Marcus Fysh, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for the Yeovil constituency, welcomed Conservative Rail Minister Claire Perry, MP for Devizes, to Yeovil today, to see for herself the potential benefits of his campaign to upgrade local rail connections and services, in which he has asked for her help.
This campaign includes a call for the reconnection of Yeovil Pen Mill and Yeovil Junction stations with a regular service, for London services originating from Pen Mill, for more frequency and capacity and better timetabling on both the Bristol to Weymouth and Exeter to London lines, and double tracking when possible, and the reopening of Chard Junction station.
Marcus said, "I am ramping up the pressure to get local rail improvements, and am very happy that Claire has been getting behind them. I have written to South West Trains, First Great Western and Network Rail, and have mentioned my plan for our local area and how important rail is to that, to ministers from Brandon Lewis to George Osborne to David Cameron, over the last few months. I am hopeful that with Claire's support we can get these things done. They are just sensible things rather than very costly projects, but they should have a great impact."
"I am passionate about regenerating our towns, and getting better infrastructure and services into them to enable that. Taking pressure off our roads by having convenient rail services has to be a good thing.
"Especially during the period when we dual the A303, we must have alternatives to get ourselves around. And Sherborne Road in and out of Yeovil is a nightmare which could be relieved a bit by creating a direct rail service from Sherborne into Yeovil Pen Mill. In the longer term, by making the eastern part of Yeovil, and all of Chard, more convenient to get in and out of, those areas will naturally come up."