Here is a letter from another FOSBR▸ member , sent to Andrew Haines this morning :
Dear Mr Haines,
This morning the 0741 ran 18 minutes late, which might be regarded as an improvement on last Monday, when it was completely cancelled, but from the point of view of someone starting work at 0800, 18 minutes late is effectively a cancellation. At 0703 it was shown on the internet as 11 min late, at 0720 as 18 min late. At this point I decided to get the car out and drive my wife to Clifton.
At 0755 the information point at Sea Mills station had moved on to declaring the next inbound train to be the 0840, with no mention of the still to arrive delayed 0741. Shortly afterwards it changed to failing to provide any response.
This left the thirty passengers waiting without any obvious source of information, apart from accepting the invitation on the new notices on every lampost to pay for a text message from traintracker. Fortunately, despite the damp morning, the forecast rain and drizzle held off, so that the disappearance during the summer of the second platform shelter was not on this occasion of importance.
Since the operation of the service under the FGW▸ franchise has deteriorated to the point that it no longer seems to fit within the parameters corresponding to the national rail network we will on this occasion refrain from requesting compensation.
And here is the reply :
Thank you for your email dated 1 October 2007. I am sorry for the delay to the 0741 service from Sea Mills. This was due to knock on delays caused by the late arrival of train crew earlier in the morning. I can understand how frustrating this was and I appreciate why you decided to make other arrangements.
I was also concerned to learn about the lack of information regarding the delay at Sea Mills. We should always be keeping customers informed, especially during times of disruption and it is unacceptable that we did not. I have made the Station Manager aware of this fault.
I am sorry that you are not happy with the service that you have received from us recently and I agree that there have been too many delays and cancellations on this route, which we are addressing. We have recruited additional train crew, who are just completing their training and we have also bought forward the refurbishment of our Ex Wessex fleet. The programme, which is an ^11 million investment, involves a full refresh of the interior as well as mechanical improvements, and started in August 2007. The first refreshed train is due to enter service this week, with the entire programme taking approximately 12 months to complete. This, along with the improvements that we made to our depot earlier in the year will improve reliability and bring the service up to a standard that our customers have every right to expect.
Thank you again for contacting me and I hope that future journeys are more enjoyable.
Yours sincerely
Andrew Haines
Chief Operating Officer.
More FOSBR / Haines correspondence :
Dear Mr Haines,
The 0703 outbound train is currently showing as 18 min late. Despite the somewhat optimistic prediction that the corresponding inbound train will be on time, although the Severn Beach arrival is shown as 0739, I will get the car out and drive my wife to Clifton.
Please ensure that the evening train runs to time, I expect to have a very busy day and will not be able to collect.
Reply from Andrew Haines :
Thank you for your email. I am sorry for the cancellation of the 0703 service from Sea Mills to Severn Beach. This was due to over running engineering works and I understand why you felt you could not rely on the 0741 service to Clifton. The 0741 service ran, arriving at Clifton 1 minute late, but I do appreciate the reasons why you chose to make other arrangements.
I am not anticipating any problems with the evening services and we will always do our very best to make sure that all trains run to time.
Thank you again for contacting me and once again, I am sorry for the disruption to your day.
Yours sincerely
Andrew Haines
Chief Operating Officer.
Further e-mail from FOSBR member :
Dear Mr Haines,
Thank you for your reply concerning the operation of the 0741 from Sea Mills on Monday 17 Oct, which I now assume must have been turned short at Avonmouth, resulting in cancellation at Severn Beach in order to restore timekeeping. It is unfortunate that this information never made its way onto the National Rail train tracker system, since this would have been useful in selecting our course of action, and would also avoiding misleading anyone accepting the invitation to text TrainTracker for information, which was recently affixed to all the lamp posts. The final information provided by Traintracker about this train is stated below my signature. On previous occasions the "Cancelled at Severn Beach" information has been issued in sufficient time to be acted on. In this case it does not appear to have been issued at all.
I note that you referred to the cause as being overrunning engineering work, which since the previous train had run to time throughout the route I assume must mean engineering work by FGW on the train and not by Network Rail on the track. Problems unfortunately appear to have continued during last week. I understand that the next cancellation was the Tuesday 1435 and 1503 pair. This was however sufficiently after my daughters departure on the 1010 not to cause us any inconvenience, and I am pleased that you were able to respond to my request to run the 1010 to time. I am informed that following this cancellation the single unit train from Cornwall appeared on the 1635, which is something that has not happened for some time, and so will assume that this was due to mechanical failure.
The next cancellation was the Thursday 1535/1603 pair, which is rather too close to the 1635 for comfort, although Friday's 1235/1303 cancellation pair seems to allow a greater margin against my wife's homeward journey.
I regret to say that Saturday appears to have continued the recent tradition of being a day on which it is sensible to avoid the railway altogether, there appear to have been six cancellations. This is rather unfortunate since the Saturday train service formerly provided a useful start to excursions throughout the South West, it also seems to be used by considerable numbers of people going into town for shopping or entertainment.
I also note your statement that "...we will always do our very best to make sure that all trains run to time." and take this opportunity of supporting you in your intentions and urging you to yet greater efforts in this respect. In particular it is widely believed that mechanical failures continue to affect the timetable because the fleet is not large enough to cope with its real rather than hoped for failure rate, and that manning margins are insufficiently large. I naturally hope that you will be able to make every effort to address these points.
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