Frome station - facilities, services, improvements, events and incidents - merged posts

[whole diary]

[Lee]

From Save The Train (link below.)
http://www.savethetrain.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=2057.msg4904#msg4904

So, how do I get to work today?

I can either drive to Westbury or I can wait and get the 08.05 that will get me in to Swindon for 09.42, if I'm lucky. Unfortunately this one's consistently late as it has to wait at Castle Cary for an HST^▸ (High Speed Train) to go through first ! Is this the shape of things to come...? 

    Train Times for Frome (FRO^» (Frome - next trains))

Trains    Last updated: 20/04/2007 06:39:43
From    Timetabled
Arrival    Expected
Arrival    To    Timetabled
Departure    Expected
Departure    Operator
Frome              Cardiff Central    0647    Cancelled    First Great Western
Weymouth    0652    No report*    Filton Abbey Wood    0652    No report*    First Great Western              Actually cancelled see below
Westbury    0652    Cancelled    Filton Abbey Wood    0652    Cancelled    First Great Western
Bristol Temple Meads    0701    0710    Weymouth    0701    0711    First Great Western
Weymouth    0805    No report    Cardiff Central    0805    No report    First Great Western

[Jim]

After reading the post, it would apper you ment Friday 20th April

[Lee]

Ah...the joys of being a Global Moderator......

[grahame]

So, how do I get to work today?

I can either drive to Westbury or I can wait and get the 08.05 that will get me in to Swindon for 09.42, if I'm lucky. Unfortunately this one's consistently late as it has to wait at Castle Cary for an HST^▸ (High Speed Train) to go through first ! Is this the shape of things to come...? 

OR:

1. Drive
2. Get the 234 bus
3. Get a taxi
4. Work from home

I post up certain alternatives to show you that First don't have a monopoly.   I'm not sure if I WANT to point that out, as I think First may want to get rid of a lot of their ex-Wessex business - "Only brings in 4% of our revenue but takes up a LOT more of our time" according to one of their managers, explaining at the timw why they can't put more resources in but could also show why they don't want it.  I think First actually asked if they could bid for the new FGW^▸ (First Great Western) frachise excluding the ex-Wessex services but were told that it was all or nothing.

A serious matter ... I know of at least one person who has given up working thanks to FGW.  Yet somehow the economics of having someone on the dole don't get weighed into th ecost justifications for a decent train service.

I was in Finland last week - a fast and efficient public transport system, in use by th emajority of people, and at about a third to a quarter of the cost around here.  What a pleasure.

[Ruth Grundy]

After reading the post, it would apper you ment Friday 20th April

Whoops, you're right, I think I was still half asleep. Thanks Lee for amending that. 

[Lee]

Forthcoming timetable changes to trains running through Frome have been condemned by commuters (link below.)
http://thisissomerset.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=147472&command=displayContent&sourceNode=242195&contentPK=19170359&folderPk=113662&pNodeId=251478

John Leach , chairman of the Frome Public Transport Users' Association , said the new timetable will be a nightmare for commuters , who already have to put up with consistently late trains.

He said: "As chairman of the association, I listen to commuters who come to me with their concerns over this service."

"The new timetable will have a knock-on effect for all commuters in this area, from Frome right through to Weymouth."

The current morning train is 7.05am from Frome and arrives in Weymouth at 8.23am , but the new train time will run 13 minutes earlier , at 6.48am.

Commuters will arrive nearly an hour before most people have to start work , at 8.05am , which Mr Leach believes will have people hanging around in the cold.

They are also unhappy at losing the direct service to Cardiff , and that there will be a later day service to Weymouth , leaving at 10.46am , meaning that half the day will be gone by the time rail users get to seaside town at noon.

Mr Leach said :

"All this has happened so the Westbury to Bath service can run every half an hour. Frome commuters all have to suffer to accommodate this."

"The trouble with First Great Western is it doesn't listen to its customers, it's like banging our heads against a brick wall,"

"All we want is a regular, on-time service that suits the community it is supposed to serve."

Andrew Griffiths said: "We are aware of a number of issues with the new timetable on the Weymouth line, through Frome."

