From: Judith Shepherd
RNN Ministerial Liaison Team
Room 5/29
Great Minster House
76 Marsham Street
LONDON
SW1P 4DR

24th April 2008

Dear Mr Glover,

Thank you for your e-mail of 2 April to the Minister for rail and to Peter West, Franchise Manager for First Great Western, seeking improvements to train services in North Wiltshire on the route via Melksham.  I have been asked to reply. 

The Department for Transport (DfT) specifies a Service Level Commitment (‘SLC’) for a franchise, laying down among other things, a minimum number of trains on each route, along with early and late services, maximum possible intervals between trains, maximum journey times, and minimum calling patterns.  Provided that it meets the requirements of the SLC, the franchisee may vary train times and amend calling patterns.  It may also operate additional services, provided that the track capacity is available, and there is no adverse effect on other rail franchises’ subsidies or premiums.     

In 2005 the Strategic Rail Authority (‘SRA’) conducted a public consultation on the structure of the train services for the then new Greater Western franchise, in which it proposed to reduce the number of calls at Melksham station from five to two per day in each direction, concentrated during the peak hours.  The SRA and its successor in this function, the Department for Transport, made it clear that it was willing to revise the specification in the light of the consultation responses, where there was a financial and economic case for doing so.  A number of amendments of this nature were made. 

However, given the wide range of other calls on public funds, the department had to take a view on where the best value for money could be achieved.  The services from Melksham are on average lightly used during most of the day and require significant subsidy.  In view of this and in the light of the response to the SRA’s consultation exercise, ministers decided to let the Greater Western franchise on the basis of specifying two trains per day in each direction on this route, including on Saturday and Sunday. 

The current level of service over the route via Melksham is in line with the requirements of the FGW franchise agreement.  There have been discussions between Wiltshire County Council, the Department for Transport and FGW about whether there might be ways of increasing the current level of service on this route, but these have not identified funding solutions.   

I hope this is helpful.

Yours sincerely,




Judith Shepherd
Rail & National Networks Ministerial Liaison Team

The letter above (very similar indeed to letters received by others recently) is reproduced with permission of the recipient, as is his reply:

Dear Ms Shepherd,
 
Thank you for your response. I was aware of most of the historical detail in your letter, and certainly the poor result, whereby the trains finally provided did not meet the requirements of the SRA in terms of timings. They being set before and after the peak hours requirement.
 
The SRA and the Department also failed to use the then current passenger utilisation figures, preferring to use lower and out of date figures to support the reduction in service. Passenger numbers had been increasing on this route quite substantially under Wessex Trains management. Passenger numbers have declined substantially under the FGW service because it is so badly timed, albeit in accordance with the pathetic requirements of the SRA and Department. How the Government intends to reduce car usage in rural areas beggars belief when public transport services are reduced in this way. I doubt that Beeching could not have done a better job at reducing passenger usage of an efficient and green service.
 
No doubt you may have guessed that I am disappointed with your response, not least because you identified that there should have been 2 trains each way on a Sunday. As far as I recall this never happened. Indeed we did have 2 trains in one direction, but this was quite pointless as one could not return. Perhaps you could confirm that the current Sunday service:
 
Swindon to Melksham arrives at 1857,
Westbury to Melksham arrives at 1711 and 1942
 
meets your requirements. Perhaps, too, you could explain just what use a Sunday train service with these timings could be to residents of Melksham. It would certainly make for a great hour in Swindon, or 20 minutes in Westbury. The latter just time enough to walk off the station premises and back again. One would have thought that a bit more imagination could have seen a better timed service, and given the amount of funding provided to devolved administrations in Wales and Scotland for their train services, something more to English regions would not go amiss. This, together with the money going into supporting private concerns like Northern Rock, and UK Banks in general, suggests that the Government's priorities are not quite the same as the general working public who need to commute to work but are taxed on car fuel and hit by car parking charges in restricted town centres. The train takes the strain, as they used to say.
 
Yours disappointed
 
John Glover

So what is their real   reason for being so uncoperative?

Someone is.. Lol sort of. My thesis is based on the campaign, in the wider context of rural rail issues. It also focuses on why there is a campaign for an improved service.
I realise I advertised I was doing this some time ago, but long term illness has slowed me considerably.

Daniel