Ah, thanks vacman - will check out their site!

It is NOT a rural station though, Chris. It is within an urban area (CPR), of over 35,000 inhabitants. I think the population of Camborne itself is over circa 12,000.

The number of annual passengers is above 140,000 IIRC^▸ (if I recall/remember/read correctly).

Good point about the commercial decision - but why don't FGW say that the office is closed rather than advertise that it is open?

So, why does no-one at FGW^▸ (First Great Western) do anything about it? Are senior FGW managers aware of this loss of revenue?

I DID^» (Didcot Parkway - next trains) try to purchase a ticket upon arrival at Redruth, but both ticket windows were closed - both the train I had got off, and another train were in the station, meaning that both staff were dealing with dispatch of those trains.

I had an appointment in Redruth, so I could not wait 5-10 mins for staff to open ticket windows up. I arrived early at Camborne with plenty of time to purchase ticket - I did NOT try and catch an earlier train so I could have some spare time at my destination to wait to purchase a ticket AFTER I had made my journey!!

Incidentally, there is nothing in the ticket office at Camborne saying that it is shut between 07.45 & 08.10. I arrived at 08.05, and there was no staff around at all, and no-one apart from train staff, to dispatch the train at 08.48.

If FGW are incapable of employing reliable staff to man a ticket office at its advertised opening hours, then they should install a ticket machine.

If I and other shoppers went to Tesco/Sainsbury/etc,  at their advertised opening hours, only to find the store shut on several occasions, they would soon go out of business! (Supermarket customer services reply ,"ah, but you should have purchased your groceries BEFORE you needed them - we cannot guarantee our stores will be open at advertised times...")

Camborne Ticket Office is supposed to be open from 06:30 to 14:00 daily, yet when I was there recently (09/10/08) to catch the 08:48 to York, it had not opened for the morning.

OK, I only wanted to go to Redruth, but as there was not ticket collector/train manager available, I could not buy a ticket at all!

I traveled free of charge, but what about the lost income to FGW^▸ (First Great Western)?

How many others don't pay traveling the short journey to Redruth due to the closed ticket office?

When I asked in the cafe at Camborne before I caught the train, the cafe owner said that, in the past week, the ticket office had only been open for a couple of hours - in the entire week!

How much revenue is FGW losing, and how much in lost customer service, &, therefore, customers??

This was all over BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) Cornwall today, with many slating FGW^▸ (First Great Western) for their decision. It seems like FGW are only interested in tourism and not the local population who keep the line going throughout the year. Most commuters want to go/from Truro to/from Penryn and Falmouth Town, and not Falmouth Docks.

A question for FM's:

Why can't two trains be used on the Maritime Line (before Penryn loop completed) by utilising a short section of the freight track that leads to Falmouth Docks (i.e as a 'passing loop'). It is not a perfect solution, but could help.

Utter, utter waste of money!!

Good!

Top priority (long long term) is straightening the mainline with new tunnnels and route to improve line speed, an make it a HS^▸ (High Speed (short for HSS^▸ (High Speed Services) High Speed Services)) route, a la London - Channel Tunnel, all the way from Paddington to Bristol TM^‡(resolve) (and to Cardiff/Swansea) and down through Som and Devon to Penzance.

The Berks & Hants route via Westbury could be improved later.

Tinkering with this passing loop here and that new station there is all fine and dandy , but what we really need are goals for the next fifty years, not just the next five or ten years.

Do we still want a 19th century railway in the 22nd century? 'Cos that's what we will have, if we don't start planning now!

Sorry? and this has what to do with rail transport?

Why? In the long term, we could see a HS^▸ (High Speed (short for HSS^▸ (High Speed Services) High Speed Services)) 3 or 4 route in the GW area. We need the vision and the will, not the negativity about why things can't happen because of reasons x, y & z.

I'm afraid that is inverse argument, and short sighted thinking.

By improving transport connections/travel times from Plymouth/Cornwall to the centre of England & the Capital will improve the economies of those areas, thereby creating more transport demand, thereby improving the economy further, ad infinitum.

In addition, both the South Hams areas and Cornwall are seeing significant population increases c/w rest of UK^▸ (United Kingdom).

If we did not have transport visions and improvements, we'd still be using the canals, or turnpike roads!

Very sad news for rail freight in the South West.

Are there not any new rail freight opportunities in Devon and Cornwall? I know about the freight concentration depot near Exeter Airport, but there must be other possibilities with the sheer volume of freight on our roads.

Good news , but nearly two years to get around to replacing it?

Great news Karl!

Rail Magazine, out today, makes for much more positive reading, and looks like NR^» (Network Rail - home page) are giving it the go ahead in their next financial year.
Worth checking out for anyone interested.