Bedwyn station set to lose out when the Paddington line is electrified
Bedwyn station is currently served by diesel turbo trains from Paddington or Newbury and the occasional fast diesel train to/from Exeter and Plymouth. This is set to change once the line is electrified. However, as electrification will only come as far as Newbury, The Bedwyn Trains Passenger Group have written to both Claire Perry (MP that covers Bedwyn and Marlborough) and Richard Benyon (MP that covers Hungerford and Kintbury) asking them to investigate how this will affect Bedwyn station. They both received the same reply from the Transport Minister, Theresa Villiers – after the year 2016 the diesel Turbo trains will not be allowed to run between Reading and Paddington. This means that Kintbury, Hungerford and Bedwyn would be on a diesel Turbo shuttle service to Newbury or Reading.
It is proposed that through services to Exeter will be in two categories –
(i) A fast service between Paddington and Exeter (first stops Reading and Taunton) using the existing HST trains and
ii) A semi-fast service, using new IEP trains (these are bi-mode trains that can run under the wire to Newbury and then diesel thereafter), between Paddington and Exeter (stopping at additional stations such as Newbury, Pewsey and Westbury).
There is a danger that neither the fast service nor the semi-fast service will stop at Bedwyn in future.
BTPG are running a campaign to get our frequency of service and stops at Kintbury, Hungerford and Bedwyn on all the semi-fast IEP Paddington to Exeter service, included in the forthcoming franchise document for the Great Western route.
Please support them by writing to Claire Perry MP: claire.perry.mp@parliament.uk or at “House of Commons, London , SW1A 0AA ” and ask her to continue to petition the Department for Transport to include this proposal in the forthcoming franchise document for the Great Western route.
You can respond to the government's consultation on the Great Western Franchise Replacement, here...
To find out why electric trains more environmentally-friendly than diesel trains, click here.
