Melksham Connections

[whole diary]

[Kim]

My comments from the station this morning...

RIP Melksham, as I was the only person getting on the train. Starting to think that they've finally killed off the passenger numbers that they managed to keep despite a ridiculous timetable, by being unreliable.

[grahame]

My comments from the station this morning...

RIP Melksham, as I was the only person getting on the train. Starting to think that they've finally killed off the passenger numbers that they managed to keep despite a ridiculous timetable, by being unreliable.

I was really saddened by the gentleman we met at the station last week.  Coming to catch the 06:38 for the first time, it was showing "on time" a few minutes before due, then delayed, then cancelled.  "This was a try out ... and I won't be doing it again" he said; another potential customer lost.  It was a bad week - I made 4 journeys between London and Melksham, and three of them were very seriously disrupted indeed (missed connections meaning 50 minutes later ex Westbury twice, and the 17:45 which should have got to Melksham at 19:11 was backed up to Ealing and passengers go to Chippenham at around 22:10).

If you head south on the 06:38 (as I did last week), I got to my commute destination at 08:55.   Returning on the 17:15 gets me to Melksham at 19:46.  That's a VERY long way for a commute.  For Bristol / Swindon / Salibury commuters, they get a very long day indeed - I think I have heard you say that your boss comments that you spend too long at work, Kim?  So - in current reallity - the service isn't a daily commuter one at all, even though the intent of the specification by the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) was to provide one.  And as such numbers will go up and down, and there will be mornings / trains where the loadings are 30 or 40 between Chippenham and Trowbridge (been on a couple of those recently), and also occasions - especially on the 19:48 - where there may not be a single person getting off or on (mind you, I'm always happy to see at least a handful of people even on that train - remember it's the "TransWilts" service and not just Melksham.

I'm away this week ... unlikely to make the 17:45 off Paddington on Friday, so it's going to be bus-scramble off the 18:00, wait until after 22:00 at Chippenham station, get a taxi, or call for a lift.  What a poor set of options to offer for people going home to a town of 25,000.   Perhaps I should thumb a lift in the station entrance?

[eightf48544]

Sympathies Graham, the Trans Wilts along with other services seems to a victim of some kind fundamental idea adopted by DaFT^» (Department for Transport - critical sounding abbreviation I discourage - about) to the provision of train services. Provided there is a train (Denton) or trains then you have a service. The fact that at they are at times no one wants to travel or is able to use for a sensible commute doesn't seem to come into the equation. You're lucky you've still got trains.

The irony is that they dare not try and shut the stations because of the political fallout.

How much is driven by pure anti rail sentiment and how much by:

"We can't provide a better service to these stations because there aren't enough units (in their opinion) and or the line will need heavy investment (loop at Melksham) to cope with the increased traffic which would surely be generated if a better service was provided."

I don't know.

It's a sort of Catch 22 we can't stop the service but we can't invest in it either.

It's very disheartening but I don't know how to break the circle. Just keep up the pressure but even with Taplow trying to get things done  felt like at times you are punching at a blancmange.

[Kim]

And I was saying...

I'm on the 18:30 from Bristol to Chippenham for the 19:02 at Melksham. Had something to finish at work, so for once in a blue moon the timing of the train is actually of use to me. 7 minute gap for connection, already at least 4 late, and not even at Bath yet where the delays are usually picked up from...

We just had a slightly extended announcement about being considerate with the use of mobile phones and personal stereos even when not in the quiet carriage. How about they show us some consideration with a reliable service that is not a connection lottery?! No one travelling semi-regularly between Bristol/Bath and Melksham gets the 18:30 (booked train to connect) unless they absolutely have to. Always the 18:00.

Melksham can cope with an enhanced service. Even a return to the Wessex Trains timetable would be a dream come true. It can't cope with a service like the nearby mainline stations, but no one has an issue with the absence of a service at that level. Funny how back in February when there were engineering works at both Chippenham and Trowbridge over the same weekend, Melksham could cope with 1 tph in each direction between the two stations. Not that any of them made the Melksham call...

