Chippenham lost its train service to Oxford in 2003, and now the service to Salisbury and Southampton is threatened too. That would leave just the London to Bristol service calling there, plus a single train each rush-hour to Westbury.

The threatened service runs through our town of Melksham and we've started an awareness campaign here, encouraging people to write the their MP, to the train operators, to the SRA (or rather - now - the Department of Transport, Rail) and others to express their views. We're also encouraging people to use the service for the next 18 months.

Illustration - the threatened train service to Trowbridge, Salisbury and Southampton pauses at Chippenham on a Sunday afternoon

But with a bigger town like Chippenham, how on earth do we find the right people to alert to the threat? It's not just "The Melksham Train". It's the train that lets you get from Chippenham to Westbury in 25 minutes, whereas the bus alternative would take 90 minutes. It's the train that will get you to Salisbury in just over an hour .... the best bus journey takes nearly twice as long, and involves at least one change.


Regular readers here may have seen my previous "Save the train" posts here; I'me now starting to raise awareness in Chippenham (first link) and I'll be doing so later on for Swindon, Trowbridge and Westbury. If you're from one of these towns and you feel that service should be retained, please contact me by email or through our support or petiton pages. Many Thanks!
(written 2005-09-02 12:24:10)

 

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