A LOCAL rail campaigner is encouraging people to make the use of a new, improved rail service to Swindon.
The improved service on the TransWilts line, which runs from Salisbury to Swindon via Westbury, started on Sunday 8th December. First Great Western’s timetable has an additional six trains a day in each direction Monday to Saturday.
Rail campaigner Horace Prickett from Westbury said, “The recent announcement of an enhanced service across the Transwilts Line is really good news for connecting Wiltshire, especially its only cathedral city, and west Wiltshire with its largest conurbation, Swindon, by rail. The service will also mean a better deal to White Horse News readers wishing to travel to Melksham, Chippenham and Swindon. Currently getting between these stations is a nightmare, involving long detours and changes of train.
“This sad state of affairs is in spite of the fact that a through line between them already exists and was saved from the Beeching Axe some 50 years ago by determined local pressure groups.
“TransWilts service can become a viable and vital lifeline directly connecting Salisbury, all five towns of west Wiltshire, Chippenham and Swindon.”
Horace says that while a train from Westbury to Swindon via Bath would take 1hr 45mins, a service along the TransWilts service would take 45mins. Horace continues, “Transwilts will be making a direct service between Salisbury, Westbury, Trowbridge, Melksham and Swindon an economic proposition.
“That the Transwilt Service can be made a success can be seen from the Severn Beach line. The populations served by the Severn Beach and Transwilts lines are similar. Since the introduction of the full Severn Beach service, passenger numbers have grown exponentially and the annual subsidy has been slashed and is about to disappear altogether.
“It would therefore seem that Wiltshire Council has made the right decision and has a one and only chance to make the Transwilts a success. It is now up to the public to support the service or lose it. When the current short-term subsidy runs out in three years, if traffic is not sufficient, the line will close.”
