... Wonder how much more DM would be with an hourly service? Maybe time to resurrect the idea of extending the SWT▸ services to Swindon, Graham?
There would be such huge logic in doing that.
* With the layover that the Romsey - Southampton - Romsey - Salisbury service has at Salisbury at the moment, a single extra unit could give a two hourly service whereas a dedicated unit running just Salisbury - Swindon could only manage once every 3 hours
* The unit would be based actually on the line [Salisbury], and would be a semi-long distant 2 car that would be very suitable for the service as it grew.
* I've been amazed at just how many TransWilts passengers carry on to Southampton, so the through service would be a real plus. And indeed the onward link to Southampton airport every 2 hours would be great. Think of it, even off the Melksham section - benefits such as a train service from the County town of Wiltshire to an International airport
* Under current
ORCATS▸ arrangements, an
FGW▸ service would be of limited earning power to FGW and indeed it would mean they had to pull a unit off an ORCATS raid elsewhere at a financial detriment which they are reluctant to do. In contrast, an SWT service would fit well for them with the distorted accountant's model.
SWT crews already know the line up to Trowbridge anyway ...