Some are easy, some are hard ....

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Please follow up with your answers .... initially I'll give your scores but NOT which ones you have right or wrong

There's an interesting thread running on what you should do in such circumstances here: .....

http://www.railchat.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=8884

Whilst I do suspect you would have been OK, it would only have taken one "jobsworth" and there have been a few of those around of late ...

I popped down to Dilton Marsh this morning to learn a little about the station there, service usage, etc, having been told that Dilton Marsh and its future service after December (when the Westbury - Southampton service is trimmed back to Salisbury and passed over to SWT^▸ (South West Trains)) may be associated with any future service running from Swindon to Westbury and beyond.

Prior homework (see http://www.savethetrain.org.uk/diltonmarsh.html showed a current service of 12 Northbound and 9 southbound, with 6 in each direction being potentially cut when the "shuttle" goes.  Of course, retimings / extra stops in other trains might be substituted ...

Anyway - my report

06:27 (Northbound) 2 Joined, 20 already on train.  "Regularly up to 8 people - this is a slack morning. Prior to December there were around 12 to 15 people joining each day, but now it's not practical to get back and we have to wait an hour at Westbury, or get a lift".

07:08 (Southbound) 2 Joined, and I can't report number on train. "Use to be about half a dozen".  School children to Salisbury, seen onto train by mums. Quite a chat - "the government tells us we can choose schools, then makes it impractical for us to get the children to any school but the local one".   Also noted - a
gap in the Southbound tiemtable between this train and the 08:09 - formerly used by lots of schoolchildren.

07:27 (Northbound) CANCELLED

07:46 (Northbound) 4 Joined, 1 left train.  "Used to be much busier". "Problem is getting home in the evening.

08:09 (Southbound).   I was unable to wait around for this train as it was reported 14 minutes late on the speaker box.  1 person was waiting on the platform when I left, and a train (Portsmouth bound) went through at around 08:07 but didn't stop.

So - I managed to see three trains out of the five ...

I've been looking at what services Dilton Marsh would be left with if the Westbury - Southampton service was NOT replaced by something else in this December.   Bleak indeed ...

http://www.savethetrain.org.uk/diltonmarsh.html?printer=1

From the Newbury papers ...

http://www.newburytoday.co.uk/News/Article.aspx?articleID=3897

Chris,

Many thanks for the time you're taking to answer Susan and myself - it's a delight to have your thorough inputs, and to help our understanding of the customer panel.

For myself personally, and all users of the Swindon to Westbury and beyond service, 110k journeys per year according to First, it's proven to be less than useful. 

Our major issue is the 60% reduction in train services, and the movement of the remaining 2 trains to 06:19 and 18:42 (off Swindon times quoted) which isn't appropriate for the 11 previous traffic flows we have identified.  Our panel member cannot remember when he last used the service, and has been unable to attend meetings on the subject. I have even been asked not to give apologies for absence from him nor to send him updates (confirmed as recently as last Saturday when I bumped into him at a meeting we were both attending - "havent't the time, not interested"). He has promised to get back in touch if he hears any good news. In his view, his remit appears to be as a conduit for good news from the company.

((There are - always - two sides to a story and I can be robust at times.))

Please forgive my frustration.  And, believe it or not, I do feel for panel members in areas such as ours who can get caught between a rock and a hard place. But if they don't like the heat, perhaps they shouldn't be in the kitchen in the first place and they should let someone who does like the heat take over?

Much appreciate those comments, 'whistleblower'.   As operator of this board,  I too need to be very careful as to what should and should not go up here.    I look after other boards too and I would, typically, be concerned at a poster who's anonymous without good cause. However, that's not the case here and I appreciate the reasoning and logic and information posted.    Jim - fun though it might be, I think it's a good idea that we don't play any more guessing games as to who he/she is, eh? 

That's our presentation board for "Save the Train" - getting the story of the loss of service and the communities it served out to people.


A further presentition board.   Yes, but this one's much more wordy, less glossy - clearly aimed at an audience of experts rather than newcomers to the cause.


A room in preparation for the large meeting.


And people gathering for that meeting.


Looks like there's something interesting going on - what are people watching?


Ah yes, I remember now - THAT's what I was preparing yesterday.

Curiously, I understand that FGW^▸ (First Great Western) now have MORE trains on "The West" fleet than Wessex had, with all the TransPenine units that have been parachuted in.   So I'm guessing there are lots of them lying around waiting for parts, mechanics, or facilities to fix them?

Yes, I understand this if you're looking in the box.  Chris Green on Saturday last was suggesting some "out of the box" thinking - comparisons to the Japanese model, for example.


Also (picking up on one of your other points), we're very used to the Swindon to West Wiltshire service being cancelled at the drop of a hat - over 40% cancellations for the 06:19 off Swindon in the first few weeks of this year. "At least when you have fewer services we'll be able to run them more reliably" we were promised.  Sorry - but I'm starting to let my anger take me off topic    and people cannot ride on excuses.

I think a lot of Chris Green's reference was to weekend / engineering works spreading so that the passenger trains only run a proportion of the time, and at a lower level ... yet it's a time that more passengers wish to travel.

Example - looking back from September '05 to August '06 inclusive, there was "bustitution" of some of the Westbury - Swindon trains the MAJORITY of weekends.   But, weekdays in those days most services ran, and at the higher scheduled level than on Saturday or Sunday too.

The new depot for train maintainace for the "West Fleet" is not now expected to be full operational until September.  Source - Glenda Lamont, FGW^▸ (First Great Western), at TWSW^» (TravelWatch SouthWest - website), Taunton.  Glenda was unable to go into detail because of legal constraints.   The bad news is somewhat abated by her commitment, on behalf of FGW, to ensure that the extra trains currently with them at present over and above the minium they're committed to will stay with them until the reliability / availability improves - in other word, they will not send units back then shorten trains.   

I understand there's also to be a further trailer car temporarily hired (strengthen a 158?), and 2 x 158 units extra permanently.

Have you seen the roads on a Sunday?  They're busy!

Here's a shocking statistic from the TWSW^» (TravelWatch SouthWest - website) meeting at Taunton on Saturday ... Sunday is now the BUSIEST travel day of the week, with 15% of joourneys made on that day; the railways SHOULD be a seven day operation - especially away from commuter services - yet they're not.

Source - Chris Green, formerly Scot Rail, Network South East, Virgin Cross Country - Each of which he has turned around. Now with Network Rail ...

Concern has been expressed with regard to legroom in the new style standard class interiors, and the possibility of deep vein thrombosis frrom sitting in the seats for too long.   First have pointed out that the seat pitch (i.e. spacing) is greater than that in economy on British Airways, and the people who are concerned have pointed out that there's more legroom under the seats in front of you on the plane - that it's regulated by airline staff which won't be the case on the train.

Personally, I think that the comparison that should be made os not to airline standards but to the leath standards that are required for the safe transport of customers in the railway environment; the airline example should be used only as a piece of evidence in the jigsaw, and not to say "We're better, it's OK", nor "You're worse, it's NOT OK".

It's all about the customers!



Taunton, Saturday 3rd March 2007