THE campaign group that has encouraged massive improvements to Melksham’s train services over the past few years has now been awarded £3,500 by the Government to promote local tourism.
The TransWilts Community Rail Partnership recently ran a trial train service which saw Melksham one of the fastest growing rail stations in the country for two years in a row.
Now, TransWilts – an organisation that meets with train companies, councils and communities – has its eyes set on persuading tourists to travel by train to visit the county.
It was recently awarded £3,500 from the Government’s Designated Community Rail Development Fund (DCRDF) to match-fund local business contributions for the promotion of tourism on the TransWilts train line between Swindon and Westbury.
Melksham man Graham Ellis, a volunteer and key player in TransWilts said, “We are delighted to have been awarded the grant. Wiltshire is a beautiful county, and the partners are now working together to promote the line for leisure and tourism passengers, encouraging newcomers to see our beautiful county from some of our quieter trains, and to sample the delights of market towns such as Melksham, Chippenham, Trowbridge, Westbury and Warminster, and our larger urban areas of Swindon and Salisbury.”
David Andrews, chief executive of VisitWiltshire said, “Improving connectivity for visitors is a key priority for us in growing Wiltshire’s visitor economy, so we’re delighted with this further endorsement of the outstanding work of the TransWilts team.”
Mark Hopwood, managing director of Great Western added, “This is great news and follows the minister for rail, Paul Maynard’s visit last week. There are some great places to visit in Wiltshire and we are delighted to be working in partnership with the award-winning TransWilts Community Rail Partnership to support the communities we serve. I know that this grant will go to good use and I hope it will bring plenty more visitors to the area.”
