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April 16, 2007

Gordon Dodge, Rest in Peace

Gordon Dodge, who helped fight such long odds to get Melksham station re-opened in 1985 - and won - passed away yesterday. My deepest sympathy goes to his wife Audrey and family who have lost a remarkable husband and father.

When I started the "Save the Train" campaign 2 summers ago, Gordon welcomed this upstart into the fold of campaigning for the retention of an appropriate service under the harsh new Greater Western Franchise which puts profit ahead of passengers - and I am very VERY grateful for that. The Melksham Rail Development Group, and the West Wilts Rail User Group (he was Vice Chairman of both) could so easily have taken umberage at the newcomer, but instead I was welcomed and we worked well together.

It didn't take me long to realise that Gordon was far more active in both groups that his "vice chairman" role implied. A Friend of Melksham Station, Gordon tended the flowers, even though he had to carry the water in his car from home (their being no tap at the station), anc last year planted the beds in First Group's colours, even though he shared our disquiet as to what they were doing to our service. That was Gordon for you - welcoming, generous and quietly active.

Gordon Dodge (standing behind Santa) organised the "Santa Special" train trips from Melksham to Swindon in early December each year.

Gordon talked about working at "The Avon" in Melksham, and work in the print shop there. It sounded very much like he loved his work, and when he retired he took further work as a pallbearer, working for our local undertakers. Some of the tales he had to tell ... but never at the expense of anyone, I note (as I don't think he had an ounce of that in him!) had us enthralled.

Still very much an active supporter, Gordon came along to our train meeting early last month - he wasn't feeling (or looking) well, but he was very much an ACTIVE supporter. We were shocked to hear that he was in hospital a week or two later, and we visited him in there. He knew / we knew that there was no certainty that he would pull throught, but still we talked of trains, and future, and how we hoped we would be able to arrange a special this summer to Weymouth, and that he would be able to join us on the first day of an appropriate service this coming December.

Gordon's worked for both the local undertakers, and so he's pretty much aware of what'll go on - indeed, he was talking the other week of planning his own funeral and had some very specific ideas. I only heard of his passing a few hours ago, so I can't pass on the details yet - but I will do so.

And I think it would be a good memorial to Gordon is we COULD run a seaside special this summer. And it would be a GREAT memorial if we could get that appropriate service back for the town that he loved, through the station he cherished.

Posted by gje at 05:47 PM | Comments (1)

April 15, 2007

Helsinki and Heathrow to Melksham - Saturday

I had, mentally, ruled out Saturday for anything more that a day of travelling from Helsinki to Melksham; a good job too as I could - all too easily - have been frustrated many times along the way.

The day started well - indeed the Finnish leg was enjoyable, with a chance to see Helsinki (pictures) sandwiched between a trouble-free Metro ride in from the suburb where we had spend the week, and a comfortable bus ride - no wait, no queue, out to the airport. There's even a left luggage facility as the station that isn't so tied up with security that you wonder why you had bothered for a few hours. And Finnair checked us in excellently, easily through and onto the flight. We were glad not to be on the BA flight that was scheduled out earlier - 07:45 - as it didn't leave until 13:15.

Heathrow, Terminal one, Baggage - what a zoo! We waited over an hour for our luggage, with (at times) up to 10 other flights also on "wait". I think our flight was especially bad - we were told that baggage couldn't be got off due to a technical problem, but still the business class travellers got theirs in about half the time. Odd, that ;-)

Heathrow to Melksham by public transport isn't great - coach to Chippenham and bus on home is about the best when you're flying in and can't rely on timing. If you're really delayed, you might just get the 18:45 direct bus in the evening.

A Spring Saturday, a week after Easter with crowds returning from Holidays, so how was the ticket desk staffed?

Yes, you're right - queue control barriers and too few staff to handle the crowds, who clearly WERE expected.

The Bath bus, good on the operator, HAD been doubled up, with a second coach layed on and the two drivers sorting Swindon passengers on to one and passengers for other destinations onto the second bus. Loading, though, was less than efficient with the driver of our (non-Swindon) bus taking each individual he checked in arouns the back of the bus, one by one, to load their luggage, and the coach left some 15 to 20 minutes late. An extra stop at Membury services (I don't know why - I've never had it happen before) added a few minutes and, to my suprise, the bus still went through Swindon even though all the passengers had been sorted ahead of time. A straight "drive through" of course, even down to driving straight in to one end of the bus station and out of the other - but what a wasted opportunity to sensibly make up some time.

Chippenham, and we spotted the 234 heading on its loop up to the station as we drove into the town. "Oh - excellent - he'll be back past the bus stop in a couple of minutes". We unloaded our case, thanked our driver, and hailed the 234 as he returned ... and STRAIGHT PAST he drove.

