Jim, the reason I retain my anonymity is because I am under a contract to First Great Western.  They pay me to wear their uniform and to represent the Company.  I am not authorised to make statements on their behalf and if I make any derogatory statements - that could be considered a breach of the contract and I could face disciplinary procedures.  If I am anonymous, I can offer information and an insider viewpoint that may not otherwise be available to the public.  If my identity, job or place of work became apparent it would be prudent to stop posting.   

I wouldn't normally associate "out of the box thinking" with the Japanese   The infamous "pushers" in Tokyo to squeeze more commuters on trains might be a relevant but unwelcome example of original Japanese thinking.  Or the fatal crash where the driver was speeding because he was on a final warning for late running.

I've never found the Japanese Railways particularly innovative.  Clean, efficient, fast and reliable - yes!  But the infrastructure is not that much different to our own.  Stations, tracks, crossings, points, bogies - all instantly recognisable.

Could you elaborate on what Chris Green meant by the Japanese model, Grahame?  How do they solve their maintenance problems without disrupting their business, leisure and freight customers?

The difference at weekends is that most journeys are for leisure and are non-urgent, whilst on weekdays they are mostly for business. I doubt that you commuters would appreciate train-bus-train diversions on your work journey.  If you are travelling at the weekend it is probably a one-off trip and diversions can be planned for.

Most engineering work is done at night and you don't even know about it.  Weekends is the second best option and weekday closures are reserved for major upgrades.  I don't see any alternative, really.

As for the Melksham route, it is an important line for both freight and diversions.  The Westbury-Reading  line has been closed for engineering for the last few weekends and Paddington trains are diverting from Westbury via Melksham to Swindon and Reading.  So with HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) and freight trains using the single track line in both directions (and the extra traffic it generates on the mainline) it makes sense to keep the local trains out of the mix.

Having worked 9 hours yesterday (Sunday), I'm not quite sure what you mean

If anybody who commutes to Bristol from Wiltshire/Bath is looking for a quiet train, I can recommend the 0658 from Westbury, all stops (bar Pilning!) to Cardiff.  I've been on it a couple of times this week and there is always plenty of room.  It runs 3 cars to BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI)) where the single car goes to Weston SM and the 2 car goes to Cardiff.  If you can get flexible working and don't mind getting up a bit earlier, you might find it a lot more relaxing.

The return service for this unit from Cardiff to Westbury (0900) was cancelled/scheduled to re-start from Bristol.  Unfortunately the crew were still in Cardiff and had to travel to BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI)) to pick it up.  By the time they arrived it had been decided to scrap the service and couple the unit to the 0930 Cardiff - Portsmouth to position it to Westbury for its next working.

The briefing says that only warnings will be given, so I would say not.

When we were Wessex we felt that the maintenance service we received from Arriva at Canton was abysmal.  The trains were not maintained properly and certainly not to the standard of Arriva's own trains.  They would often fail simply because the coolant had not been topped up.  Sometimes we would have half a dozen trains sitting in the depot awaiting spares while Arriva were running a full fleet.  Originating trains from Cardiff were often delayed because nobody was available to bring them out from the depot.  So when we heard that the maintenance was being withdrawn from Canton we thought everything would be better in no time!

Shows how much we knew!  The last I heard is that the engineering manager who arranged the DMU^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) maintenance move to the unfinished and unprepared St Phillip's Marsh is no longer employed by FGW^▸ (First Great Western)!  But the damage is done and nothing can be done to repair it until SPM^▸ (St Philip's Marsh (Bristol depot)) is running properly and I have no idea when that will be.

I rather wish Stagecoach had got the franchise and we had the maintenance facilities at Salisbury.  They turn out some beautifully prepared trains there.  Ours are absolutely disgusting inside and out.  I am ashamed of them.  It is sickening to see the gleaming South West Trains units of the same vintage.

As for the traincrew shortages, I have seen no evidence of cost-cutting here.  In the West region there are enough drivers and conductors to cover the scheduled work although I believe Reading is a bit tight on conductors.  There are usually 3 or 4 people a day rostered as "spare" and then utilised to cover sickness.  There is also a "cover" person morning and afternoon who stands by for last-minute emergencies.  Drivers are the biggest problem because it takes up to 18 months training before they are available for all routes so there is a long lead-in to adjust figures.  Currently much of our work is done by Arriva crew (a hangover from Wales and West days) and that is being transferred to FGW in the next couple of months.  This means that FGW drivers have been taken off work to learn different routes and also to learn St Phillips Marsh.  I'm guessing that this is why the operation is running tighter than usual.

