Great Western Coffee Shop

As the Sherborne Transport Action Group reveals that changes to rail provision at Sherborne railway station will be one of its top priorities this year, reporter Sheri Willis asks commuters what they think of the service.

SHERBORNE Transport Action announced at its annual general meeting that it will continue to seek a ^Wessex by the hour^ service.

But what do commuters think of the current service provision at the station? Do they feel there is a need for change?

Caroline Roberts, 54, of Oborne, said: ^The service from Sherborne station is fine. It is exactly what you would expect from a small market town station, nothing more.^

Michael Catovsky, 38, of Tinneys Lane said: ^I do not want to see any changes as the service seems to be adequate.^

Lindsey Griffin of Corton Denham said: ^I would like to see more carriages at the peak times as often the trains are incredibly crowded and people have to squeeze in. I would also like to see the ticket office manned more and the toilets remain open when there are no staff on site.^

Charles Morris, 18, attends Sherborne School. He said: ^I think that more carriages are needed as when everyone from the schools are using the trains it is very crowded and not a pleasant experience.^

Skip Proctor, 28, of Sherborne said: ^I think that the service at Sherborne train station is very good. I have never seen anyone left on the platform or overcrowded trains.^

John Willis of Sherborne said: ^I think there are plenty of trains provided in the mornings for people commuting to work but I do not know about during the day. To be honest I do not really use the train station in Sherborne all that much and I imagine that the majority of people that use the service are people that travel for business.^

A spokesperson for the South West Trains Network Rail Alliance said: ^We work hard to provide enough capacity to match demand and during busier times will often provide extra carriages on our services. Our services from Sherborne, under normal circumstances, are adequate for the number of people travelling, with the majority of passengers able to find a seat. However there have been a small number of times when our services have experienced high numbers of customers. Due to the large number of boarding schools in the area, our services are often busier at the end of term when students are travelling home. When we are made aware of these dates we will attempt to lengthen trains to ease the pressure on services.

^We^re sorry for any inconvenience caused during these peak travel periods.^

Sherborne Transport Actions welcomes improved services but 'more still to be done'

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Sherborne Transport Action Group has welcomed the introduction of new South West Train services for Sherborne

A transport action group has welcomed the addition of South West Trains new half-hourly services running from Sherborne.

South West Trains announced last month a series of changes which will bring an additional 800 extra seats every weekday between London and Somerset as well as the introduction of new services serving Sherborne.

Changes to the rail service to Sherborne station include an additional weekday service to London Waterloo at 4.02pm, a half hourly service from London between 3.20pm and 7.20pm, three additional services from London, departing Waterloo at 1.50pm, 3.50pm and 6.50pm and five direct services to Yeovil Pen Mill at 1.50pm, 3.50pm, 4.50pm, 5.50pm and 6.50pm to connect with the Weymouth line.

The Chairman of Sherborne Transport Action Group, Mike Keatinge, welcomed the additional services but said that more needs to be done to improve rail services to the area. He said: "We wholly welcome the upgrading to a half-hourly service between Yeovil Junction and Salisbury in the afternoon and early evening. We would hope that this might, at some time in the future, be extended to the rest of the day, and we look forward at some point to seeing trains from London and Salisbury running later in the evening.

"The two trains a day between Yeovil Pen Mill and Salisbury via Westbury are welcomed. But they don't seem to be gauged to any particular passenger demand. They don't really meet a need to go out and back in the day.

"The shuttle between Yeovil Junction and Pen Mill is a useful addition, but we would have hoped to see a better synchronisation with the Bristol-Weymouth trains.

"We are disappointed that there is still no move to an hourly service on the Bristol-Weymouth line, where the recent report from the Heart of Wessex Rail Partnership has again recorded healthily increasing passenger numbers. This is of course a matter for First Great Western, not South West Trains.

"But we are a little concerned that the new South West Train services should not exclude the possibility of more First Great Western trains on the single track Yeovil to Castle Cary section."

The new South West Trains services will be in operation from December 14. It has also introduced a rolling programme to refurbish all 30 of the class 159 diesel trains on the West of England route.

Our newly elected MP is campaigning for a new service from Exeter to Oxford (via Yeovil, Frome, Swindon) which will add to the fun (he has a column in Western Gazette).

Any reliable half hourly service between Exeter and Yeovil Junction will require additional re-doubling - this is why the 'Devon Metro' half hourly service to Axminster can only operate in alternate hours (as explained in the 2012 GW franchise spec).

Does this latest idea of an Exeter to Oxford etc service (GoOp based?) therefore add an extra train as well as the proposed Devon Metro?   In which case it will almost certainly require even more track doubling.

Paul

"Our" being ... (constituency, name?) ... do you have links to the column where we can read about this?

Much mooted elements to such a service ... and there's a lot of sense in various parts of it.  Is he looking to franchise service or an extension of the Go-op proposals to Exeter?

"In time I would like to see a rail service from Exeter via Chard, Crewkerne, Yeovil and possibly a new town on the A303, to Frome, Swindon and Oxford. That would link our people in better with education, technology, arts and business opportunities, and be a new cross route to add to and connect with our London and Bristol services.

Also keen on re-opening Chard Junction station...

Having travelled yesterday from Axminster-Exeter after signalling problems at Wimbledon, the line seems to be pretty much at capacity for any kind of reliable service to run, due to the knock-on effect of every late running service. Particular pinch points are Tisbury loop, which appears to be used all day by every single service (and is in the middle of the Wiltshire countryside rather than at Tisbury due to BR selling off the down platform in 1967 assuming the then 19 mile single line from Gillingham to Wilton would suffice- it didn't) and the still-existing 17 mile single line section from Chard Junction to Yeovil Junction. Certainly any attempt to run additional services from Exeter Central to Yeovil Junction is likely to need a loop at Crewkerne.

Once Cranbrook opens there aren't many other obvious candidates for reopening - but then not many lines have had four stations reopen since the 1960s (Cranbrook isn't an exact replacement for Broadclyst, but it's located very close by).   

... I can no longer rely on the rail service on the West of England line. Strikes, landslips, basic maintenance failures...