I totally agree that FGW^▸ (First Great Western) should look at better a better service to all the major towns of the franchise region.

A regular service from Cheltenham/Gloucester to Southampton should also be considered!

Without vision and money, not even Harry potter could fix FGW^▸ (First Great Western).

I do not pretend to have the answers for FGW problems, but if Andrew Haines could consider

- Increase local services in Bristol, Wiltshire (Trans Wilts) and Berkshire (Newbury, TV Corridor) particularly in late evening
- Increase Peak time HST^▸ (High Speed Train) capacity to/from London. Add more carriages, or use existing trains to meet real passenger demand better.
- Install more ticket machines, or pay for more staff to work longer hours at stations
- Install more barrier gates in stations. Frequently at BPW^» (Bristol Parkway - next trains) in the evening 300+ passengers are queueing to get through TWO gates. Many with suite cases or tickets that will not scan.
- Reduce prices. Rail fairs from Bristol to Reading are twice those of Birmingham to Reading (Virgin) and Salisbury to London (South West Trains)
- Improve information when things go wrong. It is really annoying seeing a delay increase as time does, or to be told a train is five minutes away, or arriving in a station when it is broken down 40 miles away!

All I want is a reliable, clean service that costs approximately what driving would cost, or less. Anyone who tells me that a return trip to Reading from Bristol costs ^72 by car is mad. That is FGW fare.

The shame of this change is the the original 07:10 BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI)) - LPD was started to relieve pressure at BPW^» (Bristol Parkway - next trains), not Bath or Chippenham.

Although it doesn't happen often, on busy mornings some passengers have to stand from BPW through to London. This extra train, when it occassionally ran, did make a difference to this!

Hi

To cap it all, all the franchises you refer to receive a subsidy. The Great Western franchise makes a payment of ^1.2 billion (this franchise period).

I find it hard to understand how the most expensive franchise (FGW^▸ (First Great Western)), that contributes the most to the government, has the oldest rolling stock and worst maintained track.



   

Gates are a major pain.

At Bristol Parkway, TWO gates are expected to handle 300+ passengers leaving peak evening trains. Last year they promised to add more ticket machines and gates. One new ticket machine is all they installed.

As a consequence, on many evenings he gates are left open. Would you want to hold up 300 tired passengers?

Hi

I travel daily from Bristol PW^▸ (Permanent Way) to Reading, and normally I can predict if the Guard is going to check my ticket. If

• The train is busy, no guard
• The train is late, no guard

Guards are like most people, they hate hassle. If FGW^▸ (First Great Western) want to improve ticket checking rates, add more carriages and improve reliability.

That is fantastic, except 2pm on a working day!

It's a shame that FGW^▸ (First Great Western) long suffering commuters will not be able to attend.

Why is CC such a burden on the taxpayer?

It trains are always full. It has grown, and out performed, every other inter city franchise since deregulation.

The initial idea of breaking up CC and allocating its South and West routes to FGW^▸ (First Great Western) fills me with horror. Not because the idea has no merit, but because FGW cannot even manage itself at the moment.

Forcing all trains to start/terminate at Birmingham New Street requires BNS^▸ (Barnes (not Birmingham New Street)) to have sufficient capacity to handle this. It doesn't. A through train stops for approximately 5 minutes, a terminating train stops for approximately 15 minutes.

When Arriva take over the CC franchise, will they be able to run tolleys along the carriages?

Yesterday I used Virgin CC from BPW^» (Bristol Parkway - next trains) to Taunton and the gap between seats is narrow.

If they do run trolleys along the carriages, there will be a lot of bruised shoulders as the tolleys hit customers.

Staggering news!

My personal estimate is that I lose on average five minutes per journey, courtesy of FGW^▸ (First Great Western) and Network Rail. That is 300s per journey.

Yesterday, I lost 45 minutes on my return journey due to a cancellation.

Hi

Stranded at Reading station yesterday when I found out that the 16:15 to Bristol Parkway was cancelled, and then the 16:30 to Bristol Temple Meads.

The reasons given where different to the texts mentioned earlier.

The 16:15 (BPW^» (Bristol Parkway - next trains)) was cancelled because no crew was available
The 16:30 (BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI))) was cancelled because of mechanical problems

An ideal opportunity to run a modified  16:15 with the BTM crew? No chance! The 16:45 (Swansea) ran as normal but was SERIOUSLY overcrowded!

Yes, and non standard width.

Merseyrail, Glasgow Underground and London Underground use narrow gauge track.

Hi,

What does Glenda Lamont mean by 'sample of customers'?

Has FGW^▸ (First Great Western) arbitarily asked a group of customers for their opinions? How does this relate to the total number customers, regular customers, season ticket holders and those who could be bothered to answer the questions posed?

All too often, statistics remind me of what Disraeli is alleged to have said, from The Times dated 27 July, 1895,

"I think Lord Beaconsfield said that there were three degrees of veracity---viz., lies, d---d lies, and statistics."

The quote from Glenda Lamont that service was poor in December and has improved is hardly a positive endorsement of FGW efforts. It is like saying that the service has improved from totally unnacceptable to unacceptable. It is hard to accept that any aspect of the service has improved in the past 6 months. I commute daily from BPW^» (Bristol Parkway - next trains) to Reading at peak time and the problems that existed 12 months ago, and 6 months ago still exist.

My personal measure of quality of service is the amount of compensation (rail warrants) that FGW provide to me as a gesture of goodwill. From April to July it has exceeded the previous 18 months.

Regardless of who it is to blame, it is silly that train services are not run 24hr a day between major cities.

I accept that it is not valid to run a 30 minute service from Cardiff to London 24x7, but it is also inconvenient that many routes only operate for between 12-18 hrs a day.

Up until very recently, FGW^▸ (First Great Western) was the responsibility of the FG Finance director, whilst TPE^▸ (Trans Pennine Express) and FS where the responsibility of FG Operations director.

http://www.christianwolmar.co.uk/articles/rail/570.shtml

The reason for this is quite simple, FG did not care about FGW operational performance, but it's financial performance. FGW has the distinction of paying the government over ^1.2 billion pounds, whist both TPE and FS receive subsidies. If the East Coast line had been awarded to FG it would have been another 'cash cow' where financial performance was paramount. As things stand, I believe that Arriva are paying way too much for this Franchise, and consequently the quality of the service they offer will deteriate.

I can't blame FGW for everything that goes wrong, but what it is responsible for does go wrong often, (breakdowns, severe overcrowding, delays, poor planning to handle engineering overruns, etc)  that they must be held to account. I'm quite sure that if FGW had their franchise removed for incompetance, FG and others would reconsider how they run rail franchises in future