First regular Minehead to Bristol train service for 36 years is announced

A REGULAR train service is to run again from Minehead to Bristol for the first time since the branch line was axed in the Beeching cuts of 1971.
The service, which will start on Friday, July 30, is aimed at both holidaymakers and local passengers and will operate on selected dates through the peak summer weeks.
It is the result of several months of planning by the West Somerset Railway, Butlins, Mainline Rail, and Victa Westlink Rail.
There were also complex negotiations with Network Rail and the Office of the Rail Regulator.
Victa Westlink will provide the train services, which will run on Mondays, Fridays, and Saturdays, between July 20 and August 27.
Trains will leave Minehead at 11.10 am and call at all WSR stations before reaching Taunton at 12.55 pm, from where they will run non-stop to Bristol Temple Meads, arriving at 1.46 pm.
The return will depart Temple Meads at 2.06 pm and stop at Taunton at 2.42 pm and then all WSR stations to Minehead, where arrival is scheduled for 4.25 pm.
The trains will be worked by diesel locomotives and air-conditioned coaches provided by Mainline Rail, and will offer passengers from the Wales, the Midlands, and North of England an opportunity to travel direct to West Somerset by changing at Bristol.
Passengers from London and the South East, and those from other areas of the South West, will be able to change at Taunton.
Return tickets on the trains will be available to Taunton at £16 for adults, £13.60 for seniors, and £8 for children. Holders of local residents travel cards will be able to travel at reduced rates.
No reduced rates will be available for the return fares to Bristol, which will be £21.95 for adults and seniors and £10.95 for children.
WSR general manager Paul Conibeare said he was keen to see how the trains would develop business for the heritage rail company and the communities along its line.
Mr Conibeare said: “Ever since the railway reopened in 1976, it has been asserted that there is a strong local demand for trains to and from Taunton.
“This is an opportunity to begin to assess that potential market and also to hopefully persuade visitors to the area that the journey can be made by public transport.
“Butlins have expressed an interest in the project from the off, as offering an alternative to their customers who presently travel by mainline trains to Taunton and then complete the journey by bus.
“However, this can only work if the trains are used by enough people to pay for their costs, which are considerable.
“No subsidy is being paid by central or local government, so the trains have to stand on their own financially.
“But, we are encouraged by the growth in excursion traffic to and from West Somerset since the upgrading of the junction at Norton Fitzwarren, and we hope the trains to and from Bristol will be equally successful.”
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