The Network Rail Business Plan 2007 can be found in the link below.
http://www.networkrail.co.uk/aspx/3085.aspx

Here is the section relevant to Melksham , followed by some quotes.
http://www.networkrail.co.uk/browse%20documents/BusinessPlan2007/PDF/Route%204%20Wessex%20Routes.pdf

"The Wessex route provides a long distance link between the West of England and London Waterloo, accommodating regular passenger services as well as offering significant diversionary capability for the Great Western Main Line (GWML). In addition the route also includes cross-country links between the South Coast and Wiltshire/Somerset which are invaluable to freight services as well as passenger services."

"The Wessex routes carry a variety of traffic, with all passenger services being provided by diesel multiple units. The routes are a mixture of double track stretches of line and single track sections with passing loops. Freight services on the route mainly run to and from the West Country carrying aggregates traffic, the Eastleigh and Southampton traffic as a diversionary route and MoD traffic, all of which is hauled by diesel locomotives."

"The capacity utilisation for the lines that cross the main West of England line is affected by the larger towns and cities that they pass through which are off the route, such as Southampton and Bristol. The service planning is also influenced by the long duration of the journeys, and this combined with the interaction with the other relevant routes makes it difficult to achieve higher levels of capacity utilisation."

"A range of measures has been identified to make effective and efficient use of railway capacity and to develop additional capacity. They are based on a number of key gaps between what the route is capable of delivering and those outputs that are desired to accommodate the predicted growth in demand. These measures have been selected on the basis of their value for money and potential affordability across the ten-year period of the RUS.

These are summarised below and, in some cases, explained in more detail in subsequent sections.

Measures to improve the effective use of capacity:

• the timetable ‘Rules of the Plan’ will be continuously reviewed in the light of new rolling stock and infrastructure capabilities in order to achieve and maintain the most effective balance between performance and capacity. In the majority of locations across the Wessex Route, evidence supports the view that the current rules represent a robust balance, allowing maximum exploitation of capacity while establishing minimum acceptable performance standards from an operational and scheduling perspective;

• station facilities should be developed to improve access by appropriate modes of transport. As a priority, development of the best value car park expansion schemes will be progressed by Network Rail in conjunction with the franchise holder; and

service alterations in the Southampton - Salisbury - Weymouth area have been developed with DfT and ATOC. The alterations include a rebalancing of service groups and stopping patterns to better match resources to demand, with only a minimal impact on service for specific stations."

"In terms of freight, demand market studies undertaken over the last few years forecast aggregate traffic tonnage will grow by 1 percent to 2 percent per year in the period 2007 to 2017, and this is likely to be reflected within the Wessex routes."

"Performance has markedly improved with the new timetable, although is still relatively fragile because of the single track sections of line. The expected continued improvement in asset reliability will further strengthen the trend of better performance over the route."

"All lines within Route 4 are more heavily used during the summer and planned disruptive access is therefore constrained to the winter period."

"A sequence of weekend ‘Golden’ possessions for most critical locations/junctions has been developed and agreed with operators. This typically provides fifty-five 10-28hr possessions per year. Over the next two years this regime will provide essential access to the entire route for maintenance work including at the 15 critical junctions."

Significantly , whereas the line all the way from Southampton - Thingley Junction was projected to acheive medium - level growth to 2015 in the 2006 Business Plan  , in the 2007 version the section between Westbury - Bradford South Junction has been DOWNGRADED to low - level growth to 2016 (page 10 , figure 10.)

The Melksham section remains a medium - level growth line.

Further analysis to follow after Easter. Have a good one