Why First Great Western consistently fail to deliver

[Elojikal]

They're making a mess of FCC? I have to say the few times I've been on FCC which isn't a lot in recent times they do seem to be slightly better than Thameslink were. Not hard, granted...

[AlistairW]

They're making a mess of FCC? I have to say the few times I've been on FCC which isn't a lot in recent times they do seem to be slightly better than Thameslink were. Not hard, granted...

Maybe they're not as bad as I've been lead to believe, I'm not a regular user but from media (admitidly thats going to be bias) I get the impression commuters are hardly happy. Who knows maybe I'm wrong and FCC is actually on the up? Anybody a frequent traveller?

[arabiandisco]

First have actually proven themselves capable of running a halfway decent rail service - Great Eastern was reputedly pretty good. No idea if FNW or FSR or FTPE were/are any good, but I think anyone would struggle with Great Western.

You can blame the DfT for many of FGW's problems, but similarly, it's hard to imagine anyone making a worse fist of it. Lunacy like dumping those 153s at Eastleigh, whilst other punters are left on platforms because the trains are so overcrowded is hard to justify, but I suspect the DfT are trying to squeeze the ROSCOs, and the victims of that are the contract operators and their passengers.

People I know who use FCC regularly say it's not really changed much from WAGN. I don't know anyone who regularly uses the TL route.

[Pompeyfan]

i'm not traveling till feb 16th thankfully

[n863dwt]

there was a coment made on page one saying that First group/FGW are only rebuilding the hst's as they dont want to procure a replacments...
can i point out to you all that if anyone has read any of the railway magazines between 2001- 2004 there were constant suggestions by first group about replacing or beginign the replacment of the hst fleet...
and they were told each time that the decision was not to do with a TOC but was to do with the SRA/DfT


First Group had been working on a HST 2 concept which it had approached GNER and MML about...
i have a letter form one of the engineers that FGW had at Bristol confirming minute details about the concept and that it was progressing as IIRC FG were dealing with Siemens about a replacment for the HST based on the Siemens Ventura (european) platform.

[salopiangrowler]

there was a coment made on page one saying that First group/FGW are only rebuilding the hst's as they dont want to procure a replacments...
can i point out to you all that if anyone has read any of the railway magazines between 2001- 2004 there were constant suggestions by first group about replacing or beginign the replacment of the hst fleet...
and they were told each time that the decision was not to do with a TOC but was to do with the SRA/DfT


First Group had been working on a HST 2 concept which it had approached GNER and MML about...
i have a letter form one of the engineers that FGW had at Bristol confirming minute details about the concept and that it was progressing as IIRC FG were dealing with Siemens about a replacment for the HST based on the Siemens Ventura (european) platform.

Actually its angel that own the HST's and it's Angel that financing the Refurbishments with FG's money being spent on Corperate logo features like livery and upholstery design's the MTUing of the HST is Angel's Doing. Angel own GNER and MML HST's too. FG only rent them so as for being the big guy's in the HST 2 program im sorry the was a purely goverment project that will no longer take of thanks to the fat bloke that used to tell British Airways what to do.

[Damo]

Saw this on RailChat: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0, ... 56,00.html

Tony Ambrose finally lost patience with a rail company’s excuses when he was forced to stand in a two-carriage train’s only lavatory with two other people on the way to work.

Mr Ambrose and other angry passengers have set up a protest group, More Trains Less Strain, and are planning a fares strike over the decision by First Great Western (FGW) to withdraw 20 carriages.

The company, which has by far the worst punctuality record in the country, with more than a quarter of trains late, is saving £100,000 per carriage in annual leasing and maintenance costs by sending them into so-called warm storage at Eastleigh in Hampshire.

It has cut trains in half, leaving dozens of stations in Somerset and Wiltshire with services made up of only one or two carriages even though people had been struggling to find seats on the old four-carriage services.

FGW has also cancelled more than 700 services in the past four weeks, mainly because of a shortage of trains.

Hundreds of passengers at Bath, Trowbridge, Keynsham, Bradford-upon-Avon and Salisbury are being left stranded on platforms, unable to squeeze on to trains that arrive already dangerously overcrowded. A fortnight ago a passenger fell into the gap between the train and platform at Bath Spa station as people surged towards the doors. Several other passengers have fainted on packed trains.

Train guards are frequently demanding that people get off and wait for the train behind, which turns out to be equally overcrowded.

Commuters from Maidenhead, Twyford and other stations in the Thames Valley are also enduring severe overcrowding, with many having to abandon their journeys, because FGW has introduced a new timetable that favours more profitable long-distance trains.

This week FGW tried to pacify passengers around Bristol by borrowing all the carriages from the St Ives and Looe branch lines in Cornwall. But this has created a separate outcry from Cornish passengers, who have had to travel on buses.

The RMT union, which represents train and station staff, has complained that its members are being abused by frustrated passengers.

FGW is one of a growing number of rail companies struggling to reconcile sharp cuts in subsidy from the Government with a record growth in demand. More than 1.1 billion rail journeys were made in Britain last year, the highest number for 50 years. Last year FGW signed a new ten-year franchise deal under which it not only agreed to cease receiving a subsidy but committed itself to paying the Government a premium of £1.1 billion.

