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January 30, 2006

Further threats

News of another threat - or perhaps a "Beeching 2" scare story - in the Independent. Article by Christian Woolmar.

I've written myself horse over the last few weeks and I know that many of you have got in touch with Lesley Coleman and the illusive Peter West (has ANYONE heard back from him or from Roger Jones at the Department for Transport) and at least we have raised visibility of TransWilts and Melksham. I'm also looking to the County Council who consider the route has importance in their transport plan and to others to back up the case and perhaps (shock, horror) dip fingers in pockets. I'm keeping in touch with updates and snippets to all and sundry, and I've a couple of questions in to First that I'm waiting to hear back on ... but otherwise there's an element of "and now we must wait and see".

If you're reading this but you've not written to both the Department for Transport AND First to let them know what you think, please take a few minutes to do so - there's postal addresses available and perhaps that's going to be noticed better than an email.

Posted by gje at 06:57 PM | Comments (0)

January 29, 2006

Current status ...

* Wessex trains run the service up to and including 31st March

* First take over as from 1st April

* Service of 5 trains per day each way (4 on Saturday, 3 on Sunday) continues until the 2nd weekend in December

* Service is then reduced to 2 trains each way daily, Monday to Friday only.


Timetables are already in place for the first three steps listed above, but there is still an element of doubt concerning the service as from December. At a stakeholder meeting in January, the First group stated that they were still collecting "aspirations" in order to plan the services that they should provide - however, they have also written to me and told me that without Department for Transport approval they cannot increase the service level.

This is a small but important service that, frankly, I wouldn't have expected to have got the same careful attention as London to Bristol ... but it DOES deserve careful consideration and there's still time - probably just a week or two - for you to get your inputs to people like Peter West at the Department for Transport and Lesley Coleman at First (links to their addresses) so that - together - they can come to a careful decision.

Ticket sales have grown - again - by 35% in the figures published AFTER the new service level was specified, and even since those newest figures I've noticed trains getting busier and busier. If Peter or Lesley is reading this, can I tell them that they'll earn our huge thanks and custom and respect if they're able to admit that the service level should be improved in the light of the recent data that the original decision makers simply didn't have.

Posted by gje at 06:06 PM | Comments (0)

Were they purchasing votes?

I see in the newspaper this morning that the Government is writing off a load of 6.5 million pounds it made to the Rover group just before the last election in a vain, last-ditch attempt to save the company.

That 6.5 million could have bought TWO brand new trains for the TransWilts service - to provide a through service every 2 hours direct from Salisbury to Swindon - and would have paid the running costs completely for the first three years too.

Posted by gje at 08:59 AM | Comments (0)

January 22, 2006

Repeat - PLEASE write in with your aspirations

There are some days that my comments are so important that I don't want to overpost them too quickly. My please write to Lesley Coleman and Peter West to help save the service posted a couple of days ago was one of those.

If you're reading this on the main forum, the article in question should be directly below.

If you're in the archive, please follow the archive link. This will work if you don't know where you are too!

Posted by gje at 07:28 AM | Comments (0)

January 19, 2006

First want to hear your aspirations

Source - Stakeholder meeting held by First Great Western in Bristol on Monday, 16th January:

The timetable from December 2006 (known as "SLC2") based on the reduced service via Melksham in the franchise Invitation to Tender (known as "SLC1") is currently in progress and could be improved BASED ON A SOLID BUSINESS CASE. First Great Western and the Department for Transport are currently COLLECTING AND COLLATING DETAILS OF ASPIRATIONS and the contacts are:

Lesley Coleman
First Great Western
Milford House
1, Milford Street
Swindon SN1 1HL

Peter West
Great Western Franchise Manager
Zone 31 Floor 3
Department for Transport
Great Minster House
76 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DR

I've put forward my case ( link - on line copy) to First and DfT but NOT to these names; I'll do so at the weekend with an intro letter tying it back to the Stakeholder meeting.

My case is for a service every 2 hours (that's 8 trains a day each way) which makes, I believe, the strongest and most appropriate business case. I have NOT simply asked for "as is" retention as I believe that the best forward case for the next 7 to 10 years is not identical to what we've previously had - by correcting some issues with the old service (and with one or two difficult desisions especially on ticket prices) I know it can be profitable.

Please write to the people named above too, saying what you think.. I'll be flattered if you choose to use some of my words, and equalyy delighted if you submit something that's a little different / from your own perspective.

You might also write to other possible funders and supporters such as Wilts County Council and the South West Regional Assembly, encouraging them to contact Lesley and Peter. Both WCC and the SWRA can help with integrating transport to encourage higher traffic levels, and also in funding of infrastructure; extra help in these areas would make the service more attractive and up passenger numbers further.

