'BETTER OFF WITHOUT FGW'

[whole diary]

[IanL]

Under FGW^▸ (First Great Western):
HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) have more seats
fares are lower
trains are being refurbished to much higher standard than Distressex!
there are improved HSS^▸ (High Speed Services) across the region

I honestly think that things are looking much, much better and its a pretty decent service nowadays.

I can't disagree more.

HST carriages may have more seats, but nearly every HST train I catch is missing a carriage.

Fares are not lower, they are expensive and inconsistent. Every year they increase well above inflation, with the standard return fare for Bristol to Reading is almost 3x that of Worcester to Reading. Why?

It is not fare to compare Wessex local trains with FGW HST trains. If you want to see high quality local trains look at Wales or Northern.

HS^▸ (High Speed (short for HSS High Speed Services)) services are not improving. Many journeys take 20-30% longer than they did a few years ago. My daily journey to Reading now takes 15 minutes more than it did three years ago, and costs 20% more. Is that progress?

Well, if every HST you catch doesn't have enough carriages you are unlucky, or you don't travel by HST very often.

Fares are lower, Advance purchase are much cheaper, and Cheap Day Returns are lots cheaper.

He was actually comparing the West fleet refurbishment with Wessex, which is brilliant.

HSS are improving, they serve many more destinations more reguarly and he Cotswold line has a HST on most journeys now.

Conner, How often do you travel on the Cotswold line, maybe other regional have decreased but my tickets (not season) have increased by over 5% every year recently. Yes we have a scheduled HST on most services but they are still regularly cancelled, run short with missing carriages/buffet or Adelanted or even Turboed. Every time a 'more important' service fails, our trains get cascaded down and we get the emergency standbys with resultant slower journeys and overcrowding.

As well as above inflation fare increases on a like for like basis we have also had to put up with drastically reduced availability of cheap tickets on services from London which means that we have to buy a more expensive ticket.....some journeys I used to make went up by over 50% in one year!

[simonw]

Under FGW^▸ (First Great Western):
HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) have more seats
fares are lower
trains are being refurbished to much higher standard than Distressex!
there are improved HSS^▸ (High Speed Services) across the region

I honestly think that things are looking much, much better and its a pretty decent service nowadays.

I can't disagree more.

HST carriages may have more seats, but nearly every HST train I catch is missing a carriage.

Fares are not lower, they are expensive and inconsistent. Every year they increase well above inflation, with the standard return fare for Bristol to Reading is almost 3x that of Worcester to Reading. Why?

It is not fare to compare Wessex local trains with FGW HST trains. If you want to see high quality local trains look at Wales or Northern.

HS^▸ (High Speed (short for HSS High Speed Services)) services are not improving. Many journeys take 20-30% longer than they did a few years ago. My daily journey to Reading now takes 15 minutes more than it did three years ago, and costs 20% more. Is that progress?

Well, if every HST you catch doesn't have enough carriages you are unlucky, or you don't travel by HST very often.

Fares are lower, Advance purchase are much cheaper, and Cheap Day Returns are lots cheaper.

He was actually comparing the West fleet refurbishment with Wessex, which is brilliant.

HSS are improving, they serve many more destinations more reguarly and he Cotswold line has a HST on most journeys now.

I do travel by HST often, and whilst not every train I use is short, most are.

Selected off peak and promotional fares are cheaper, but these are paid by peak rail fares and season ticket rail fares which have increased well above inflation over recent years.

Also, CDR^▸ (Off Peak Day Return [ticket type] (formerly 'Cheap Day')) tickets are regional only, and may not be bought across region. For example CDR tickets for BPW^» (Bristol Parkway - next trains)-DPW - is ^16, and DBP-RDG^‡(resolve) is ^7. There is no CDR ticket for BPW-RDG, the cheapest being a SR^‡(resolve) for BPW-RDG is almost ^40.

Finally, the HSS service is not improving. The problems are not solely FGW, but NR^» (Network Rail - home page) as well. Recent articles have highlighted DfT^» (Department for Transport - about)/ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) statements on FGW/NR performance in the West.

[Conner]

Under FGW^▸ (First Great Western):
HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) have more seats
fares are lower
trains are being refurbished to much higher standard than Distressex!
there are improved HSS^▸ (High Speed Services) across the region

I honestly think that things are looking much, much better and its a pretty decent service nowadays.

I can't disagree more.

HST carriages may have more seats, but nearly every HST train I catch is missing a carriage.

Fares are not lower, they are expensive and inconsistent. Every year they increase well above inflation, with the standard return fare for Bristol to Reading is almost 3x that of Worcester to Reading. Why?

