City MP Richard Graham has met with the new Rail Minister to push for more CrossCountry Trains at Gloucester station ahead of decisions on the new Inter City service franchise.
Richard has been campaigning for years for more services between Gloucester and Bristol and Birmingham and believes this is the crucial moment: “I met the new Rail Minister Paul Maynard to ensure he was fully aware of my case for far more trains on the Birmingham-Bristol Intercity service to stop at Gloucester than the current 3 out of 63 trains per day.” Gloucester’s MP noted this service provided no practical service for Gloucester commuters to either Birmingham or Bristol.
“We are a growing city with ambitious regeneration plans including station improvements and a new carpark”, Richard said, “and we need a decent public transport system to drive this growth. It’s time to reverse the crazy decision made by Labour in 2006 to reduce the number of trains serving our city and create a much better real Inter City service that includes the City of Gloucester.”
Richard added that the Minister is in “no doubt about the strength of our case and I very much hope this is reflected in decisions when the franchise details are announced soon.”
