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Dedicate to campaigning to retain an appropriate "TransWilts" passenger train service ... Swindon - Chippenham - Melksham - Trowbridge - Westbury - Dilton Marsh - Warminster - Salisbury ... and to other services too

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Recommended service - hourly, according to the GWRUS. Let's work towards that service and towards ensuring all services are used.
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Author Topic: Chippenham to London via Melksham  (Read 2639 times)
chrisbastian
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Chippenham to London via Melksham
« on: March 05, 2006, 11:54:17 PM »

Does it really block the line for 40 minutes to turn round a train at Chippenham?  If not, I make the following suggestion.

The draft timetable proposes an hourly service from Westbury to London as an extension of the Bedwyn service. These trains are going to be pretty empty till they reach Newbury, so why not collect some West Wilts passengers by starting the service at Chippenham and calling at Melksham and Trowbridge?

Trains arrive Westbury at 10 minutes to the hour and leave at 14 minutes past. If they fitted in a return trip to Chippenham they could contiue to London at 14 mins past the next hour.I calculate one extra train set would be needed but in return:

1)  There would be better loadings between Westbury and London.

2)  Chippenham, Melksham, Trowbridge & Westbury would get an hourly service each way (an improvement rather than a cut)

3)  Melksham & the county town of Trowbridge would get a direct service to London. And not a bad one. The trains run non stop from Reading.

More expenditure but better value for money!

I think the following pattern would fit the draft timetable, provided the train can double back from the Up platform at Chippenham.

Paddington     dep  08.18
Westbury       arr    09.50
                    dep  10.00
Chippenham   arr    10.35
                    dep  10.44
Westbury       arr    11.13
                    dep   11.14
London          arr     12.51




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Graham Ellis
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Re: Chippenham to London via Melksham
« Reply #1 on: March 06, 2006, 03:05:38 AM »

Chris,   that's an excellent suggestion.   It takes as little as 3 minutes at the platform at Chippenham to turn a train around - I saw it done the other week, and with 10 minutes "dwell" on the way through at Westbury, there's a slackness there which would allow any delays to be caught up.

People do travel from the county town to London and First could "grab" more passengers for their service this way ... and a high proportion of Melksham passengers are long distance so a Reading and London service would be superb.

Alison Forster was commenting on Saturday that for every 1 passenger they carry, there's another 1.5 out there in the market - in other words, PLENTY of scope for growing services.  Personally, I feel that the marketing on the current Wessex services has NOT emphasises the TransWilts services and the ratio is more like 1:5 that 1:1.5 and I think we've been showing with 35% per annum growth for the past 5 years and even traffic increases in the various quick counts I've taken that it is getting better known already.

If you haven't looked / make your inputs, please PLEASE do them to tt06@firstgroup.com by Wednesday of this week - rather than me pass them on, use your own words make your own voice heard.
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