THE co-operative behind plans for a train service between Wiltshire and Birmingham has changed the abbreviated form of its name after being threatened with legal action by insurance price comparison website Go Compare.

The Go! Co-operative used the Go-Co brand to promote its rail plans and a car club in Swindon, but lawyers for Go Compare claimed that the Go-Co logo could be confused with the insurance website. As a result, the co-operative will now brand its services as Go-op.

Go-op, which has raised £400,000 to pay for development of its plans, is in talks with Network Rail about a 10-year track access agreement to operate eight trains a day each way, at two-hourly intervals, linking Westbury, Trowbridge, Melksham, Chippenham, Swindon, Oxford, Banbury, Leamington Spa, Warwick, Solihull and Birmingham.

Extra trains would run in the rush-hours — northbound in the morning and southbound in the afternoon — as well as on Fridays, while the co-op also wants to serve Weymouth at weekends during the summer, running via Yeovil and Dorchester.

The first trains are planned to start running in spring 2014.

Go-op aims to sign a leasing agreement for new trains to operate its services in June and is planning a public share offer, along with investment from other bodies and bank borrowing, to raise £3m for start-up costs.

It aims to be operating profitably after three years.