What about Wales?

Last night I returned home to find that the postman had been unable to deliver a package because it needed to be signed for. I'm hoping it's the badges, how exciting. This means they will soon be winging their way to those that have asked for them.

I noticed whilst making a list of everyone's addresses, that there seem to be an awful lot of requests from Wales this time. Are things particularly bad in Wales, and is this recent, or have FGW been letting down the Welsh for a while now? I'd be interested to hear from you.

At the moment I am blissfully unaware of any FGW problems, because I am finding that using South West Trains to get to and from Windsor is a far calmer and more reliable experience, and the difference in the time is negligible, which is funny, since there are 13 stops between Waterloo and Windsor, and you would think it would be much slower.

Anyway, I don't mean to gloat while things are going well for me, as I know the rest of you don't have the choice to use a different train company, at least at the moment, though what with all these threats and rumblings from the Department for Transport about First Great Western losing its franchise, you never know. I'd be very interested to see if anyone else would be capable of running this, admittedly, very difficult part of the country's rail network.

DfT and FGW don't tell the truth shocker

The Times newspaper reports today that London Travelwatch has accused ministers of colluding with First Great Western to conceal the true extent of its failures. Read the full story here. It seems that 311 cancellations over the past 11 months went unreported, according to the DfT.

Well, safe to say, I am un-flabbergasted and not at all surprised by the allegations. We all knew things were worse than FGW let on, and I suspect no commuters will be shocked to hear this news, as we've all known for ages that the system has been crap over the past year, to the extent that even a lazy person like me started a blog to complain about it.

At least the new management is, as it puts it, "blowing the whistle on itself".

In happier news, I have taken advantage of the "double discount" currently available due to the crap service before Christmas, and have renewed my season ticket this morning. Having taken the advice of a station manager who commented on an earlier post, I've got myself a ticket which can be used for trips both on FGW's services, and the South West Trains service to Waterloo from Windsor and Eton Riverside.

This means that I can opt out of FGW when the constant train-changing gets too much.

I might experiment with a journey on SWT next week and see how that goes. I think the trip will take longer, but since it's two trains instead of four, I might be able to put up with that.

I like this new management team that admits to its mistakes and offers cheaper tickets as an apology. That's all we really wanted from the start wasn't it?

Well, I suppose what we wanted was a good train service, but I'm beginning to wonder if that might just be pie in the sky. For now, an admission, an apology and a discount are working for me. Any chance of that off-peak upgrade again? That was good.

Pants on fire!

Now, I'm not sure how this happened, but my ire is beginning to turn and point (can ire point? If it doesn't, I think it should start, and, why not, let's have it stamping its feet too) firmly in the direction of the DfT. Sure, we all like to hate FGW, because they're the ones running the trains, and they've certainly made their share of mistakes, but it rather gets on my nerves when MPs start slagging off the company, when the DfT are the ones who are pulling all the strings.

Read the following, from the Sky News website: (read the full report here)

Chancellor Alastair Darling criticised First Great Western while in the West Country city of Bristol.
"I know there have been very great problems with this particular franchise that have gone on far too long. Frankly, the travelling public using the line are entitled to expect far better reliability and punctuality in a far better service. First Great Western need to get a grip of it. But I know that the Transport Secretary is very focused on this."
And fellow MP Dawn Primarolo said: "I share the rage of thousands of passengers regularly when I'm on a service where I can't get a seat, I'm tired, and I can't get home.
"I think they (First Great Western) have got to be given a clear ultimatum to improve the service. If they don't, we need to reconsider (renewing their franchise)."



Righty ho, so it's all their fault and not yours at all in any way then? The problem is, I don't believe it. It's just all such a lot of finger-pointing crap, and not in any way helpful to sorting out the problem of GETTING THE TRAINS TO RUN ON TIME!
Yes, FGW have their problems with staff-shortages, being a bit rubbish at giving us information sometimes, and putting up prices, and all of those things are their fault. But if they weren't so shackled by the DfT, they'd be able to sort out some of their problems and get the service improved.
I'm quite riled now. Which is a shame, as I'm off on holiday next week, so was having a lovely term's-out kind of Friday.
I'm all for getting a few "I Hate the DfT" badges printed, but I think there would be a queue of car drivers ahead of us, and who ever heard of a government department listening to anyone anyway. Golly, I've gone all political. Someone bring me a magazine full of celebrity gossip, quick!

We can strike too!

As if by magic, my question from the last post has been answered. This comment from Tony at More Train Less Strain was received:

"If anyone from Reading or Maidenhead would like to help to co-ordiante a fare strike on the 28th January we want to hear from you.

Email: tambrose31@yahoo.co.uk and join the 6 fare strikes curently planned."

So, what are you waiting for? Join the strike and make your feelings known.

Even if the drivers and guards don't go ahead with their strike action, we can, and we have lots to complain about.

