Swindon - Cheltenham Rail Line improvement.

[Spencer_White]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-12832259

Going to double the track all the way on this line by 2014. Hopefully will mean more trains travelling north from Swindon? On a saturday theyve only been able to have trains leaving Swindon at 7am and 9am because of the single track, which is a pain for an away day because one is too early and the other too late. Good news.

[ronnie21]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-12832259

Going to double the track all the way on this line by 2014. Hopefully will mean more trains travelling north from Swindon? On a saturday theyve only been able to have trains leaving Swindon at 7am and 9am because of the single track, which is a pain for an away day because one is too early and the other too late. Good news.

Good news indeed, but why did they single it in the first place.  False economy I guess.  My early days of following the Town involved a train ride along the double track from Minety!

[Spencer_White]

Just typical underinvestment in public transport in our area.

I think it took a lot of campaigning to get this decision, which is rediculous when you consider it is the Cheltenham/Gloucester area's route to London and that it is an ideal back up route for the South Wales Line and Severn tunnel.

[Ardiles]

Good news for our Gloucestershire contingent as well.

I wonder whether this increases the business case for a suburban station in NW Swindon?  Quite surprising that a town of Swindon's size and railway history only has one train station.  There are 6 in Reading, with a 7th on the drawing board.

[Simon Pieman]

We're not Reading. Get over it.

[Ardiles]

I don't think any of our lot who have been watching since before 1995 will ever get over them having overtaken us.  Some things just aren't right and never will be.

[Reg Smeeton]

Good news for our Gloucestershire contingent as well.

I wonder whether this increases the business case for a suburban station in NW Swindon?  Quite surprising that a town of Swindon's size and railway history only has one train station.  There are 6 in Reading, with a 7th on the drawing board.

In the recent past, there has been talk about re-opening a station at Wootton Bassett. Purton used to have a station and of course Cricklade was on the M and SWJR along with Chiseldon and Ogbourne St George.  Stratton used to have its very own Halt and Highworth its own branch.  If only planners had some foresight and realised how useful keeping these links could have become for the Town.

[Batch]

Cirencester used to have two stations. Then some dick decided it was best served by some village in the arse end of nowhere (Kemble). Thanks a lot Beeching

[Simon Pieman]

Blunsdon as well

[Spencer_White]

I think the roads in North Swindon are shite. The planning is pure fuckwittery as normal for Swindon.

Wiltshire council have to dump some more housing somewhere in North Wilts and it looks like they will do it right on SBC's doorstep in the fields between Common Platt/Sparcells and Purton. If they do that I cant imagine how long it will take to drive into town from those new houses. 45 mins+ ? So if that development goes ahead, yes there would be call for a station up there. But as Reg says, Bassett has to be the biggest priority for a station at the moment?

[Oaksey Moonraker]

Cirencester used to have two stations. Then some dick decided it was best served by some village in the arse end of nowhere (Kemble). Thanks a lot Beeching

I grew up in the neighbouring village of Oaksey (wouldn't describe the area of the arse end of nowhere) and quite a few lads used to follow Swindon Town from there in the 1980's and early 1990's. There is room on the line for 2 tracks but the other was pulled up following the Beeching cuts. Villages such as Oaksey & Minety had their own stations and older Town fans recalled catching trains to Swindon for football in the 60's. Don't forget that a good proportion of our supporter base comes from outside of Swindon itself.

[Ardiles]

I am sure a Bassett station would be a success.  Obvious candidate.

Regarding the roads in N Swindon, one of the reasons that infrastructure in that area is so poor is that it's incomplete.  There were well documented plans in the early 1990s (ie when N Swindon was being planned) for Thamesdown Drive to loop continuously all the way from Groundwell to the Transfer Bridges.  Only half of the route was ever built; the section from where the dual carriageway currently ends just north of Sparcells to Transfer Bridges would have paralleled the Swindon-Kemble line.  Getting in to town from that area by road remains a real bind.  All the more reason to build the train station, maybe.

[Spencer_White]

I am sure a Bassett station would be a success.  Obvious candidate.

Regarding the roads in N Swindon, one of the reasons that infrastructure in that area is so poor is that it's incomplete.  There were well documented plans in the early 1990s (ie when N Swindon was being planned) for Thamesdown Drive to loop continuously all the way from Groundwell to the Transfer Bridges.  Only half of the route was ever built; the section from where the dual carriageway currently ends just north of Sparcells to Transfer Bridges would have paralleled the Swindon-Kemble line.  Getting in to town from that area by road remains a real bind.  All the more reason to build the train station, maybe.

I didnt realise that was the plan, but that would have made sense. Another SBC sickener that they gave the developers back £4m earmarked for roads even though they have not fulfilled their promises and created suburban gridlock at rush hour.

Its a joke that there are signs for Cirencester at the roundabout with the Porsche garage on it at the bottom of Mead way. How long does it take to get onto the A419 from that roundabout with all the lights on Thamesdown drive? 20 mins? Its a joke.

Swindon needs to stop being shafted by developers. Although as I said, SBC are now not in control of what happens in NW Swindon because they have built up to their boundaries with North Wilts. 

[Oaksey Moonraker]

I am sure a Bassett station would be a success.  Obvious candidate.

Regarding the roads in N Swindon, one of the reasons that infrastructure in that area is so poor is that it's incomplete.  There were well documented plans in the early 1990s (ie when N Swindon was being planned) for Thamesdown Drive to loop continuously all the way from Groundwell to the Transfer Bridges.  Only half of the route was ever built; the section from where the dual carriageway currently ends just north of Sparcells to Transfer Bridges would have paralleled the Swindon-Kemble line.  Getting in to town from that area by road remains a real bind.  All the more reason to build the train station, maybe.

Wasn't that some of the thinking on the Shaw Tip site for the ground a few years ago that it would link into and justify that last part of the link road

[Spencer_White]

Dont think so, Shaw Tip is the other side of the rail line?