It is not fare to compare Wessex local trains with FGW HST trains. If you want to see high quality local trains look at Wales or Northern.

HS^▸ (High Speed (short for HSS High Speed Services)) services are not improving. Many journeys take 20-30% longer than they did a few years ago. My daily journey to Reading now takes 15 minutes more than it did three years ago, and costs 20% more. Is that progress?

Well, if every HST you catch doesn't have enough carriages you are unlucky, or you don't travel by HST very often.

Fares are lower, Advance purchase are much cheaper, and Cheap Day Returns are lots cheaper.

He was actually comparing the West fleet refurbishment with Wessex, which is brilliant.

HSS are improving, they serve many more destinations more reguarly and he Cotswold line has a HST on most journeys now.

And therein lies a problem FGW is trying to be all things to all people and inevitably its traditional longer distance services to my neck of the woods Devon/Cornwall are stagnating here compared to constantly improving road and air links.The Dft really needs to do something drastic about what is now an appallingly slow rail route between Newton Abbot and Penzance if it is serious about rail here in the far South West.
 Talk of high speed lines to the north(186mph) really is premature when there are so called main lines with  55/60 mph line speeds handicapping train operators in what is now a very competitive transport market locally.While commuters/short/medium haul passengers have little alternative to use whats currently on offer FGWs traditional long haul passengers to places like Devon and Cornwall now have good alternatives thanks to the Dfts obsession with road and air link development.

I actually think our HST service in Cornwall is brilliant. Good service level and competitive journey times.
And I am saying that fares have decreased, most fares are increasing as they always do but Off-Peak tickets are cheaper.

[vacman]

Whoever thinks Northern are better than FGW^▸ (First Great Western) needs some form of therapy ! Northerns units are a mix match of tatty cast offs from other TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company)'s (a bit like we HAD), FGW's local services are improving dramaticly lately, I agree it's not before time but they're getting there, the refurbed FGW unit's are far superior to Arriva's answer to a refurb and Northern just seem to put new stickers on the outside to add to the many de-branding attempts that are underneath instead of looking after the inside which is all the customer cares about.
Even the 142's are slowly getting a "tart up" even though we hand 5 of them back to Northern in October, far too many people have the "grass is greener on the other side" attitude but when you make like for like comparisons then you realise that there are a lot worse TOC's out there.
HST^▸ (High Speed Train)'s into Devon and Cornwall are far busier than i've ever seen them in the last 10 years with long distance travellers, even though the journey in some cases is a massive 10 mins longer (wow), woody, people don't care that the journey isn't supersonic, if they did then the Cornish trains wouldn't be fully reserved every day, I know, I work the bloomin things! as for short HST's, I've worked one of these in the past month so there can't be to many of them about.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Wow! Thanks, vacman, for that comprehensive endorsement of FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s service!

And I agree with you, actually: from my personal perspective, as a west Bristol commuter, FGW refurb units and HST^▸ (High Speed Train) services are very much better for me these days.

However, I do accept that there may be less favourable impressions of FGW's service, elsewhere in the region. 

[vacman]

Wow! Thanks, vacman, for that comprehensive endorsement of FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s service!

And I agree with you, actually: from my personal perspective, as a west Bristol commuter, FGW refurb units and HST^▸ (High Speed Train) services are very much better for me these days.

However, I do accept that there may be less favourable impressions of FGW's service, elsewhere in the region. 

Thats very true Chris, but the majority of passengers are now starting to see improvements, and from next year there are some lines that will be getting the best service they've EVER had in terms of frequencys etc, but I really can't elaborate on it at the moment, put it this way, FGW's directors are at last looking at expanding local services with some very interesting times coming up..........

[Conner]

Wow! Thanks, vacman, for that comprehensive endorsement of FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s service!

And I agree with you, actually: from my personal perspective, as a west Bristol commuter, FGW refurb units and HST^▸ (High Speed Train) services are very much better for me these days.

However, I do accept that there may be less favourable impressions of FGW's service, elsewhere in the region. 

Thats very true Chris, but the majority of passengers are now starting to see improvements, and from next year there are some lines that will be getting the best service they've EVER had in terms of frequencys etc, but I really can't elaborate on it at the moment, put it this way, FGW's directors are at last looking at expanding local services with some very interesting times coming up..........

Looking forward to it ...
I take it that will be December TT change.

[vacman]

Wow! Thanks, vacman, for that comprehensive endorsement of FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s service!

And I agree with you, actually: from my personal perspective, as a west Bristol commuter, FGW refurb units and HST^▸ (High Speed Train) services are very much better for me these days.

However, I do accept that there may be less favourable impressions of FGW's service, elsewhere in the region. 

