Save the Melksham Train
Archived Save the Train forum articles - 2005 to 2010. See below
Slam-Door Carriages On Fife Rail Route - 7654/12361
Written by Lee on Monday, 19th May 2008

Slam-door carriages will be used to ease overcrowding on a busy commuter route, First ScotRail has said (link below.)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/7407347.stm

The company has appealed for six old carriages to be hauled by a locomotive on the Fife circle line between Kirkcaldy, Dunfermline and Edinburgh.

First ScotRail wants to introduce two extra services a day from May 2009 through to December 2010, running at peak times.

The temporary introduction of hauled trains would fill a gap until the electrification of the Airdrie to Bathgate route. That would free up additional diesel trains to run on the Fife line.

[quote="ScotRail"]"This is good news for customers as it means more trains and more seats across the Scottish rail network. It's a short-term solution while we wait for our new trains to arrive in 2010.

"Locomotive-hauled diesel trains operate on the East Coast Main Line very successfully. Our priority is our passengers and this is the best solution to meet the growing demand for rail travel."[/quote]

[quote="Claire Baker, Labour MSP for Central Scotland and Fife"]"There's a real problem that it might just be extending the journey times.

"While people might be quite happy having a seat on the train, I don't think they will be particularly happy that the journey's taking longer, especially when they are trying to commute into work."[/quote]

 
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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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