Great Western Coffee Shop

When we started this site it was always difficult to anticipate how many people were inconvenienced by the service provided by First Great Western but having built the website and having been contacted by numerous First Great Western passengers it is clear that many of you are frustrated by the current levels of service. We have added a new page http://www.farcegreatwestern.com/Comments.php which contains some of your comments.

Besides Farce Great Western, a number of other websites and Blogs are springing up to complain about the service offered so we have also added a page to our site listing some of these links: http://www.farcegreatwestern.com/links.php

With regards to the service provide by First Great Western not much has changed as far as the Newbury line is concerned. Many of you will have seen the advert which was published by First Great Western in some of the local newspapers expressing their sympathy with the problems we are experiencing but so far, the only real improvement which has been made is the new bus service which run 3 nights a week from Reading to Newbury - replacing the late night train. It is not a train, it takes a lot longer and does not travel 7 days a week but it is a small step forward and information on this service can be found on posters displayed on various stations.

We will continue our efforts to improve the current situation and this page http://www.farcegreatwestern.com/fgw_press.php shows some of the publicity we have received but we can only make a difference with your help. About 110 people have signed up on our website so far and the discussion forum is slowly starting to get noticed but may we please ask you to forward details of our website to others that share our frustrations. We appreciate your support.

Kind Regards

www.FarceGreatWestern.com

Lee - While I certainly strongly support the Farce Great Western campaign (as , indeed , they strongly support ours) , my own views dont allow me to consider the bustitution of the late night Reading - Newbury train to be a step forward.

Further Update :

We just spotted this posting on: http://newbury.net/forum/?m-1172489491/ which we would like to share with you:

Newbury MP, Richard Benyon is delighted at the decision by First Great Western to reinstate the late night train service from London Paddington and Reading to Newbury from May.

Richard Said, This success comes at the end of a year long campaign to save this service. I am so pleased for all the people who have written to me on this matter or who have raised it directly with First Great Western. It is clear that this service was of great value to many people for both their working and social life.

FGW have announced that the late night service which ran at 0:15 will be reinstated from May, every night of the week.


FGW have also announced that the 7.25 am commuter service from Newbury to Paddington will double in size to a 10 car Adelante Service from 26th March. In addition, times of trains used by children to get to and from school will be adjusted to better suit school times and the 18:33 from Paddington will once again stop at Hungerford from May.

Lee - my personal opinion is that the May 2007 timetable could be the "calm before the storm." For example , the Adelantes are due to be sent back in December 2007.