| Archived Save the Train forum articles - 2005 to 2010. See below
On adjusting services to avoid duplication and release resources for other use - 7466/12151 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Tuesday, 6th May 2008 I'm quoting this from the "First Great Western Coffee Shop" where there is a discussion going on concerning the re-arrangement of services to Ivybridge. At present (I stand to be corrected on this) local dmus at certain times of day follow quite soon before or after a 125 service and the only extra station served is Ivybridge. With selective door opening now in use at Ivybridge, there appears to be a real "win/win" possibility of removing the duplication at the cost of a few minutes added to certain expresses, releasing a unit for use elsewhere. Newquay is the likely beneficialry. [quote] I agree with mjthomson. The argument should be for FGW to provide more services overall for Ivybridge, in whatever provision mix works out best.[/quote] Here, Here! But not just Ivybridge. I'm delighted to read about Newquay prospects too. Three more things to throw into the mix ... a) Is there a "Park and Ride" market from South Devon to Reading and London / is that likely to be well (and lucratively) developed by the calling of 125s West of Newton Abbot? b) It has always struck me that where you have a single station through which fast trains pass, with a local service that sometimes runs within a few minutes of it, you have a potential waste of resources, and an opportunity to develop an extra bustling railhead by providing a good slew of longer distance trains. In my (untutored) mind, this is not unique to Ivybridge - there are one or two other cases. c) How do the finances work our for extra Newquay services? Swlines has done a Melksham comparison (which I will look at further in a moment) and indeed Melksham and Newquay have similar winter populations. Will FGW make a profit, are they being subsidised, or doing it out of the goodness of their hearts? [quote]The case with Ivybridge is a difficult one - surprisingly similar to Melksham in many respects.[/quote] There are indeed some surprising similarities - but some differences too. With Ivybridge, you have other trains providing a good service connecting stations to the West and East - Plymouth to Totnes, to Newton Abbot. However, Melksham should read VIA Melksham - services between stations either side, which are much larger towns that Melksham - are diabolical. You can travel from Chippenham to Salisbury at 06:30 and 19:00 ... only ... and there is no direct train back at all. You can travel from Trowbridge to Swindon at 07:08 and 19:41 ... only ... with return trains at 06:15 and 18:45 only. And, please note, I have just mentioned [color=brown]the five largest population centres in Wiltshire![/color]. On various evidence and projections, only a quarter of the traffic on a TransWilts service via Melksham would actually board or leave at that station; putting that another way, Melksham has a population of around 24000 ... but the train service putting the Wilsthire area together should be specified for a population of 96000. Actually, the Newquay comparison has some surprising similarities too, But once again the difference there is that Newquay is the only major population centre on the line, whereas Melksham is via Melksham. [i]It gives me huge hope to see a decent timetable for Newquay if the reports are correct, to include peak hour service too (?). It gives me huge hope because if Andrew Haines, Julian Crow and others can do this for Newquay then surely Andrew Haines, Andrew Griffiths, Malcolm Drury and others can do it for the TranwWilts! Re: On adjusting services to avoid duplication and release resources for other use - 7466/12152 Written by James on Tuesday, 6th May 2008 Right - But how many passengers used Newquay last summer, and TWO summers ago (with 5 a day) how many used Melksham? Re: On adjusting services to avoid duplication and release resources for other u - 7466/12186 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Wednesday, 7th May 2008 [quote author=James link=topic=7466.msg12152#msg12152 date=1210056116] Right - But how many passengers used Newquay last summer, and TWO summers ago (with 5 a day) how many used Melksham? [/quote] James, it's questions like that which show just how dangerous it is to make comparisons (such as I did) and compare similarities without looking at differences. There isn't - to my knowledge - another line with all its factors like the TransWilt, whihc means that it needs to be treated as a "special case" ... just like almost every other line needs to be treated as a special case. Although Newquay and Melksham have similar resident populations, a comparison must also bear in mind ... Newquay - huge population rise in summer. Melksham - static population level Newquay - only large population served by branch. Melksham - just a small part of the TransWilts Newquay - (?) Not really a commuter town. Melksham - commuters to and from surrounding area Newquay - Static train service for around 30 years. Melksham - Major changes in 2001 and 2006 If - which we are not - we were suggesting that either Newquay or the TransWilts gets an improvement, then some elements listed here