Call to reopen a railway station at Royal Wootton Bassett

[whole diary]

[bobm]

From the Swindon Advertiser

Call to reopen Bassett rail link in bid to cut traffic jams


Graham Ellis, of the TransWilts community rail partnership

RE^▸ (Religious Education)-OPENING the rail link to Royal Wootton Bassett could reduce congestion on the roads and revitalise rural communities, according to a report from the Campaign for Rural England (CPRE^▸ (Campaign to Protect Rural England)).

The junction at Royal Wootton Bassett was closed on January 4, 1965, when services between Swindon and Chippenham were withdrawn amid the axing of many rail routes to smaller communisms following the Beeching reports.

But the Rural Reconnections report, commissioned by the CPRE and produced by research group Greengauge, argues re-opening lines could provide vital transport links to rural communities while cuts to public transport services continue.

And John Blake, secretary of CPRE Wiltshire, said the line at Bassett was a good example of how it could work.

"Adding two further stops to the TransWilts rail service at Royal Wootton Bassett and Blagrove would be a far better solution to the traffic congestion in the west of Swindon to Royal Wootton Bassett corridor than trying to increase the circulation at M4 Junction 16 and thereby increase the bottlenecks on local roads," he said.

Graham Ellis, of the TransWilts community rail partnership, said: "Rail use is growing and there are good reasons why a station should be opened at Royal Wootton Bassett.

"If nothing else, it could act as a park and ride to Swindon to prevent the congestion getting into Swindon.

"Trains are far quicker and more economical than road transport. A train from Swindon West to Chippenham take just 18 minutes, whereas a bus takes 80."

Ralph Smyth, CPRE transport campaign manager, said: "This report underlines the many benefits that can ensue from reconnecting rural rail lines and have been ignored by previous evaluations.

"Many railways were cut back in the 1960s on the basis that they unnecessarily duplicated other routes. But we need them again now to create sustainable development in our rural communities and to provide resilience against extreme weather.

^Far from being an exercise in nostalgia, rail re-openings are vital to unlocking the potential of rural areas.

"It^s time for the Department for Transport to value these benefits, so that the countryside can have its fair share of investment. We need to reverse some of [the] Beeching [cuts] in the 21st century.^

To read the report visit www.greengauge21.net

[Rhydgaled]

The article seems confused about whether this would be a new station on an existing line (which I believe is the case going by the topic heading and the parts where Graham is quoted) or re-openning a closed line.

[grahame]

The article seems confused ...

Indeed.

I really like doing written releases as they're an excellent way of getting a message across with my scientist's accuracy. An interview given over the phone while helping two delegates with regular expressions in Python and trying to sneak into the breakfast room to grab some leftovers before they're cleared on a report I have only read i summary from the Devon Echo via  a forum post ... may indeed get a bit confused 

[Red Squirrel]

...the axing of many rail routes to smaller communisms

Hmm... 

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Swindon Advertiser

The junction at Royal Wootton Bassett was closed on January 4, 1965, when services between Swindon and Chippenham were withdrawn amid the axing of many rail routes to smaller communisms following the Beeching reports.

That's the wording of the professional journalist on the Swindon Advertiser, rather than the possibly scrambled words emanating from grahame over the phone, as he tried to grab the last few crumbs from his own breakfast table ...