| Archived Save the Train forum articles - 2005 to 2010. See below
The M4 / A350 / A36 alternative - 1471/4026 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Wednesday, 21st February 2007 Here's the alternative to an already-existing railway line that's in fine order and has plenty of free train paths. [url]http://www.corridor-alliance.co.uk/map.html[/url] Cost to fund the train service for the next 5 years - 1.5 million pounds (including profit element for operator). Cost of these road improvements ... oh - I think there's going to be over 50 million worth of schemes on that diagram! Re: The M4 / A350 / A36 alternative - 1471/4027 Written by streety7 on Wednesday, 21st February 2007 [quote]The railways that run parallel to the A36 and A350 are in a disgraceful state. What other European country would allow the train services running between major cities and towns (Bristol-Bath-Salisbury-Southampton and Swindon-Chippenham-Southampton) to become so infrequent, unreliable and overcrowded?[/quote] I wouldn't say the railways themselves are in a disgraceful state... Bristol - Bath - Salisbury - Southampton aren't exactly infrequent however I would agree with them on the Swindon - Chippenham - Southampton front as still there have been no daylight trains?... On the TransWilts at least, services ARE getting more reliable and punctual after the hitches in December and January... I must also say however that the rolling stock IS getting (do I really need the word getting?) old. I had a few friends who travelled down to Southampton at the start of the week, and came back yesterday. The direct Soton - Cheltenham train was of use, formed as a "St. Ive's Bay" Class 153 unit "All that way" was my friend's quote. They said the FGW train was filthy on the outside, but not bad on the inside. But earlier on in the day after travelling on a SWT from Chandler's Ford - Southampton, even though only for a few minutes, they were surprised by the high quality, clean interiors and exteriors which all their trains had. Do SWT employ more cleaning staff or have more train washes than FGW do or something? Re: The M4 / A350 / A36 alternative - 1471/4031 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Thursday, 22nd February 2007 [quote author=Chris Street link=topic=1471.msg4027#msg4027 date=1172097017] I wouldn't say the railways themselves are in a disgraceful state... Bristol - Bath - Salisbury - Southampton aren't exactly infrequent however I would agree with them on the Swindon - Chippenham - Southampton front as still there have been no daylight trains?... On the TransWilts at least, services ARE getting more reliable and punctual after the hitches in December and January... [/quote] I would agree with you Chris ... apart from one point. Re: The M4 / A350 / A36 alternative - 1471/4034 Written by Nick Field on Thursday, 22nd February 2007 Interesting website now added to my favourites. I agree with there quotes about raod building: http://www.corridor-alliance.co.uk/about_us.html Some talk bout the Westbury freight terminal on there too. link to index of articles |
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Save the Train was the campaign to bring an approriate train service back to and through Melksham. Most big contributors are still around writing at the Coffee shop forum where new members are very welcome. The train has been saved - sort of - we have stepped back up from an unusable service to a poorish one but it's doing very well. We did that through setting up the TransWilts Community Rail Partnership. That fulfilled its early objectives; it has been taken over by local and regional government types who are now doing medium and long term work. The team from this forun can also be found at the Melksham Rail User Group (which was the Melksham Rail Development Group at the time these articles were written and we had no users. We mustn't loose sight, though, that the train service remains poor and needs our community support in marketing and campaigning to keep it going in a positive direction ... and all the more so when we're expecting to find a different normallity once we get out of the Coronavirus Pandemic and head for zero carbon via the climate crisis. Yes, it's saved ... it's now a key community facility ... the need for enhancement and the strong and near-universal local support remain, and the rail industry and goverment remain slow to move and provide the enhancements even to level us up with other towns. Please support the Melksham Rail User Group - now very much in partnership rather than protest with the rail industry and local government, including GWR, TransWilts and unitary and town councils. And please use the trains and buses, and cycle and walk when you can. -- Graham Ellis, (webmaster), February 2021 | |||
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