| Archived Save the Train forum articles - 2005 to 2010. See below
Ebbw Vale Line Re - Opening Delayed - 3068/6391 Written by Lee on Friday, 20th July 2007 The Welsh Assembly Government was accused of letting down one of Wales Re: Ebbw Vale Line Re - Opening Delayed - 3068/6399 Written by paulsouthwales on Friday, 20th July 2007 The delay is bound to disappoint local residents who have not had a rail service since 1962! It has always surprised me why the service was Ebbw Vale to Cardiff rather than Ebbw Vale to Newport initally! Yes, travel to Cardiff from the Valleys is a big business, but Ebbw Vale is more a 'Gwent Valley' in terms of its location rather than a 'Cardiff Valley', and in terms of longer distance travel, I would have thought that Ebbw Vale - Newport connecting either to Cardiff or Swansea (west) or Bristol, Birmingham and beyond (east) would be more practical. Anyone wanting to travel east will literally have to travel west in Cardiff first and then double back, adding in my estimations a good 60 - 90 minutes to a journey. Lets hope 'Phase 2' (connection to Abertillery and Newport) is still part of the medium term plan. Re: Ebbw Vale Line Re - Opening Delayed - 3068/9043 Written by Lee on Thursday, 13th December 2007 The cancellation of the opening of a Re: Ebbw Vale Line Re - Opening Delayed - 3068/9084 Written by Lee on Saturday, 15th December 2007 Fresh talks have been held over delays to the Ebbw Vale to Newport rail link (link below.) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/7145442.stm After Friday's meeting between Welsh Assembly Government officials , contractors , Network Rail and the council , Blaenau Gwent's chief executive said everything was being done to speed up the opening process. "Following the handover of the track a project team led by Network Rail will meet to identify any remaining works that need to be completed," he said. "Network Rail will then work with the contractors to rectify any outstanding issues." When that work is completed , operators Arriva Trains Wales will be able to train drivers on the track , and finally settle time-table arrangements for the service. Re: Ebbw Vale Line Re - Opening Delayed - 3068/9109 Written by Lee on Tuesday, 18th December 2007 The Ebbw Vale rail link has been given the green light to start after engineering problems led to the official opening being postponed (link below.) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/7149301.stm But passengers have still not been told when they can use the Re: Ebbw Vale Line Re - Opening Delayed - 3068/9292 Written by Lee on Friday, 4th January 2008 Still no start date confirmed (link below.) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/7169534.stm Re: Ebbw Vale Line Re - Opening Delayed - 3068/9886 Written by Lee on Tuesday, 5th February 2008 The rail service between Ebbw Vale and Cardiff, which was supposed to begin before Christmas, will start running on Wednesday (link below.) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/7226295.stm Blaenau Gwent Council said the first train from Ebbw Vale would leave at 0640 GMT, with the first service from Cardiff departing at 0635 GMT. Trains will run once every hour in both directions through the day. Quotes : [quote]Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Mr German welcomed the announcement, but said there was still a lack of information. "I mean to get the first train - but the lack of information continues, as the National Rail or Arriva Trains websites are not displaying timetable information at the moment," he said. Conservative Andrew Davies said the delay had caused "considerable inconvenience" to public transport users and was a "disappointment" to local residents. "I hope that December's false start will not have any lasting impact on commuter numbers when the service commences on Wednesday," he said. [/quote] Re: Ebbw Vale Line Re - Opening Delayed - 3068/9914 Written by Lee on Wednesday, 6th February 2008 The service has now started (links below.) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/7228772.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7183976.stm Re: Ebbw Vale Line Re - Opening Delayed - 3068/10037 Written by Lee on Tuesday, 12th February 2008 A protest about how long it will take to set up a working rail link between Rogerstone and Newport is planned (link below.) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/7239470.stm Politicians and city leaders are angry the Re: Ebbw Vale Line Re - Opening Delayed - 3068/12481 Written by Lee on Sunday, 1st June 2008 A bus link helping commuters use the new 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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