About this site
This is web site run by a First Great Western customer and for First Great Western Customers. We welcome YOUR contributions too via the coffeeshop forum ... How are their trains running? - a page that reports on cancellations, short working and skipping stops in the last 48 hours
Here's anIntroduction to some of the issues
The Department for Transport (and through them, the treasury) and First Great Western (and through them First shareholders) appears to be the top two concerns of the operator, with their voices first and second. But I feel that the CUSTOMER should be King - or should at least feature in the pecking order ....
The First group subsidiary First Great Western runs most train services in a wedge westward from London under a Franchise agreement with the Department for Transport which commenced on 1st April 2006 and runs for 7 years with an optional 3 year extension. The official FGW web site is here. The web site you are currently on is run by one of their customers. SeeAbout
There have been major changes to the service provided, and to its cost, many of which are to the detriment of the service provided to the railway's customers - its passengers. The service to my home town ofMelksham , Wiltshire for example - with a population of around 24,000 - has had its train service cut from 5 a day (each way) to just 2 a day, and they run at times that aren't convenient for most passengers. Travelling from Melksham to London for the day, I could buy a return ticket on the train for under 50 pounds last November. Now the fare on the only available train is over 100 pounds, with off peak fares withdrawn in December and a further price rise on the standard fares in January.
General topics
*Services covered
*Who\'s who at FGW?
*Smoke and Mirrors - "it's THEIR fault"
*Fare\'s fair?
*Alternatives to taking the FGW train
*Your rights as a passenger
*About this site
Journey by Journey - trains to and from London
* Paddington to Reading via Slough and Maidenhead
* Paddington to the Kennet valley - Newbury, Bedwyn etc
* Paddington to Didcot and Oxford
* Paddington to Swindon, Bath, Bristol, Weston-super-mare Gloucester and Cheltenham
* Paddington to Newport, Cardiff and Swansea
* Paddington to Westbury, Taunton, Exeter, Plymouth and Cornwall
* Paddington to the Cotswolds, Worcester and Hereford
Journey by Journey - NOT London
* Thames valley branches - Greenford, Windsor, Marlow and Henley
* Thames valley via Oxford - Bicester and Banbury
* Reading to Gatwick
* Reading to Basingstoke
* Swindon to Westbury via Chippenham, Melksham, Trowbridge
* Weymouth, Yeovil and Frome services
* Brighton, Porsmouth, Southampton, Romsey to Salisbury
* Salisbury, Warminster, Westbury, Trowbridge, Bradford-on-Avon to Bath and Bristol
* Bristol commuters - from Bath, Weston-super-mare, Severn Beach, South Wales and Gloucester ... Cheltenham
* Swindon and West of there to Didcot and Oxford
* South Wales local journeys
* Exeter to Exmouth
* Exteter to Barnstaple
* Exeter and Newton Abbot to Torbay
* Exeter to Plymouth local journeys
* Plymouth to Gunnislake
* Plymouth to Penzance - local journeys
* Liskeard to Looe
* Par to Newquay
* Truro to Falmouth
* St Erth to St Ives
Bits and pieces
Picture library
About ourTeam
Site written in PHP learn how here!
Link to the coffeeshop to talk about any of these subjects with your fellow passengers
N.B. - This site is owned and run by a customer of First Great Western and is not an official site of the company. If you are looking for First Great Western's web site please go to http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk. If you want to know more about this site, go here.
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