Severnside - an audit of services and aspirations

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Following up from last Saturday's Railfuture (Severnside) meeting  that preceded the national AGM^▸ (Annual General Meeting) - I am doing myself an audit / checkpoint to remind myself of what should be on the agenda of the branch.  The branch area is defines as Somerset, Wiltshire (but not south of Salisbury Plain), Gloucestershire and the West of England Combined Authority.

Comments / inputs welcome - what have I missed or included that really should not be there?

Reminder of tag line - "Railfuture – Campaigning for better services over a bigger railway - run by volunteers to benefit rail users"

The following train services connect our area to other areas
London to Bristol and onwards via Bath main line
London to South Wales main line
Cardiff to Portsmouth
Plymouth and Bristol to Birmingham and beyond (+)
London to the South West via Westbury semifast (*)
London to the South West via Taunton express
London to Cheltenham Spa
Worcester and Great Malvern to Weymouth via Bristol (*)
Cardiff to Taunton and beyond via Weston-super-mare
London to Yeovil Junction via Westbury
The following touch briefly onto one of our counties
London to Worcester and Hereford via Evesham
London to Exeter via Yeovil Junction
London to Salisbury local (+)
London to Bedwyn (+)

The following services are contained within our area
Local services in the Bristol Area (*)
Severn Beach Line (*)
Swindon to Westbury (*)

How do we make it a better railway?

+ - needs to be restored to pre-covid levels at least
* - seeking significant frequency increase

The following stations are on our radar for service improvement
Pilning
Dilton Marsh

The following stations are on our radar for infrastructure improvement
Trowbridge

The following service on existing passenger lines is missing
Frome to Taunton
Severnside to south coast / Brighton (+)
Severnside to London Waterloo(+)

Connections need improving at
Castle Cary
Salisbury
Westbury

New Stations on existing lines
Portway Parkway
Devizes Gateway
Corsham
Saltford
St Annes Park
Langport
Stroudwater
Ashton Down
Long Ashton
Coalpit Heath
Lockleaze
White House Business Park
Royal Wootton Bassett
Staverton Junction
Bathampton
Charfield
Wellington
Wilton
Sparcells
Porton

New services on lines not in current regular passenger service
west of Swindon to Oxford, Milton Keynes, Bedford and Cambridge
Bristol to Portishead
Henbury Loop
Thornbury
Taunton to Bishops Lydeard / Minehead
Frome to Radstock
Witham to Shepton Mallet
Andover to Ludgershall
Kemble to Cirencester

Journeys / destinations to be considered from across our region
To Birmingham and The North
To the south coast, including Isle of Wight
To airports - Gatwick, Heathrow, Stansted
To the northern Home Counties and East Anglia

Other Issues
Reliabilty of services and connections
Integration with bus services for "final mile"
Integration with bus services for places not served by train
Integrated bus and train ticketing and interchangability
Information systems including someone to actually ask
Fares and ticketing - complexity/system and levels
Freight on rail
Environment and climate issues
Age and comfort of stock
Customer voice and inputs

Mass transit projects that are not national rail
Bath and Bristol tram propsals
MetroBus / guided busways

[Mark A]

That's quite a catalogue. But it's right that it is as it's dealing with a not inconsiderable slice of the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) and, concerning rail, increasingly poorly connected.

An aside, perhaps 'Kemble to Cirencester' is best not included in the 'not in regular passenger use' category.

Mark

[grahame]

That's quite a catalogue. But it's right that it is as it's dealing with a not inconsiderable slice of the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) and, concerning rail, increasingly poorly connected.

An aside, perhaps 'Kemble to Cirencester' is best not included in the 'not in regular passenger use' category.

Mark

I was thinking of a separate "and some / all needs new build" category:
Cirencester
Portishead
Shepton Mallet
Radstock
but every darned one is a special case?

[johnneyw]

Would AZTEC West fit in there somewhere?