GO-OP, a new open-access train operating company, has announced proposals that would improve rail services across Somerset as soon as 2017. The new service will be presented at an event in Taunton on July 1st – part of a series of seminars in Somerset during the UK-wide Co-operatives Fortnight.
The co-operative venture has been developing a proposal for a new rail service linking the west country and the West Midlands for several years, but until recently the route had been intended to start at Westbury in Wiltshire. Now the co-operative says that it has enhanced the scheme to originate in Taunton, with stops at Castle Cary, Bruton and Frome. Before it can commence, the proposal will need to win the backing of the Office of Rail and Road later this year.
The event, ‘Going places: co-operatives offering smarter travel’ will take place from 1pm until 3pm on the 1st July, and will be followed at 4pm by the Annual General Meeting of Somerset Co-operative Services, the Co-operative Development Body for Somerset.
The new GO-OP route will begin with services between Taunton and Swindon, running one train every two hours from December 2017 with stops at Frome. In addition, the service will call at Westbury, Trowbridge, Melksham, Chippenham and Swindon. From May 2019, the service will be extended to Oxford, Banbury, Leamington, Kenilworth, Coventry, Bedworth and Nuneaton.
