Great Western Coffee Shop

Press release form TransWilts and Knorr-Bremse



(http://www.passenger.chat/pix/twcafe20200427.jpg)
Melksham Station is set to be transformed by TransWilts with the support of Knorr-Bremse Rail Systems UK whose UK HQ is based in the town.

Serving packet soup and noodles?  ;)

I would imagine one of the newly appointed TransWilts board members (https://transwilts.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/13406-TransWilts-Annual-Report-2020-FINAL-single-pages-without-financial-report.pdf) will be among the frontrunners to operate it, no doubt subject to a scrupulously fair, open and transparent tendering process.

…….any plans for statues?  ;)

Not that I'm aware of ... but stranger things have happened.   Over the years, all sorts of artwork has been seen in and around Melksham - we have some permanent structures:

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/houseart.jpg)

And statues have been seen temporarily at the station:

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/stowlart.jpg)

and I guess no reason why "the driving force behind the initiative" should not be celebrated there in some way.  Early  days though - let's get the various works completed first. That's increased capacity with an hourly service, pedestrian access to the residential areas to the north and paths and cycle way to Melksham Forest, buses to and from the station connecting with trains, and passenger numbers up over 200,000 journeys per annum (aided by the new signage, parking, cafe, etc which are also very welcome indeed)

When I saw the picture, my first thought was that it's a coronavirus nose-swabbing station ...

Yes, they recently fitted them out, and are slated for a spot looking out over the fence of the "Northern pedestrian access" to an inaccessible McDonalds and a large slice of the newer housing...

The TransWilts folks are certainly very much in favour of social distancing when it comes to users of Melksham Station.

Let's hope that the station has a service that befits the new improved facilities, preferably before the 10th anniversary of the original increase in frequency.

On that subject, when reading Modern Railways, I couldn't help but note the effect of filling in a few (but not all) of the two hourly gaps on the Cambrian line stations closest to Shrewsbury.  Both Newtown (pop 27,000) and Welshpool (pop 7,000) increased from around 120k to 180k entries and exits (each!) The effect was reduced further west, suggesting that the opportunities for commuter traffic into Shrewsbury drove the increase, though that is pure speculation on my part.  Still, shows what can be done with a few extra services to make a more attractive proposition for passengers.

On Monday, the press release above from TransWilts hailed "Melksham Station Set for Transformation" and quotes "The driving force behind the initiative and TransWilts Chair, Paul Johnson".  On Tuesday, their annual report for February 2019 to January 2020 was released in public, which includes Paul's full page "state of the nation" statement as its lead report, and includes the eye-catching graphic "Artist’s Impression of proposed redevelopment of Melksham Station" showing the same community cafe, piazza and paid parking area referenced in the press release. (Links at end of this post to both sources)

Various public comments have questioned (with some concern) elements of these reports and the activities they're reporting on, and I've had a couple of personal messages too. The concern is natural; any report or press release is bound to raise questions with interested parties. We are not helped at present by the cancellation - for totally understood reasons - of both the TransWilts AGM and the TransWilts Stakeholder meetings.

Provision of additional car parking, and a staffed (community) cafe where people can get a drink, a snack, a magazine, can ask questions and can wait in the warm if they need to is an excellent step as Melksham Station moves forward from the 3,000 passenger journeys a year in handled a decade ago through the 75,000 it handled last year and heads towards an envisaged 250,000 in a decade from now.

Having the additional parking and cafe included within a master plan helps to ensure that these enhancements will complement and not compromise other developments which may happen in parallel or later, and which may be equally or more important for traffic development:
   * Northern Access to Melksham Station
   * Service Reliability
   * Service Frequency; better connections and / or further destinations
   * Buses to connect with trains
Other elements (some of which are included in the current scheme) which also help:
   * Electric car charging points
   * Cycle Parking
   * Improved notices
   * Real time train departure board visible all along the platform
Most of these elements are none-trivial, and their championing and co-ordination requires rather more than part time amateur volunteer effort. So I very much welcome all the hard work done by the TransWilts team (and it is a team, even if Paul is highlighted in the press release). 

Although I was personally involved in the initial setup of the TransWilts CRP, it moved on a couple of year ago. "This is part of our restructuring to increase the future effectiveness of our CRP" said Paul when announcing my replacement. I am now just a member of the Community Interest Company. I only saw their press release and report earlier this week, just like those who have commented, but I do have the advantage of being somewhat in the picture from updates given to the Melksham Rail User Group (most recently on 22nd January) and from TransWilts inputs / presentations at council meetings (most recently 17th March).