Posted by gje at 08:13 AM | Comments (0)

January 17, 2006

Winners and losers in the Devizes constituency

There are three stations in the Devizes constituency of Michael Ancram and all of them look like they have a major change in service level or pattern under the new Greater Western franchise for which timetable changes come in to effect at the end of this year (December 2006).

Through trains from London to Bedwyn are extended to Westbury (and one per day on to Frome). The extended service continues to run every hour, but published suggested timing show that only alternate trains will call at Bedwyn - that's a 50% cut in London services.

The extended through trains will call at Pewsey - I don't know calling pattern details but the extra trains and stops will lead to the creation of new local travel possibilities such as Pewsey to Hungerford, and a vastly increased service to Reading, London and also to Westbury.

All long distance trains through Melksham are to be withdrawn. A "rump" local service is to be provided on Monday to Friday, with one journey only to Swindon in the morning and back in the evening, and a single extra train at some other (as yet unconfirmed) time in the day. In summary, this is a 68% cut in services.

I live in Melksham, so of course I'm a bit biased ... but I note that the Bedwyn cuts mean that people have to wait there for up to an hour for the next train, I note that the Melksham cuts will mean most train users will have to find alternative routes that will start them off on a bus and be much slower, and I note that our MP lives in Pewsey.

Links - Current case for Melksham.

The most effective way to get a sensible service for the future is to let the decision makers know what would be used and be profitable for them. Write to WILTS COUNTY COUNCIL to ask them to act - write to FIRST GREAT WESTERN to ask for more appropriate services - write to OUR MP to ask him to make representations - write to DEREK TWIGG, the minister with responsibility for rail services at the Department for Transport

Posted by gje at 04:56 AM | Comments (0)

January 16, 2006

Railway statistics and Melksham comparisons - how do we stand?

YearRoute kmElectrified kmPassenger kmNational Rail
Passenger Journeys
(Millions)		National Rail
Passenger Journeys
(billion km)		London Underground
Passenger journeys
(Millions)		London Underground
passenger journeys
(billion km)
19553067615772382099432.76765.6
19652401128861751686530.16574.7
19751811836551443173030.96014.8
1984/851681637981430470129.56725.4
1994/951654249701435973528.77646.1
2004/0516116520014328108842.49767.6

The average passenger journey was 33km in 1955 but that rose to 39km by 2004/05. In the same period, the number of passengers passing along a typical point on the railway system in a year rose from 1.37 million to 2.96 million. The passenger network shrunk by 40% in that period, and the freight-only network by a huge 75% to just 25% of what it was 50 years earlier.

The longer average journey reflects the movement of trains away from the branch line of the pre-beeching era, and perhaps the movement of populations from inner suburbs to longer distance commutes. The figure that shows over twice the number of passengers along the average piece of track is a bit of a statistical quirk; that sort of rise will be very rare on any particular track section. It's just that it was the less used lines that were close in the 1960s so that the average is pushed up artificially.

Looking at the quietest section of the TransWilts line from Thingley Junction via Melksham to Bradford South junction, we're "passing" some 100000 passengers a year at present on the local train and that will DROP even further below the national average if the service is slashed. I have no figures for how many passengers travel via Melksham at the weekend on trains on diversion in a typical year. But then if I look (and not too hard) I can find much higher figures - 25 million on the line out of London Paddington - and much lower figures such as 20000 on the line from Wick to Georgemas. In both cases I'm simply quoting ticket sales as they're line ends to a terminus.

Posted by gje at 01:27 AM | Comments (0)

January 15, 2006

What does First pay the government for Greater Western?

Here's a breakdown of the payments that First receives (for the next three years) then makes (for the following four years) for the task / honour of running trains Westward from London.

2006/07 First to RECEIVE a SUBSIDY of 97 million pounds
2007/08 First to RECEIVE a SUBSIDY of 46 million pounds
2008/09 First to RECEIVE a SUBSIDY of 14 million pounds
2009/10 First to make a PREMIUM PAYMENT of 20 million pounds
2010/11 First to make a PREMIUM PAYMENT of 111 million pounds
2011/12 First to make a PREMIUM PAYMENT of 168 million pounds
2012/13 First to make a PREMIUM PAYMENT of 233 million pounds

At the end of 7 years, First will have made a net premium payment of 375 million pounds - an average of 53 million pounds per year.

The figures sound huge, but then so are passenger numbers. To put them in perspective, there are 25 million journeys made into or out of Paddington station, First's busiest, every year. The 53 million pound payment is the equivalent of a 2 pound per head tax for arriving and departing passengers at Paddington, with no tax at all for customers using their services between any other two stations.

