Local MP speaks about poor service

[whole diary]

[infoman]

of the Wessex line in the house of commons.
Chris Loder Conservative MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) for West Dorset
The report states Chris Loder was a former rail emplyee,can't recall him,unless others know different.

[grahame]

of the Wessex line in the house of commons.
Chris Loder Conservative MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) for West Dorset
The report states Chris Loder was a former rail emplyee,can't recall him,unless others know different.

Know or knew Chris very well  ... good team member at SWT^▸ (South West Trains)/R on the promotion and development of service. Whether the ultimate motivation was the company or the passengers I'm not sure but then both overlap to strongly that may be a bit of a moot point. He is correct to be flagging up awful service reliability between Westbury and Weymouth.

Saturday 21st August - a 2 car train during the morning headed for Weymouth calling at Westbury - inadequate capacity!


Saturday 28th August - so many trains cancelled and short that coaches were hired at Westbury to get people to Weymouth.  The two coaches on the right were FULL when photo was taken; the station staff were shunting people on and off the coaches and into taxis for the handful going to Bruton to avoid the coaches having to divert to that station.  Overspill standing kerbside waiting for those short distance passengers to be pulled off.

[Trowres]

I've posted the exchange from Hansard in the SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) thread, but here it is again for easy reference:

Chris Loder (West Dorset) (Con):
The bus and train operator FirstGroup continues to slash our transport services in West Dorset despite receiving millions of pounds of public money with no revenue risk at all, and having the worst rail line frequency in the country on the Heart of Wessex line. Will the Deputy Prime Minister directly intervene to save what little service we have on that three-hourly-frequency line or actively work to get a new operator that will?

The Deputy Prime Minister:
I thank my hon. Friend; I know he is a great champion for the people in his constituency. I understand that the Department of Transport has been engaging with the transport operators in his constituency. I also understand that South Western Railway intends to increase service levels to their pre-covid timetable by May 2022, and it has ambitions for an increase in the train service frequency on the Great Western Railway route. DFT^▸ (Department for Transport)▸ will of course continue to work with GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), and I continue to support him in trying to champion commuters and passengers on all those services.

https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2021-09-22/debates/55CB1FF1-8683-454C-A3E0-2AE4F493E81C/OralAnswersToQuestions