March 27th 2pm - Better Rail for Less Congestion and New Housing: MetroWest

[whole diary]

[grahame]

MetroWest - A world in which you can get to work or college quickly and easily, go shopping and visit friends or cinema and get back late - without having to use a car

Enjoy more frequent trains integrated with buses and comfortable protected walking and bicycling to and from the station

Preserve the countryside by focusing new homes on less land close to the Metro

Fund from increase land value. The improvements can be delivered quickly: all the elements are in place – they only need enhancing

Join us for an exciting event focused on improving rail systems to reduce congestion in the MetroWest Bath+Wiltshire area. Hear from experts, engage in discussions, and explore innovative solutions. Don't miss this opportunity to be part of the change!

27th March, 2pm - In person in Chippenham, or online via Zoom.

For more information please see here.

ConnectedCities Ltd
59 Lambeth Walk
Waterloo, SE11 6DX
T: 020 7993 4690
www.ConnectedCities.co.uk
admin@ConnectedCities.co.uk

"Here" link in the quoted text is to https://www.connectedcities.org/links/metrowest-event-0325

A number of well know names, old friends, and experts there and I plan to go along.  The Bath to Wiltshire interface is one that often falls between the stools of WECA^» (West of England Combined Authority - about) and Wiltshire in planning terms, and with massively increased housing in Withshire but yet a lack of allocated employment space (at least here in Melksham) we may b set for a dramatic increase in commuting ...

[grahame]

Further information ...

Overview
Better Rail for Less Congestion - MetroWest Bath+Wiltshire

MetroWest Bath+Wiltshire proposes to upgrade the existing rail track, so the present worst service of one train every two hours can become two trains per hour, and the best service of 3.5 trains/hour can be 6 trains/hour. It is achieved by relatively cheap interventions to remove bottlenecks, and the introduction of local shuttle services between the long distance trains. Local shuttles are much more resilient to delays.

Chippenham and Trowbridge are potential hub towns of ConnectedCites on the network, in areas of high levels of housing demand with 75,000+ new population planned

With MetroWest the two ConnectedCities could sustainably house up to 135,000 more people
Current proposals are for road based development. None of the proposed new locations have permanent way public transport
Join us for an exciting event focused on improving rail systems to reduce congestion in the MetroWest Bath+Wiltshire area. Hear from experts, engage in discussions, and explore innovative solutions. Don't miss this opportunity to be part of the change!

Discounted Rail Tickets for Attendees

80% saving based on an Anytime Return from London Paddington to Cardiff Central

The conference fares are only available to delegates. You will be asked to produce a confirmation by the train manager

Conference fares are available from most stations on the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) network

Outbound tickets are fixed, times and dates cannot be changed. The return journey is fully flexible

[grahame]

[infoman]

on Friday afternoon,wanted to attend but only found out on the day it was happening.

If you did attend could you post the list of speakers who actually attended and who they represented.

Thanking you in advance.

[grahame]

on Friday afternoon,wanted to attend but only found out on the day it was happening.

If you did attend could you post the list of speakers who actually attended and who they represented.

Thanking you in advance.

There is no public attendees list that I know of , but the organisations involved are shown in the advert for the event, which I shared in public on the Coffee Shop at https://www.passenger.chat/t30027.html . As a result of that, perhaps, I saw a number of other members and people I know physically there and some may have been online.

[ChrisB]

I drtopped in online for a couple of hours. Got less interesting towards the end I thought.

[grahame]

I drtopped in online for a couple of hours. Got less interesting towards the end I thought.

Somewhat, maybe ... some of the speakers were friends we already know well and they may have been less interest to us but they are an important part of the picture - especially (GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) and Go-op) for the next couple of years.

[grahame]

Press Release on the event at https://www.firstgreatwestern.info/mirror/uk1840-PressRelease_250401.pdf

Proposals for frequent local rail services connecting towns across Bath, Wiltshire and Somerset could unlock housing for 50,000+ new homes within walking distance of existing and new stations, for a cost of less than £50M for the whole area.

‘The disused platforms at Chippenham and Westbury would be brought back into use, Melksham station upgraded with a new passing loop, and junction improvements made elsewhere’, said Nathan Sealy of rail engineers Amey, ‘Amey is already delivering the South Wales Metro, and the lessons can be applied to Wiltshire and Bath.’

Councillor Richard Clewer, Leader of Wiltshire Council, said, ‘We're going to need to get people thinking, “I can use the train because I'l get there on time and I'l get some work done.”

‘And when more people are using the train we can open another station, and then get the buses working so we bring people from the vilages to a single point to get them into the town centre.

Images that support the press release:


Councillor Richard Clewer speaks at the event


New trains on the South Wales Metro (extra loops have been put in there to boost frequency)


Map showing current and some potential new stations

[grahame]

Press report at https://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/news/25061478.plans-wiltshire-bath-metro-system-revealed/

As ever, the comments are interesting reading, though following up on the limited information in the article rather than on the much deeper work being done.

Generally I would support such a scheme but there needs to be a lot more joined up thinking. I think the telling comments are "I can use the train because I can get there on time".

Having bought several rail passes over the years and have had every journey to date cancelled at short notice is not a incentive for me. I no longer trust the train.   

"Low cost" means done on the cheap to enable high profit.  I have used many of these schemes around the world and the only ones that work are interchanges with decent access for pedestrians, cyclists etc along with regular and affordable buses, car parking areas and passenger waiting areas.   

Trains i have used have always also been electrified with only a driver.   I don't think this is going to work under our current national rail constraints.

The writer would have benefited from being at the event.  Reliability and the issues of getting to and from the stations are key.  We have driver only trains on many GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) services in the London area - so not totally ruled out, neither is having the trains operate on electricity - and the connecting buses too!

[ChrisB]

The slide pack is available from the presentations. Maybe Graham could load them up on a mirror sometime?

[grahame]

The slide pack is available from the presentations. Maybe Graham could load them up on a mirror sometime?

Slightly surprised I haven't seen the pack. Could you send me a copy or a link please and I would be happy to mirror

[ChrisB]

Thank you for registering to attend last week's conference. The presentations are now available at https://connectedcities-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/admin_connectedcities_org_uk/EmVQhCC6jcNBim0KbKSV2CwBAyOslznH0Nl_7Kvmm2bh4g?e=o8HZsI Videos and transcripts will be available in due course. You will be notified. Kind regards, ConnectedCities Team

On my iphone, safari browser…..appears not to have an ALT key to obtain a preview shortcut. Needs looking into?

[ChrisB]

Thank you for registering to attend last week's conference. The presentations are now available at https://connectedcities-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/admin_connectedcities_org_uk/EmVQhCC6jcNBim0KbKSV2CwBAyOslznH0Nl_7Kvmm2bh4g?e=o8HZsI Videos and transcripts will be available in due course. You will be notified. Kind regards, ConnectedCities Team

On my iphone, safari browser…..appears not to have an ALT key to obtain a preview shortcut. Needs looking into?

[ChrisB]

Now double posted somehow? I thought there was a check for that?

[grahame]

Now double posted somehow? I thought there was a check for that?

Perhaps some of the buttons you das poken when looking for the short cut submitted your psot again??   There is a posting rate limiter on the forum but it's not going to pick up two of the same in every circumstance.  Sometimes, rather irritating, something does stop you going back and reposting but I thinks that's in the Javascript and poken buttons may at times sidestep it.