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Topic: Oxford to Salisbury or Southampton via Melksham (Read 6089 times)
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Nick Field
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I think this service could be viable fot the future, why?:
Building work is well under way on the new records office in Chippenham. People complained in the South of the County about poor transport links with the North of the County, without a direct train service it will be even worse
Oxford and Salisbury are both tourist cities, the ease to travel to or between both easily could be promoted.
The Direct Bristol - Oxford Service was discontinued. This would be partially reinsated from Chippenham and Swindon. I am sure the service would be used frenquently by the large population of Swindon and there seems to be lots of ties between these two places. People from Bristol Temple Meads and Bath could connect with trains to Oxford at Chippenham or Swindon. People from South Wales, Bristol Parkway and the Gloucester line could connect with trains to Salisbury or Oxford at Swindon too.
Oxford, Swindon Salisbury and Southampton are medical centres and it would mean you would not require a car to get there, although you would have to get a bus from the station
I have no idea about passenger numbers and dont have any access to figures to back up this idea but I am sure loadings would be quite high on many strectches of the route.
In Wilshire the county council could promote the route as an alternative to the A350, and A36.
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« Last Edit: September 21, 2005, 10:30:00 PM by Nick Field »
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Graham Ellis
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Of the various options I've discussed / suggested / been told about / looked at over the past few weeks - and there are lots of them - Oxford to Salisbury seems one of the best. It's a "brave" option - not looking for a retention of the status quo, and re-instating a service discontinued a couple of years ago; people will ask "so how can it work this time".
I am told that the Bristol to Oxford service was discontinued because of track capacity issues on the Bristol to Bath section and that the service was well used. I know that I for one was a regular user and it turned a really nasty journey by rail into an easy one, had a loyal and growing traffic, and solved some major public transport flow problems / issues away from West Wilts such as Swindon to Oxford (that's nasty by any other means).
Questions arise with any service concerning train maintenance; I think there are some facilities at Oxford and there certainly are in Salisbury. Questions arise with regard to track capacity. I understand that the worst "crunch" point at rushhour time is Reading; this suggested service turns off at Didcot before the Worcester and Exeter lines join in so - hopefully - there's a slot available. Questions are also raised concerning different speed trains on the line - a slower train has to have a "double" or triple space slot in the flow so that it can set out well ahead of a faster train [from Swindon] and still be clear at the other end [Didcot] of the crunch section. With something like a modern "158" unit - top speed 90 m.p.h., fast accelleration, this is less of a problem that with a "150" or "153" - perhaps even not a problem as a 125 has a slower accelleration so it balances out.
Nick - it's a great option (and I could write for hours on all the uses it would get). I guess that it extends the awareness need up to Oxford for our campaign. Now - who do I know in Oxford?
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rogerw
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As I understand it, one of the main reasons for reducing this service is the congestion on the main line between Swindon and Chippenham. All the passenger and freight traffic from Paddington and Reading to Gloucester, South Wales, Bath, Bristol etc. uses the first part of this stretch of line, until the Chippenham line diverges. For this reason alone I think any Melksham service in the medium future is likely to have to terminate at Chippenham to get any reasonable frequency.
The Salisbury or Southampton to Oxford option would entail running to Didcot on this congested line, preferably with a train capable of the full line speed of 125 mph, which would then be wasted over much of the rest of the route.
Extending the route to Oxford is an excellent idea, as is the Euston to Weymouth proposal, for getting the attention of the wider public and press, and "getting on the radar" of the DfT. There may even be a chance of running some Weymouth specials for the Olympics if planned far enough ahead. But for a useful and regular service I think we should not expect any more than a Chippenham to Westbury shuttle, possibly extending to Swindon, Salisbury or Frome on some trips.
High aspirations are good, as long as expectations are achievable!!
Roger Watkins
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Graham Ellis
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There seems to be, alas, a railway industry structure in place that isn't easy to follow, and local area responsibilities that preclude the realistic planning and mentoring by anyone of medium to longer distance cross country routes. In order to get Oxford to Salisbury to work, you have to get "Oxford", "Swindon", "Wiltshire" and the Dft all to work together. Oh - and Network Rail and the train operating companies too  . There is a huge "logic" in Salisbury to Oxford. But then there's a huge logic in other alternatives too; Salisbury to Chippenham at a higher frequency which avoids line capacity problems around Swindon, for example; with a regular and reliable connection at Chippenham, I think (and have non-quantitative evidence) that people would be happy with a 15 minute interchange into a more local train reversing on the down line well clear of the half hourly express. And having said all this, there's also the huge government battle that the railways seem to be getting busier and busier (our line is no exception!!) and yet costing the taxpayer more and more. There will be much more to follow here; I seem to have got a little off topic! |
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The Whitley Wonder
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Posts: 2
90022 'Cobbler' at Northampton
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Well from the FGW planner (a freind of mine who works there) says that they are going to have the BTM - Oxfords back, using transpennines Class 158s which can keep up to a HST timetable so I cant see any problem there myself.
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Wessex Unit 150 266 - The Whitley Wonder
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Graham Ellis
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There *might* not be any problem, but their might be an excuse ... or it might be subjective; each additional train on a busy section is another potential delay *if* it's running late, etc ... More to follow on this and lots of other topics ... network problems here this morning! |
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Nick Field
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Hello again
Well it looks like I have started quite a popular topic. Reading the replies so far it looks like the as far as track capacity goes the pinch point of running a service like this would be the Swindon - Didcot bit as express trains from Swanses, Bristol TM and Cheltenham all converge onto that stretch of track. I cant see the logic of trains using the Melksham line terminating at Chippenham however. If someone could calculate the time the local train travels from thingly junction, allows some turnaround time at Chip (say 15 mins) then reverses back down the line to thingly junction then it would probabaly be as long as carrying on up to Swindon where it can clear out of the way of the expresses due to the extra platfrom capacity there. Plus you would have the benifit of drawing custom form the large population of Swindon and avoid the fustration of West Wilts customers having to change at Chip? seems more logical to me any way.
Nick.
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Graham Ellis
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I've just posted a follow up in another thread on Chippenham. Basically, it takes quarter of an hour for the train to run up from Chippehham to Swindon, and a quarter hour for it to get back. I'm just suggesting that it's one option to save that half hour on every round trip. But, yes, I do prefer Swindon "all things being equal"; just not sure at the moment if all things ARE equal  |
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