would tip the balance in favour of one, and some in favour of the other. By the way - on ridership comparisons, I feel that a year-round figure gives a more important picture that a look at Bank Holiday loadings, or at the summer period of 8 or 9 weeks of the school holidays. Those latter are important to consider to ensure that the system provides the transport that people are looking for at that time, including (for example) the summer Newquay 125 which I applaud. But I don't think it would make sense for that service to be running (say) this week, unless there's a special event in Newquay. In answer to your question, I believe that the Newquay trains two summers ago (and giving a summer peak figure) would have been busy with holidaymakers, and the TransWilts had a loading average of 48% (quoted elsewhere). Two autumns, winters, or springs ago, the Newquay trains would have been very much quieter. And the TransWilts loading average was still 48%. Re: On adjusting services to avoid duplication and release resources for other use - 7466/12193 Written by James on Wednesday, 7th May 2008 Newquay trains all year round are well loaded! Re: On adjusting services to avoid duplication and release resources for other u - 7466/12209 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Thursday, 8th May 2008 I said quietER and not quiet. That's comparative, to suggest that the traffic level rises on the Newquay line rises significantly in the summer compared to other seasons, and not an absolute measure. Re: On adjusting services to avoid duplication and release resources for other u - 7466/12216 Written by James on Thursday, 8th May 2008 [quote author=Graham Ellis link=topic=7466.msg12209#msg12209 date=1210228421] I said quietER and not quiet. Re: On adjusting services to avoid duplication and release resources for other use - 7466/12395 Written by Nick on Wednesday, 21st May 2008 I'm wondering about the earliest services to Melksham that would be implemented: isn't there a better time for the 06:48 and 07:17 services? I can't imagine that they would be used at all at those times... Re: On adjusting services to avoid duplication and release resources for other u - 7466/12409 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Thursday, 22nd May 2008 [quote author=Nick link=topic=7466.msg12395#msg12395 date=1211354640] I'm wondering about the earliest services to Melksham that would be implemented: isn't there a better time for the 06:48 and 07:17 services? I can't imagine that they would be used at all at those times... [/quote] Those two (well - actually 06:40 now) are current timings and the train runs as part of another diagram in each case. In a way, the 05:2x from Gloucester leaves Swindon at 16:15 as -in essence - something closely resembling an empty stock working - but it does pick up at Chippenham and Melksham before joining the Southampton and Portsmouth line at Trowbridge, and starting from Chippenham gathers commuters headed south. There is an irony in that it leaves Swindon so early there isn't even a London connection available. The 07:17 is surprisingly robust in its loading, although numbers joining at Melksham are pathetic at the moment. However, I advocate adding to the service and not moving this one. The biggest problem you'll learn about when you talek to the users of the service is not the time as such, but the huge gap to the return service - and if there were return services back from Swindon at (say) 3:30 and 5:30 then the loadings would improve. Add in an extra service that gets to Swindon for around half past eight in the morning and heads south again shortly thereafter and you provide a morning choice whihc gives further good opportunities for these other new trains - and so it grows. So odd though it may seem, there's a very strong encouragement to retain the existing service and add to it to make it useful rather than to take a way the bits which are odd on their own. Another reason - the morning service is run on the cheap. I understand that it's not possible to use a single crew for morning and afternoon peak trains due to shift lengths, shich means you have a changeover in the middle of the day. So you can already have the driver and conductor available on shift anyway from around 5 a.m. In terms of current resiliance, you may wonder why there is so much through traffic on that 07:02 from Westbury. I understand that Westbury and Trowbridge to Chippenham and Swindon passengers, while not happy with it, have switched to going via Bath at the end of the day there's no suitable through train for them. The train operating company is laughing all the way to the bank over this - it seems that far more people are prepared to put up with an extra 30 minutes, a change that is very unreliable whenever there are delays or cancellations, and standing to the South of Bath than they had every dreamed, and that some through journey figures are actually up. In my view, this shows a fair degree of contempt for the passenger - but we've always been aware that the passenger is not treated with the same degree of respect by the railway industry as is the customer in other walks of life. 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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