Please follow this link to register an interest in the Partnership if you didn't make the meeting

This web page is an FAQ concerning the TransWilts railway line that links the five largest towns in the county of Wiltshire in England, from which most trains were withdrawn in December 2006, and the campaign for the return of an appropriate service.

It's now commonly acknowledged that the cuts went one step too far and there are validated draft timetables which could have been put into operation from December 2009. Although we did not achieve this updated service, the line and service has now been moved from the "basket case" category that the "powers that be" used to put it into into a very serious contender for a better timetable. Indeed, the latter half of 2009 saw some major progress, leading us to hope that something really significant can be achieved by the end of 2010. There is, though, a need to keep this subject in the public eye as it could be too conveniently forgotten by the "powers that be", which is why we're still asking as many people and organisations as possible to sign up to support the service ((18th March 2010 - We're probably looking for ongoing support via the CRP from 26th March - but you are encourages to sign here in the meantime and we'll contact you again/ help transfer you over)). We have 750 names already, you can still sign up! The pictures here were both taken from the same spot at Melksham station and show the difference that a train can make.

The TransWilts railway line links the five largest population centres in Wiltshire, which are Swindon, Salisbury, Trowbridge, Chippenham and Melksham, and it also serves other sizeable towns at Warminster and Westbury. There's also a station at Dilton Marsh, a residential area which is expanding rapidly, with housing marching nearer to the station every week, it seems.

Swindon and Chippenham are in the North of the County, and Salisbury is in the South. And although there are good East - West links across at various points, the TransWilts in the only North to South railway, and the roads which run broadly along the same route - the A350 and the A36 - are notorious for congestion around Chippenham, though Beanacre and around Melksham, at Yarnbrook and south through Westbury and the Wyle valley to Salisbury. Both Swindon and Salisbury centres and their approaches suffer severe congestion

The railway line is well maintained to main line standards throughout, and as a result passenger trains can travel (example) from Trowbridge to Swindon in 35 minutes when the bus takes 95, and from Chippenham to Salisbury in under an hour when the bus, with a change en route, takes over 2 hours.

Diagram - thanks to Graham Ditte

There are currently just TWO southbound trains each way a day on the middle section of the line - leaving Swindon at a quarter past six in the morning and a quarter to 7 at night. Northbound, there are no through trains at all - you have to change at Westbury if you're travelling from Salisbury to Melksham, Chippenham or Swindon, with Salisbury departure times of 4 minutes after 6 in the morning, and twenty to 7 in the evening.

If you consider these timings to be rather curious, we understand that they are run this early so that the train operating company (First Great Western) can meet its contractual obligations to the Department for Transport in what is known as "marginal time", releasing the trains used for peak hour services on the lines between Swindon and Gloucester, and Salisbury and Southampton.

Prior to the current timetable, Wessex Trains operated a service of 5 trains per day each way - 2 around the morning peak, one in the middle of the day, and an afternoon peak and an evening service. According to the Office of the Rail Regulator, ticket sales at Melksham which is served ONLY by the TransWilts line grew from around 3000 in 2001/2 to 27500 5 years later - just before the plug was pulled on the useful services in December 2006. That is a 35% compound growth, as compared to a 0.8% growth figure assumed on 2002/3 figures by the Department for Transport as their basis for the new service level.

The current TransWilts train services run at a time of day when only a limited number of people want to travel, and they are so widely spaced that they make for an impractically long day for any commuter who wishes to use them. As a result, the five trains which had reasonable loadings prior to the service reduction in 2006 have been replaced by 2 trains which are nearly empty - the line has lost 90%+ of its traffic.

Road transport is NOT an adequate substitute, with the A350 being congested already, and likely to get more so in large parts as heavy lorries are diverted away from Bath, and as the area develops. 140 hectares is earmarked in Melksham for development over the next 18 years, Trowbridge is to grow by 5000 homes (circa 12000 people), and a significant commuter flow from them will be to Chippenham and Swindon.

There ARE other trains running on the southern part of the route - Salisbury to Trowbridge - but the section north from Trowbridge only carries one third of the service level considered appropriate. Travellers south from Dilton Marsh find many of their current services terminating at Warminster, with a lack of through trains to their natural destination of Salisbury.

Passengers from Westbury and Trowbridge to Chippenham and Swindon CAN double back via Bath, but the interchange is poor due to the station layout, and connections can be hit and miss, and there remains some overcrowding from Trowbridge to Bath via Bradford-on-Avon.

The gap in service at Melksham from 07:17 to 19:11 makes the service virtually useless for round trips, and the trains have a fearsomely poor reliability record.


A number of options have been considered and it has seemed logical to work with First Great Western, who provide the current service, to provide them. However, an improved service could equally well be provided by Stagecoach / South West Trains and in some ways that's even more logical as the company has a diesel train depot where suitable units are serviced actually at the Salisbury end of the line. They also have diesel services from Romsey / Southampton and London Waterloo terminating at Salisbury from the South/East which could be extended via Westbury to Chippenham and Swindon.

The First Great Western option is documented here and that timetable has, I understand, been validated crew wise and track availability wise. A question mark remains over the 16:24 from Salisbury and the 17:55 from Swindon due to possible requirements for the train to be on another (more profitable?) line in the evening peak, and the loss of that service from the plan would be a tragedy.

Some South West Trains options have been described on this website in the past; I wouldn't rule them out, but not as I previously described them as I understand there were pathing issues.

The extra options described assume the retention of the current service, which would be become considerably more useful as the new trains would provide services that would turn that current service into a useful extension of the new.

The financial case has been looked at in some detail, and is perhaps beyond the scope of this summary document; railway financing is artificially distorted by a system known as ORCATS.

Timeline Inputs need to be made and timetables drawn up in the next couple of months. Department for Transport, County Council Officials and budget holders, and Train Operating Companies need to maintain focus. That's why it's important that everyone including elected representatives gets a strong support message in the run up to that date.

From about August to December, it's a bit late as final planning is being done for the new timetables; it was May last year that a similar draft plan floundered for unknown reasons, but this year it is being looked at more seriously. [Expect update, late July 2009; a May 2009 meeting appeared to kick the issue into the long grass, but since then we have had fresh local elections, we have gathered around 700 signatures, and we are putting forward even lower cost options]

What would all of this mean for individual traveller groups?


A practical commuter and off peak train service from Warminster, Westbury, Trowbridge and Melksham to Chippenham and Swindon. No longer any need for the dogleg journey via Bath (hoping that trains will connect), or to take the car or bus or start at 7 in the morning, to get home at half past seven at night.