20th October 2021 - Special Rail Users meeting, Trowbridge, on "The Waterloos"

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Meeting codes also via http://waterloo.savethetrain.org.uk/meeting.html

It has been announced that the train services run by SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) from Bristol Temple Meads to London (Waterloo) are to be withdrawn in December in spite of them being very well used, and without like-for-like replacement.  This will have a major effect on many journeys and it does not look like a sensible or positive change. Furthermore, it was not well announced or consulted, leading to an impression of there being something sneaky about what's being done.

Rail User Groups and interested parties from across the area are coming together on 20th October 2021 for a public meeting (all welcome) near to TROWBRIDGE Station - meeting start time at 7 p.m. to allow you to come (or go) on the trains that are not in the timetable after 11th December.

Leaflet / flyer (please print and distribute if you wish) is at http://www.passenger.chat/bri-wat_20211020.pdf

Edit to add Zoom code - https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87440868321?pwd=bDcyd3R3Q0E0elVySlNreHBvcm1jQT09

An introduction to the issue is on the Two Tunnels site - forum redirect from http://www.passenger.chat/waterloo
More detailed technical stuff at http://www.passenger.chat/25503
Forum discussion at http://www.passenger.chat/25368

In alphabetic order (in the immediate area), this meeting is supported by
- Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways
- Great Western Coffee Shop Forum
- Railfuture (Severnside)
- TravelWatch SouthWest
- Two Tunnels
- West Wilts Rail User Group

Stations affected
- Bristol Temple Meads, Bath Spa - loss of through serviced to stations Andover to London (Waterloo)
- Keynsham, Oldfield Park, Bradford-on-Avon, Trowbridge - loss of through services to / from London
- Westbury - loss of the majority of through London (Waterloo) services
- Warminster - loss of the majority of through London services
- Andover, Basingstoke and Woking - loss of through trains to West Wilts, Bath and Bristol
- London (Waterloo) and Clapham Junction - loss of through trains to West Wilts, Bath and Bristol
- ALSO reductions to service from Bristol to Salisbury which often overcrowds even with the SWR trains running

[rogerw]

Trowbridge also loses most of its through services to London and all of those at a sensible time. Only through service is at "stupid" o'clock in the morning. There is no return service.

[grahame]

Trowbridge also loses most of its through services to London and all of those at a sensible time. Only through service is at "stupid" o'clock in the morning. There is no return service.

My error leaving that out - I have edited the above post

[FarWestJohn]

Seems appalling when Trowbridge is the Wiltshire county town. I would have thought the council would be shouting loudly?

[grahame]

I have edited the top post in this thread to add the Zoom code:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87440868321?pwd=bDcyd3R3Q0E0elVySlNreHBvcm1jQT09

Representatives of the Department for Transport and South Western Railway will be present and speaking.

Seems appalling when Trowbridge is the Wiltshire county town. I would have thought the council would be shouting loudly?

Their response to the 2022 consultation, which included the announcement (not consultation) of the December 2021 cuts, was strongly worded. Cllr Dr Mark McClelland, Cabinet Member - Transport, Waste, Street Scene & Flooding, wrote:

The recent publication of the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail is welcomed. It places much more emphasis on a customer focus and the need to ensure that railway organisational structure does not impede progress. Prepared in a time of pandemic, the plan nevertheless clearly states the Government’s intention to increase passenger numbers, support tourism and revive high streets and cities.

It is therefore with some alarm that I see the message of the Plan being undermined so soon by a failure to maintain the very services that need nurturing to support discretionary travel; services that don’t fit neatly into the way the railway has been historically organised. This authority is trying to meet some of its local objectives by developing new rail markets: stations and routes. It needs confidence (as do rail users) that the objectives of the Williams-Shapps Plan will be delivered across the whole nation.

and within the five page response:

Remarkably, it has been suggested that withdrawal of the Salisbury-Bristol leg of services from Waterloo will provide rolling stock needed to strengthen services on the “core route” to Exeter (on which route, it is recalled, services between Salisbury and Yeovil are being cut). If leisure travel, and services in the South West are having capacity problems – and evidence suggests they are – then it is perverse to consider withdrawing services that provide links on a corridor with excellent tourism potential. One suspects that the Bristol route has the higher catchment population and that the “core service” label attached to the Exeter route owes its existence to railway history and the inertia that preserves traditional railway service operating boundaries. This is unacceptable.

and

Cuts to the Waterloo-Bristol through services should not be implemented until adequate mitigation measures have been implemented or other ways of reducing costs (for example by sharing traincrew with GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)) are investigated.

[grahame]

Actually, Government is responding at 2,000 (in less than a week) - sending someone to our 20th October meeting. The $64,000 question is whether that response will be explanation, excuse, or something much more encouraging.

[ChrisB]

The former is expectation, plus a tad of the middle. But at least they are attending, and will likely listen.

[JayMac]

Actually, Government is responding at 2,000 (in less than a week) - sending someone to our 20th October meeting. The $64,000 question is whether that response will be explanation, excuse, or something much more encouraging.

Lamb to the slaughter?

[grahame]

Lamb to the slaughter?

Now - what or who be the lamb??

1. The through train services from Waterloo to Trowbridge, Bradford-on-Avon, Oldfield Park and Keynsham, which are supposed to cease from 12th December?

2. The campaigners who are going to be told "what for" and will have spent a lot of time, but still lose the service?

It can't be ...

3. SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) and the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) - can't be them, because no slaughter is sought. We are looking for positive outcomes with a sensible, affordable, useful, appropriate continuing service and the intent of the meeting is to help everyone ease the wheels that way.

[grahame]

Meeting codes via http://waterloo.savethetrain.org.uk/meeting.html

[grahame]

I am delighted to have the six groups who are supporting the campaign to retain the Bristol to Waterloo via Salisbury services running after 10th December, and who are on the "letterhead" for tomorrow night's meeting.  Someone from most of them will speak - briefly as the main purpose of the evening is to inform, make the case, and listen to the Department for Transport and South Western Railway, listen to the public, and move on to "where do we go from here" rather than let the campaign blow its anger out and have the cuts happen anyway.

* Richard Cowell, Chair, West Wilts Rail User Group to welcome everyone
* Mark Annand, Two Tunnels, on the background to the service
* Wendy Thorne, Director at Railfuture on future passenger metrics
* Graham Ellis, Webmaster at Coffee Shop forum on the threat to the service and options available
* Andrew Ardley of and for South Western Trains
* Martin Pierce of and for the Department for Transport
* Chris Irwin, Chair of TravelWatch SouthWest, chairing public discussion and drawing our path forward

Chris has a really challenging task to take us forward from what Andrew and Martin tell us - not able to be scripted as we see what mix of excuses, explanations, and encouraging news we hear from our guests.

Thank you too, in advance, to Roger Witt who will be taking notes online, Nigel Bray in the room, and to Bryony Chetwode who will be co-hosting remotely on Zoom.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87440868321?pwd=bDcyd3R3Q0E0elVySlNreHBvcm1jQT09