Each calendar month, I generate a summary log of train performance at Melksham Station for our local rail user group and for the TransWilts team ... and, my goodness, there have been some pretty depressing figures in the last six months.   Sharing here there November report - very much a step in the right direction as we're now very much in line with where is "acceptable" - a level that does not drive customers away.  One swallow doesn't make a summer - let's hope that the improvement continues, and work with everyone to do what we can to help towards that goal.

Sun  1 Dec 2019 06:16:30 GMT

Cancellations and buses last month (November 2019)
Headline - MUCH BETTER that it has been. In fact much MUCH better!
1 day(s) ago - 20191130
B 16:13   Westbury   On time BUS   - (last minute replacement)
B 15:47   Chippenham   On time BUS   - (last minute replacement)
6 day(s) ago - 20191125
X 13:14   Frome      a broken down train
X 12:03   Swindon      a broken down train
12 day(s) ago - 20191119
X 10:02   Swindon      urgent repairs to the track
14 day(s) ago - 20191117
B 09:57   Westbury   On time BUS   - (advertised and planned ahead)
B 08:49   Chippenham   On time BUS   - (advertised and planned ahead)
16 day(s) ago - 20191115
X 19:51   Cheltenham Spa      a person being hit by a train
X 18:48   Swindon   reason:   --
29 day(s) ago - 20191102
X 09:48   Swindon      a points failure
X 07:49   Swindon      a points failure

Cancelled - 7
Replaced by bus - 4
Delayed 5 minutes PLUS - 49
Delayed but under 5 minutes - 102
Ran on time - 348

88.24% ppm (trains ran within 5 minutes of schedule - 450 out of 510)
97.84% ran [as trains]
98.23% ran [as scheduled / 2 buses were planned engineering]

* Personally for a service that's as infrequent as ours, I would be inclined to give a 10 minute leeway for "short delays" providing they do not fail any connections .

* It is noticeable that the metrics at Melksham Station have changed in the last six months or so, with a far higher proportion of people walking to the station and far fewer driving.  I would put this down to the lack of reliability we have experienced; people tell me (but no quantitative data) that they no longer risk parking at Melksham because the train is (hopefully now has been) so unreliable.  It will be very interesting to see if and how the park-at-station traffic recovers during the winter and spring, especially with the planned introduction of car park charging which is now estimated to happen in mid February.