Great Western Coffee Shop

See link below.
http://firstgreatwestern.blogspot.com/2007/07/helping-hand.html

As relayed by CJ Harrison , who as Billyo points out , is a non - FGW employee , with no connection to FGW , and just happened to be there to see it :

"At a time of crisis, Ms Forster hadn^t shied away from the front line: she was there with her sleeves rolled up helping people and trying to make whatever difference she could. She deserves credit for efforts. Ms Forster probably wouldn^t think she was doing anything exceptional, she^d just see it as part of her job and of her responsibility. And maybe it is ^ but what a stark comparison to the simpering bureaucrats at the Department for Transport who, despite making passengers' lives a misery, hide in the shadows of their Ministry in Whitehall and would never dream of putting themselves in the line of fire and dealing with everyday travellers."

"It is, of course, very easy to criticise First Great Western for problems and for people to be, maybe unjustifiably, scathing about its management, but one accusation that simply isn^t true is that Ms Forster and her team don^t care. I think they do. As I saw in Ms Forster^s actions this evening, I think they care very much indeed."

I don;t mind Alison, for the reason she has worked her way up the railway properally, unlike some of the managers, she has railway expierecne

I second that, its the parent company that she works for that I dont have much time for. Wonder if Alison makes a nice cup of tea???

Hi

I agree that it is nice to see Alison Forster help at the frontline. I accept that many First Great Western staff individually care about the the service that they offer their customers; the trouble is that FGW company just does not deliver.

For example

- The worst performing rail company is awarded one of the most lucrative rail franchises covering local and national services.
- The dilipated fleet is not replaced, but upgraded with little consideration for disabled passengers (toilets, carriage gangway width), rail safety due to the glass used.
- Fleet size reduced and new engineering facility was behind schedule.
- Timetables planned using 5 yr old data (FGW and DfT).
- Disaster management is poor, communication with passengers and staff is very bad. Frequently buses not laid on, etc. Many of the 'bad' days are not FGW fault, but are weather, suicide and Network Related. It would help if FGW could communicate better!

I'm sorry for being so negative, but other countries seem to do much better, ie France. We appear to have 10 years of promise but no delivery. It is so frustrating.
 

well to cheer everyone up and to prove that Firstgroup can do something right, take a look at the newly refurbished 158s now being rolled out on the Scotrail network. Lets hope when they start releasing the West fleet 158s for refurbishment later this year that they look as good as these once they come out of the workshop. We've waited long enough!

http://www.therailwaycentre.com/UK%20News%20July%2007/030707_FSR.html

Alison, I'll have a coffee, milk and two sugars and a kit kat if you got any.  ;)

Top marks to Alison Forster for being out there / seeing how things are being run within her empire.  I happened to be at a seminar for business owners / directors yesterday (don't ask how I got an invite  ;) ) and was struck by statistics that showed ...

Over 90% of employees feel that the business owners should be aware of what's going on at other levels of their organisation BUT

Over 80% of managers who report to directors withhold information - especailly bad reports about morale, things not working, unhappy customers - from those said directors.

Having made that comment and applauded, a day out on the job does take away the responsibility for a franchise that was overbid to the extent that it's resource squeezed, nor for other actions / decisions that have a major impact on the lives and pockets of communities of people from Oxford to Melksham, Severn Beach to Frome, Reading to Bath, Ivybridge to Cardiff,  and places between.

Interesting statistic, Graham.  But understandable in human terms.  You may be interested to know that as far as FGW is concerned I am personally involved in an informal arrangement that alleviates this problem.  I recently made a personal presentation to our Customer Services Director in which I demonstrated the gap between the expectations of rail customers and what we were actually delivering in FGW West.  I also offered several possible initiatives and suggestions for improvement to our customer service and staff morale (which is an essential element of it).  The bottom line is that most of the customer expectations are not being met because of the rolling stock condition, numbers and reliability.  My only input to that is to ensure that it is recognised.  Only the accountants can bring about an improvement to that baseline.

I'm pleased to say that my input has been enthusiastically welcomed and I have been invited to help in several ongoing initiatives as many of the project managers do not have front-line experience - which I can provide.  I should add that I have many years of experience in front-line customer service in the transport industry, including managing a front-line team.