Thats very true Chris, but the majority of passengers are now starting to see improvements, and from next year there are some lines that will be getting the best service they've EVER had in terms of frequencys etc, but I really can't elaborate on it at the moment, put it this way, FGW's directors are at last looking at expanding local services with some very interesting times coming up..........

Looking forward to it ...
I take it that will be December TT change.

Summer 2009 onwards.

[Timmer]

I would imagine a small fleet of LM^▸ (London Midland - recent franchise) 150s will be available by summer 2009 hence this being the first opportunity to really open the taps in terms of bringing improvements to local services. FGW^▸ (First Great Western) will get a return on their investment if they do improve local services as people will start using them again because one thing is for sure its never going to get any better on the roads.

[Sion Bretton]

I agree the refurbished 158 & 150 are much better, brighter & should of been refurbished earlier or same time they were doing 125.

[devon_metro]

Wow! Thanks, vacman, for that comprehensive endorsement of FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s service!

And I agree with you, actually: from my personal perspective, as a west Bristol commuter, FGW refurb units and HST^▸ (High Speed Train) services are very much better for me these days.

However, I do accept that there may be less favourable impressions of FGW's service, elsewhere in the region. 

Thats very true Chris, but the majority of passengers are now starting to see improvements, and from next year there are some lines that will be getting the best service they've EVER had in terms of frequencys etc, but I really can't elaborate on it at the moment, put it this way, FGW's directors are at last looking at expanding local services with some very interesting times coming up..........

I'm under the impression that Devon local services are to be boosted, and rightly so - i've never known it so busy!

[devonian]

Wow! Thanks, vacman, for that comprehensive endorsement of FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s service!

And I agree with you, actually: from my personal perspective, as a west Bristol commuter, FGW refurb units and HST^▸ (High Speed Train) services are very much better for me these days.

However, I do accept that there may be less favourable impressions of FGW's service, elsewhere in the region. 

Thats very true Chris, but the majority of passengers are now starting to see improvements, and from next year there are some lines that will be getting the best service they've EVER had in terms of frequencys etc, but I really can't elaborate on it at the moment, put it this way, FGW's directors are at last looking at expanding local services with some very interesting times coming up..........

I'm under the impression that Devon local services are to be boosted, and rightly so - i've never known it so busy!

That would be excellent news. It does seem to be getting busier and busier in Devon on the trains - especially off-peak which is often busier than peak! I got on an HST the other day and had to stand for the first time ever (ok - am sure I could have found a seat of I had looked a little harder in all carriages but three were full - and I mean full!).

Perhaps people are wising up to the great prices available in and around Devon. All in all, I think Devon has a great service and I now only really use my car for geting to the station and going to places where trains don't (West Devon). Even with 3 people or so travelling it is still often cheaper by train which is how it should be if the Governtment want to get people off the roads - and we all know Devon's road infrastructure can't cope). It would be interesting to see a breakdown of revenue for FGW to see if cheaper fares in the SW have led to greater use and revenue and profit.

[vacman]

I agree the refurbished 158 & 150 are much better, brighter & should of been refurbished earlier or same time they were doing 125.

The unit refresh was put back as the origional plan was to only lightly refresh the units with a deep clean and new seat covers but it soon became clear that a full fefurb was needed for the 158's and 153's so it was worth the wait me thinks.

[Lee]

Wow! Thanks, vacman, for that comprehensive endorsement of FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s service!

And I agree with you, actually: from my personal perspective, as a west Bristol commuter, FGW refurb units and HST^▸ (High Speed Train) services are very much better for me these days.

However, I do accept that there may be less favourable impressions of FGW's service, elsewhere in the region. 

Thats very true Chris, but the majority of passengers are now starting to see improvements, and from next year there are some lines that will be getting the best service they've EVER had in terms of frequencys etc, but I really can't elaborate on it at the moment, put it this way, FGW's directors are at last looking at expanding local services with some very interesting times coming up..........

Looking forward to it ...
I take it that will be December TT change.

Summer 2009 onwards.

In May, the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) will be publishing a plan for the next ten years for First Great Western, and I am sure that FGW will want any major local service improvements that they may have planned included as part of that. There will be a consultation as well, which could be interesting.......

Regarding TransWilts, lets hope that this isnt FGW code for "we let you down for December 2007, we are going to let you down for December 2008, but stick with us, because you may get something for 2009........"

[devon_metro]

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) are likely to buy new stock if the franchise was extended.

IMHO^▸ (in my humble opinion), Andrew Haines is working wonders with the franchise and I raise my non-alcoholic glass to him and his team of crackpot railwaymen