MP calls to protect train services

LOCAL MP Andrew Murrison is calling for Westbury to be appreciated as an important rail hub and for it not to be overlooked as train services look set to change in coming years.

The member of Parliament for South West Wiltshire, alongside Chippenham and Frome MPs Michelle Donelan and David Warburton, has written to transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin to stress the importance of including Westbury Station on major train routes in the future.

Andrew Murrison said, “As train services are reviewed in 2017 and 2019, it looks likely that there will be a non-stop service from Reading to Taunton. If Westbury isn’t included on the major routes it will be a massive missed opportunity for the whole area.

“It would have a profound effect on the local economy, and could affect house prices. Even people who don’t regularly use the trains would notice.

“Westbury needs to be better understood as the region’s great north-south/east-west intersection rail hub. This needs to be hammered home in advance of refranchising and there should be no question of shaving a couple of minutes off journeys to the far south west by not stopping at Westbury.”

Westbury Station is served by both South West Trains and Great Western Railway, meaning it is connected directly to a number of major stations including London Paddington, Cardiff Central, Southampton Central and Reading.