Meet the Managing Director - 17:00 on 5 Nov 2019

[whole diary]

[grahame]

As posted on Facebook - ((here)) Meet the Managing Director – Mark Hopwood, MD of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), answers questions online here on 5th November 2019 starting at 17:00 – via http://gwr.passenger.chat/b48

This is our passenger forum; the questions are asked by passenger and will focus on timetable and fare changes coming next month. The Master of Ceremonies will be member "Red Squirrel" (hence the picture).  The forum (including the "Meet the Manager" board) is public readable, and any registered members can comment /follow up on questions during or after the session.

Questions asked at our last "Meet the MD" session in August... and so excluded from 5.11.2019... can still be read, and members can post follow ups if they wish. 
1. Future "Meet the Manager" sessions at major stations?  http://gwr.passenger.chat/22017
2. Decarbonising local railways http://gwr.passenger.chat/22018
3. Trolley service on IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train) http://gwr.passenger.chat/22019
4. When things go wrong http://gwr.passenger.chat/22020
5. Are the jobs of train guards secure? http://gwr.passenger.chat/22021
6. Finally: Three wishes! http://gwr.passenger.chat/22022
Do note that even outside Meet the Manager sessions, GWR staff do read the forum and whilst most of our content is to inform members, occasionally (including last week) we see GWR making adjustments to some issue that has been highlighted.

Squirrel picture - Creative Commons license from Peter Trimming - https://www.flickr.com/photos/peter-trimming/6583159839/ , original source at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_squirrel#/media/File:Squirrel_posing.jpg . Other images - copyright Graham Ellis (grahame on the forum) . Have we included enough for you to work out the locations?

[ellendune]

Have we included enough for you to work out the locations?

No 4 is Swindon Platform 3

[Surrey 455]

Is No 2 Brownsea Island? 

[rogerw]

No 1 Dilton Marsh

[grahame]

So we have ....
1 - Dilton Marsh, Wiltshire
2 - Alverstone Mead Nature Reserve, Isle of Wight
3 - Hilton Hotel, Paddington, London
4 - Swindon, Wiltshire

[grahame]

Checking the questions - YES
Checking the server - YES
Checking Connectivity - YES
Checking my own supply of coffee ... hang on - fresh pot needed.

90 minutes to showtime!

[grahame]

In just under half an hour, Mark Hopwood, Managing Director of Great Western Railway will be here on the Coffee Shop to answer your queations and to follow up on them "real time".   I'm here as the "warm up act" to set the scene before passing on to your host Red Squirrel for the session at 17:00.

From 17:00, and at 10 minute intervals, Red Squirrel will post questions (each in a new thread) that member have raised. Mark Hopwood, MD of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) will follow that up with an answer, and then discussions will follow.  Mark's already aware of the questions - members reall don't want to sit around waiting while initial answers are typed, but after that initial answer we go interactive.  Mark will be accompanied by our admin BobM in GWR HQ^▸ (Headquarters) in case of techincal forum issues, and also by a couple of experts on niche topics which we know are coming up.

Questions were submitted in a variety of ways - mostly via personal messages to "moderators" as requested, but also some by other routes (colateral spray?).  As far as I'm aware, everyone who's asked a question will find it cropping up in some form this evening; questions have been combined to avoid repetion, deviation (or hesitation?). The final couple of questions and their answers will be dropped in shortly before we finish - we may be short on discussion time, but they'll allow us to ensure that we have a response from GWR to everything which we can then chat about long into the night.

So - visit the loo, go grab a cup of coffee, sit down in your favourite chair, position your laptop on your knee and its cable so that it's not a trip hazard to others around you, and enjoy an information packed hour of good-natured discussion about GWR and its products and services.

[grahame]

A splash of light ... a flash so bright ... and a huge hand please for Mark Hopwood and for Red Squirrel who will be your MC introducing the questions ...

[MarkHopwood]

Thanks Grahame! Looking forward to the discussion.

[grahame]

From BobM ... the scene before the session started - I'm sure Mark's looking far busier now!

Thought you would like a look inside!

[rogerw]

As the hour is now up I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mark for his honest answers to the questions raised. I am sure he will be watching for any other points raised during responses.

[MarkHopwood]

RogerW - many thanks

[grahame]

Seconded . thank you for that post, Roger

From me, many thanks from behind the scenes, Mark, Bob and Tim Red Squirrel ... some very useful answers and discussions which I'm sure members will carr on into the evening.  I know last time you came back and did a quick mop-up review a day or two after the enevt - can I ask if you could do the same again this time?

It strikes me that this session has raised really heartfelt concerns and issues - and Iook forward to 15th Decmeber and beyond going well.   Certainly we wish GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) well at and beyond the challenging time.  And we really appreciate you coming here his eening, Mark and a big Thank you to the backup team too.

[grahame]

As the hour is now up I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mark for his honest answers to the questions raised. I am sure he will be watching for any other points raised during responses.

Note posted here in addition to the bookmark post.  Mods - you may wish to delete one of them

Tidy to come.  Never mind the coffee - I need a brandy!  I will lock this thread to avoid dilution

Edit - threads now merged and unlocked

[MarkHopwood]

Thank you very much for your questions through the Forum and the opportunity to reply to your comments.  I hope you found it useful and look forward to repeating this session again in the near future if you wish. 

Mark