GWR boss out of touch with its problems, says Labour MP

[whole diary]

[basset44]

Hi All,

A rail company boss is "out of touch" with some of the problems faced by his firm, a Welsh Labour MP^▸ (Member of Parliament, or Mile Post (a method of measuring the railway in miles and chains from a starting point - usually London), depending on context) has claimed.

Stephen Doughty said Great Western Railway managing director Mark Hopwood had been "unwilling" to "get a grip on a litany of failures" in recent years.

Train cancellations have more than doubled for some weekend and bank holiday services between Wales and England, figures have shown.

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) said its performance improved by more than 10% in the past six months.
◾World Cup rail staffing excuse criticised
◾'Critical' rail shortage is seven trains

Cardiff South and Penarth MP Mr Doughty led a Westminster Hall debate on the company's performance on Tuesday in which MPs criticised delays, overcrowding and ticket costs.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-47132948

Basset

[TaplowGreen]

Hi All,

A rail company boss is "out of touch" with some of the problems faced by his firm, a Welsh Labour MP^▸ (Member of Parliament, or Mile Post (a method of measuring the railway in miles and chains from a starting point - usually London), depending on context) has claimed.

Stephen Doughty said Great Western Railway managing director Mark Hopwood had been "unwilling" to "get a grip on a litany of failures" in recent years.

Train cancellations have more than doubled for some weekend and bank holiday services between Wales and England, figures have shown.

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) said its performance improved by more than 10% in the past six months.
◾World Cup rail staffing excuse criticised
◾'Critical' rail shortage is seven trains

Cardiff South and Penarth MP Mr Doughty led a Westminster Hall debate on the company's performance on Tuesday in which MPs criticised delays, overcrowding and ticket costs.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-47132948

Basset

A very fair assessment of the invisible man.

[IndustryInsider]

Indeed, though with things currently improving in most areas, perhaps the debate has come six months too late to force much action?

[phile]

Already a thread here:-

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?board=26.0

[JayMac]

Same old parroted platitudes from Mark Hopwood's human shield, Dan Panes, across the media today.

Including using that old BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) chestnut, "We're getting there."

[MarkHopwood]

A human shield? Never thought of Dan that way!

[Timmer]

A very warm welcome to the forum Mark. Good to have you aboard.

[bradshaw]

This thread appeared on Twitter after the MPs^▸ (Member of Parliament, or Mile Post (a method of measuring the railway in miles and chains from a starting point - usually London), depending on context) comments. It is worth reading.

https://twitter.com/noeldolphin/status/1093925907146915841?s=21

[LiskeardRich]

The majority of factors I understand to be external. DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) and NR^» (Network Rail - home page) imposed issues. Not sure which magic tricks he meant to pull out the hat?

[TonyK]

A warm welcome from me too, MarkHopwood!

[YouKnowNothing]

Count the number of times the head of Scots Rail has come out and publicly apologised for the issues that they are facing under the same circumstances. Then compare that to the number of times Mr Hopwood has done the same thing.

I fully appreciate the circumstances that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) are under from the engineering difficulties faced by NR^» (Network Rail - home page) and the strategic decisions made by the DFT^▸ (Department for Transport). However, GWR's responsibility lies in its communications of the issues and mitigation of the issues. In those areas over the last few years, I believe it has been found wanting.

[Sixty3Closure]

The majority of factors I understand to be external. DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) and NR^» (Network Rail - home page) imposed issues. Not sure which magic tricks he meant to pull out the hat?

I think most posters here accept that many issues are outside of FGW^▸ (First Great Western) control but they don't do very well on the ones are.

The website, provision of information, incident management...

[TaplowGreen]

The majority of factors I understand to be external. DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) and NR^» (Network Rail - home page) imposed issues. Not sure which magic tricks he meant to pull out the hat?

I think most posters here accept that many issues are outside of FGW^▸ (First Great Western) control but they don't do very well on the ones are.

The website, provision of information, incident management...

........customer service.....

[the void]

When the latest Direct Award franchise extention was given, the conversation with the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) went something along the lines of "Due to all the upgrades going on, your network is going to be pretty shitty for the next few years, as such we are not going to put the franchise out to tender. It's going to be a bit of a poison chalise and nobody will want it, so if you are willing to take all the flak for things being a bit shitty, and keep all that shit away from us then you can keep running the franchise for the next couple of years until we are in a position to re-let it. And we promise not to hold the shittyness against you went it comes to the next franchise compitition."

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) are doing exactly what was asked of them by the DfT, so I would argue that it's actually Stephen Doughty who is out of touch for failing to comprehend the politics of the situatuion.

[SandTEngineer]

Is it necessary to use full rude words on here to make your point?  A few stratigic *** would do it......