First Great Western challenged over Melksham train service

12.00.00am GMT Wed 21st Mar 2007

Liberal Democrat councillors in West Wiltshire have called First Great Western to account over the state of rail services in the district. Executive from the new rail franchise holder, First Great Western, attended a special meeting of the council on 20th March.

Cllr Duncan Hames is calling for Melksham rail services to be re-instated.

The plight of the Trans Wilts service between Westbury and Swindon through Melksham and Chippenham was placed firmly at the top of the agenda with a series of questions tabled by Lib Dem parliamentary candidate Cllr Duncan Hames.

"It is disappointing that First do not see pro-active development of rail services to be part of the job of the franchisee. However, we can take some encouragement from their promise to 'willingly negotiate with any third party and supply costings based on the service specification they wish to see' - it is now up to local councils - especially the County Council as the transport authority, to take up that challenge." commented Cllr Hames.

Here are his questions, and the written answers subsequently provided by First Great Western:

First Great Western - Questions and Answers

Q1) What is the overall net average annual payment between First and the Department for Transport for the region's new rail franchise?

A1) The overall premium over the ten years of the Franchise is £1.13 billion, but it is not divided equally across each individual year.

Q2) What is the average annual value of funding from the Department of Transport to First to support commercially non-viable services in this franchise?

A2) The franchise agreement premium is not broken down by individual routes, but in effect the local and rural services in the West Country are cross-subsidised by the higher-volume, higher-value routes into London and the Home Counties.

Q3) How much of this government funding relates to services which pass through Wiltshire?

A3) As funding is broken down by individual service it is not possible to put a figure on the income and cost of journeys made from or to Wiltshire stations, let alone journeys which simply pass through the County.

Q4) What proposals have First put to the Department of Transport for services additional to those currently operated in the county, and for what level of public funding contribution?

A4) Any additional services must either be commercially viable or require external funding to bridge the gap between costs and revenue. It would not be right for us to suggest additional services which would require funding from the public purse, and there are no commercial propositions in Wiltshire that we have identified (although we are investigating improvements to the Portsmouth-Cardiff route, for example).

Q5) Would First still be interested in negotiating an enhanced rail service between Swindon and Westbury with the Department for Transport, Swindon Borough Council and Wiltshire County Council? What does first require of third parties to make such negotiations purposeful?

A5) We are always interested in negotiating to enhance rail services, and are currently doing just that with Bristol City Council for an improved service on the Severn Beach branch. We will willingly negotiate with any third party and supply costings based on the service specification they wish to see.

Q6) Are direct rail services between Swindon and Westbury now properly displayed at all stations on that route both on display boards and customer information screens (where available)?

A6) We do have problems with the reliability of the Customer Information System, and part of our investment plan is to replace with a superior system. In the meantime we will ensure that all other channels of customer communication, including timetable posters at stations, are up to date correctly displayed.

Q7) Will First promote an integrated approach to local public transport by including bus services to Melksham and Trowbridge on its customer information screens at Chippenham (as is done by other operators in other parts of the country e.g. Buses to Romsey from Winchester Station)?

A7) Where usage of linking buses is high enough and where the bus timings are geared around making connections with rail services then yes, we will promote them. We are happy to review this for the Melksham bus at Chippenham.