Swindon to Oxford - new proposal from the "Go!" Coop

[whole diary]

[willc]

As far as I know, the Bletchley flyover is still operational. Due to the lack of anywhere suitable to run round at Bletchley station, the remaining single line over the flyover was used until recently by engineering trains running to and from the virtual quarry that Network Rail operated at the old London Brick site at Forders Sidings on the line to Bedford. Trains would cross the flyover to reach a run-round loop set up where the line levels off west of the flyover. Think it may still be used occasionally, although regular traffic has ceased.

[eightf48544]

In that case shouldn't Go Coop team up with East West to do a Salisbury/Westsbury/Swindon to Milton Keynes service?

With Chiltern from Aylesbury Milton Keynes becomes an interchange station.

[anthony215]

In that case shouldn't Go Coop team up with East West to do a Salisbury/Westsbury/Swindon to Milton Keynes service?

With Chiltern from Aylesbury Milton Keynes becomes an interchange station.

 I think that is a good idea, although i have read that they did want a Milton Keynes to Reading service so maybe perhaps a service to Cambridge instead perhaps?

[dking]

GOCO^▸ (Previous name for Go-Op Train - ) (the trading name of Go! Co-op) is indeed about to launch a four-week trial of a PPM^‡(resolve) service between Medstead & Four Marks and Alton on the MHR, with a view to making it a proper service later in the year. The trial will run from 24th January - 11th February and will be a demonstration both of the rolling stock and of GOCO's credibility as a potential TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company).

Further information on the new website <www.GOCO.coop>

[dking]

Forgot to mention this event - talk at Swindon Civic Society about GOCO^▸ (Previous name for Go-Op Train - )'s plans on 20th January.

<http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/8786851.Bid_to_launch_green_travel_plan_in_Swindon/?ref=rss>

[anthony215]

I wish them luck and hope this open acess operation will come off  just as i wish Devon & Cornwall railways well with their proposed operation. hopefully this will provide much need benefits to the communities which they plan on serving (melksham comes to mind).

Also maybe they will be able to provide a bit of competition to First Great Western.

The only  question i would like to know from Go-Co is where are  they going to get the rolling stock from as i cnat see them purchasing any new DMU^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit)'S and i  don't think there are many MK2 or MK3 carriages available apart from hiring in stock from charter companies.

That said if they were to order some DMU'S maybe they could order some extra and lease them to FGW^▸ (First Great Western) etc (Cant see it happening though)

[unfarepayingpassenger]

Anything that puts a stop to fgw's monopoly has to be a good thing.

[grahame]

Added to diary:

http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/8786851.Bid_to_launch_green_travel_plan_in_Swindon/

Anything that puts a stop to fgw's monopoly has to be a good thing.

One of the fascinating things about these proposals (at least the Westbury and Trowbridge to Chippenham and Swindon section that I'm most familiar with) is that if you were to add two services each of which ran every couple of hours, it's probably that each train would carry more passengers on what had become in effect an hourly service than if you ran a service every 2 hours.     In other words ... an average loading of 60 people per service on a train every 2 hours might increase to an average loading of 80 people on a train every hours - so that's (yes) an extra 100 journeys.
 

I wish them luck and hope this open acess operation will come off  just as i wish Devon & Cornwall railways well with their proposed operation. hopefully this will provide much need benefits to the communities which they plan on serving (melksham comes to mind).

The only  question i would like to know from Go-Co is where are  they going to get the rolling stock from ....

That question has been asked / looked at and (somewhat) reported; to me, the answers stacked up, though I get lost on the rolling stock merry-go-round at times.  Perhaps the best way to get an update is to come along to Swindon and ask, or to have someone who's there ask for an up do date, reproducable answer. 
 

[IndustryInsider]

Anything that puts a stop to fgw's monopoly has to be a good thing.

One of the fascinating things about these proposals (at least the Westbury and Trowbridge to Chippenham and Swindon section that I'm most familiar with) is that if you were to add two services each of which ran every couple of hours, it's probably that each train would carry more passengers on what had become in effect an hourly service than if you ran a service every 2 hours.     In other words ... an average loading of 60 people per service on a train every 2 hours might increase to an average loading of 80 people on a train every hours - so that's (yes) an extra 100 journeys.

Or. on the flip side, the GOCO^▸ (Previous name for Go-Op Train - ) Train proposals do come to fruition next December, thus giving FGW^▸ (First Great Western) an excuse to not bow to the pressure and bother to further develop their own service on the Transwilts.  Then, a year or two after the service commences through Melksham and passengers have started to flock to the trains again, the service disappears in a cloud of bankruptcy (as a small open access style operator could do at any minute) and you're back at square one!  A touch pessimistic maybe, but a possibility.

