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^▸ (First Great Western) 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^» (Department for Transport - about)).
- 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.
 

Hi, I noticed ,

If the 07:10 has been cancelled on average (say) once a week because it uses the "last drop squeezed from the depot", will the direct Newquay have a similar record, will cancellations be spread more evenly, or are trains less prone to fail in the very best of summer weather?

This train has probably been cancelled 4 out of 5 days a week. This is no exaggeration.

I regularly get the 06:56 or 07:30 service from BPW^» (Bristol Parkway - next trains), and everyday I see the word CANCELLED on the electronic noticeboard for this train.

Interestingly, if an extra sevice is running from LPD to Newquay, will it be as reliable as the 0710 from BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI)) to LPD? If so, is there is any point in running this service?

Interesting article,

"Track, signalling and infrastructure problems had been behind many of the difficulties, she added, and a ^750m repair programme being carried out by the responsible Government company, Network Rail, would help to "dramatically improve" punctuality and performance."

What repair programme? I know there are weekend repair works throughout FGW^▸ (First Great Western) land; is this part of the programme? I thought they where just patching the dilapidated network in this area. Or does Network Rail planning to increase rail capacity adding adding stations, platforms, points. track, etc.

^750M is a lot of money, where is it being spend, and when?

Another voice of sanity.

It's a shame that enough people did not complain when the worst performing rail company in Britain retained it's own franchise 18 months ago.

The only reason that could justify it's retention was by promising to pay the government a rediculous sum of money, and to do this it has cancelled services, lost carriages, reduced the amount of spare/contigency capacity etc. Hence, the bad service we now see.

I wonder if the government promised First Group anything as part of this deal that sees FGW^▸ (First Great Western) pay the government over ^1.1 billion. It's a lot of money for the company with worst rolling stock, and some of the poorest and most congested track to pay for operating a service.

Any route from Cambridge to Portsmouth/Bristol will have to stop at a number of key stations, and Didcott is a major station on this route by virture of two major lines joining at this point.

In short, YES.

Almost,

Is it possible for a train to route directly to Oxford via Didcot, from the West, without reversing at Didcot?

The key to making this viable is opening the line from Cambridge, via Milton Keynes, to Oxford. Then a train from Cambridge to Bristol could certainly be viable. Travelling on to Cambridge/MK^▸ (Milton Keynes) opens up a lot more of the rail network and makes many more journeys viable.

Hi

I've had to visit Oxford twice and Milton Keynes once this year, and both journey's are not practical via rail, due to time tables and routes.

Instead of the government wasting billions on the Cross Rail project, how about adding a Swindon to Oxford line and re-opening Oxford to Cambridge via Milton Keynes. A fraction of the cost!

A regular train from  BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI))-Bath-Chippenham-Swindon-Oxford ... would help so many people!

The other trick to avoid late penalties is to retime the service.

BPW^» (Bristol Parkway - next trains) to Reading
Until Dec 06, 0701-0750 : BPW - Reading
Until May 07, 0655-0750 : BPW - Swindon - Didcott - Reading
Current,        0655-0758 : BPW - Swindon - Didicott - Reading

Simon

Another consequence of the schedule changes brought about the time table changes are the increased journey times for 'simple' routes.

For example, the 0701/0656 train from Bristol Parkway to Reading

BPW^» (Bristol Parkway - next trains) - Reading till Dec 2006, used to take 49 minutes
BPW - Swindon - Didcott - Reading till May 2007, used to take 55 minutes
BPW - Swindon - Didcott - Reading now takes 62 minutes

Still not sure why a this train has to stop at Swindon or Didcott, passengers must love standing, but the delay at each station over the past month is really annoying. I think FGW^▸ (First Great Western)/DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) have rescheduled the train to reduce the delays. So now we have to wait at Swindon/Didcott for ages.

As this process continues, many more people will work from home.

This is a touchy subject.

Does FGW^▸ (First Great Western) favour High Speed vs Local. I think the answer is neither. It favours profit and colludes with the Dft to transfer investment resources to other areas of the country.

FGW has the distinction of running the worst local train service and worst high speed service in the country, both services need significant investment.

First, and Dft, are quite happy to replace all of Trans-Penine's stock and provide new stock for their Hull service and Scottish services, but they are unwilling to do anything for FGW other that re-livery the coaches and pack the seats closer together. The government and FG are treating FGW and it's customers as cash cows!

On the subject of ticket machines, barriers etc, FGW will install them initially in manned stations and as teething problems and procedures are ironed out, they will be progressivley rolled out to more statiions.

Why consider shutting either Gloucester or Cheltenham stations.

All the recent industrial, business and residential development along the M5 between Gloucester/Cheltenham justifies the need for a new Park and Ride station.

This can be used to generate more local services in Gloucestershire, and to Bristol/Swindon, and can be used for London bound traffic.

The use of Gloucester and Cheltenham stations would change, but both would still be needed.

Interesting point.

I agree that FGW^▸ (First Great Western) are not fit to run the franchise, but I also believe that the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) is not fit to run a railway either.

It would be good to have a regulator that was obsessed with quality (punctuality, reliability,safety) and service (trains running when and where peaople want them) rather that a meddling government department. Then the franchise operator could concentrate on providing a reliable service, and not be hamstrung by a government that wants ^1.4 billion, to control the number of trains/carriages around teh country.

Hi

Whilst I understand the original disappointment with FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s Easter train from London to Plymouth, this level of overcrowding happens frequently from London/RDG^‡(resolve) to Bristol.

Every Friday evening, or if any morning/evening if a train is cancel (this happens 1-2 times a week), I have to stand from RDG to Bristol PW^▸ (Permanent Way) or Bristol PW to RDG.

This happens because FGW cannot match supply with demand. I find it annoying to see half empty HST^▸ (High Speed Train) trains on some routes, and standing room only HST trains on other. How FGW can resolve this without a significant change to routes, or extra trains is difficult to image. Unless FGW + Dft can get together and commit to

- better routes to match passenger journeys
- more reliable rolling stock
- extra trains
- longer trains for certain peak time routes
- extra line capacity between London-Reading-Didcott to handle more trains

Then we will continue to suffer.

Simon

FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s problem of having insufficient capacity for the 07:30-9:00 and 16:30-18:00 peak time slots can be partially addressed by a better fair structure, and running extra services outside of this time slot.

If First offered discounted off-peak season tickets, this could help over crowding by encouraging some passengers to start work early of late.

Not all passengers can work flexible hours, but enough can to operate a better off peak service.

Finally, if you cut back services, as FGW/Dft have done, you lose some traffic and make your existing services busier. This is what has happened.

Hi

There is a letter on FGW^▸ (First Great Western) site about yesterday.

http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Content.aspx?id=111

All the best

Simon