Direct rail service at last from Bradford on Avon and Trowbridge (From This Is Wiltshire)

Direct rail service at last from Bradford on Avon and Trowbridge

7:00pm Friday 27th May 2011 in News By Chris Melvin

Commuters in Bradford on Avon and Trowbridge who travel to London will have their journeys made easier after a new direct rail service to Paddington was launched this week.

The new service will run Monday to Friday, leaving Bradford on Avon at 5.44am and Trowbridge at 5.52am, arriving at London Paddington just before 8am. The return journey leaves the London station at 5.06pm and arrives back in west Wiltshire at 7pm.

Bradford on Avon Mayor Cllr Peter Leach waved off the first train of the new service on Monday.

He said: “It was a bit of a shock to the system to be up so early, but as west Wiltshire rail users had campaigned for this for about eight years I thought it was well worth supporting.

“It’s fantastic to be able to get an early morning train to Paddington. We have an excellent service to Waterloo anyway and to get a direct service to Paddington just makes London that much closer.

“You’d be surprised how many people in Bradford on Avon work from home but have to pop to London a couple of times a month, and now they will get a full day in London instead of half a day.”

Janet Repton, from the West Wiltshire Rail Users Group, said: “The point is if you’re in business you can get up to town and do business and come back within a day. It’s absolutely wonderful, we’re so pleased about it. Twenty years ago they wanted to make it a single track from Bath to Bradford on Avon to Trowbridge and I started a petition to prevent them.”

Simon Mead-King, station manager at Bradford on Avon, said: “It’s the first time in many years. The train has come through here for quite a long time but has always stopped in Westbury. It’s good for commuters or if you wanted to catch the Eurostar or an early flight.”