[Kim]

Spoke to conductor about current connection issue. Currently running 6 late. "They'll probably hold it." Well they won't if he doesn't bother calling the control room to request it!!!

[Kim]

Connection made, but suspicious of more diversions at our expense due to problems at Reading...

[Kim]

2 passengers... give Melksham a lifetime achievement award.

6:44 to Bristol delayed. Unfortunately we were a bit later than usual, both pulled up at the same time and I missed it. Why did they change the 6:37 to 6:38?! The number of times I've managed to catch the 6:44 is a lot fewer since. I can deal with seeing it cross us on approach to Trowbridge, but missing by the kind of margin I have today really winds me up. I travel this route every day, wasting 1 hour and 15 minutes a week on the platform if I don't make a 6:44. This isn't including the daily 40 minutes I have to kill in Chippenham/Bristol in order to get back to Melksham in the evening. Trowbridge is a small station, we do not need 15 minutes for a connection; might be more use timing a 15 minute gap at Westbury where there are more than 2 platforms.

[grahame]

"We can't provide a better service to these stations because there aren't enough units (in their opinion) and or the line will need heavy investment (loop at Melksham) to cope with the increased traffic which would surely be generated if a better service was provided."

There is certainly an element of that involved. But the investment is NOT needed for the proposed two-hourly service, and you're looking at a single unit.

Better information systems (and they progress quickly, and software works across the country so not really a TransWits cost) will be a huge help too, and a bit of thought and change in mentality to thing of the line.

Kim's experiences, which I echo, show the endemic lack of note taken of the TransWilts service's passengers - from timetables to top level to many of the operational team.  Travel on the 17:45 ex Paddington - the train that connects to Melksham - and the crew will tell you to change at Swindon for Gloucester, and for Chippenham, Bath and Bristol.  What's the point of Gloucester, Bath and Bristol being offered as you would have got on the direct train that's come from Paddington at 17:48 or 18:00 anyway.   But very rarely do they tell you to change at Swindon for Melksham or Trowbridge - which is an advertised, useful, practical connection.

[Red Squirrel]

If it's any consolation, the situation you describe here reminds me somewhat of how the Severn Beach Line was just a few short years ago - you simply couldn't rely on it; I never went to Montpelier Station without a Plan B. It seemed like the only people using the line were cranks like me, or folk who saw it as a good way of getting about for free. (Revenue protection? I once saw a woman genuinely astonished to be asked to pay her fare...)

Things can and do change, and the tide is in our favour.

Illegitimi non carborundum.

[grahame]

If it's any consolation, the situation you describe here reminds me somewhat of how the Severn Beach Line was just a few short years ago - you simply couldn't rely on it; I never went to Montpelier Station without a Plan B.

Alas, we never to go Melksham without "Plan B" either.  As Kim's posts show, and some of mine over the last week or two as wel, the need for backup alternatives isn't just a feeling of need - it's reallity, with three out of four of my journeys in the week before last pushed back to that second plan.

The seed funding and LSTF^▸ (Local Sustainable Transport Fund) works that are budgetted, planned, should be happening are so important; it's more than just increasing the service.  Information, parking, better bus links, properly worked out connections are all crying out to be done, and a number of them are cheap, easy and currently under the control of a single parent company (First).   That may be a good thing - or it may be that a bit of competition would be good for all.

Things can and do change, and the tide is in our favour.

Thanks - yes ... I think so.  They had better change - otherwise I hold out little hope for Portishead, Tavistock and the like; similar sized or smaller towns that Melksham.  Just imagine a grand re-opening of Portishead, only for the potential commuters to discover that they have trains from Bristol at 06:15 and 18:45, returning from Portishead at 07:05 and 19:35, with nothing in between.

As well as Severn Beach, look at Falmouth.  That's got a similar population to Melksham too, and I think that's done rather well with the service improvements, hasn't it?

[Kim]

Just been reading through some of the other posts, rather than having a quick glance/using the thread as a blog.