"These issues will be addressed on the next timetable, which will be available in May."

"We are also looking at adding more trains to go through Frome to make the service as effective as possible."

"Though we try, it is impossible to keep everybody happy when a new timetable is implemented and hope we can resolve any issues by the middle of next year."

[devon_metro]

Having stoppers following trains from Westbury - Bath is silly though!

[Graz]

I work between Frome and Warminster and have a choice most times to catch the bus from Frome or Warminster back to Oldfield Park. Frome is as little easier to get to and there's higher chance I can get back to Oldfield pk, but the sheer frequency of trains is almost enough to put me off. It's clear to me that 1 train every 2 hours is grossly inadequate for this large town (even at peak!) and it needs at least a hourly service both ways. I'd suggest either a new Westbury - Yeovil service or just make some semifast London-Exeter services call there.

[grahame]

... It's clear to me that 1 train every 2 hours is grossly inadequate for this large town (even at peak!) and it needs at least a hourly service both ways. I'd suggest either a new Westbury - Yeovil service or just make some semifast London-Exeter services call there.

Included in the proposals put forward in May 2007 (and revealed to use under FOI^▸ (Freedom of Information)), Frome was to get an additional three trains a day.  It didn't happen ... neither did the extra three trains a day from Westbury to Swindon.  Not sure exactly why the proposal that seemed to have First's full support, and was working along lines encouraged (though NOT financially) by the council failed. The unit that would have made a "major improvement for wiltshire" is - as from Monday - running a "spoiler" service a few minutes ahead or or behind SWT^▸ (South West Trains)'s new Salisbury - Southampton - Romsey train.

I'm looking for sense in services like FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s 13:02 arrival in Southampton - what's wrong with the 12:40 arrival or the 13:08 arrival?   This is a genuine question - the only reason I can see is that if FGW run a higher proportion of the trains they're entitled to a higher proportion of the revenues, irrespective of how each train loads.

By the way, Graz .... there are other options.   How about a 2-hourly Weymouth to Swindon via Frome (crossplatform change at Westbury for Bristol) with the alternate hour being Frome to Bristol direct?   I'm looking to provide an improved service for Melksham - population very similar to that of Frome but with an appalling service at the moment.  And Weymouth - Swindon is a natural straight route / old main line with Frome becoming more and more a commuter town for the Bath / Bristol  and Chippenham / Swindon areas.

[Lee]

Included in the proposals put forward in May 2007 (and revealed to use under FOI^▸ (Freedom of Information)), Frome was to get an additional three trains a day.  It didn't happen ... neither did the extra three trains a day from Westbury to Swindon.  Not sure exactly why the proposal that seemed to have First's full support, and was working along lines encouraged (though NOT financially) by the council failed. The unit that would have made a "major improvement for wiltshire" is - as from Monday - running a "spoiler" service a few minutes ahead or or behind SWT^▸ (South West Trains)'s new Salisbury - Southampton - Romsey train.

I'm looking for sense in services like FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s 13:02 arrival in Southampton - what's wrong with the 12:40 arrival or the 13:08 arrival?   This is a genuine question - the only reason I can see is that if FGW run a higher proportion of the trains they're entitled to a higher proportion of the revenues, irrespective of how each train loads.

First's proposal , along with some interesting background info , can be found in the link below.
http://www.wellho.net/wccfoi/wccfgw3.pdf

It should be noted that one of the reasons that FGW will run "spoiler" services to Southampton is because they are specified by the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about). In order to implement the Melksham / Frome proposal , FGW will need to obtain a derogation / change to the specification. One of the reasons that this is unlikely to happen is because the 0809 arrival into Southampton is likely to be very useful to Salisbury / Romsey commuters.

I work between Frome and Warminster and have a choice most times to catch the bus from Frome or Warminster back to Oldfield Park. Frome is as little easier to get to and there's higher chance I can get back to Oldfield pk, but the sheer frequency of trains is almost enough to put me off. It's clear to me that 1 train every 2 hours is grossly inadequate for this large town (even at peak!) and it needs at least a hourly service both ways. I'd suggest either a new Westbury - Yeovil service or just make some semifast London-Exeter services call there.