Now - I know the evening 234 service is subsidised by Wiltshire County Council, and I do know that the operator puts profit before passengers ... but you would have thought that the driver would have stopped (at the bus stop!), wouldn't you? Well - he didn't. The bus appeared to be empty and perhaps he couldn't be bothered.

We caught a taxi from the rank just a few yards away; by this point, I was less than inclined to wait a further 90 minutes or so for a bus that *might* stop next time, and we had an absurdly un-green and inefficient journey in a taxi that passed the bus we should have been on as he turned into Lacock.

So why wasn't the transport system able to transfer us from one service to the other neatly in Chippenham? Lack of joined up thinking between operators? No - that's not the case. Our National Express Coach was operated, I kid you not, by the First group. And the 234 bus was also operated by First. I suspect from exactly the same depot. Ah - "Shareholders First" - of course ...

Posted by gje at 09:43 AM | Comments (1)

April 12, 2007

Asking for the political and part views

With local elections due to take place early next month, we're in a period of perdour where officials will say very little / cannot make comment on issues or discuss them in the way they normally might. But it's also an opportunity to ask the politicians what their personal and party approach is to the various issues.

I have written to a senior local repesentative of each of the major parties, asking them to give me their view, and their official party view, on support (or otherwise) for the Swindon to Westbury train service. The Conservative and Labour politicians, of course, also have the opportunity to answer for the local transport authority (Wiltshire CC, Conservative) and the Department for Transport (Labour) as both have given several responses of late which have appeared to be self-contradicting.

Responses to be in by next Tuesday, to be published on "Save the Train" and perhaps elsewhere - we have the tools to hand to reach quite a number of concerned local voters to ensure they know of any party differences that show up.

------------- "Base" letter sent ...

I am writing to invite you to put the local [name of party] position forward with regard to their future ongoing support of the train service from Swindon and Chippenham through West Wiltshire (Melksham, Trowbridge, Westbury, Warminster) and on to Salisbury and Frome.

With local elections coming up early in May, and with the issue of this service being high on the political agenda, this provides you with the ideal opportunity to publicise how your party, support the return and retention of an appropriate service on this line.

The "Save the Train" web site will be featuring replies (and commenting on lack of replies) to this email, and we'll also be wring press releases and getting in touch with our database of interested users prior to local polling day so that they're aware of any differences in position. We may also hand out copies of the responses received to local public transport users at the end of this month.

Please feel free to forward a copy of this email to others who might also wish to respond.

If you could let me have any reply by Tuesday, 17th April that would be great, thank you.

Graham

Background
==========

The train service linking the five largest towns in Wiltshire, together with Frome in Somerset (close by and substantial) was recently slashed to just 2 round trips a day (60% service cut). The new timings do not meet the user's requirements and between 90% and 95% of the traffic (which had been growing between 8% and 35% per annum) has been lost. Some travellers are making longer journeys via Bath, others are using the bus and some have even given up their jobs, but most of them are now driving along the already-crowded A350 road.

The Department for Transport (who specify the franchise / service level), County and Unitary Councils - Wiltshire, Somerset and Swindon (who are the local transport authority), and First Great Western (who operate the services) are all very much aware of the how inappropriate the current service is, and that they need to take some "ownership" in order to return to an appropriate service as called for in my recent petition to the Prime Minister which brought in over 1700 signatures.

I understand that discussions between the parties are currently underway, with one of the options being investigated being "community rail" status for the service. This would allow a more frequent and better timed service to be provided with all parties providing support, and with community groups such as "Save the Train", Melksham Rail Development Group, District and Town councils, and users to be much more involved with the service.

Posted by gje at 08:34 AM | Comments (0)

April 05, 2007

Government pressure to shut up. But let us look forward.

Well ... the Government's response to my petition for an appropriate train service made the front page of the Western Daily Press yesterday (article) under the headline "Blair Snubs Rail Misery". And we also got coverage in the Bath Chronicle, the Wiltshire Times and the Wiltshire Gazette and Herald. The Spar shop / garage next door started giving me very funny looks as I kep coming in for more newspapers!

The response to the petition was disappointing - very disappointing. After all the hard word work, five year old figures and demonstrably wrong, pessimistic, forecats are regurgitated. The Civil servants know they're incorrect, damn it - and they know that the current service schedules are not appropriate. I can tell you this because I have spent a long time, on the phone in person, to 'Whitehall'. And to compound the disappointment, some "bright spark" has read the request for an appropriate service to mean a return to the old pre-December situation. No - I'm no Luddite and the petition was no request to step back in time - quite the reverse; it was a request to look forward. I agree with the Government response that the service should not revert to what it was - it should develop forward to meet the need. You'll note:
* Compound growth between 8% and 35% per annum over 5 years
* West Wilts towns to grow by 50% over the next 30 years
* Increasing road conjestion making the car commute less practical
* Cheaper trains perhaps for hire (to reduce cost)
* Envioronmental issues ...