Regarding the quote from your post, one of my suggestions was that I send regular reports directly to our CS Director to ensure that she was fully aware of any issues that affect the delivery of service in the West.  This has worked exceedingly well and I send her informal fortnightly reports including my own observations and experiences and often illustrated by photos to bring home my point.  And reading contributions on these forums also helps me to pick up particular issues that I think she should know about.  Because I do not report to her (in the management sense) and do not have management aspirations nor a fear of retribution or a threat to my position, I am able to tell her exactly what I think of any situation.  And indeed I have been overtly critical in some cases and she appears to respect that.

So although her work is prioritised by HSTs and Paddington (which provide about 90% of our revenue) I know she is fully informed about what is happening to us (customers and staff) out here in the West.  She may not action all my reports herself but she certainly passes them on to those who need to know.

As Alison is getting praise for keeping in touch, I thought you'd like to know that she is not the only one.  Glenda has a very sound customer service background and is very much in touch with customer thinking.  Of course she has to balance the customer's wishes with what she has to work with, but rest assured that our directors are certainly getting unadulterated feedback from the front-line in this area!

(another public service from whistleblower ;))

As far as Devon/Cornwall are concerned we are all completed p**ssed off with our new employee, hence why so many people have left lately! We are supposed to be proud to work for such an outfit, get real, what a bunch of pennypinching tight assed retards.....

Interesting little post there Whistleblower, glad someone like you, from the front line is telling managment what is wrong, is brilliant. It is good to see that you are sending in continued updates to managment, even if it is informal, you are drving home the point!

Hope that made sence^!

This can only be a brif reply as I'm on a limited time hotel connection this morning - but, yes, I have to agree that First is almost undoubtedly in the 20% of businesses where the top managers do know of / hear of the problems at the top; that has to be good.

I hope they looks nothing like it, afterall these are the same AWFUL seats found in the HST refurbishments!

I notice you touched on the subject of staff morale, something that is at an all time low in the far west! Most of it started to fall apart when centralised rostering started, on several occasions there were diabolical errors such as Conductors being rostered to drive trains, drivers rostered to be guards and still after several months it's going tit's up on a regular basis, it's these simple things they cant get right, if I were that bad at my job i'd be sacked. The overtime bill for the past six months must be immense with guards being paid 12 hours to work one train on their rest day because rosters have booked two people on the same job in the evening but noone to cover an early turn.

When will it stop? when will this company finally start doing things right, whenever we make a suggestion to control the usual reply is somewhere along the lines of "it's our job to think" , in the days of Wessex control actually listened to what we said and if it made sense they acted on it.

FGW attempt to justify this (and answer several other questions) in the link below.
http://www.accesssouthwest.org/answers.pdf

"Is FGW fully satisfied that centralisation at Swindon HQ of all train-crew rostering and withdrawal of out-based Train crew Resources Manager posts, such as those currently at Bristol & Exeter, will improve efficiency and deliver a more punctual & reliable service to passengers, particularly at times of service disruption?

Yes. Centralisation of rostering ensures a significant improvement in cross coverage of work between depots by traincrew. The new structure is aligned with the organisation of Swindon ICC, which allows us to operate more effectively in times of service disruption as we have the ^big picture^ overview of the crew situation. This enables decision making to be quicker and more responsive to customers needs."

What tripe, rosters/resources in Swindon are accountable for a huge amount of delay minutes due to silly mistakes, mainly due to them being unable to cope with the volume of work they have to do. Local control was far better with the 'managers' knowing the crew, who would do what and what could be done. Swindon are fairly in the dark and I am aware of instances of trains being cancelled while there was crew sat spare, simply because SWI didnt know they were there.

As mentioned, Ive known three guards rostered on the same job and none to another job, people being shown as working when they are in the middle of a holiday abroad, diagrams amended for no reason and when followed it goes tits up. The other main problem is it can take up to a hour to actually get someone to pick the phone up in Swindon, this alone causing much delay when a descision is needed and no one will pick up a phone or its constantly engaged.

Maybe part of the problem is Swindon is short staffed? But then who would want to work in Swindon?? Hence why agency staff have been put in many of these positions who know nothing about the railway, reminds me of a conversation I had when the girl on the other end didnt understand 24 hour clock, yes, this really happened.

So is it really a success???

vacman & Tractorman's views are backed up in the link below.
http://www.savethetrain.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=3660.msg7243#msg7243

Wessex Control weren't brilliant! But FGW control are something different!

