Rail travel in Frome could get a boost from a new train operator proposing a significant addition to the rail timetable from summer 2020.
The proposal from GO-OP – an independent co-operative society – will bring an additional six services a day to the town, which GO-OP say will give ‘a big jump in service levels’ to Frome, bringing departures ‘close to hourly’.
The service will connect Frome to the West Midlands, with the service going as far as Nuneaton, via Oxford, Leamington Spa and Coventry. In addition the service will connect Frome with Taunton and offer additional connections to Yeovil and Wiltshire towns like Westbury, Trowbridge, Melksham, Chippenham and Swindon.
Mayor of Frome, cllr Rich Ackroyd welcomed the scheme. He said, “Frome Town Council is delighted to hear of Go-Op’s plans to run additional services to and from Frome. Usage at the station has increased hugely over the last ten years with very minimal increases in services and big gaps at peak times.
“We welcome any train operator that will help to meet these needs. The co-op model also means that benefits will be aimed at users and workers which is great.”
GO-OP has been working on its plans for several years and had announced in 2016 that it hoped to gradually introduce the new services from 2017. Alex Lawrie, the Operations Director and a founder member of GO-OP, said, “We’ve had a couple of false starts and have realised that perhaps we weren’t as well prepared as we thought. The technical difficulties are hard to overstate. The UK railways are – for good reason – carefully regulated and we must prove in great detail that our ideas stack up. But we learn and we move on. This is a new submission and we think that this is the one!
“We are holding a public meeting in Frome on Thursday 4th April. We’d encourage anyone who’d like to find out more to come to these events, or visit www.go-op.coop for more information. This is just the start – we need to start planning bus services to bring people to the stations, and consider how we can further develop and enhance the service. Anyone in the area we serve can be part of the conversation.”
The meeting will take place at 5pm – 6.30pm. The venue is to be confirmed, please check the GO-OP website for updates: www.go-op.coop