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|  Regular trains between Bristol and Minehead...
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• The WSR Plc have issued the following press release...
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First regular public trains from Minehead to Taunton and Bristol for thirty years
Through trains to Bristol for holidaymakers and local residents will run from Minehead from Friday 20th July. For the first time since the branch line between Taunton and Minehead was closed as part of the “Beeching Cuts” in January 1971 regular public service trains will be running from Minehead to Taunton and Bristol on selected dates through the peak summer weeks.
The trains are the outcome of several months of planning between The West Somerset Railway, Butlins, Mainline Rail and Victa Westlink Rail, the last of whom will provide the train services. There has also needed to be complex negotiations with Network Rail and the Office of the Rail Regulator. The outcome is that services will run on Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays between Friday 20th July and Monday 27th August. The trains will leave Minehead at 11.10 and will call at all West Somerset Railway stations before reaching Taunton at 12.55 and then run non-stop to Bristol Temple Meads, arriving at 13.46. The return will depart from Temple Meads at 14.06 and will stop at Taunton at 14.42 and then all WSR stations to Minehead, where arrival is at 16.25.
The trains will be worked by diesel locomotives and air-conditioned coaches provided by Mainline Rail and will offer passengers from the Wales, the Midlands and North of England the opportunity to travel direct to West Somerset by changing at Bristol, whilst passengers from London and the South East, plus those from the South West of England will be able to change at Taunton.
Return tickets on the trains will be available to Taunton at £16 for adults, £13.60 for seniors, and £8 for children and Local Residents Travel Card holders will be able to travel at reduced rates. No reduced rates will be available for the return fares to Bristol, which will be £21.95 for adults and seniors and £10.95 for children.
WSR General Manager Paul Conibeare is keen to see how the trains will develop business for the West Somerset Railway and the communities along its length. “Ever since the Railway re-opened in 1976 it has been asserted that there is a strong local demand for trains to and from Taunton. This is an opportunity to begin to assess that potential market and also to hopefully persuade visitors to the area that the journey can be made by public transport. Butlins have expressed an interest in the project from the off as offering an alternative to those of their customers who presently travel by mainline trains to Taunton and then complete the journey by ‘bus”.
“However”, Mr Conibeare continued, “this can only work if the trains are used by enough people to pay for their costs, which are considerable. No subsidy is being paid by Central or local government, so the trains have to stand on their own financially. But, we are encouraged by the growth in excursion traffic to and from West Somerset since the upgrading of the junction at Norton Fitzwarren, and we hope the trains to and from Bristol will be equally successful”.
West Somerset Railway Plc
26 June 2007
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This page is not from the official West Somerset Railway website
© Stephen Edge
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