But the $64,000 question is how we take this dreadful response from the Prime Minister's office and, never the less, work forward with the other forces that we know are there to a positive conclusion. And how we tie that in with support from the local transport authority (Wilsthire CC) and others around such as Somerset and Swindon to everyone's benefit.

So yesterday evening concluded with a most interesting call from a supporter / insider with a political "nose", warning me off criticising the Goverment too hard on their response. "He's trying to shut you up as the Government don't like this publicity" suggest Lisa and, yes, that's a big part of it. But at the same time, we DO have to work with these people - Glaswegian Ministers who don't even look after trains in Scotland - until the next general election in perhaps 2009 or 2010. My purpose is not to score political points with a political football of the railway service. It's to have provided an appropriate service. So, in spite of the idiosyncracies of the system and the distortions it brings, I'll work on with Tom Harris (DfT) , Alison Forster (FGW), Fleur de Rhe_Philipe (Wiltshire) for the joint aims. They can ALL come out as winners, and the travelling public can come out as winners too!

Posted by gje at 08:29 AM | Comments (0)

April 03, 2007

Petition Response - detail, opinion, context

Overview:

1. Train services slashed last December
2. Petition for appropriate train service submitted on 7th February
3. Reply by Government last Friday evening blames First, uses old forecasts that have proven to be wrong, and misses the point that we're looking for an APPROPRIATE service and not a return to the previous one!
4. Further timetable changes planned for December 2007, but no big consultation this time
5. Ten 2-coach trains (arguably the best in the fleet) to be transferred away from service operated out of Bristol from this December?

Detail

Last Friday, the Prime Minister's office has replied to the petition for train service improvements submitted by Melksham businessman Graham Ellis. Graham started the petiton on the Prime Minister's web site in January after regional and local train services throughout the South West of England were cut by up to 80% last December, with remaining trains running unreliably and often overcrowded.

The petition asked the Prime Minister to:

"provide a reliable train service with adequate capacity at times that travellers wish to make journeys from Swindon to Westbury, Bristol to Severn Beach, Portsmouth and Weymouth to Cardiff, Taunton to Cheltenham, Swindon to Cheltenham. This includes all intermediate stations and journeys in both directions."

The petition was signed by over 1700 people, making it the top domestic public transport petition at the time it closed. It was signed by 8 MPs (including James Gray, Michael Ancram, Andrew Murrison, Don Foster and Robert Key from our mmediate area), five MEPs, and dozens of councillors including council leaders and mayors.

The reply - published last Friday evening - reads as follows:

Thank you for your petition concerning the provision of rail services in the South West of England.

Ministers have raised the issue of improving train performance, including cancellations and short formation of trains, directly with First Great Western, which operates the train services in the greater Bristol area. First great Western have given assurances that appropriate measures are being taken, including bringing in additional rolling stock, and have accepted responsibility for underestimating the capacity requirements of the new timetable introduced on 10 December. First Great Western have already taken steps to restore capacity in some areas and expect the position to improve further in the coming weeks.

The Department for Transport will, of course, continue to monitor the performance of the FGW franchise to ensure that commitments given to Ministers and the public are met and that a significantly improved service is provided to passengers in future. Performance issues not directly under the control of First great Western itself are the subject of action plans between the company and Network Rail, which are monitored regularly.

The petition calls for the number of services at Melksham and other stations to be brought back to the levels provided before the timetable change on 10 December 2006. In planning the new franchise, the former Strategic Rail Authority found that usage of most trains on this route was very low, and set a minimum specification in order to achieve best value for money. First Great Western is free to operate additional services over the route subject to capacity on the track being available.

Reaction

"It's sad to see that the Government is still quoting a franchise specification based on data from 2002/03 which assumed almost no growth" says Graham Ellis. "In practise, there was very strong growth in train usage over the past five years - growth rates as high as 35% per annum [ticket sales to/from Melksham] so we've been presented with - and look like we're stuck with - a totally inadequete service that's driving passengers off the trains and into their cars."

The government has walked away from a wonderful opportunity to provide an appropriate service in the region - it appears to have misread my request for an appropriate service (trains at times people need to travel, reliable, with adequate capacity) as a request for a return to the old timetable which it was not.

What Now?

We understand that there's to be a further timetable review in December 2007, and that First (who operate the train services) have put proposals to the government already. Included within these discussions are:

* A further reconsideration of the Services from West Wiltshire to Chippenham and Swindon, where the two remaining daily trains are poorly timed (06:19 and 18:42 from Swindon, 07:00 and 19:35 from Westbury) and have lost over 90% of the traffic overnight on what had become a busy service.

* A further major re-arrangement of services bewtween Westbury and Bristol

We also understand that there will be another major reduction in the number of trains available to First Great Western on their "West Fleet" that operates our local services - indications are that 10 x 2 coach trains (of class 158) will be moved to the North of England.

Posted by gje at 10:29 AM | Comments (0)