A VITAL transport link serving Cam and Dursley celebrates a milestone anniversary this week. As Cam and Dursley station passes its first decade in operation Dr Clive Mowforth of station campaign group Coaley Junction Action Group here tells the Gazette how the station has provided an important service for the community it serves.

CAM and Dursley on the mainline between Bristol and Gloucester saw its first train depart on May 14, 1994, followed by the official opening four days later on May 18, 1994.

The first train was the CoJAC Express - a special charter organised by the Coaley Junction Action Committee - which had been campaigning for the station for two years.

Cam and Dursley was the first railway station to reopen in Gloucestershire since the Beeching Acts of the 1963 which saw the mass closure of many railway lines.

It was fortunate that the station was completed before the privatisation and fragmentation of British Rail. This kept costs down and bureaucracy was minimal. The bill of about £560,000 was paid by Gloucestershire County Council, with contributions from the Rural Development Commission, Stroud District Council, Cam Parish Council, Dursley Town Council and Coaley Parish Council.

The station has provided a vital transport link for the south of Gloucestershire over the last decade and it is now firmly established as part of the national rail network. Scores of commuters rely on it for rapid travel to Gloucester and Bristol, avoiding the road congestion that clogs up these cities.

With few stations in the area, Cam & Dursley attracts commuters and other travellers from the local communities of Cam, Dursley, Stinchcombe, Slimbridge, Cambridge and Coaley, plus the more-distant towns and villages of Frampton-on-Severn, Stonehouse, Stroud, Nailsworth, Berkeley, Wotton-under-Edge and Thornbury.

After the station had been built, CoJAC became the voice for local rail users, promoting the service and campaigning for improvements.

The station has proved to be a real benefit for the local community - we were right to campaign for its opening. We were lucky that it was completed before the demise of British Rail. Since then, only one other station has been reopened to serve the county - was Ashchurch for Tewkesbury.

We would urge local and central government to press ahead with other re-openings, including Charfield and Stonehouse. There is still spare capacity on the local mainline and we should be making use of this with the right stations and services. The fraction of commuters to Gloucester and Bristol travelling by rail is still very small so there is huge potential.

CoJAC has regularly featured in the press over the last ten years on the issues of service levels, timings and punctuality and it has been fraught at times.

We did see service reductions in the early days of privatisation, and then problems with punctuality, particularly in the aftermath of the 2000 Hatfield crash.

But fortunately, things are getting better. Punctuality is the best it has been for over four years. In April, the average delay we recorded was under two minutes. The remodelling at Filton Junction will remove a bottleneck and should help future punctuality.

The level of service is the best we have ever had in Cam & Dursley. Since Virgin pulled out of Gloucester, Wessex Trains has had to step in to improve the Gloucester-Bristol service. We now have more trains and a much better return service from Gloucester, particularly in the late afternoon and evening.

Our ideal service would have trains calling at Cam & Dursley every hour throughout the day from early morning to late evening. We are not far off that. We need all local services on the line to call at Cam & Dursley - some pass through non-stop now - an earlier service to Gloucester for commuters, and standardised arrival/departure times.

There are only small changes at the end of this month when the summer timetable starts, but big changes are promised in December. We are keeping our fingers crossed.

CoJAC looks forward to another ten years representing users of Cam and Dursley.