Great Western Coffee Shop

From FGW Website: http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/NewsItem.aspx?id=631


Well done to all the staff at FGW for turning this franchise around over the past couple of years. Well deserved.

More than can be said of their sister company Capital Connect, well done FGW things are much better than 3 years ago but still a way to go though so don't take your eye off the ball

Lets face it though, i'm usually at FGW's defence when I have to but they couldn't have really got any worse than they were!

I tend to agree with vacman here. And I'm sure it's been said in the past on here before.. It's not difficult to be most improved if you're starting from rock bottom  :D ;)

To quote 'Yazz and the Plastic Population' - "The Only Way Is Up"  ;D

As for First Capital Connect...where's Andrew Haines when you need him? Rail's loss is aviation's gain I spose.

 Personally I have never had a problem with the staff at the stations I use.

 Teignmouth/Newton Abbot/Exeter/Totnes all the staff are a credit.

 Overcrowding is still an issue on certain trains I use ( the first unit Newton - Plymouth weekday mornings).
 Although the reliability is better.
 In my opinion anywhere west of Bristol/Exeter then we really are the poor relations in the network.
 It seems in Cornwall, roads take priority.

Agree, when your that bad the only place to go is up. I've never understood how they can get one franchise right, and another so wrong.

Good to see Modern Railways getting something right at last! :-)

Thinking about it they are very interesting awards.

You probably only want to win them once, because otherwise it means you've dropped off and had to start again.

It's good that FGW's improved performance has been recognised but now the problem is having won them, is how to sustain the improvements.

This is probably as hard as making them in the first place.

Another 'most improved operator' award for FGW, their third transport award this year:
http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/NewsItem.aspx?id=639

Says a lot about the rail industry that there is an award for improving things though. Shame things got bad in the first place. Wonder who will win next year? FCC or East Coast are probably leading contenders.

Problem as I see it is that in the good economic times when money was cheap and plentiful FGW missed out on their fair share of the national cake.The results are clear to see on a daily basic,overcrowded trains caused by a lack of adequate rolling stock and particularly west of Exeter minimal infrastructure investment.No wonder some airlines are trying to step into the breach here.Now we are heading into the bad times again and all transport investment decisions are under review even Great Western Electrification and IEP.Certainly what money was availaible in the past particularly west of Exeter was pilled into road building at the expense of rail investment.Regards IEP here are two interesting comments from a "high speed train driver"  from my local paper with reference to the governments latest decision to defer a decision on IEP until after the general election.
 
Well, who`d have thought that, eh ? we never saw that coming....much ! i remember seeing artists impressions of HST 2, the Siemens built replacement for what we`re using now, many years ago & long before these trains from Hitachi were envisaged - wonder what happened to those ? as for electrification...oh look, a squadron of pigs has just flown over..!
a high speed train driver, west of england
Report abuse
commented on 03-Mar-2010 08:22
                                               

Oh, and as a reply for mary - we can get you from Plymouth to london in 2hrs 50 easily...we used to..it`s just that the powers that be are making us stop at all these small stations instead of using smaller, better suited trains for the job.But dont blame FGW, they have to do what they`re told by the government and the rail regulators !
a high speed train driver, west of england
Report abuse
commented on 03-Mar-2010 08:30

Enough said.

Personally things have got much worse for me this winter regularly travelling along the Berks and Hants to Cornwall most weekends so I find it hard to accept this.

Key to this perception is the fact that over the last three months my journey has been significantly increased by engineering works (as it will today) for a full two months out the three. In addition the retiming of the mid day Friday connection through from Newbury to the west by calling at Frome allows the connecting fast to overtake now which means that one misses the connection at Plymouth to Gunnislake requiring an aditional wait of an hour. And many trains are now missing a buffet -  a trolley is no subsitutute (if its there).

The only plus I can give FGW is that trains have tended to run reliability in most cases and the staff give excellent customer service.

From my personal individual perspective - Its not been a good winter travelling and I find it hard to accept improvement as my personal travelling circumstances are much worse.

Engineering work has absolutely nothing to do with FGW!!

To be fair to amiddl, he didn't just flag up engineering. He also pointed out areas which most definitely are within FGW's remit - catering provision and calling patterns.

Granted, hence why I only picked up on that point. Its a common misconception it seems, however that the problem with the lack of blame in the railway, e.g. cable theft goes does as signalling problems, so the image of the railway is tarnished!

Re: lack of buffets, I think they've started to get on top of it with more micro buffets available now.

With regard to the 12:18 Paddington - Taunton, i suspect it was changed either by request of Network Rail in order to not delay the following 1306 Pad - Ply (which has now been accelerated I believe) or due to the fact the signalling spacing between Castle Cary and Taunton is very poor and the 1306 Plymouth was often catching up the stopping service.

I do understand this - would be very grateful to soemone explaining to me how the relationship works between Network rail and FGW.

From my perspective the supplier doesn't dictate whats on the shelf and I expect FGW to negotiate service patterns that best meet the majority of thier customer needs. I buy my services from FGW and this is what I expect.

Engineering works overnight I can understand - probably few people travelling. Been impressed with the idea  of the Exeter - Plymouth blockages finishing in time for people travelling back after a weekend - yes. Jan - Mar enginnering works two months out of three on the route to the West Country - dont get that. Neither get a all weekend blockage when lots of people travelling this weekend for Mother's day (know that they were - the number of people with flowers travelling yesterday).

How does the Network Rail/FGW relationship work when it comes to planning engineering works and mitigating the impact on travellers??

Network Rail publish their maintenance requirements (the possessions plan) upwards of two years in advance, it appears solely up to NR to try and plan the work so that all routes in a region are not closed at the same time.

The plan is available online, search for 'rules of the route' on the NR website.  AFAICT FGW (or any TOC) then just operate whatever the plan allows, using standard diversionary timetables that are fairly predictable, otherwise they would have to create a new timetable every time.

Paul

I'm glad that someone else recognises that their contract for travel is with the transport undertaking and not Network Rail.
And I agree with fgw starting from rock bottom. Are we supposed to be happy that they are trying to work towards a better service - a position that they should already be in.
The only thing that they have got better at is getting more money out of the passengers. My journey to work has been made worse, because of the train before mine that doesn't stop at Didcot or Reading. It forces passengers to get later trains or change at Swindon, making my train more crowded. >:(

Well, guess what, the people on the trian before yours are fare-paying passengers too! Believe it or not, FGW has not made that change with the sole intention of inconveniencing you: faced with a rail network running at full capacity during peak commuter periods, their train planners have to make decisions that will benefit as many people as possible. Sadly it's a fact of life.

And your assertion that "the only thing they have got better as is getting more money out of passengers" is clearly rubbish as well, when you look at the performance of the service provided now compared to before.

Again, I'll ask you...do you have anything constructive to say or have you just come here to vent?

Do you get a seat? There are enough people getting off the 0811 at Swindon that I would imagine most people boarding at Swindon get a seat.