Meeting in Swindon today, apparently Alison finishes this friday? anyone know any more or can confirm this?

We thought that her responsibilities might be (ahem) "eased" somewhat , but there has been no mention of her going completely that we have heard of.

Yes Alison has gone  :'(

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7001331.stm

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=unIZUQVlqqg Here's a video of the top story on Points West this evening- Alison Forster has been 'Removed'!

Apologies for the poor quality.

Big shock!  Just seen the Points West clip.  I think that Ms Forster has previously done very well under the old Great Western franchise, but things have obviously gone downhill since the new Greater Western was created, hence the creation of many of these types of fora since April 2006.  I personally think that Ms Forster delivered well under the old FGW franchise and I am sorry to see her go, but having 15 years of commuting experience myself and more years on top of that of rail enthusiast interest, having read all the SRA documents about the proposed Greater Western franchise at that time, and actively engaging in consultations as an individual passenger, I envisaged that the new Greater Western was going to cause big problems for travellers whoever got the franchise particularly the old Wessex routes as they did not seem to be 'fully considered or appreciated'. 

Whilst I have been let down by FGW over the past year many times, I do think they did have passengers interests at heart, but perhaps now is the time for a "fresh approach" either from FGW itself or from the DFT.  It will be very interesting to see how this develops, and I do sincerely wish Ms Forster good luck with her new role.

Agree with everything you say Paul and am sad that Alison has been moved, paying the price for a completely flawed franchise that is totally unrealistic. I keep saying this but National Express are alleged to have walked away from this one and First were prepared to win whatever the price and unless FGW put their money in their pockets and invest in rolling stock things are only going to get worse.

Actually this is very confusing. The original Points West report claims that Alison is being moved within FGW whereas the BBC site says she is moving to First Group.

In any case, Alison has been made a scapegoat. The problems with this franchise were not of her causing and her removal will not remedy them.

http://firstgreatwestern.blogspot.com/2007/09/all-change.html

So Alison Forster, Managing Director of First Great Western, has moved on to a new role, I read, where she won't be so involved with the regional or commuter trains.   Some are saying "scapegoat" and others that she is moving from a tricky current situation and future that is of her own making.  And it could also be that it was always the plan for her to move or move sideways once the Greater Western franchise had gone through its initial teething pains - either as a natural progression, or as a calculated "do the dirty work and move on" arrangement.

Whatever ...  I wish Alison all the best for the future if we see less of her - she was always personable, polite and we will miss her.

When the First Group took over the the "TransWilts" train service, there were five trains a day operating each way from Swindon - mostly to Southampton, but some early shorter workings and and one very appropriatly to Frome. Four trains each way on Saturday and three on Sunday completed the schedule.  All services were hampered by a lack of publicity and the weekend trains were replaced by buses more often than not, and yet traffic groth had been dramatic - anywhere between 10% per annum and 35% per annum depending on which measure you took.  Trains that had, in all honesty, been fairly empty in 2001 were getting distinctly busy on 1st April 2006.

What a GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY.

A growing service.   A growth corridor.  A public enthusiatic to travel. A lot of people who could be sold on train travel, as outlined by Alison Forster's talk at Taunton to Travel Watch South West shortly thereafter.   So what happened?

Most of the train were withdrawn

The remaining trains were rescheduled in "marginal time" - i.e. run at times that were operatioally convenient, NOT when the prospective passengers wanted them.Passenger number have shrunk (my estimate) by 95%.

What a GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY squandered!

We told 'em ... really we did ... but it seems that First and the DfT knew best. You do still have direct public transport from Trowbridge to Swindon during the day - it's a bus and takes 95 minutes, not a train taking 35.  The direct daytime train from Melksham (population 24000) to Swindon has gone; instead of 25 minutes in a single, comfortabkle vehicle, anyone who needs to go hospital in Swindon, or is called up for Jury service there, is faces with a journey of between an hour and an hour and a half, with changes on the way - perhaps a walk across Chippenham in the pouring rain ...

I'm not for a moment suggesting that this sorry state of affairs be laid at Alison Forster's door.   Far from it; she was acting as part of a system that puts the Franchise payment to the government, and the payment to her employer's shareholders, ahead of the travelling public and the economic good that's generated by efficient public transport in Wiltshire.   And she / First group have listened to us much more that I would have dreamed when I first got involved with this.