As you can see from the link below , we looked into a similiar option as part of our background work on Gateway To The Future.
http://www.shinewithstyle.co.uk/literature/Suggested%20Weymouth%20-%20Severn%20Beach%20timetable.pdf

[devon_metro]

By the way, Graz .... there are other options.   How about a 2-hourly Weymouth to Swindon via Frome (crossplatform change at Westbury for Bristol) with the alternate hour being Frome to Bristol direct?   I'm looking to provide an improved service for Melksham - population very similar to that of Frome but with an appalling service at the moment.  And Weymouth - Swindon is a natural straight route / old main line with Frome becoming more and more a commuter town for the Bath / Bristol  and Chippenham / Swindon areas.

I'm not an expert but surely more people from Weymouth and Frome want to travel direct to Bristol than Melksham/Swindon? 

[grahame]

I'm not an expert but surely more people from Weymouth and Frome want to travel direct to Bristol than Melksham/Swindon? 

If you qualify that with "at present and by train", yes, I agree. You'll note my suggestion still has a two-hourly Frome to Bristol and an additional hourly service with a crossplatform change at Westbury.   

And the overall travel requirement from Trowbridge / Westbury / Frome is much more evenly split that you would guess between the Bristol/Bath and the Chippenham/Swindon directions.   Listen to the local estate agents (who are far more experts than I) and they'll put Swindon ahead in terms of commuter destinations, but Bristol and Bath ahead in terms of leaisure trip destinations.  And look at Ruth Kelly's sustainable transport report of 30th October and the congestion map and you'll see that it too shows "via Bath" and "via Chippneham" roads both very much of a muchness.

It's also interesting to note that the journey as the crow flies from Frome to Bath is 11 miles, whereas the journey as the 150 meanders is 22 miles.  Still the "Great Way Round" and I wonder if that enourages a skew towards cars and buses far more on the Bath run than on the Swindon run if you should provide a balanced train service.

[Graz]

... It's clear to me that 1 train every 2 hours is grossly inadequate for this large town (even at peak!) and it needs at least a hourly service both ways. I'd suggest either a new Westbury - Yeovil service or just make some semifast London-Exeter services call there.

.. By the way, Graz .... there are other options.   How about a 2-hourly Weymouth to Swindon via Frome (crossplatform change at Westbury for Bristol) with the alternate hour being Frome to Bristol direct?   I'm looking to provide an improved service for Melksham - population very similar to that of Frome but with an appalling service at the moment.  And Weymouth - Swindon is a natural straight route / old main line with Frome becoming more and more a commuter town for the Bath / Bristol  and Chippenham / Swindon areas.

I tell you what-- this would have been ESPECIALLY useful today. My train (18:38) was almost 45 minutes late into Frome with no explanation given. Should there have been an extra train to Westbury this would have especially been useful as I indeed could have changed there. Or, if all trains from Westbury-Bristol were delayed (as what seemed to be the case today) - a change at Chippenham would have been just as good!

I also strongly believe that a Frome/Yeovil to Swindon service would be highly beneficial. A change at Bath is currently too inconvenient to do this, especially with the Weymouth line's poor services. The alternatives aren't much use- a fairly slow bus to Chippenham with a change or travelling along the congested and indirect A36/A361/A4631. Neither are a viable option, but the train would be. Just imagine the economic potential and convenience it would bring to all places along the route and the potential of high usage- which I'm sure would be the case after a while. It's high time places like Frome and Melksham started getting a service that they deserve.

[grahame]

Slightly different "tack" on Frome, so new thread.

An I reading the timetable right for SATURDAY trains from Frome to Bath ... there's an 06:37, then an 07:55 which sits and waits for 30 minutes in Westbury, then an 09:25.  Pity the poor person who has to commute to work from Frome at normal times on a Saturday, or have I missed something?

[Came a cross this when working on a new minitimetable for the Melksham Tourist Information Centre]

[devon_metro]

Looks like its not an error!