You may have read about, or experienced, the huge delays to trains to and from Cardiff yesterday and today.  Many fans travelling to the Cup Final missed the kick off and apparently there were still 2,000 fans trying to get out of Cardiff at 9.00 pm on Sunday.  It's been as bad today with many of the Portsmouth trains terminating at Bristol and delays on others.

For once, it wasn't FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s fault!  Apparently a group of travellers helped themselves to a hefty length of copper cable from alongside the track which trashed most of the signals in the Newport area.  It should be replaced by the time I write this, but it will still take some time before delayed trains and crews end up where and when they should be. 

I was on a Southampton to Cardiff service this morning that was delayed 40 minutes northbound.  Again FGW were innocent!  A truck hit a railway bridge at Romsey and the train was not allowed to cross until engineers had checked the structure.  Amazingly, another truck was being pulled out from under a bridge as we reached Salisbury causing a further delay.  As the fast Portsmouth - Cardiff was only 5 minutes behind at this stage, it was terminated at Bristol to avoid sending both trains into the Newport chaos.

Just another snaphot of life on FGW from ... whistleblower

I've got a four page briefing for staff about the Penalty Fares to be introduced on 31st March.  These are not secret and FGW^▸ (First Great Western) will be trying to communicate the info to all passengers over the next month.  But you may find it easier to read it here than on a windy station platform in the cold and the wet  

It's a four page brief so I'll try and pick out the salient points and if you want to know more, just ask and I'll try to answer your questions.  Italics indicate a direct quote from the briefing.

Penalty Fares are intended to encourage passengers to buy a ticket before they board our services.
New areas to be covered are basically commuter routes centred on Reading, Bristol and Exeter.  Most stations will be included but not all.  Some are too small to have a ticket machine and if you travel from those stations you will be exempt from the scheme.

A Penalty Fare is due when a passenger boards a Penalty Fares Train within a Penalty Fares area without having previously paid their fare OR when a passenger is found in a Compulsory Ticket Area without having paid for a ticket.  (A small number of our stations are designated Compulsory Ticket Areas. It does not matter whether the station is gated or not).

How much is the penalty?  The penalty covers the distance from the station where you boarded to the next station STOP.  You would be penalised ^20 (or twice the single fare (whichever is greater)) to that next stop PLUS the undiscounted single fare from THAT stop to your final destination.  You can travel from a station outside the Penalty Fares Area to one within it and you won't be penalised.  If you are travelling from a Penalty Fares station to one outside you'll only have to pay if you are caught inside the PF^▸ (Penalty Fare) Area.

OK - Who's going to be brave enough to demand ^20 from you when it's raining, the train's late and shortformed and you are squeezed in the toilet with three other people?  Not me, that's for sure.  Only an Authorised Penalty Fares Collector with an official badge and special training can do so  - not the conductors or ticket sellers.  They may be checking on the train or at ticket barriers.  What happens if you do board a train without a ticket and ask the conductor to sell you one?  Well, if there's no Authorised Collector around, the conductor CAN sell you a ticket but has to issue a verbal warning that you WOULD have been penalised if there was somebody to do it.

Two relevant points to consider.  For the first month (April) penalties will not be issued - just warnings.  But be aware of this nasty one: If you receive a Penalty Fare you have to give your name and address which will be registered on a database.  That database will be consulted by phone whenever somebody is penalised and if it is a subsequent offence you will not be issued with more penalty fares.  The intention is to prosecute for the offence of fare evasion which is a criminal offence.  We actually prosecute around 50 people every week

Well, I hope that helps prepare you for what to expect come 31st March.  Please don't blame me or my colleagues, we don't like it any more than you do. I don't like the way that it dehumanises life.  If you have a bit of trouble (i.e running late, car wouldn't start, kids playing up) it'd be nice to know that somebody might help instead of turning you into a criminal.  Oh well - we'd better blame the fare dodgers, I guess.  Sorry for the glum news

Hi there.  The clue is in the name.  I posted once or twice on other forums and blogs, mainly during the worst of the chaos in the Bath and Bristol area.  I'm front-line customer service staff with FGW^▸ (First Great Western) so it's prudent to retain my anonymity, although travellers on the ex-Wessex routes would probably recognise me .  I don't represent FGW or their views and am well aware of their failings - perhaps the worst of which is poor communication - to you, but also to us!  What I can do, hopefully, is to give you a slightly different perspective on the day-to-day running of the railway and fill in any gaps in the poor communication from "The Management".  I can start with an intro to the Penalty fares which are coming to a station near you very soon.  I'll add it to the existing thread in the Fares section.

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=45.0

BTW^▸ (by the way) I tend to see life from a light-hearted, skewed viewpoint so if I ever sound flippant it's probably because I am