First can relinquish the contract at that point without penalty, or they can carry on for a further 3 years:

2013/14 First to make a PREMIUM PAYMENT of 302 million pounds
2014/15 First to make a PREMIUM PAYMENT of 363 million pounds
2015/16 First to make a PREMIUM PAYMENT of 427 million pounds

The headline figure of "First awareded a contract under which they pay the government 1.5 billion" is only strictly true if they chose to take those final three years, and if the figure aren't stacking up by that time I guess they might well decide they would do better to end at that point and bid for the next period.

Sources - Local Transport Today and Office Of Rail Regulator

Posted by gje at 12:39 AM | Comments (0)

January 14, 2006

Wilts County Council could save the Melksham / Transwilts train

Yesteday evening, I attended the meeting of the Melksham Rail Development Group. You can imagine some of the disappointment that the franchise has been awared for a decimated service in spite of all the growth in recent years. Indeed, the First group wrote (in a letter received this morning) "There are sound arguments against the planned changes, many of which you have detailed in your letter" (See that letter / report) but the decision appears to have been taken ...

EXCEPT ....

There's now a second stage of negotiation going on. Various county councils are "buying back" services from First - the Barnstaple line in Devon was quoted as an example. I'm told that they'll be getting to Wiltshire in due course.

Wiltshire County Council's head of Environmental Services, which include public transport, is George Batten. He can be reached via

G Batten Esq
Director of Environmental Services
Wiltshire County Council,
Bythesea Road
Trowbridge
Wiltshire BA14 8JN

and it might be worth dropping him a note; he has to deal with all of Wiltshire, so he might not be totally familiar with Melksham and the TransWilts train service. I've written to him, including a copy of my letter / report to First described above.

It shouldn't cost a great deal to "buy back" the service; it would actually make better financial sense to fully utilise the resources that First will have than to run the rump service. Interestingly, the current service was arranged by Wiltshire County Council in association with Wales and West trains a few years ago. I would like to say "under a similar buyback arrangement" but the exact details are lost in the fog of time.

Posted by gje at 01:27 PM | Comments (0)

January 12, 2006

Reply from MD of First Great Western

I'm rarely slow to comment ... but today I'm a bit lost for words. And there's some things that I don't understand too.

Have a look at the reply just received to my letter of a month ago from Alison Forster, who's the MD of First Great Western.

Posted by gje at 07:46 PM | Comments (2)

January 11, 2006

The Meeting Season

Now that Christmas and New Year are over, we're into the meeting season. And what a vital season this will be, with the First Group putting together their plans for the services on our line, which is a new service to them. I really hope they listen to inputs from the staff currently operating the service, and from their customers, and offer us a service which is both appropriate for their customers and profitable for them. My current ideal is a "clock face" service every 2 hours Westbury to Swindon and back and I have seen hints that this may be on the cards.

11th January - First's Customer Panel meets and Roger Newman is the representative for Melksham customers
13th January - Melksham Rail Development Group meets
16th January - First are holding a "meet the managers" session in Bristol; I'm looking for further details and hope to attend.

Calendar and links to individual details

Posted by gje at 02:53 AM | Comments (0)

January 08, 2006

New Sign

Two new signs at Melksham station ....

Wesses trains - THANK YOU. New users (and remember that many people who travel to Melksham are long distance arrivals who have never been by train before) will now know where to get off, and won't get quite the same feeling of desolation when they arrive ...

I do find it slighly ironic that the signs are labelled "Wessex Trains" ... Wesses trains have been operating the service for years, but have only put up signs with there name on 12 weeks before their franchise expires.

Posted by gje at 03:35 PM | Comments (2)

January 06, 2006

Bustitution - buses for trains on Saturdays and Sundays

Note - trains are replaced by buses on Saturdays and Sundays throughout January. I've not been able to find an online timetable, but I have made a couple of enquires through timetable sites and find the journey time is extended from 25 to 55 minutes to Swindon. And I HAVE found this map:

Here's my guess as to the full bus timetable ... this is the one that Wessex trains used last September to November during the previous lot of engineering works.

Update, 8th January. Pretty much correct - there's a sign up at the station now. Only difference is that the last SATURDAY bus from Swindon leaves at 23:06, Chippenham at 23:41, Melksham at 00:01 and arrives at Trowbridge at 00:16 and Wesbury at 00:31.

Posted by gje at 06:02 PM | Comments (0)

January 01, 2006

New year, 2006

I WAS going to say "HAPPY new year" and indeed, I personally make that wish. However, this is the year that the train service GETS SLASHED unless we can persuade the First Group to have a last minute change of heart. That's not impossible - the Bicester service is NOT to be cut as was proposed by the SRA and DfT - First DOES listen.

But we don't have long - timetabling meetings happen very shortly now, so before you return to work, PLEASE write and express your view - I've put appropriate addresses here.

First wrote to me a couple of days before Christmas telling me that a final decision had NOT been made, so here's your opportunity!

Posted by gje at 03:46 PM | Comments (0)