Yeah, my boss has been getting concerned about the amount of hours I spend at work (supposed to be 9-5 or any equivalent combination.) I definitely don't trust the 7:20 out of Melksham, so try to be on the 6:38, getting to work at 8:15. I should then leave at 4:15, but don't usually leave until at least 5:15 (or 5:45 if I'm fed up of the 40 minute gap in Chippenham and play connection lottery off of the 6:30.) If I didn't have a half an hour walk between the station and work (which I imagine many potential passengers don't) it'd be an even greater cause for concern.

It's a long day, but because of the change, it's not as bad as the Melksham -> Swindon, taking at least twice as long to get there as Swindon. Salisbury/Westbury/Warminster are the worst, because you have to go on the first train out and the second train back in (the second train back in being more liable to a delay because it's tied to whether the first is on time.) Westbury doesn't take long to get to either, so it's those passengers with the most time to waste because there are no other trains.

[Kim]

Apologies if there is a better place for these, but they made me laugh in this context. Sorry also for the Instagram links, I'm on my phone and in need of a new computer.

http://instagram.com/p/ZOUd3buBNu/

People forget about?! Let's not forget the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) seeming to forget about a town with a population of over 20,000! I've also been challenged by FGW^▸ (First Great Western) ticket collectors on more than one occasion for being on a Trowbridge bound train at 9/10/11pm with a Melksham ticket. Am I not supposed to have a social life because they fail to provide an appropriate service?!

http://instagram.com/p/ZOUkuOOBOB/

What more frequent service?! Nothing for Melksham, and even Bath to Chippenham has got worse, as I found when I had a 40 minute gap for a connecting train the other Saturday, and that was sticking to the exact trains the timetable said!

http://instagram.com/p/ZOUqYFuBOT/

Good plan, given the Melksham connection lottery of late. I think we could do with the stress relief at Melksham Station though!

http://instagram.com/p/ZOUv6VOBOd/

Our train? Run it earlier then, and stop charging us for the privilege of having our time wasted by the inadequate service.

[Kim]

5 passengers today, shocking.

However, sometimes the choice of words that conductors choose when checking tickets really grates on me. Just boarded a train to Bristol from Trowbridge with a Melksham ticket. "Yeah, no problem at all." Well there IS a problem, namely the insane hour that I get back at every night!!! I've seen this particular conductor before and he always says that to me, whereas others get "Thanks very much." Just stick to thanks will you, I don't need reminding of the wait ahead, because I have REALLY, REALLY had about as much as I can take of it!

I love my work and I hate the way this service takes away from that.

[grahame]

... sometimes the choice of words that conductors choose when checking tickets really grates on me ...

Yeah ...

Conductor asking a cyclist travelling from Chippenham to Trowbridge to move his cycle from the one doorway that's going to be used - "It's only Melksham". I know what he means, but it grates, doesn't it?

[Kim]

The single door situation is something else that annoys me. They're now not so bad in the mornings, but when it comes to alighting from the train, that's a different story. It used to be that you could sit at the back of the front carriage and know that that would be the door that would open. Now it's more and more dependent on what mood the conductor's in, with the line of passengers being moved from one door to another on more than one occasion when the train is passing Leekes, because the conductor has changed his mind. They also have the horrible (for me) habit of opening only the door where the gap between the train and platform is greatest. One conductor then offers me a ramp. No need for that, they could alleviate that problem by being a bit more sensible with the door that they open. A 2 car train WILL fit along the platform. Might be extra effort for the driver to do that, but surely they can open both doors of the front carriage? It's not Avoncliff! Very often when coming back on the 19:47 arrival into Melksham, the conductor is nowhere to be seen. Are we supposed to be psychic now? It's very unsettling knowing that there is no train back if you don't find your way to the correct door before they dispatch the train to continue to Chippenham.

Anyway, in that situation surely it is more sensible to use the other door of the carriage? Saying that, if things stay as they are for much longer, I fear there will be no need for a door at Melksham at all!