A CAMPAIGN group for the survival Pilning train station is celebrating a “red letter day” this weekend with the expected arrival of its first Sunday train in decades.
The station, which has only accommodated Saturday trains since 2006, has offered even less service since last November since it became one-way, when the footbridge over the track was controversially demolished last November to make way for main line electrification.
But the Pilning Station User Group, who are keen to see more use of the “Cinderella station” are celebrating the scheduling of a 10.43am train that will ferry overnight campers from the Plough Inn Music Festival down the road back to Bristol.
The service was put on by rail operator Great Western Railway (GWR) after the user group requested the train, with music lovers arriving on the 1.34pm train on Saturday now able to get home.
A GWR spokesman confirmed that, following a request from the Plough Festival, they had agreed to stop the 10.08 Cardiff to Brighton service to support travel to the event.
Olga Taylor, chairman of the Pilning Station User Group, said they are “absolutely thrilled and very grateful” to GWR for agreeing to run the service.
She said: “Thanks to the recent publicity, more and more people are discovering Pilning Station, so despite the station's poor service, its usage is actually going up.
“We hope that the special Sunday service on August 20 will pave the way for future service improvements all year round."
Tina Biggs, from the Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways (FOSBR), who have also campaigned to see more usage of the station, said they were very pleased by GWRs willingness to run the service as it showed they “can and do respond to specific requests.”
She said: “We’d like to see a trial daily commuter service, such as the Cardiff to Portsmouth, stopping at Pilning each morning as this would both take workers from Wales to Severnside, and take workers and schoolchildren living in the area to Temple Meads in 21 minutes, rather than the unreliable service from Severn Beach, which takes 37 minutes.”
To find out more about Pilning Station Group, visit www.pilningstation.uk
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