Let me start ...Dear Santa,
Please may we have a robustness and capacity package at Chippenham? I'm sure that Yuri Gagarin and Neil Armstrong wouldn't notice ...
1. An extra track relaid from Brunel's viaduct over the town, through the station and alongside the main line towards London - total length of around 500 metres - with a crossover at the eastern end to allow trains leaving that track towards London to take the northern of the pair of lines towards Swindon
2. An extra track from where the Bradford Junction to Thingley Junction single track line crosses the Holy Well brook from Corsham to Lacock up to Thingley Junction, making use of the trackbed from the second track that was removed from that section in the late 1960s, with that track diverging from the single line just north of the bridge over the book and crossing over at Thingley Junction to allow a parallel movement off the new loop towards Chippenham while a train pulls under caution into the existing line at that point from the down main
3. Additional signals between Bradford Junction and Thingley Junction so that trains can follow each other at a headway not exceeding 10 minutes, and signalling changes in relation to (1) and (2) to allow flexible use to be made of the resultant infrastructure.
Reasoning:
a) At present, a freight train leaving Westbury bound for Swindon cannot be sidetracked all the way along, and with more trains (3 an hour rather that 2) proposed from Bath via Swindon when the new "
IEP▸ timetable" is introduced, intermediate holding point(s) that does not interefere with time-critical (i.e. passenger) services will give an extra operating flexibility that will offer additonal timetabling paths and increased capacity without the need for a massive intervention.
b) An addiitonal loop platform track at Chippenham will allow trains from London, from Westbury, and from Brisol to be terminated and reversed at Chippenham without blocking the main through lines during the process
c) Passenger services from Swindon to Westbury and beyond are timed to leave Swindon just behind Bristol expresses, from which they connect. If the Bristol express is delayed by a few minutes, the Westbury train is also delayed. If the Bristol train is delayed by a few more minutes, the Westbury train runs ahead all the way to Thingley, and London to Melksham and Trowbridge connections are lost. With an extra loop at Chippenham, Westbury services could run ahead of somewhat delayed Bristol trains, but still connect at Chippenham, resulting in maintained connections and an overall total delay lessened. The option of timetabling connections at Chippenham would also be available, reducing London to Trowbridge journey times by 5 minutes. [Also applies in the opposite direction]
d) Trains headed for Westbury could clear the main London to Bristol line while waiting delayed services from Westbury via Melksham
e) Electric only trains could routinely run between London and Chippenham, rather than restricting operation west of Royal Wootton Bassett to Bi-modes, or operations to times at which a blockage of the main line for electric train reversal was acceptable
f) Reduced headway between trains will increase robusteness of services up to at lease six an hour in each direction between Swindon and Chippenham - 3 IEP services to Bristol, 1 turbo service via Westbury, 1 turbo (or, later, 387) service via Corsham, and 1 freight service.
Business case and sustainability issues
The Swindon to Westbury train service has the fastest growing passenger numbers in the country at the moment according to
GWR▸ directors, and our business case work and surveys indicate that it will continue to grow for a years, if it's allowed to. And it will grow all the better if linked in to Westbury to Salisbury and Salisbury to Southapton services encouraging new passengers who will travel on through trains but don't like / eon't change along the way. But it will need that hourly train mentioned above to achieve this growth - it's already showing signs of being capacity limited on current operations, an emotionally limited by the infrequency of the service at present.
Trowbridge is the county town of Wiltshire, and is fast growing; it has an indirect through train service to London via Salisbury 3 or 4 times a day, irregular services with changes at Westbury and with changes at Swindon, and a service every 30 minutes which involves doubling back at Bath Spa. By increasing the Swindon service to run hourly, Trowbridge will enjoy a fast hourly service to London with the majority of the journey using electric traction.
The extra track at Chippenham will provide options for the proposed extra Bristol Metro service from Bristol temple Meads to Bath Spa (where it cannot robustly be reversed) to be extended to Chippenham (reversing there) or to Swindon (overtaken by an express if necessary at Chippenham) or beyond. As well as solving Bristol Metro's problem of where to reverse their train, this is an "enabler" for Corsham in that it provides an hourly local / regional train through their town to / from Bath and Bristol, which are their major journey desires.
Many people from the towns of Melksham and Corsham curently drive to Chippenham to catch the train to Swindon, Reading and London. But as the station at Chippenham is only accessible by car through the town, it leads to more congestion there, leadng to motorist frustration, and a decrease in air quality . It should be noted that air quality on Rowden Hill, Chippenham (
http://www.wiltshireairquality.org.uk/assets/documents/council-reports/Wiltshire%20ASR%20final%20draft%2022nd%20July.pdf page 20 ) and at the Bridge Centre has been reported as being outside required standards, and both of these locations are on the direct car driving route from Chippenham Station to Melksham and Corsham. By providing good hourly connecting trains from Chippenam to both Corsham and Melksham, which would be enabled by our infrastructure request, you'll be helping us cut vehicle traffic through these "dirty" areas, cut frustration in the town centre of Chippenham, and help reduce the need to provide yet more car parking there.
I am posting a copy of this letter to you, Santa, on a forum at
http://gwr.passenger.chat where there are a lot of very knowledgable and intelligent people who I know will be able to take a look at what I've written to you, and let us know of any adjustments that would make these "invisible from space" infrastructure works even more effective!
Graham
