Wiltshire Council wins £4.25m bid to support transport infrastructure

Residents of Wiltshire will hopefully benefit from improved railway services over coming years, as Wiltshire Council receives £4.25m government funding.

The Department of Transport announced this week that Wiltshire had been successful in its' application for part of a £40m total funding available.

The money will be used to create more regular train services between Westbury and Swindon, to help fund improvements at rural and town train stations, and to help better coordinate local bus services with train services.

Currently the Transwilts service between Swindon and Westbury currently runs twice a day, but that might increase to eight times a day with this extra funding.

Local transport groups welcome the news, but naturally final decisions will depend on agreement between the rail operators. 

Dick Tonge, cabinet member for highways and transport, said: "We are delighted that we have been successful in securing this government funding which will make a positive improvement to our rail services in the county. Improved train services and better access to stations will mean less people using the car and a boost for local businesses as the county will have even better transport connections."