A review of the Summer Sunday extra trains on the TransWilts line
Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2011-08-29 13:51:31 - Graham Ellis
On Sunday 3rd July, then every Sunday from 17th July to 28th August inclusive, First Great Western ran an additional train at 07:30 from Westbury to Swindon, and at 08:20 from Swindon to Westbury, from where it carried on as the regular 09:12 service to Weymouth. The service was described as a "trial service" to see whether there would be uptake for extra trains on the line. It was also described as "the art of the practical" in that a Sunday morning service, over the northern part of the line could be provided using a train that was fairly easily available for the experiment.
The train usage has been excellent - with the data gathered confirming projections. Some people have asked us "is this what you had hoped for" and we have to answer "it couldn't have been better for us". We expected the 07:30 train from Westbury to be fairly quiet, and were pleasantly surprised to find a healthy number of people making use of it. For the most part, the 08:20 service ran with nearly every seat taken by the time it reached Westbury. That was three carriages at first, then four for the majority of the trial period. It should be noted that in addition to the 07:30 and 08:20 services being well loaded and generating additional revenue, there was been a "knock on" effect on other trains, with 07:30 train customers using it to start rail journeys to Scotland, Northern England, the Midlands, London and East Anglia where otherwise they would have flown or driven. 08:20 customers continued on the 09:12 Westbury to Weymouth and for the most part returned on the 17:56 Weymouth to Westbury and 19:37 Westbury to Swindon. All of these are regular service trains which otherwise would have had significant empty seats - so the TransWilts trial has generated income for services well beyond the TransWilts trial, utilising resources that are paid for as part of the franchise(s) anyway.
The evidence gathered adds weight to the other projections made, upon which an operationally and financially sound case has been built for a daily service to run on the TransWilts line between Swindon and Salibury, with trains running at least once every 2 hours and tuned at peak times to provide additional key train timings.
In figures. We estimate that just over 2200 journeys were made on the extra trains, with around a further 1600 journeys made on the Sunday evening TransWilts trains - mostly on the 19:37 from Westbury by passengers returning from Weymouth. (Thanks to Paul for the speaksheet figures. Note we say say "estimate" because accurate counting was impractical on 2 services).
50% of the passengers who used the 08:20 service (mostly heading for Weymouth) joined the train at Swindon, 19% at Melksham, and 15% at Chippenham, with the remainder joining at Trowbridge and Westbury, from where there are alternative Weymouth services available. An average of 36 people used the 07:30 from Westbury to Swindon, with the majority of them joining the train at Westbury, Trowbridge or Melksham.
If the average person on these extra services weighed just 50 Kgs including their possessions, (there were quite a lot of children), they will have conveyed an extra 110 metric tonnes and if the average jounrney they made on the TransWilts was 30 miles, that's 3,300 tonne miles. And this calculation does not include return journeys either!
If the average person paid 15 pounds, then the extra income for the railway was £33,000. I am very much aware that there were some very good fares on offer that were under 10 pounds, but I also note the longer distance traffic where the railway income was very much higher, and a few such fares balance out a lot of lower ones.
3800 journeys on this train equates to 1266 car journeys with an average of 3 passengers per car, or to between 50 and 55 bus journeys for a typical single deck bus with around 80% to 90% of the seats occupied.
Thank yous. This is going to read rather like an "Oscars speech" but there are MANY people to thank.
In no particular order ...
Sponsors and other organisations without whom this service could not have been run.
Visit Wiltshire, Invensys, Wessex Association of Chambers of Commerce, Knorr Bremse, Eddy Shah, Wiltshire Council and others.
First Great Western ... in two parts
• Firstly to the Managers and Organisers who helped put this plan into place and who helped tune some of the elements as we went along. From the train planners through to the backroom folks who put the adverts together, to the local area managers and to the Regional Manager for FGW.
• Secondly to the operational staff - the drivers who have been up extra-early on the Sunday mornings, and especially to the conductors for who we have replaced quiet "turns" with ones in which they have at times been rushed off their feet. The TransWilts Community Rail Helpers have certainly come to appreciate, over the past couple of months, what a marvellous job the conductors do. And we also really appreciate how they've done that job on the extra services with such an excellent approach and humour. FGW should be proud of you.
Volunteers and helpers with TransWilts Community Rail Partnership who have assisted with counts and information on the trains, at boarding stations, and behind the scenes.
Ann-Marie, Bob, David, Dominic, John, Lisa, Lee, Paul, Peter, Roger, Sion, Victoria and others
There are miscellaneous thank too - to Network Rail for ensuring that the TransWilts line was available outside normal operation hours. To National Rail / ATOC for including the services on the online train planner. To Trowbridge Tourist Information Centre for selling tickets and handling queries. To our MP (Chippenham / Melksham) for his longstanding support - and for coming along of the first day, and to other MPs in Wiltshire too with who's ongoing support we wouldn't have got as far as we have. To people who have added our information into newsheets and newspapers and onto websites, radio and TV so that people have been able to discover the service. Personally too to family, friends and work colleagues who have put up with me being train-mad for the last couple of month.
But the biggest "Thank you" of all is to the people who came along - in their thousands. You may have come along for a great day out, at very good value, (and most of you were saying you DID have a good day!), but you have also helped us to consolidate the case for a much more frequent service right along the TransWilts line - which we hope to achieve in the foreseeable future, thanks to your help.
And I'll keep you posted if Santa is on the TransWilts this December
Upper Illustration - joining the 08:20 Swindon to Westbury (through carriages to Weymouth) on 28th August 2011. Lower illustration - joining the 19:37 Westbury to Swindon on 28th August 2011. Click on either illustration to see it enlarged.
On Sunday 3rd July, then every Sunday from 17th July to 28th August inclusive, First Great Western ran an additional train at 07:30 from Westbury to Swindon, and at 08:20 from Swindon to Westbury, from where it carried on as the regular 09:12 service to Weymouth. The service was described as a "trial service" to see whether there would be uptake for extra trains on the line. It was also described as "the art of the practical" in that a Sunday morning service, over the northern part of the line could be provided using a train that was fairly easily available for the experiment.
Thank yous. This is going to read rather like an "Oscars speech" but there are MANY people to thank.