A very large number of inputs were made to First for DECEMBER 2006 and timetables were adjusted ... largely for the good.  BUT FOR THE TRANSWILTS, the only last minute changes screwed up the service even more.

Further inputs were made looking for the return of an appropriate service from DECEMBER 2007, and inded a lot of work was done in the background - a Freedom of Information response received in the last few days has quantified this, but in the end of the day we have NO IMPROVEMENTS AT ALL on the TranwWilts on Weekdays; there is (thank goodness) the return of a Southbound train on Sundays.

And we are now told that we need to make a case for DECEMBER 2008 ...

The Cynical reader will think that the First Group may just be playing along with us - keeping us busy and with no real intent of providing any improvement. It certainly looks like that from the outside.   But actually I think that the majority of player DO want to see the return to an appropriate level of service.

I met for 2 hours over breakfast with two of the directors of FGW (neither of them being Alison Forster) last month, where they went to a great deal of trouble to fill me in on what they had attempted for this December, and where they suggested we could go from December 2008 .... and I'm working to provide them sith further traffic flows / inputs, etc.

Also last month (seeing a feather in the wind) I dropped a note to Andrew Haines - the new man in charge at FGW I understand - and received back a much more positive response that I would have expected a year ago from a First director.  We have come a long way.

It may be that the plan all along was to play "nasty guy, nice guy" with Alison Forster pruning back services to set up a leaner and meaner network from which the nice guy Andrew could then re-grow an appropriate service.  Even if that is the case, as far as I can see it's in the interest of people in Wiltshire to be very supportinve of Andrew and his team in such developemnts, and I welcome him to the role.

Here's the current Northbound service on Monday to Friday from Melksham:
07:17 and 19:50

Here's what was proposed from this coming December (ex FOI)
07:17, 08:20, 11:20, 14:20  and 19:50

And here's what we feel is an appropriate service ...
07:17, 08:20, 10:20, 12:20, 14:20, 17:20 and 19:50

I understand that the PROPOSAL failed very much at the last minute, perhaps due to an oversite on platforming at Swindon of that 11:20 Train.

Dear Andrew,

The TransWilts line connects 6 towns in 40 miles that are all going to have major growth in the next 20 years (Strategically Significant Towns and Cities) and the other transport provision between then is dire.  And people DO want to travel the route.

Please act as soon as you can.  Even if there's a problem with the 11:20 from Melksham, please add in those extra trains at 08:20 and 14:20 from December.  You'll find that an 08:20 to Swindon in the morning will generate you a substantial return traffic on the 18:45 return ... and you won't be adding but be multiplying traffic.

And please work with us towards a full appropriate service in December 2008.  It's not just a question of planning - passengers cannot travel on plans - but of achieveing - and I look forward to seeing you achieve for us with FGW.

Graham

I heard that she is to become Director of Rail Safety at First Group so that mean she WILL be moving from FGW to First Group.

Totally agree, she is being made a scapegoat but thats what comes with the job at the top, Alison is one of the very few railway managers that I do have some respect for as she's not afraid to face the public, she gets her hands dirty and she worked her way through the ranks.

Let's just hope that with the new MD comes a new start............... I hear that flying pigs are hovering!

Here is the FGW view on this (link below.)
http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/NewsItem.aspx?id=542

Can't quite see anything happening unless FGW get more trains for sections of the route that are already BURSTING!

Put it this way :

A train that is likely to gradually grow in pax numbers

or

A train that is going to be full to the rafters.

Put yourself in FGWs shoes, what would they do?

I would put it this way.  An extra train that simply spreads the existing passenger load over more services, so costs more to run for no extra income, or an extra train that generates significant new business that FGW currently doesn't have .... to the tune of over 100,000 journeys per year, many of which are long distance and will feed the lucrative 125 market.

I've put that extremely "opposite" to you, Liam, to make a point;  a passenger who is crowded out of a train or has to wait 30 minutes for the next service is still a passenger, although one who is inconvenienced.  A passenger who need to travel at 08:00 but finds that the next available service isn't until 19:50 will make alternative arrangements.

Also look at the scale of the needs; I note that to meaningfully strengthen the Cardiff to Portsmouth service would require 8 extra carriages - one per set - and that an extra 153 there would really do diddly-squatfor them, whereas it would make a huge impact "TransWilts" (and, yes, I can forecast when it too might be overcrowded  ;D )

I note from the FGW press release that AF has been appointed to the newly created role of Rail Safety and Performance Director.