Also, an interesting discussion on overcrowding is taking place on the Insider's blog In Defence of First Great Western. Go and have a look. He explains it all in a clear and understandable way, but my question is: why is the system in such a mess that First Great Western hasn't got enough carriages (ie: why is no-one making any new ones?), and why does it have to run and ask the government every time it wants more? Why isn't it in control of its own trains? It's a rum old world I tells thee.

Tom Harris on Radio 4

You and Yours this lunchtime featured the question: A government White Paper aims to give the UK railway network a clear direction over the next 30 years. Will it?

Listen again here

No specific mention of First Great Western was made, but the Minister for Rail Tom Harris was asked about the budget set out in the White Paper and said the following:

- 1,300 new carriages will be bought to increase capacity across the network

- "Reading was identified by Brunel as a major bottleneck in the mid-1800s... The amount of money we're going to spend there will make a major difference in terms of extra platforms and extra capacity."

- "The government doesn't need any additional increases in fares in order to achieve the revenue streams predicted in the white paper"

This final point only relates to restricted fares like season tickets, but I must admit it's really nice to actually hear a government minister say that there won't be fare increases for commuters as a result of the planned improvements.

Rail groups on the programme all welcomed the White Paper, but say they'll be watching the fares over the next few years, as the bad news is that unrestricted fares could go up sharply - one contributor predicted a rise of 20% in unrestricted tickets like standard return fares.

Have a listen and tell me what you think. Do you believe it?

Hello? Can I say it more loudly?

The past few days have seen quite a debate about whether or not London TravelWatch libelled First Great Western when they wrote to the government criticising its punctuality record, and suggesting that its franchise be taken away.

Now, I frankly don't care whether or not the comments made were defamatory, because that is not the point.

The point is this, and it's the point of this whole blog, the only reason it exists, other than to give me something to do during those quiet moments at work.

The point is: customers of First Great Western are not happy. We are not happy with the fact that despite paying very high prices for our train tickets, we do not get the service we need in order to go about our business. We are not happy because when we try to get a refund, we are always sent the standard brush-off letter, and are forced to complain again and again before we get any sensible response. We are not happy because there are not enough carriages on the trains, so we are forced to spend hours sweating like sardines in the dirty foyers. And we are not happy because (pause to take large breath) WE FEEL AS THOUGH NO-ONE IS LISTENING!

I don't care who runs my trains. If First Great Western would listen to us for long enough to make a few improvements and run things a little better, I'd be happy for them to run the service. I know that the main problems are the Department for Transport, Network Rail and years of neglect. And, I don't think FGW should have the franchise taken away, because the next company probably wouldn't do any better. But, guess what? We have a few ideas, and we'd like a bit of dialogue. It's the mushroominess of it that I can't stand, being kept in the dark and being fed bullshit.

So, please, can we have a conversation about how we can improve the system, rather than having a fight about who said what to whom, and who started it?

Thank you.

Bigger, stronger... and more expensive, perchance?

I see the government has announced its plans for a "bigger, stronger" railway, carrying twice as many passengers by 2030. Among the schemes in Ruth Kelly's masterplan are the enlargement of Reading Station and a rehaul of the signalling system, both of which I heartily applaud.

But, hang on a minute, how are these schemes to be paid for I wonder?

Well, the plan is that the extra passengers will provide the money, except that it's going to take an awful lot of extra passengers to pay for all this improvement, which includes longer platforms and more carriages on trains, again, great ideas, which I welcome.

I fear that the cost will be passed on to the passengers, who already pay a premium for a crap service. Will we be prepared to pay more for a good service? Surely we can't be expected to pay more to endure years of work on the lines, while we wait in queues outside the station?

Government ministers insist there won't be a big rise in fares. But I don't believe them. We'll end up paying in advance for a service which is bound to get worse before it gets better. What a surprise.

Corporal Mortification? Try commuting on FGW

Abandon hope, all ye who were hoping for an improvement in the railway network, for Ruth Kelly is the new Transport Secretary.

Luckily, her religion expects her to undergo a certain amount of suffering, in order to bring her closer to God, under the Opus Dei organisation. So, I suggest a period of using First Great Western train services to try and get to work. If this kind of suffering brings us closer to God, then we're all pretty close to being saints by now.

On a serious note, she's not done very well so far in the ministerial posts she's been given, let's see if she can make the transport system any worse, that's a pretty formidable challenge for anyone.

An inconvenient truth?

I have discovered a website which has led me to question this campaign of hate. Which, as you can imagine, is a bit inconvenient. It's called "The Truth about First Great Western". Please have a look and tell me what you think, you can find it at http://cjharrison.blogspot.com/.

Perhaps I should be ordering some "I Hate the DfT" badges to go with the FGW ones? I still think that First Great Western have a lot to answer for, and I'm sorry but they're still rubbish at what they do, no matter how muzzled they are by the government. What worries me is that, if all this is true, why are all the MPs, including Tories Boris Johnson and Theresa May, calling for FGW to be stripped of its franchise, when they must know full well who's really causing the problems?

I feel I must research further into this, and let you know if we need to start thinking about perhaps hating a whole government department, as well as just FGW. Please let me know your thoughts.