Mention of the Melksham Rail User Group (MRUG) (where I am vice chair) is important.  The TransWilts team (and it is a team, even if the press release singles out an individual) is looking at significant strategic (medium and long term) development, while MRUG is the "station friends" group. MRUG looks after station adoption and service promotion - encouraging people to use the train, producing Melksham specific literature and posters (and keeping them up to date), going around fetes and fairs and groups and organising surveys and trips like Santa, Weymouth, Seaton, Imber.   But MRUG is a much smaller scale operation - annual income and expenditure both around £1k, where TransWilts income was £86k last year, with running costs of £37k as well as £28k project expenditure which is expected to grow this year with the Melksham station works, and other works at Westbury and Chippenham. Remember they take in Swindon and Trowbridge too, and other activities include Devizes and Wilton.

Documents referred to in the above post:
MRUG report on 2019 / plans for 2020 (http://www.mrug.org.uk/mkm20.pdf) of 3rd January 2020 (not foreseeing Coronavirus!)
TransWilts Press release (http://www.mrug.org.uk/Knorr-Bremse_Transwilts_20200427.pdf) of 27th April 2020
TransWilts Annual Report and Policy, Feb 19 to Jan 20 (http://www.mrug.org.uk/TransWilts_Annual_Report_2020.pdf) of 28th April 2020

I would agree with you; the service rose from "un-usable for most people" to "usable but minimal" in 2013.   Current (or rather pre-virus) traffic was for the most part passengers who were robust enough to accept and use a 2 hourly or less service - who could travel out at 07:52 or 10:01 (northbound) even if 08:30 would have been idea, or at 06:36 or 09:09 (southbound) even if 08:00 was right.   And that robustness had elements of being a blessing in disguise because the traffic was robust against the appalling cancellation record of the last couple of years.

Take the service up to hourly and reliable, and you'll see traffic levels rise to be similar to Newtown - i.e. 185k journeys per annum (from the current-ish 75k) quite soon - and perhaps higher because you've got major passengers flows to nearer places than Shrewsbury.

from the Gazette and Herald (https://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/news/18414548.melksham-firm-supports-transwilts-railway-station-improvements/)

or rather

from this link at the Gazette and Herad (https://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/news/18414551.knorr-bremse-rail-systems-uk-gives-financial-backing-transwilts/)


Edit to change link

I was really surprised that this article didn't include any "driving force" references, and even struck a mildly critical "details of which he declined to reveal" note towards the end.

We need not have worried. The article has since been "corrected" with "driving force" reference now fully present and correct:


I guess that's the benefit of bringing a Marketing and Communications Manager onto your board!

Actually - somewhat my error.  The Gazette and Herald has published two articles on the same topic as far as I can see, and my initial link was to one of them with the text of the other.  Both are now in my initial post and both article remained in place as I wrote this follow up.

I am suspecting two press releases involved, two journalists both working from home, and a case of left and right hand not knowing what the other is doing  ;D

Getting two sides on the same story is always informative.

 ;D

Nick Brailey, if you are reading this, my apologies for prematurely bigging you up!

I am sure there will be plenty of other opportunities in the future  ;)

Speaking as someone who has compared their fair share of articles looking for informative quotes, this wouldn't be the first time this has happened, nor will it be the last.

It just goes to show that coordination is key, especially with stories like this  :D

I have now had a chance to properly compare the two articles, and I am afraid that the truth is closer to my theory than to yours.

This is because the two articles are almost identical in their wording apart from two aspects. Firstly the titles:


and


And secondly just one key paragraph is different in the main article:


and


Apart from the above, the text of both articles is exactly the same, which strongly suggests that they were derived from the same press release, and not two press releases as you speculated. The one key difference in wording between the two makes the impression far less critical of TransWilts, also supporting my theory.

Also, the two articles were both written by the same journalist, John Baker, and not by two different journalists as you suspected in your post.

Maybe ...

Bottom line. 

Investment in Melksham station, good facilities that will help develop traffic further. Additional northern access, service reliability and increases and bus connection also needed in parallel and are very much on the radar and none-conflicting.

Press stories (theatre shows, etc) select a few key actors to highlight rather than the cast of thousands backing them up.  Nature of the beast, if you like.  So there are many, many heroes of getting Melksham Station to where it is today who do not feature in the current articles.  Personal note - I know many but I'm sure not all of them and if you / they are reading this - THANK YOU.

A success story that deserves to be rightfully celebrated,my congratulations to all involved with making the Transwilts and especially Melksham Station so improved.