Only just spotted this. It made me laugh. You have been the victim of the rumour mill. My garden could really do with me having some gardening leave but I'm still hard at work. In fact I didn't even get any time off this Sunday!

However, in times of serious disruption customers main priority is that there train just runs to get them home.

CRINGE!

However, in times of serious disruption customers' main priority is that THEIR train just runs to get them home.

Sorry about that!

Above and beyond those franchise commitments we are very keen to see the success of the Trans Wilts route continue. We have expanded funding for CRPs^▸ (Community Rail Partnership) so we can provide additional funding for Trans Wilts. We expect the line to benefit from our new customer and community improvement fund. Further details on this later in the year.

Our franchise plans are that we will replace the current single car unit with 2 car class 158s in May 2017. These will have free wifi and air con as well as the extra capacity. In December 2018 these will be replaced with class 165 units with a further increase in capacity.

So I can pick this up first of all. During the strike we had to prioritise the resource we had available. Only a very few of our managers have route competence over the Melksham route and these managers were needed on other lines. Melksham was not alone in having no service despite our best efforts to run as many trains as we could. Apologies we couldn't keep the service running last week.

We will be implementing the new branding in a way that minimises the incremental cost of doing it. SETs^▸ (Super Express Train (now IET)) will have to be painted in one colour or another, so we will be painting them in green.

This railway has the greatest heritage of any railway in the world. Our customers and staff feel a great affinity for GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) and there is benefit for us as a company and for the industry in tapping into this.

The SETs will only run between Paddington - Newbury, Oxford, Bristol and South Wales. They won't go near Dawlish.

There are loads of topics we could discuss. I guess the one I expected to be asked about was our proposals for the operation of SETs^▸ (Super Express Train (now IET)), the operation of the doors and the suggestion that the trains might operate without a Train Manager in disruption. This is a key issue in the current dispute with RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) that caused last week's strikes.

The main messages I would like to get across about this is:

1) We absolutely get that customers want helpful, highly trained staff on board. That is why we have said we will always plan to have a Train Manager on an SET. Even those that replace journeys currently operated by Turbos. That is why we will be recruiting 25 extra TMs^‡(resolve) to operate SETs.

2) The SET comes with equipment that means there are benefits in the driver operating the doors. These benefits are around journey times. Getting the driver to operate the doors is faster. On a congested railway in the Thames Valley the time saving will help to make the service run smoother. There are also safety benefits of the driver using the CCTV^▸ (Closed Circuit Tele Vision). He will always be able to see all the doors along the train during the dispatch process.

3) We have proposed that the train operates without a Train Manager if one cannot be found immediately. This does happen sometimes during disruption. Despite what people have suggested having additional standby turns does not completely solve this. We have added a number over the past 2 years. Sod's Law says they are never where you need them to be when things go wrong. At the moment if we are short of a Train Manager at Paddington during disruption we either cancel the train or we put people on a Turbo and take them to (say) Reading where we start the HST^▸ (High Speed Train). If SET can be operated with just the Driver why would we not want to let customers stay on the SET and pick the TM up at Reading if the alternative is a cancelled train or an overcrowded journey on a DOO^▸ (Driver-Only Operation (that is, trains which operate without carrying a guard)) Turbo?

4) Despite what people have suggested this is NOT the thin end of the wedge with on train staffing. Our customers want staff on board our long distance services. We would have lots of unhappy customers if we started taking them away. However, in times of serious disruption customers main priority is that there train just runs to get them home.

Sorry this is your view, but we've not sought to hide it. Staff started looking at and giving feedback on the plans for the new trains around three years ago.

I think many of the concerns you mention are based on the idea that somehow we think we can deliver this service with something similar to the current trolleys. We can't.
There are plenty of more sophisticated trolleys on the market that keep things hot, and keep things cool, and even serve a proper cup of coffee. A quick google will give you some idea.





Edit note: Quote marks fixed, purely for clarity. CfN.

The kitchen does save some space compared to an equivalent kitchen/buffet counter combination. Capacity is a huge issue for the franchise so this was a key concern when the train was specified. We know that some customers enjoy using the open space around the buffet car at times, but we have large numbers of customers who have to stand when they would like to have a seat. The decision on kitchen/buffet car/trolley had to be made bearing in mind customer preference for a service at seat and the need to deliver capacity.

Of course we would be delighted to be able to operate an Exeter to Plymouth service via Okehampton if the infrastructure is available at some point in the future!

I'm not about to reveal all here! However, the trial was carried out between January and March 2014, with a statistically significant sample size, on a selection of trains across the areas SETs^▸ (Super Express Train (now IET)) will run on.

In any case I think that work to make the Dawlish route more resilient must continue. There is no reason why it should not be capable of remaining open in all but the most extreme conditions in the future, but there are things that can be done to increase the certainty around this.

This is primarily an issue for Network Rail and the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) along with local stakeholders. Clearly we are inputting to the work on this.

We have to be mindful of the impact that any decision on the Okehampton route would have on journey opportunities on the coastal route. For this reason alone I think it is unlikely that the Okehampton route would become the main route to Plymouth. However if it can be reopened on the basis of providing new journey opportunities in North and West Devon then it would provide the additional benefit of a diversion for Dawlish.

Clearly if we keep getting growth at the current rates we would need further infrastructure enhancements in the future. There are further plans already on the drawing board. Western access to Heathrow for example will help connectivity to the airport, but also opens other journey opportunities and timetable opportunities that could help.

However, there is much we can do with the existing fixed infrastructure. I see the SETs^▸ (Super Express Train (now IET)) as a great opportunity to make our operation slicker. For example the door operation on SETs will be much quicker than an HST^▸ (High Speed Train). By reducing dwell times and making them more consistent we may be able to tighten the timetable in the Thames Valley. Especially with ETCS^▸ (European Train Control System) coming we should be able to see tighter headways on the busiest bit of the network.

Our new EMUs^▸ (Electric Multiple Unit) will give a significant increase in capacity in the Thames Valley. I am really looking forward to running our first 12 car EMU. Having previously worked in Liverpool Street I miss 12 car trains.