll find the end of the South West Costal path and in some ways it feels like we've come a long way here since this site started nearly three years ago. Members have come and gone; a dear friend made through the campaign passed away, another gotr married and another about to do so in coming weeks. And I fell like an old times as one team of tra8in operators has passed on to another, and withing that new team we have changes too. But I feel we're coming to a defining point now, and in the next couple of weeks we'll see the way forward. At the end of the South West coastal path at Minehead, the West Somerset Coastal path starts. I don't know what our way forward is; I know it's been a long journey, but I suspect we have another long journey to come.Our Save the Train Support Pledge page has been signed by nearly 400 people (and it's still open for YOU to sign. Interim replies from the Department for Transport, from Wiltshire County Council, and from First Great Western vary from disappointing to encouraging. But what's encouraging in all the responses is that the case for a decent TransWilts service is being looked at rather more seriously now than it even has been, and it becomes increasingly more difficult for parties who have other things they would prefer to look at for their own (perhaps personal) reasons to simply sweep it under the carpet and condem public transport travellers from (example) Westbury to Chippenham to an indirect journey of 60 minutes when it can be done by direct train in under 30. Written2008-05-11 09:12:30 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Campaign update - news for December 08 / 09 / 10 / 11 ... There are periods in every campaign where things appear to be going off the boil, when in fact there's a lot going on behind the scenes. And so it has been in the case for a TransWilts service improvement - although you've not seen much here, there have been a number of meetings, presentations, and discussions between the movers and shakers to try to get something resembling a usable train service - using the line that's already there, to carry the passengers who want to travel - from this coming December. As First Great Western wrote last week to all the people who emailed then as a result of our pledge campaign - "We had hoped that we could organise an additional service through Wiltshire serving Melksham in particular. We looked very carefully at all the options, but whilst the plan received good support, and remains something we want to do, the cost of the new service is considerable. It will not be covered by the revenue that the service will generate, and as a commercial organisation we can only therefore proceed if we can find some joint funding to offset the costs. Despite our efforts this has to not proved possible to date, and we will not be able to offer any extra services in the next timetable due out in December." Behind the scenes is a complex and sad story of vested interests, with no-one's primary interest being the passenger. I'm not pointing my finger at individuals, nor even organisations, but rather at the system that puts (a) the shareholders of an Aberdeen based company, (b) the government, who do NOT represent this area, and (c) a stand made "on principle" against helping to fund an appropriate service high above the needs of the passenger who would use it. The email from First Great Western to all the people who have written in to support the service goes on "We will continue to discuss the plans with stakeholders and will keep looking for a partner to help finance the service, but this will not be possible before the December 2009 timetable (at the earliest)." So what now? The first question - do we really believe that it's not lost from this coming December, or it that just a negotiating tactic? And having decided what we think the answer is to that question, we can then move on to the second question ... Watch this space ;-) Written2008-07-14 14:56:48 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preserved Railways - a look forward Bitton ... Blaenavon ... Bodmin ... Bristol Harbour ... Bronwydd Arms ... Buckfastleigh ... Cranmore ... Cricklade ... Didcot ... Helston ... Kingswear ... Lydney ... Minehead ... Okehampton ... Seaton ... Swanage ... Toddington ... Wallingford ... "Preserved" railways, or heritage lines, all within or close to the area served by First Great Western. Some are excellent tourist attractions ... but others, set up 30 years ago by nostalgic enthusiasts with steam engines that were already life expired on track that was - in those days - in reasonable shape now seem to be struggling. There isn't the supply of enthusiasts, track and trains are wearing out (and in some cases much of the stock is rotting in the British weather), and the supply of passengers willing to pay good money to go from nowhere-in-particular to another-nowhere has dwindled. You'll see my story of one such that I visited yesterday here. There's so much potential in some of the assets, and there's so much potential in the enthusiasm of the remaining volunteers, including the new generation, but there's a need - sometimes a crying need - for management and harnessing of those resources. Has the time come for a rethink of the heritage and preservation movement? I have listed the home of 18 operations above; some I know and some I don't, so I'm going to simply suggest enhancements to a handful of them, say that some others (unnamed) should be applauded, and suggest that others may be better thinned out. I can't imagine it was fun for my driver yesterday to tell his trainload of passengers, disappointed to be on a diesel unit, that they could go no further because of a track defect ... he would possibly have had much more fun, and probably more and happier passengers, had he been sppeding them to a destination they wanted to go to! A handful of ideas Swanage - extend service to Wareham; add regular trains to provide genuine public transport service along with heritage traffic. If slam-doors are safe for a preserved line, surely they're even safer for the regular user that the line would build up? Minehead - extend regular service to Taunton. Didcot - to be the base for a tourist (and I'm looking at tourist from overseas too here!) service from Oxford to Salisbury. All three of the above are seriously extending the "season" - and I am going so far as suggesting a week-round, year-round operation. That could also apply to Kingswear, where there's an argument for an extension to Newton Abbot, giving a single-change London connection from Kingswear and Churston-for-Brixham. Written2008-08-17 19:06:26 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spring 2009 Campaign update We've been quiet over the winter ... but there have been things going on behind the scenes. With the economic downturn that we're all hearing about, it might seem a strange time to be looking for rail service improvements on the TransWilts line ... but actually it makes more sense rather than less. * As people's jobs change, some people will be taking work further from home and will be commuting longer distances and on new routes * Traditional in and out of city routes (London, for example) will get quieter and some trains can be shortened - I hear reports of major refunds of annual season tickets at South West Trains, for example * Families will drop from "2 car" to "1 car" and if the breadwinner can commute by train, that's a huge encouragement! * West Wiltshire has a net outflow of 6000 employees (workforce 60,000, jobs 53,000) with much of that to Swindon ... as well as Bath and Bristol * Fast public transport will help stimulate the economy - avoiding places like Melksham dropping into a backwater of inaccessible depression * The new Unitary Authority with its three major towns of Chippenham, Trowbridge and Salisbury has an opportunity to provide an excellent link between them - a flagship to tie the new authority area together We have a new "2010 keynote" here. And we ask you to pledge your support here (you can read all about it first! Written2009-03-13 06:32:16 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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