Yesterday was Melksham's "Party in the Park" and carnival, where it seems the whole town turns out to see the stalls in the afternoon, the parade in the early evening, and the concert and fireworks after that - or at least to attend some of the events.

Last year, the Melksham Railway Development Group and the Save the Train campaign took a stall to inform a new audience who are perhaps not on line and don't keep up with local news about the service and campaign we're running - and we we delightfully amaze to find just how very supportive everyone was. And indeed the campaign progressed well over the year ... until just a few days ago, when First Great Western emailed to let us know - that after all the hard work - that they hadn't been able to sort out a financial package (yet?) and so there will be no improvement to train services calling at Melksham until December 2009 at the earliest.

I'm disappointed at the news, but not entirely surprised. The Department for Transport point at First Great Western, who point at Wiltshire County Council, who point at the Department for Transport. The DfT say they've no money, but finance load of other schemes (mostly in marginal constituencies). FGW say they're a commercial organisation as indeed they are, and yet they've found some 200k to hire an extra train for a few extra summer Saturdays for a Weymouth service which would make the difference for the "TransWilts" for a whole year. Wiltshire County Council plead poverty, then spend 2 million (that's enough for 10 years) in a fruitless search for a new water source on the slopes above Westbury, and continue to pour money into buses that are demonstrably carrying few passengers. Curious thing is ... everyone agrees that the case is a sound one and would be of huge benefit not only to Melksham but to the area as a whole, but no-one of the three takes a bold steps and puts the passenger (and wannabe passenger) first. The DfT's steer is marginal constituencies, FGW's steer is shareholder return, and WCC's steer is the a principled stand and the voters of one particular Westbury ward.


What case, then, to present at "Party in the Park" - to say "Lost again - end of campaign", to say "Whatever they say - NOT yet lost for December", to say "let's start pushing the harder for next year", or to say "let's regroup". What we presented, though, was the current situation. We filled in friends and contacts, and we listened. We listened to Joe Public's thoughts on rail services - not only on what they would like to see, but what they would use, and where we should go. Not so formally as last year, where we ran a survey - but listening still to what people want. Conclusion? People want a decent train service!

My "Party in the Park" handouts are on the Web site - here (current timetable) and here (a brief status report).

As an important footnote to the reader of this article - The TransWilts train service links (twice a day - 06:15 and 18:45 from Swindon) the five largest population centres of Wiltshire, of which Melksham is just one. There are no through trains at all in the reverse direction. An appropriate train service is (according to the county council) hourly ...

(written 2008-07-13 10:16:00)

