More Rolling Stock Leaving FGW?

[whole diary]

[spike]

A year and a half on and not a single ex-Wessex piece of rolling stock has been refurbished.

Compared to SWT^▸ (South West Trains) who, I think, have now completed their refurbishment on identical trains, mere months after receiving them. Meeting one at Salisbury after braving a FGW^▸ (First Great Western) unit is liking see the oasis in the desert...

[smithy]

it is a joke all the ex tpe 2 & 3 car 158's swt got are now all refurbished to a very high standard
fgw however have had the tpe units longer and as yet not 1 has even got fgw wrote on it
i know they are going to get refurbed but the start of the programme seems to be getting further away.
i suppose with all the planned cancellations lately due to staff shortage they will not miss a few units while the work is being done.
latest rumour running around fgw depots is they will lose the franchise soon and virgin are sniffing around to see if they can snatch it

[Timmer]

latest rumour running around fgw depots is they will lose the franchise soon and virgin are sniffing around to see if they can snatch it

Oh if only that were true! Virgin have money to burn after losing XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) and not getting East Coast.

[smithy]

apparently it is all the talk up at new street,so you never know what will happen.
i cannot see fgw keeping hold of this franchise,planned cancellations,paying crew stupid hours to cover turns i.e 24 hours to cover a 6 hour turn this situation cant go on for much longer before the dft pull the plug surely?

[Timmer]

apparently it is all the talk up at new street,so you never know what will happen.
i cannot see fgw keeping hold of this franchise,planned cancellations,paying crew stupid hours to cover turns i.e 24 hours to cover a 6 hour turn this situation cant go on for much longer before the dft pull the plug surely?

Well we live in hope. We have no idea what is really going behind the scenes at FGW^▸ (First Great Western) at the moment but it has to be said that even with the best will in the world things are not going well. Cancellations due to lack of train crew & unserviceable stock are increasing again, unrealible stock breaking down (143s mainly), filthy tatty rolling stock (153s, 158s), overcrowding due to shortened trains since December, HST^▸ (High Speed Train) refurb well behind schedule and not a single 'West' fleet unit has been refurbished yet despite us being continually told its going to happen since they won the franchise back in January of last year!

This franchise desperately needs investment from a company prepared to invest its money to get people to travel by rail rather than trying to run the railway on a shoestring to make a profit and pay the government a premium. Virgin is the ideal company who have the money to do this and the enthusiasm. They have pretty much achieved 'Mission Impossible' with the West Coast line and have seen huge increases in the number of passengers, particularly between London-Manchester. Maybe its time to give them a turn with GW^▸ (Great Western). All the government needs now is an excuse to revoke the franchise from First. I've listed a few above to help them out!

[12hoursunday]

Well we live in hope. We have no idea what is really going behind the scenes at FGW^▸ (First Great Western) at the moment but it has to be said that even with the best will in the world things are not going well. Cancellations due to lack of train crew & unserviceable stock are increasing again, unrealible stock breaking down (143s mainly), filthy tatty rolling stock (153s, 158s), overcrowding due to shortened trains since December, HST^▸ (High Speed Train) refurb well behind schedule and not a single 'West' fleet unit has been refurbished yet despite us being continually told its going to happen since they won the franchise back in January of last year!

This franchise desperately needs investment from a company prepared to invest its money to get people to travel by rail rather than trying to run the railway on a shoestring to make a profit and pay the government a premium. Virgin is the ideal company who have the money to do this and the enthusiasm. They have pretty much achieved 'Mission Impossible' with the West Coast line and have seen huge increases in the number of passengers, particularly between London-Manchester. Maybe its time to give them a turn with GW^▸ (Great Western). All the government needs now is an excuse to revoke the franchise from First. I've listed a few above to help them out!

What a lot of people fail to grasp is that the all blame for this shambles lies with the government. They are the ones to stipulate the contract and they are the ones who after consideration awarded the franchise to First. If say Virgin or someone like Arriva had committed to pay back 1 or 2 billion more than First will they would have won it. But we would I bet be in the same situation as we are now. Trains with no driver or train manager (or both) Trains late due the infrastructure falling to pieces etc.

smithy on August 15, 2007, 08:05:53 PM
apparently it is all the talk up at new street,so you never know what will happen.
i cannot see fgw keeping hold of this franchise,planned cancellations,paying crew stupid hours to cover turns i.e 24 hours to cover a 6 hour turn this situation cant go on for much longer before the dft pull the plug surely?