More Trains Less Strain is holding a meeting on Tuesday in Bath at which it will announce a campaign of direct action, including a day when passengers will refuse to buy tickets or show passes.

Mr Ambrose, a charity worker from Bath, said: “Why should people pay for such appalling treatment? The service has collapsed in recent weeks and it has become a lottery whether you will be able to get on a train.

“Even First’s staff are on our side — they can see the madness of storing trains in sidings when record numbers of people want to travel by rail.”

Caroline Copeland, a teacher from Oldfield Park near Bath, said that she had been late for a work three times in a week because the trains had been too crowded when they arrived. “Unless you are standing right beside the door when it stops, you have no chance of squeezing on.”

Theresa May, the Shadow Leader of the House and MP for Maidenhead, called for FGW to be stripped of its franchise. “They are making a shambles of the service, with people abandoning trains and going by car and even talking of moving house to avoid the nightmare of rail travel,” she said. “It is partly the Government’s fault because it specified a reduced service to the bidders for the contract.”

FGW said that the shortage of trains was being exacerbated by mechanical problems with the remaining fleet. A spokesman said that the company had agreed the reduction in carriages with the Department for Transport as part of its contract.

The department denied that it was to blame and said that it had been up to FGW to decide how many carriages it needed.

Alison Forster, FGW’s managing director, met a group of MPs including Ms May at Westminster yesterday to discuss the problems. She said that some extra services would operate from Monday.

She added: “We recognise that some elements of the timetable have not met all our customers’ needs and we apologise to those who have experienced crowding and train cancellations on some key services.”

Tales from the commuter line

“My train home on Tuesday was packed like the worst Tube train. The guard announced that, for health and safety reasons, people had to get off and wait for the next train. Some did, only to find the next service was also only two carriages and absolutely packed”
Simon Carpenter, 52, health trust worker from Frome

“I waited 75 minutes at Oldfield Park station on Wednesday. Two trains came in, but they were so crowded only a few people managed to squeeze on. Coupled with this, I bought my monthly season ticket on Monday and it had gone up from £99.65 to £111.80 — that’s a 12 per cent increase”
Jane Roberts, 49, college lecturer from Oldfield Park

“It has been so crowded on board recently that it becomes unbearably hot and you can't even turn your shoulder. My train used to be four carriages but now it's only two”
Kelly Horton, 32, fund- raising manager from Bath

[alisterbetts]

As someone who travels on this line 2-3 days a week, I absolutely confirm the above to be true. I am one of the biggest advocates on rail travel there is, yet just cannot begin to describe how bad these services are and indeed have been from the first day FGW took them on. I am glad that the public are fighting back!

[Elojikal]

Just another example of the lunacy of Labour's contemporary version of the privatised railways where TOCs need to give subsidies to the government rather than use it on the trains themselves.

[alisterbetts]

Still makes me laugh to hear the Tories pontificate on the railways though, if they hadn't privatised it in the first place.....

One day someone will realise that only a massive improvement in public transport will save this country from gridlock

[BR7MT]

Taking DMU maintenance in-house? Where do they do this then, Bristol and Laira?

Regards,

Dan

[AlistairW]

I heard they were going to do it at Bristol which apparently isn't equipped to maintain large numbers of DMUs.

This is what you get when pick the cheapest bidder...

[AlistairW]

there was a coment made on page one saying that First group/FGW are only rebuilding the hst's as they dont want to procure a replacments...
can i point out to you all that if anyone has read any of the railway magazines between 2001- 2004 there were constant suggestions by first group about replacing or beginign the replacment of the hst fleet...
and they were told each time that the decision was not to do with a TOC but was to do with the SRA/DfT

Maybe so, but the government isn't going to make a press release next week that its going to spend X million on HST2 without any pressure. There needs to be a significant driving force behind it before the government will consider spending money. This is where a fragmented, short-term railway fails and maybe where CSRZiyang’s suggestion about giving Network Rail control over rolling stock would work.

If I remember rightly, FGW’s final idea looked like a 8 or 9 coach Adelante passing along the Dawlish Sea Wall. Was this part of their bid for the Greater Western Franchise or was this the original first great western, before Wessex Trains was incorporated into it?

[mattvince]

Bristol St Phillips Marsh has an old DMU facility alongside the HST depot which was being reactivated. Unfortunately they failed to achieve this in time so are in the big hock of the Arriva (Cardiff Canton) contracts having lapsed and the new Bristol site not being ready yet. Compare with (Thameslink users note) the FCC facility at Cricklewood opening on-time and in-time for the December timetable change. Both franchises started on the same day, so management (in)competence may well be a factor.

[BR7MT]

As I understand it Matt - the Cricklewood facility is just a glorified set of sidings, hardly anything complicated. Unless I am mistaken and there is more there like toilet tank emptying equipment.

It sounds to me that First Group's policy of doing its own maintenance is biting them on the behind...

Regards,

Dan