 Z501 - Public Transport - Rail
  [2568] Forums for your Melksham and open source discussions - (2010-01-09)
  [2557] Rail Campaign - response to core consultation - (2009-12-31)
  [2556] Railway Station Survey - please complete today or tomorrow - (2009-12-30)
  [2533] Five guests, three groups, one car - (2009-12-11)
  [2529] Santa Special, 2009 - (2009-12-06)
  [2522] Integrated public Transport - what could be done for Melksham - (2009-12-01)
  [2513] Wiltshire Council purchases Melksham Station Land - (2009-11-26)
  [2511] The story of the railway land at Melksham Station - (2009-11-24)
  [2486] Santa Special - Trowbridge and Melksham to Swindon - (2009-10-31)
  [2477] By train ... - (2009-10-25)
  [2473] Exploring Old Railways - (2009-10-24)
  [2457] Railway Arithmetic - (2009-10-16)
  [2438] Listening to The Minister - (2009-10-05)
  [2395] From Lymington by train - last of the slammers - (2009-09-05)
  [2391] Great Western Route Utilisation Strategy - Draft for Consultation - (2009-09-02)
  [2372] Public Transport from (and to) Melksham on Sundays - (2009-08-23)
  [2328] Melksham - no trains, no southbound buses through the town - (2009-08-08)
  [2318] For Lua Programmers AND for Town Planners - (2009-08-02)
  [2268] Westbury Bypass Refused - looking forward - (2009-07-04)
  [2133] Bigger and better this year! - (2009-04-20)
  [2057] Train and Coach fares from London (and airports) to Melksham - (2009-02-26)
  [2042] Wiltshire Rail Service Update - (2009-02-15)
  [2026] Melksham Climate Friendly Group - (2009-02-05)
  [2024] Carry on Training - in spite of the weather - (2009-02-03)
  [1999] How low can you sink? - (2009-01-17)
  [1966] Background to the TransWilts Train Fiasco - (2008-12-29)
  [1965] How much does a train service actually cost - (2008-12-29)
  [1964] Why hasnt the fiasco been put right - (2008-12-29)
  [1905] A Gold Star for First Great Western Customer Service - (2008-11-24)
  [1858] Camera with night vision, youth with no vision - (2008-10-28)
  [1848] 30th November - Santa Trip from Melksham - (2008-10-19)
  [1757] Preserved railways - struggling to the future? - (2008-08-17)
  [1729] Back from the future - (2008-07-30)
  [1616] Not daring to be an anorak - (2008-04-19)
  [1567] Melksham - Swindon. Train v Bus v Car - (2008-03-07)
  [1558] Getting somewhere with the train service - (2008-02-28)
  [1530] Railway Acronyms and Abbreviations - (2008-02-03)
  [1452] Santa on the train to Melksham - (2007-12-01)
  [1428] Travel Across Wiltshire - the game - (2007-11-11)
  [1424] Closer than you think - the next step - (2007-11-08)
  [1358] Look forward with a new broom - Wiltshire Train Service - (2007-09-19)
  [1314] Business travel by train in the USA - (2007-08-22)
  [1303] Heading Upstate New York - (2007-08-14)
  [1291] Day trip to Weymouth - (2007-08-05)
  [1274] Radio coverage for railway issues - (2007-07-23)
  [1273] Melksham or Weymouth? Meal or day out? - (2007-07-23)
  [1228] Some progress on the train campaign - (2007-06-10)
  [1139] Overcrowded trains around Bristol - (2007-04-08)
  [1097] Train and business balls all in the air! - (2007-03-02)
  [1093] Wiltshire Train - can YOU come on 5th March? - (2007-02-25)
  [1076] Save the Train - an update - (2007-02-12)
  [1069] Rail trouble forced me to buy hotel - (2007-02-07)
  [1063] Bradford-on-Avon - 150 years of passenger trains - (2007-02-03)
  [1045] Bang! Train campaign hits home - (2007-01-19)
  [1044] Call for appropriate train services - Swindon, Bristol, Bath, West Wilts, Severn Beach etc - (2007-01-18)
  [1033] Empty at Easleigh, Missing at Melksham, Overflowing at Oldfield - (2007-01-14)
  [976] Santa at the station - (2006-12-09)
  [974] The last commuter train through Melksham - (2006-12-09)
  [952] Coming from London to Melksham by train for a course - (2006-11-28)
  [814] Melksham Railway Calendar 2007 - (2006-07-25)
  [790] Shadow Transport Minister to visit Melksham - (2006-07-02)
  [697] For any North and West Wilts and Swindon Readers - (2006-04-23)
  [648] West Wilts Railway Users Group and trains to Lacock - (2006-03-16)
  [632] Moral dilemma - (2006-03-04)
  [527] Greater Western Franchise Awarded - (2005-12-13)
  [524] Santa comes to Melksham - (2005-12-11)
  [488] Looking for railway groups and users - Swindon, Salisbury, Southampton - (2005-11-06)
  [486] Rail services under threat - Swindon, Melksham ... and Newquay and Bicester too - (2005-11-05)
  [447] Tomorrow's meeting. - (2005-09-19)
  [434] Through public transport connection, Chippenham to Salisbury, to cease - (2005-09-02)
  [428] Swindon - Chippenham - Melksham - Trowbridge - Westbury train service - (2005-08-29)
  [154] Railway train service, Melksham station - (2004-12-17)

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There is more that one way - Perl
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