First Group - General

[whole diary]

[Lee]

Seems from reply from His Worship Lord and SIR (preharps God is a better term) Fletcher that First Have breached parts of the Franchise. See reply above

More over First have won the Franchise to RUN TRAINS NOTCANCELL THEM.


THAT should be the MOTHER of all breaches of a Franchise agreement.

Not sure I am entirely worthy of your words of worship, but thank you anyway.

Keep breathing the Vacuum OLD PAL or MISS OLD PAL

In reply to another post elsewhere, and wearing my Global Moderator's hat, I would like to say to Smokey that his views and those of others in a similiar situation are more than welcome, but lets try and lower the temperature a tad with the comments.

You can still make your valid point with a slightly less confrontational approach, and that also applies to the fact that we dont know whether Smokey has anything to do with MTLS^▸ (More Train Less Strain)....

[vacman]

I know it does look like I defend FGW^▸ (First Great Western) too much but I just tell it as I see it from BOTH sides, the tone of this forum has changed quite a lot since more rail staff have come on board and that is because our inside knowledge has "exposed" the reasons behind what happens when things go wrong and has shown that it's not always the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company)'s that are to blame, one thing I really can't defend FGW on though is the utter shambles at rosters/resources which is probably to blame for the vast majority of CANCELLATIONS (for the benefit of smokey! ) to be honest, if they sorted this then there wouldn't be too many problems that were FGW's fault!

[Lee]

And you are more than welcome to keep providing those insights, vacman.

[devon_metro]

Have the agree, the forum has changed very much.

[BandHcommuter]

4.1 The Franchisee shall within one year of the Start Date carry out the following improvements at St Philips Marsh Depot to establish a DMU^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) maintenance and servicing facility:
(a) conversion of the Marsh Junction site into a DMU depot;
(b) conversion of the Coalfield Sidings into carriage cleaning roads;
(c) establishment of an underframe cleaning facility;
(d) conversion of the outside pits into an additional three car stabling road; and
(e) establishment of a new carriage washing facility.

5.12 The Franchisee shall complete an interior refresh of the Local Fleet within 18 months of the Start Date.

5.14 The Franchisee shall complete an exterior re-livery of the Local Fleet with the new First brand within 18 months of the Start Date.

Of course, breaches of the franchise agreement need not necessarily lead to termination - some things are negotiable. Is it possible that FGW^▸ (First Great Western) agreed to improve the scope and investment of the West fleet improvements to compensate for the failure to meet these committed obligations on time?

[smokey]

Seems from reply from His Worship Lord and SIR (preharps God is a better term) Fletcher that First Have breached parts of the Franchise. See reply above

More over First have won the Franchise to RUN TRAINS NOTCANCELL THEM.


THAT should be the MOTHER of all breaches of a Franchise agreement.

No offence or anything, but do you ever stop talking crap?

You come across as one of the MTLS^▸ (More Train Less Strain) propaganda monkeys that post a trail of never ending false information everywhere.

First I wont take Offence this time, It strikes me that Mr Fletcher is exceedingly well informed of all things First Great Western, so rightly deserves praise (wonder how good his cake baking is).

I repeat my view that cancelling trains should be looked upon as a Franchise Breach.

How anyone can set targets to RUN LESS than 100% of Trains is a JOKE.
Yes I know that millions of reasons can lead to Trains being cancelled but the TARGET should be to Run 100%

Just where would we be if the NHS had targets to treat 98% of Emergency Admissions.
"Don't Fancy your chances old friend, you are the 99th admission today"

As for posting False Information, what would that be, I'm interested as to what I've posted that you think is false.
Me thinks you must work for FGW^▸ (First Great Western), well, if they're as good as you seem to think they are, this coffee shop and other sites like Farce Great Western WOULDN'T exsist.

And as for MTLS, enlighten me please I'm not a member what do they do?

[vacman]

And as I pointed out in an earlier post - FGW^▸ (First Great Western) can't be to blame for the contractor going bust who was building the depot!

[Shazz]

Seems from reply from His Worship Lord and SIR (preharps God is a better term) Fletcher that First Have breached parts of the Franchise. See reply above

More over First have won the Franchise to RUN TRAINS NOTCANCELL THEM.


THAT should be the MOTHER of all breaches of a Franchise agreement.

No offence or anything, but do you ever stop talking crap?

You come across as one of the MTLS^▸ (More Train Less Strain) propaganda monkeys that post a trail of never ending false information everywhere.

I repeat my view that cancelling trains should be looked upon as a Franchise Breach.

