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September 14, 2005
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 ....
Posted by gje at September 14, 2005 11:55 PM