Save the Melksham Train
Archived Save the Train forum articles - 2005 to 2010. See below
ORR : "First Great Western's InterCity Service The Worst In UK" - 934/2632
Written by Lee on Thursday, 28th December 2006

Delays to First Great Western trains between South Wales and London have increased , bucking the trend for improvement among Britain's rail providers (link below.)
http://www.rmtbristol.org.uk/2006/12/first_great_westerns_intercity.html#more

With more than one in four trains running late , FGW's InterCity service is the worst in Britain for delays , according to figures from the Office of Rail Regulation.

The ORR's figures show that only 72.7% of FGW's high-speed services were on time in July , August and September.

FGW said the figure reflected "extreme summer conditions". Britain experienced heatwaves in July , although August was much cooler.

A FGW spokesman said, "Summer 2006 saw record-breaking temperatures. These unprecedented conditions affected the railway as well as causing problems to all forms of transport, such as melted roads."

"The heat resulted in a number of rail infrastructure and technical problems, which included buckled rails amongst the technical issues."

The above link also claims that the Welsh Assembly Government is considering possible investment to upgrade infrastructure on the Cambrian Line in Mid Wales.

 
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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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