As from 16th December, a new early train from Melksham and a later evening connection back from London will allow you to be in the capital by 7 a.m. add leave as late as a quarter to eight in the evening and still get home - with a journey time from Paddington to Melksham of just 81 minutes. Those travel times are similar to some places which are already "classic" commuter towns. Pulborough in Sussex, Ely in Cambridgeshire and Whitstable in Kent all have similar London travel times.
(See {{here}} for timetable details from mid December)Melksham is a growing town, a lovely place to bring up a family, and there is a great deal of housing within cycling or walking distance of the station - so why not commute from Melksham to London? Pulborough, Ely and Whitstable all have a number of things going for them which make them very attractive as commuter towns compared (at the moment) to Melksham.
1. Melksham's train service isn't frequent enough - it really needs to run hourly at peak times to be an attractive commute for people who may find they can't always leave the office on time. We're not all that far off that service level - there's probably just one more round trip needed, and it should be within the capacity of the current infrastructure
2. Melksham does not have any "safety net" late train home - there's no Paddington departure at around 10 p.m. that will get you home is you're late in the office or headed out to a Birthday / Christmas / Leaving / just for the sake of it "do".
3. The Melksham fare is much higher. Weekly season £282.30 compared to £136.80, £126.40 and £132.90 for the other stations I have quoted.
4. Paddington! Not the heart of office-land but a further messy-sh tube or bus ride onward.
Five day a week "classic" commuting (and the use of season tickets) has faded - but there are still a well used facility. And commuting has diversified away from office blocks in The City. CrossRail should open "soon" - say (realistically) by the end of
CP6▸ . I'm not totally convinced how much of a brake the high season ticket price is (just look how many people already commute from Chippenham) and Melksham. I rather think we have a latent potential here in Melksham. Connect up the station to Scotland Road (that's the Northern Access) ... and that takes you across to Murray Walk and puts Melksham Forest in walking distance of the station. Restore the southern steps and you cut a hundred yards or so off the walk to George Ward and Addison Road. Improve(d) train connections to other towns such as Reading, Didcot (for Harwell) and Oxford will bring in other diversifies "South East" destinations. Through trains to and from an airport (Southampton) should hep attract new residents who need easy access to Scotland, Ireland and Europe too.
I await with interest the outcome of the Williams Review and the Rail Delivery Group's fare consultation. Although the commute may be surprisingly robust to the season ticket differential, a fare of £177 from Melksham (day return via Swindon) versus £53 (day return from Whitstable via Chatham) may be just too much of a differential. There are many quirks in season and other ticket prices - some of which are steeped in history of government looking to encourage new towns, others in the history of rail companies and others pricing to what they felt their market would stand, and yet more to help control demand where demand was in danger of outstripping capacity.
There is every chance of significant further growth in Melksham, including residential development within easy access of the station. The next decade should be interesting.
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