A NEW train service, taking passengers from Westbury to the Midlands, is not expected to be up and running until 2014.
In April 2010 GO-OP Co-operative, known initially as Co! co-operative and then GOCO, publicly launched the new service which will result in more trains passing through Westbury’s station. The route will run from Yeovil Junction to the Midlands (via Frome, Westbury, Trowbridge, Melksham, Chippenham, Swindon and Oxford). The service is intended to eventually terminate at Moor Street and also extend to Weymouth. Although the original aim was to start running services in 2011, the timescale was put back last year. The co-operative now says they will not be able to run services before 2014. A representative for GO-OP Co-operative said, “The latest news is that because of a delay with respect to ordering rolling stock, and because of the onerous financial guarantees that the industry is demanding, we consider that 2014 would be the earliest we would be able to run services. “I regret this disappointing news, but we have to be pragmatic and recognise that it takes considerably more time to get a rail service up and running than any other business start up.”