Hmm That old chestnut Railway rumour, I'd wouldn't mind a fiver for the amount of times I've got off the train on my way to work to be told by a member of platform staff " have you heard Alison Forester's gone" "First have been kicked out" "Virgin take over next week" the list goes on. As long as First do what they are contracted to do then they are going nowhere! (er! no pun intended)

[smithy]

Hmm That old chestnut Railway rumour, I'd wouldn't mind a fiver for the amount of times I've got off the train on my way to work to be told by a member of platform staff " have you heard Alison Forester's gone" "First have been kicked out" "Virgin take over next week" the list goes on. As long as First do what they are contracted to do then they are going nowhere! (er! no pun intended)


you have hit the nail on the head doing what they are contracted to do!

this they are clearly not doing so we live in hope the plug is pulled on them

[g4mby]

Well we live in hope. We have no idea what is really going behind the scenes at FGW^▸ (First Great Western) at the moment but it has to be said that even with the best will in the world things are not going well. Cancellations due to lack of train crew & unserviceable stock are increasing again, unrealible stock breaking down (143s mainly), filthy tatty rolling stock (153s, 158s), overcrowding due to shortened trains since December, HST^▸ (High Speed Train) refurb well behind schedule and not a single 'West' fleet unit has been refurbished yet despite us being continually told its going to happen since they won the franchise back in January of last year!

Alison Forster told me in an e-mail that the refurbishment program would start in May. Then I later heard June, July and August. Have any units been despatched to Doncaster or Cardiff yet? Did I really see a 143 in First livery a few weeks ago? No doubt an external re-paint or re-vinyl only if I did.

Meanwhile some of the TPE^▸ (Trans Pennine Express) 158s seem to be in a worse condition than the ex-Wessex fleet that they are to eventually replace. My train this morning was late due to problems with one of the engines. On arrival at Temple Meads it was met by two fitters in orange overalls. This is now a regular occurence. And FGW had the cheek to blame Arriva for poor maintenance when it was brought in-house. 

[12hoursunday]

  Did I really see a 143 in First livery a few weeks ago? No doubt an external re-paint or re-vinyl only if I did.

 

You did see a blue 143 it was badly damaged with graffiti and it was easier to re-paint in the first blue rather than to try to clean it off

[Timmer]

Alison Forster told me in an e-mail that the refurbishment program would start in May. Then I later heard June, July and August. Have any units been despatched to Doncaster or Cardiff yet? Did I really see a 143 in First livery a few weeks ago? No doubt an external re-paint or re-vinyl only if I did.

Meanwhile some of the TPE^▸ (Trans Pennine Express) 158s seem to be in a worse condition than the ex-Wessex fleet that they are to eventually replace. My train this morning was late due to problems with one of the engines. On arrival at Temple Meads it was met by two fitters in orange overalls. This is now a regular occurence. And FGW^▸ (First Great Western) had the cheek to blame Arriva for poor maintenance when it was brought in-house. 

End of August was mentioned somewhere on this site as being the date for the first unit to head to Doncaster. If First and Dft had got themselves sorted out quicker last year with what 158 stock is staying and which is leaving (none should be leaving in my opinion. If they have too much stock then join them up as three car trains like Wessex did to ease overcrowding not just in morning and evening peaks but also at weekends) then they may have got their units into Doncaster before SWT^▸ (South West Trains) got their fleet in.

[devon_metro]

158761 went to Doncaster on Wednesday for refurb.

[Timmer]

158761 went to Doncaster on Wednesday for refurb.

Good news...look forward to finally seeing the results.

[Thomas the Tank Engine]

From what I have heard from the suit who is in charge of the Maintainance of the 180's is that these will sent back to the leasing company gradually during 2008.

This is indeed the case.

[grahame]

Compared to SWT^▸ (South West Trains) who, I think, have now completed their refurbishment on identical trains, mere months after receiving them. Meeting one at Salisbury after braving a FGW^▸ (First Great Western) unit is liking see the oasis in the desert...

Hi, Spike - and welcome to the forum here. FGW have a refurbishment program that's just in its early stages; I'll let others tell you why it's starting now rather than earlier or later.  Should be through in about a year - all done by September '08 - with the extra class 142 units that have bene widely discussed filling in for the year for the higher proportion of long term units in the shops.

Concerning the refurbishment - FGW tell me that they are going to be doing a whole raft of mechanical updates too (in order to improve availability and operational matters as much as they can) and not just interior refits.  "We have taken a look at the other refits that have been done on other fleets for similar trains, and we have selected the package that has proven best in each case rather than delaying the work by designing a new package" - I may have paraphrased slighly there, but that is the substance of a verbal quote which I heard spoken by an FGW director.

[Timmer]

http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article2944296.ece

Just another story in today's Independent on Sunday confirming that the 180's will be leaving us soon. From what Ive read here and elsewhere this will be as soon as the HST^▸ (High Speed Train) refurb is complete which is running late, just like everything else on the regions rails, to be around Feb/Mar time.

Still at least we have 142s to look forward to!