Question 3 – 24 Jul 2023: Impact of Industrial Action

[whole diary]

[Red Squirrel]

How much damage has the year long industrial action done to the railway, and how has it affected GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)’s future plans?

[Mark Hopwood]

In simple terms - it must have had a real impact!

We know that the industry suffers when customers don’t have confidence that we can deliver a service that they can rely on, and ultimately that benefits no one in the long run. Customers have to change their plans; staff lose money, and the taxpayer misses out on the revenue those journeys would have created. Despite the challenges, we have been able to progress with some exciting projects in the past 12 months, such as West of England Combined Authority (WECA^» (West of England Combined Authority - about)) funded enhanced services on Severn Beach Line (commenced December 2021) and additional Bristol – Gloucester and Bristol – Westbury services commenced in May 2023, station projects, and integrated transport solutions. We will continue to deliver the projects we have set out to do, that will improve the railway for our customers.

We want this resolved but in a world where costs and revenue are scrutinised separately it has to be resolved in a way we can afford and that helps us run the railway more effectively for passengers in the future.

[Mark Hopwood]

I would also add that we have been increasing the number of trains we run on strike days and the ending of the Network Rail action has made a real difference. Trains are now much busier on strike days and we are exploring what else we could run.

[grahame]

[snip]

We want this resolved but in a world where costs and revenue are scrutinised separately it has to be resolved in a way we can afford and that helps us run the railway more effectively for passengers in the future.

Delighted with the improvements made - just this morning I had a query bemoaning a gap in service and I was able to gently point out it was fixed in may - and point it out in public too so that other know of the improvement.

To me personally it seems madness that costs and revenue are separated.  When I was running a business, we would spend money to improve our product if it generated more income than it cost.  Why is the railway / GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) different?

[Mark Hopwood]

That I think is a question for government that is above my pay grade - but everyone seems to agree with you. Hopefully progress will be made soon.