In my effort to campaign for better public transport links between south and north Wiltshire I have not as yet looked in great detail at actual services provided by rail, their cost, convenience and duration (bus to come). I feel it is important to express the problems with current service in this way as for too long those in authority (Wiltshire County Council, First Great Western and Department for Transport) have assumed the service cuts are a very localised issue for Melksham and therefore felt more justified in ignoring it. Well it isn’t. With Wiltshire CC winning its bid to become the only local authority in the county and the majority of county services being based in Trowbridge and increasingly Chippenham, it is more important than ever for transport links between south and north to be improved.
As you may have read from previous posts, there is a direct railway connecting Salisbury and north Wiltshire (Chippenham and Swindon) via west Wilts (Melksham) but there is only one direct service a day timetable in the evening, the service starting in Southampton at 1827, arriving Salisbury 1905, arriving Chippenham 2000. An excelleLondon bound service at Bath Spa. The direct service continues to Cheltenham Spa. There is no direct journey back to Salisbury and/or Southampton. Using the www.nationalrail.co.uk website the following results were obtained for weekday and weekend services.
The search first yield the following warning on ticketing:
Please be aware, you may need to buy separate tickets for this journey, as a through ticket may not be available. If you don’t want to travel via this route, click ‘Restart journey’ at the bottom of the page and try again.
DISCLAIMERPlease do not use the timings given below as a guide to using these services, use www.networkrail.co.uk
Monday to Friday
[time requested from 0000 on a Monday. Advanced fares quoted at £3.00 to £8.00 single with standard Open return fare at £13.70 (with anomalous fare of £22.00 if on the 17.41) and Saver/Cheap Day return at £16.00]
Dep. 06:02
Arr. 07:30
Dur. 1:28
Cha. 1 [Westbury 29mins wait]
06:40
07:54
1:14
1 [Bath Spa 11mins wait]
07:19
08:54
1:35
1 [Bath Spa 23mins wait]
08:25
09:54
1:29
1 [Bath Spa 20mins wait]
09:03
10:24
1:21
1 [Bath Spa 11mins wait]
09:41
11:24
1:43
1 [Bath Spa 36mins wait]
11:11
12:24
1:13
1 [Bath Spa 9mins wait]
11:41
13:24
1:43
1 [Bath Spa 36mins wait]
12:41
14:24
1:43
1 [Bath Spa 36mins wait]
13:51
15:24
1:33
1 [Bath Spa 29mins wait]
15:03
16:24
1:21
1 [Bath Spa 11mins wait]
15:41
17:24
1:43
1 [Bath Spa 36mins wait]
16:41
17:54
1:13
1 [Bath Spa 9mins wait]
17:41
19:54
2:13
1 [Bristol Temple Meads 39mins wait]
19:05
20:00
0:55
19.11
20.54
1:43
1 [Bath Spa 48mins wait]
20.56
22.07
1:11
1 [Bath Spa 2mins wait]
21.41
23.02
1:21
1 [Bath Spa 16mins wait]
Saturday
in compilation
Sunday
in compilation
The erratic waiting times for changes at Bath Spa indicate that this is not a route that was planned for. While many argue that the spheres of leisure and work travel are very different in south and north Wiltshire, with those in Chippenham for example preferring to travel to Bath, Bristol and Swindon and those in the south preferring Salisbury or Southampton, has anyone bothered to find out about the potential for travelling across Wiltshire by rail? Considering the significant traffic problems on north-south routes such as the A350 (Chippenham to south coast) and also A338 in the south east of the county, there has never been a better time ti make changes to mass travel.
Next, North to South Wiltshire by rail.