How anyone can set targets to RUN LESS than 100% of Trains is a JOKE.
Yes I know that millions of reasons can lead to Trains being cancelled but the TARGET should be to Run 100%

So thats every TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) in the country who could have there franchise revoked within the first day of getting it

Yes, thats really sensible isnt it...

[BandHcommuter]

And as I pointed out in an earlier post - FGW^▸ (First Great Western) can't be to blame for the contractor going bust who was building the depot!

However, for a major project like this it would be reasonable to expect FGW to have had appropriate risk management processes in place to deal with such an eventuality. This would include the necessary mitigation and contingency measures to ensure that the project could continue, and is standard practice in project planning and delivery.

[vacman]

And as I pointed out in an earlier post - FGW^▸ (First Great Western) can't be to blame for the contractor going bust who was building the depot!

However, for a major project like this it would be reasonable to expect FGW to have had appropriate risk management processes in place to deal with such an eventuality. This would include the necessary mitigation and contingency measures to ensure that the project could continue, and is standard practice in project planning and delivery.

Agreed.

[smokey]

Shazz, You mis-understand me, I know that trains will be cancelled, what I'm saying is that the target for running of Services should always BE 100%

Island Line often Ran 100% of services so it Can be done.

Would you like to be one of the poor people out there who's train to/from work is on the List of FIRST train to be cancalled.

[Lee]

4.1 The Franchisee shall within one year of the Start Date carry out the following improvements at St Philips Marsh Depot to establish a DMU^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) maintenance and servicing facility:
(a) conversion of the Marsh Junction site into a DMU depot;
(b) conversion of the Coalfield Sidings into carriage cleaning roads;
(c) establishment of an underframe cleaning facility;
(d) conversion of the outside pits into an additional three car stabling road; and
(e) establishment of a new carriage washing facility.

5.12 The Franchisee shall complete an interior refresh of the Local Fleet within 18 months of the Start Date.

5.14 The Franchisee shall complete an exterior re-livery of the Local Fleet with the new First brand within 18 months of the Start Date.

Of course, breaches of the franchise agreement need not necessarily lead to termination - some things are negotiable. Is it possible that FGW^▸ (First Great Western) agreed to improve the scope and investment of the West fleet improvements to compensate for the failure to meet these committed obligations on time?

Its perfectly possible, and I didnt suggest that termination would necessarily be the end result.

Mind you, if the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) were looking to strip FGW of the franchise, they would need to get them on something. As part of my Global Moderator role is research-based, I look out for such things in order to add something new to the debate.

Finally, I cant bake cakes to save my life....

[Timmer]

I know it does look like I defend FGW^▸ (First Great Western) too much but I just tell it as I see it from BOTH sides, the tone of this forum has changed quite a lot since more rail staff have come on board and that is because our inside knowledge has "exposed" the reasons behind what happens when things go wrong and has shown that it's not always the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company)'s that are to blame, one thing I really can't defend FGW on though is the utter shambles at rosters/resources which is probably to blame for the vast majority of CANCELLATIONS (for the benefit of smokey! ) to be honest, if they sorted this then there wouldn't be too many problems that were FGW's fault!

I don't agree Vacman, all your postings are very balanced and it does not look like you are defending FGW all the time. I for one am delighted that we have many more rail staff on board posting to this site otherwise all we would have is the passengers side of things being posted. You all provide great insight as to whats happening and have been able to answer many questions as well which is much appreciated. FGW management if you are reading this you are welcome to post here too 

[Ollie]

Shazz, You mis-understand me, I know that trains will be cancelled, what I'm saying is that the target for running of Services should always BE 100%

Island Line often Ran 100% of services so it Can be done.

Would you like to be one of the poor people out there who's train to/from work is on the List of FIRST train to be cancalled.

How can comparing a franchise like FGW^▸ (First Great Western) to Island Line be reasonable? Also Island Line is now part of SWT^▸ (South West Trains) so there is no longer 100% of services

[vacman]

Shazz, You mis-understand me, I know that trains will be cancelled, what I'm saying is that the target for running of Services should always BE 100%

Island Line often Ran 100% of services so it Can be done.

Would you like to be one of the poor people out there who's train to/from work is on the List of FIRST train to be cancalled.

How can comparing a franchise like FGW^▸ (First Great Western) to Island Line be reasonable? Also Island Line is now part of SWT^▸ (South West Trains) so there is no longer 100% of services

Island line also only has it's self to answer to, it operates and maintains everything together!