Mention has been made of 'a scapegoat'

One could make of the new role as a smoke screen in two ways.

FGW got it terribly wrong and AF admitted it at the recent PF meeting in Bristol. At the meeting Ms. Forster also stated that they (FGW) had seriously underestimated the complexities of combining the three franchises into one. As these events happened under AF's wings then one could imagine a scenario which could lead to this move as being a scapegoat.

On the other hand, it may be a way to mask any upcoming furour over the forthcoming timetable changes which can be pointed at AF as being on her watch as well.

I have read other posts on this forum which at least one other member has expressed his concerns that his daily commute will be 50 minutes more than at present. I wonder how many more commuters havent realised the extent of the changes being made to the cross-Bristol services from December ?

If they haven't they soon will once the December timetables are finally published. Why arent they published already one has to ask? Unless you take the time to investigate useing the OJP, you won't know what nasty surprises lie in wait for some passengers from local stations around Bristol once one of the two Cardiff services reverts back to head down to Taunton and with Cheltenham/Glos services heading South via Bath. Because these are quite major changes to the timetable in the Bristol area, FGW should do the right thing and publish them NOW so passengers can be prepared for the change.

I have a copy of the original draft December 2007 timetable , and if the OJP is accurate (historically the "final" timings only tend to vary from the OJP by a couple of minutes , if at all) then several services appear to have been altered for the worse. This could suggest that FGW have both crew and rolling stock shortages that were not originally foreseen (see also http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=651.msg2286#msg2286) Alternatively , the planned move to daytime servicing of units could be partly to blame.

According to the original "plan" (which I also have a copy of) FGW were meant to publish the December 2007 timetable 16 WEEKS before the start date. We are well past that point now.


Although I dont know for sure , I think that martyjon could well be right. Rumours (well - informed) have suggested for weeks that the whole December 2007 process was in a complete mess.

Note : There is a message on the front page of the FGW website stating "Bookings for train tickets are now open for travel until Saturday 8 December" with a big bold "8" prominent. This is probably in case people try to buy tickets for trains whose timings have yet to be officially confirmed after this date.

Here is Economy Klaus's view (link below.)
http://firstlatewestern.blogspot.com/2007/09/few-lines-on-alison-forsters-sideways.html

The views of Don Foster MP & MTLS can be found in the link below.
http://thisisbath.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=180730&command=displayContent&sourceNode=232315&home=yes&more_nodeId1=163047&contentPK=18439638

You can always rely on Economy Klaus to put his humorous spin on things.

Of more interest to me was one Chronicle reader's (no its not me) list of 'achievements' so far for this poorly specified franchise. I'm sure you will agree it is quite a list, all of which have been discussed on this site at various times. It just made me think seeing them all together in one paragraph how far things have slipped and what a job Andrew Haines has to turn things around, if he can of course because many of the below are down to the Dft:

Quote:
What have I done to deserve the removal of buffet cars, the installation of new seats that don't align with the windows, padding of the timetable, realibility hovering around 70%, inadequate ticket gates at Bath, ^124 fares to London, shortening of the three car alphaline trains to 2 coaches, withdrawl of services from Melksham and Severn Tunnel Junction?
End Quote

Yes and no ... It's not that cut and dried.   Whilst the DfT ran the bidding process, it was down to the First group to decide what to bid, and they erred (badly) on the side of paying HM Government a lot of money, and cutting out a lot of what they felt was fat (but has turned out to not be fat) in that high payment.

For example, First were asked to put in an option for providing a Swindon to Westbury service through the day.   The Jacob's report (so negative on other services) had actually suggested that a round trip every 2 hours during the day was pretty "even" in terms of pricing - i.e. it would be neither particularly loss making nor especially profitable to run the service, but when the bid came in (I won't quote the amount I was told) it was soundly rejected by the DfT.    Complex scenario ... and I'm really not sure that it can be said to be down to either party.

On the brighter side, with 50% growth now forecast for nearly all the towns along the TransWilts (that hadn't been quantified, I dont think, 4 years ago), the service as now provided is being generally acknowledged as inadequate, and Andrew will be in a position to make himself very popular with Melksham, Trowbridge, Westbury, Frome and Warminster inhabitants who want to get to Swindon at very little price to First.

Let's hope he does Graham...Transwilts would be a very good place to start in reversing the damage of the decisions of the last couple of years that have been made by FGW/Dft.

