The DfT tells us we have an average of 12 passengers per train ... and yet here you are travelling on what I know is one of the quietER trains of the day and it's up to average. The official statistics don't add up!
Gentlemen, we know it's used and increasingingly I've a feeling that THEY know it's used ... it's just that they have bigger designs on the line and need (for their purposes) to kill it before it gets too bigYou have probably see a lot of Lee's posts concerning a wider area of lines and issues and sometimes all the government and industry stuff he posts is hard to digest, and it can be tricky to relate to our "TransWilts" service. But I've spotted many gems there, including this Rail Utilisation Study information for the South West main line.
This is a study that's about 2 years old, showing rail utilisations strategy in the area served by (or to be served by) South West trains. Not our area? Maybe not ... but look at the huge increase in freight trains heading up on the sections of line from Southampton to Salisbury - the southern end of the TransWilts. And see how very close to capacity they leave the line.
Where will these trains go? 6 extra freight trains a day starting or ending at Salisbury? I think not! Down the route from Salisbury to Exeter, or up to Andover and Basingstoke? Unlikely. On to Westbury, then ... and on Northwards from there too, heading for the Midlands and the north. But there's a bit of a problem in the Bath to Bristol area - the Bristol - Oxford service already scrapped to give extra line capaicy for more 125 trains through there; the only realistic option is to send them up through Melksham to Swindon, Didcot, Oxford, Banbury and beyond.
How are you going to get the majority of 6 extra trains each way, daily, through the "Melksham section" if you have a thriving passenger service too? One that's growing at such as speed that the current 5 trains a day should be increased to 8 in the immediate future, and perhaps doubled from that figure in another 4 or 5 years? You could re-double the line. Or you (if you are the responsible body) decide to kill the passenger service as quickly and quietly as possible - with minimal consultation, and without giving your real reasons).
Is it a co-incidence that local trains all up the TransWilts corridor are all under threat and have, at best, a one year reprive whereas other services were quite quickly pulled back toa proper level under the new franchise? A co-incidence that the other extra services south of Westbury are trimmed back too and there's a huge fight for the Bristol to Waterloo that adds more load to the same section of trackWe're already seeing increased freight through Melksham .... and the figures I've quoted above were derived from a report that came out before the latest round of Freighliner and EWS freight contracts ... so that's not the end of the story.
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