Extending to Bedwyn the latest proposed electrification of the First Great Western main line to Paddington beyond Newbury is being greeted with mounting derision and opposition.
After a campaign formed by passenger groups backed by their MPs, the extension of any electrification “just a few yards south” has been described as “miniscule and quite ludicrous.”
And Dr Andrew Murrison, Tory MP for South West Wiltshire, has declared that his constituency will be the “even poorer country cousins” because Arup, the Department of Transport’s consultants, have ruled out driving electrification of the line further south to Westbury.
Despite surveys showing the urgent need to give commuters a faster service to Reading and on to London, Arup claims the economic argument does not justify spend millions on electrifying the line to Pewsey, Westbury and may be beyond into southern Wiltshire and Somerset.
“No electrification risks Westbury being left with a sleep branch line-type service post 2016 and no realistic commuting,” protests Dr Murrison.
“I’m not happy with Arup’s rail review, which risks making us the even poorer country cousins of the rail network. We need electrification to Westbury.
“The important thing now is that we don’t lose any high-speed services from Westbury to London, which is crucial to bringing Westbury into the mainstream.”
And that means Pewsey too.
One regular Pewsey to Paddington commuter described the Arup plan as “miniscule and quite ludicrous” because electrifying the line to Bedwyn added little or no worth to answering the demands of regular passengers.
“Moreover, it may well cause problems for Bedwyn if electrification results in the tiny station there attracting more passengers. Bedwyn has a serious commuter parking problem already. I can’t imagine how it might cope in the future.”
Arup’s “Benefit/Cost’ analysis of electrifying the line between Newbury and Westbury suggest that it would be highly beneficial to electrify the section between Newbury and Bedwyn in order to avoid the imposition of a shuttle service to Newbury, but for no other reason.
However, the analysis was based on the current poor service that operates between Newbury and Westbury, rather than on a massively improved service that could have linked with other cities such as Bath and Bristol at least once an hour.
Arup’s review included four other options, three of them taking electrification as far as Westbury. However, in a meeting with local MPs, passenger groups plus town and parish councillors, Arup insisted that the Bedwyn option was the only one that offered good value for money.
“It was a very positive meeting,” claimed Devizes MP Claire Perry. “It is clear that there is a good understanding of how important local rail links are and we are pushing to get the changes made quickly.”
But critics point out that the volume of passengers daily using Pewsey to go to Newbury, Reading and London is vast compared to Bedwyn.
In fact they deliberately bought homes in the area because it offered rail connections and were seeking to see them improved. One described the Arup recommendation as “rubbish”.
Patrick Wilson, chairman of Pewsey and District Chamber of Commerce, pointed out: “If nothing else changed then the impact would probably be quite neutral.
“But the fear is that this is an opportunity for an incoming franchisee to take over and reduce services and that would be much more significant. There are people who have chosen to locate in Pewsey Vale because of the transport links to Reading and London Paddington and this would impact on them.”