New interview with Andrew Haines - top story tonight on Points West below.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=mqWplWJ92hE

When he starts making comparisons with Harry Potter, I get more than a little concerned!.....

Yes I found that quite amusing when he said that. He has a huge job to do but if he can get First to open it's wallet he could just turn this company around.

Without vision and money, not even Harry potter could fix FGW.

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 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 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.

Andrew Haines does come with an excellent reputation - so I suspect the vision is there.  And from the little direct evidence I have so far, he listens internally and externally so that he can piggyback on the visions of others.  I was notably disappointed in the days that First were bidding to take over the Wessex servivces as to how little they listened - "we know all about the services through Melksham" they told me. But those days are a distant memory and constructive inputs and realistic discussions do now take place at various levels.

However - he's right - he's not Harry Potter (who I understand has only limited railway experience anyway, and would not have been considered suitable even if he was available ;) )

Money ... in some areas, a little can go a long way and it might not be needed at all.  The proposal for a major improvement to the TransWilts service which you picked up in your suggestion list called for NO EXTRA INVESTMENT but promised three extra round trips a day, including a key morning peak one that would give the return of a viable service. 

I have not studied the finances of the other ideas you put forward Simon, but I would imaging that late evening service increases would incur extra staff costs but would not mean any more trains were needed (unless there's an issue about time to service them all overnight and some have to be pulled after the peak). 

And alas peak provision is always a nightmare;  it was put to me that it's not efficient to hire an extra train to cure gross overcrowding for 10 minutes, twice a day, as that train runs from Keynsham to Temple Meads in the morning peak, and back in the evening. I know the point was made to me in that way to stress tje issues that need to be considered, but it does make you think.

Barriers / gates / ticket queues.  It's struck me that there is scope to simplify some elements of the system, and a simpler system should be more efficient to operate if only by reducring the number of buttons and menu options.  Why can there be 27 different single fares listed when you ask for a SINGLE from Melksham to London ... currently just two practical trains (07:17 and 19:50) per day?

On price reductions .... the cynical view says that if the trains are full, and there's no easy way to add capacity, then there is no point in the commercial operator reducing prices.  What would the effect be?  Overcrowding, more unhappy customers, and less money to boot.  No point in trying to create a market you can't cope with.

I've actually spoken, and on the record too, that certain fares would stand an element of increase - emphatically NOT the ones you're mentioning, but rather others where the cost per mile is much lower - Melksham to Swindon is about a third of the Chippenham to London rate per mile, and could be increased at the same time that the service is increased to an appropriate level by around 20 to 25% with little complaint or effect on traffic levels.

Just endured a very noisy journey on the Bristolian as two passengers conversed at a level that the whole coach could hear. I nearly went and asked if they could be a little more considerate to their fellow passengers, but didn't as the one not visible to me was clearly known by all the train crew. Turned out to be Queen Alison. 

Does Alison still work for First in the role of safety exec or whatever her title was after moving from FGW?

Just done a quick web search with no joy, unless she's moved to the greater Boston area (there's an Alison Forster with a linkedin profile there!).

Could never make my mind up about Alison - certainly a lot of things went disastrously wrong on her watch. Having said that, I don't know the what extent to the problems were actually down to her or whether she was just a victim of circumstances outside her control. There was no doubting her railway pedigree, having risen through the ranks from a BR graduate trainee, and she was very much respected and liked by the few FGW staff of my acquaintance. Oh, and in a BBC interview she revealed herself as a bit of an HST crank by saying that when they're retired from service she wants one preserved in her garden...! Another story I heard was that the plain blue livery on the FGW power cars was down to her: after seeing the "interim livery" (as it was meant to be at the time, going back to 2006) she liked it so much that they all stayed that way, and I have to say I agree!

Nope she left last year.

http://v3.iworkforfgw.com/discuss/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=177

And on that basis I'm slightly concerned as to whether we should be discussing personal travel plans, etc, here.  I looked back at our guidance on this (which happened to mention her by name) ... it's at

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=4858

And it didn't consider / make any note of when people left; clearly we can still discuss the legacy, what services were like here [Melksham in my case] when she took over (10 well spaced trains a day) and when she left (many less, really wierd timings).  But my overall thought is that to my knowledge she's no longer a figurehead and on current stuff, we should respect privacy as we would for other individuals.