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Trowbridge and Melksham to Chippenham - more roadworks, even slower journey over the winter

Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2010-12-30 07:54:08 - Graham Ellis

I understand that Wessex Water are going to be replacing a water main in Beanacre from mid January until mid March, and that will disrupt traffic on the A350 - the major road which links Trowbridge and Melksham to Chippenham and the rest of the country via the M4. I didn't have to look back very far through my archives to find a picture of a previous jam in Beanacre - indeed we joke at times about the number of times there seem to be roadworks on the A350 between the Melksham and Chippenham.

For access northwards from Trowbridge, the A350 is by far the best route ... the alternatives of the A36 take you through very congested parts of Bath, via the A363 you do through the centre of Bradford-on-Avon, and via the A361 you'll have to pass the oft-jammed inner relief road in Devizes.

On previous occasions where there has been single alternate line traffic, road works in Beanacre have caused major tailbacks and delays to drivers of up to 30 minutes. And there's little point (speedwise) in taking the bus as it uses the A350 too!


There could be a good alternative ... there's a perfectly good railway line from Trowbridge (and Melksham) to Chippenham - and with the bonus that it runs on to Swindon too, which is another congestion and parking black spot. Problem is - as I write - that there are ony two trains each way per day - from Trowbridge at 07:07 and 19:37 (Melksham - 10 minutes later) returning from Swindon at 06:16 and 18:44 (Chippenham about 15 minutes later).

On these occasional trains, the journey time from Trowbridge to Swindon is about 35 minutes. By bus, the direct service via Devizes takes just over 90 minutes. If you drive a car, it will normally take 50 to 55 minutes, but that could be quite a bit longer for the next 2 or 3 months. It would make such huge sense for there to be a train service worthy of the name, now wouldn't it? See [here].


For any of the more technical types amongst you, this diagram on the left shows the congestion map published by the Department for Transport about 3 years ago, onto which I have superimposed the route of the railway line.

It's my understanding that this map shows a typical / averaged out measure of congestion - in other words, this is the sort of busyness that you'll find the majority of the time when there are not roadworks to distort the view. It's also my understanding that the provision of an appropriate train service would cost around the same amount of money (per annum) as 50 yards of high standard, but single carriageway, road ... and with good loadings on those trains, most of that money would be pulled back via fares anyway