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| Train service cuts from Dilton Marsh and Warminster?
Although the Greater Western Franchise runs 10 years, the Westbury to Southampton "shuttle" train is include until December 2007 ONLY. Withdrawal of this train without replacement would result in the loss of a further 6 Northbound and 6 Southbound trains at Dilton Marsh and Warminster. The complete Dilton Marsh service from this December would be as follows: 08:09, 12:09 and 22:01 to Salisbury and beyond. One OPTION under consideration at present is the reassignment of the train set that's released onto a restored Salisbury - Swindon service and this could give additional trains at Dilton Marsh along the following lines: 09:34, 12:34, 15:34, 18:34 and 21:34 to Salisbury The "Save the Train" group in Melksham has been calling for an appropriate service from Swindon to Westbury / Frome / Salisbury, and in spite of cuts made last December we are growing increasingly confident that we can get the service restored. There are three key players - the Department for Transport, First Great Western, and Wiltshire County Council and we are talking to all three. First and the DfT have indicated their willingness to "play ball" providing that they can get an element of stakeholder input for the running of the service from the local transport authority. Precedents have already been set in Bristol, Devon, Dorset and Cornwall. Our County Council has - so far - made some good moves in proposing funding station improvements at Melksham but hasn't even made a even the token gesture needed towards supporting the running of the service. If you support our option for a better train service, please: 1. Contact your County Councillor and ask him / her to push the cause: Miss Fleur de Rhe-Philipe - fleurderhephilipe@wiltshire.gov.uk Christopher Newbury - christophernewbury@wiltshire.gov.uk Andrew Davis - andrewdavis@wiltshire.gov.uk Paul Batchelor - paulbatchelor@wiltshire.gov.uk (Miss de Rhe Philipe and Mr Newbury represent Westbury / Dilton and Mr Davis and Mr Batchelor represent Warminster. I suggest you copy all letters to Ms de Rhe_Philipe as she is the County Council member with overall transport responsibility) 2. Please TELL other train users at Dilton Marsh and Warminster and ask them to contact their councillors too. 3. With Local elections coming up in May, now is a good time to persuade the local politicians that there are votes in this. We are organising a lobby / asking questions at the WEST WILTS district council extraordinary meeting on 20th March 2007, 7 p.m., Bradley Road, Trowbridge - please join if you can. Produced by "Save the Train". http://www.savethetrain.org.uk Chair - Graham Ellis, graham@wellho.net, 01225 708225 (Melksham) |
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