I agree it's not entirely the fault of the staff on the ground, but some of them are horribly unhelpful and do daft things like sending trains out when they know full well holding them for 30 seconds would allow passengers from another heavily delayed service to get to where they are going. But fair point, I might tidy up my ranting a little
As I understand it, its not the
TM‡ that controls whether a train can be held or not - but of the signallers.
And I would have thought if the signal is given and the TM said - I'll just hand about for a bit - there might be some grief to follow
This kind of discussion about the internal workings work (or don't) is something that I personally find very interesting - it is the reason I read this forum and I wouldn't want this comment to be construed as a discoragment of such discussion . But I think that we all need to remember that the ordinary travelling public don't understand this or care about it nor should they have to.
FGW▸ gets the blame for everything because it is their logo on the trains. The staff get the complaints because they are there on the platform. This is the way of the world and we can't change it. If you can't stand the heat don't bid for the franchise or apply for a customer facing job. As long as complaints are not threating or personal or agressive, I don't think that we can critise customers for having a go at staff. If this leads to low staff morale and people quitting then the answer is for FGW to support their staff better.
It disapoints me when I read comments like "we can't go back to the old system of short platform working because once
SDO▸ has been used the grandfather rights are lost" Not because such comments are anything but true but because they reveal a lack of imagination. The rules on grandfather rights are just that, human rules that can and sometimes should be changed. As a customer I do not think that it is unreasonable for the company to whome I pay my fares to be motivated to change damaging rules, bang heads together at
NR» 's underperformance and kick up a politial stink where necessary.
You must remember that FGW chose the slogan "transforming travel", that they have trumpted their investment and promises of improvements from the rooftops. They have in part fuelled rising expectations of their passengers as have higher fares. When things are not better - when you can no longer buy your ticket on the train but have to arrive earlier and use the barriers, when you can no longer get a seat, when you pay twice what you did for the same journey 10 years ago despite an extra 10 minutes padding being added to the timetable and the buffet car removed. - the ordinary passenger is entitled to blame FGW even if not all the problems are their fault.
Just look at the explanations for the failures that you see on this forum. problems are blamed on the "national shortage of stock", the franchising system, performance targets and
H&S▸ . All of the excuses are human inventions that can be changed if there is the will to do so. Customers very rarely complain about problems which are truely insurmountable. You never get complaints that there isn't a Weston SM to Lahor train.
I would make teh follwoing comments to FGW staff.
1, To the people on the ground - Remember that the customer is always right. even when they are wrong. They are paying their fare and you are paid a wage to make their journey as good as possible and to listen to any complaints and to pass them up teh management chain. That is the deal allparties signed up to. Your efforts are appreciated by many people - thank you.
2, To the people in their offices - just think what Brunel would have done. He would have made things happen rather than spending his time compiling delay statistics or tinkering with seat layouts.
GWR▸ regauged the whole of the mainline in a single weekend's engineering work, you have been running rail replacement buses in the evenings from Swindon to BAth for 5 years with no end in sight. You need to aim much much higher. FG is about to be listed on the FTSE100. You work for a big powerful company that would really deliver for both passengers and shareholders if you aimed to do things differently. If NR are not up to stratch then why aren't you lobbying to take over the tracks? If you are installing ticket gates then why are you still allowing your suppliers to sell tickets on a website with your trademark on it which don't fit through the new gates and blaming decisions made by
BR▸ 15 years ago for this?
I have absolutely no respect for FGW as a company and will continue to view any "knocking shop" website as less than they deserve until they start living up to their slogan "transforming travel"
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