[grahame]

The presentation starts at 19:30 at the Library in Swindon, which is at Regent Circus.   For anyone coming to Swindon by train, it's a walk from the station of about 800 metres - come out of the front of the station and it's roughly straight ahead of you (but if you don't know it, have a look at Google Maps - it's at SN1 1QG.  You can see the building you're looking for at http://www.swindon.gov.uk/central_library_page.pdf

In answer to a request for directions -- time & place from link in the previous post, directions from me as I know Swindon having lived there for a short time!

[eightf48544]

Re teh People Mover trial on teh Mid Hants just found this on teh Mid Hants Website:

Date: Wednesday 19 Jan 2011


Statement released on behalf of GOCO^▸ (Previous name for Go-Op Train - ) Co-operative regarding the commuter service from Medstead to Alton:

Due to technical reasons we have been unable to complete the planned testing programme as envisaged before placing the vehicle into public service.

GOCO is committed to provide high quality public service and will not commence the service until we are completely satisfied that we can deliver a reliable operation.

We expect that the service will commence on 31st of January but this will be confirmed  at least a week in advance.

Chris Phillimore, Business Development Director for GOCO, added: ^To date, GOCO has received an overwhelmingly positive response to the proposed service. There has been significant interest from the public and pending the early resolution of these short-term technical issues, we remain committed to delivering a high quality rail service for customers of the Mid Hants Link.^

Think I'll pop over when it starts.

[grahame]

I'm hoping to be there tonight ... it's only 20 miles as the crow flies from home to Swindon.

So if I plan to arrive into Swindon at about 7, and leave back at about quarter to 10? ...





... then I think I have something of a confirmation that the current public transport on the route isn't really appropriate for my needs 

[grahame]

I'm hoping to be there tonight ... it's only 20 miles as the crow flies from home to Swindon.

Took the c-a-r .... an interesting and quite wide ranging presentation by Goco - covering there various aspects and not just open access rail.  As you can imagine, though, there was quite a bit on rail and especially their proposed route through Swindon.  Kate Whittle, who gave the presentation (excellent talk, Kate) is on the co-operative / financial arrangements side of the organisation rather than the railway operation, yet provided an excellent update. Things like the raising of money, shareholder / member / stakeholder, fares, etc, were covered in greater depth than I have seen at previous public presentations.  She confirmed that, in the light of more detailed work, they have amended their plans to a have a core service that runs from Westbury to Oxford and on to Banbury and Birmingham Moor Street, and with a frequency of a train every couple of hours.

[anthony215]

There is a photos of the Go-Co parry people mover in the latest issue of the '' The Railway Magazine''

Found couple of pics on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=all&q=mid+hants++parry+people+mover&m=text

[grahame]

As part of some of the stuff I've been doing in the background to help a little bit with Wiltshire Council's LSTF^▸ (Local Sustainable Transport Fund) bid (see http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/local-sustainable-transport-fund-expression-interest.pdf ), I've been keeping in touch wih all the various options.  And that includes an update from GoCo's web site, dated 17th February - see http://go-op.coop/info/track-access-news/ )

It must be about 4 years since I became aware of the seeds of the idea, at a meeting at Steam in Swindon addressed by Christian Woolmar amongst others.  That turned into a launch in April 2010, see http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=6509.0 , with services to start in May 2011.  I have to admit some disappointemnt in reading the latest release to see that start of services which were one year away in 2010 are not only a year overdue, but now 2 years into the future.   

I also have to admit to some concern with regard to the history of open access operations, as compared to franchised services - I would rather see the pattern of service on the TransWilts follow the pattern or Redditch, Ebbw Vale, Clitheroe or Alloa than I would to see them follow the pattern of Grand Central or Wrexham and Shropshire. But at the same time, I have met a couple of very bright folks from behind the scenes at GoCo Rail, and I'm sure that on a truely level playing field, and in the longer term, they could offer us a refreshing brand of localism.    In the short term, it seems far more logical for the TransWilts section of the Westbury to Birmingham route to be [also] served by trains operating within existing pools from Bristol or Salsibury depots.

Amongst a very wide range of statistics and results, there's one that shows some 600 people from our survey alone saying they could use the train to commute.  If you widen that to include people who did not respond to the survey (and it's very hard to reach non-train users!), the TransWilts could be in for overcrowding very quickly with a two-hourly service, so interestingly both services could be supported - and would indeed feed off and bolster each other's traffic levels if that happened - the train would become the natural transport choice for may up the corridor.  Which means that the two are not necessarily competitors.  The thing we must be most careful to avoid is the line being left almost completely open to give GoCo a further change (remember, they should be running already!) during the current franchise process, but then the winning bidder indulging in blocking and delaying tactics to ensure that they retain the Trowbridge to Chippenham business on their via-Bath trains - a poor option for travellers, and a disaster for the Wiltshire economy.

Edit to add - dates back to 8th March 2008 - my 4 year guess was just about right.
http://www.savethetrain.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=6075.0