Great Western Coffee Shop

"Dilton Marsh services have been only been reduced by 2 northbound and 1 southbound, leaving 7 trains northbound and 11 southbound per day" - a quote from First Great Western earlier this week.

Dilton Marsh is a rapidly growing area just south of Westbury, Wiltshire where a countryside station is becoming surrounded by a town of commuter housing ... according to a senior expert with one of the local estate agent chains who listened to in August, "the people who are and will be living here commute to Swindon, Bath and Bristol on a daily basis".

Let's look not only at the number of trains, but where they serve ... and not only at the number of trains, but also some of the timings ... and not only the changes this year, but the changes last year too and the you don't see quite such a rosy, minimal cut, picture.

* This time last year, Dilton Marsh had a through service to and from Swindon, which was the first target commuter toen for the area that our estate agent expert quoted.  Now it has no such through service at all.  In December, a single through service resumes leaving Swindon at 06:18. Not exactly a busy time!

* This time last year, Dilton Marsh had 11 northbound trains and 13 southbound, so year on year the are being whittled away.  Crazy in a growth area.

* This time last year, all 11 northbound services started from Southampton and provided for Salisbury to Dilton Marsh traffic.  Next year, just 4 services will run from Southampton - the other 3 will start just one stop up the line at Warminster.

* This time last year, 2 of the southbound services only went one stop beyond Dilton Marsh (to Warminster), but next year that will be 4 services.  So trains to Salisbury are cut from 11 a day to 7.

* There is a reasonable service into Bath and Bristol in the morning, but in the evening a big gap between the 16:22 and 18:49 departures from Bristol which call at (or connect into) Dilton Marsh trains.

I have to ask myself ... "is anyone actually marketing this asset of a station on an important line in a rapidly growing area, or don't they care?".

What does Dilton Marsh need?   Well - a good start would be extra services northbound from Salisbury to Swindon, calling at 08:00, 10:50, 13:50 and 16:40, and southbound from Swindon to Salisbury calling at 09:55, 12:55, 15:55 and 18:55. Which looks remarkably like the proposal that was put forward a few months back by FGW and others and appears to have been stillborn. Do we feel cheated?