The following story from the
The Herald (Plymouth) is relevant to this thread so I've posted it here rather than in the 'London to the West' board:
With Air Southwest scrapping its Gatwick service, business travellers will increasingly rely on rail to provide a quick hassle-free link to the capital.
But as Herald Business Editor William Telford discovered on his way to attend a morning meeting in London, taking the train can add to the strain.
I HAD it all planned: up at 4.30am; at Plymouth station for 5.40am; on the train at 5.53am; in London three hours later for a 10am meeting at the House of Commons. Trouble was, I didn't expect the train to break down at 7.30am.
In the end, I was an hour and 40 minutes late arriving into Paddington and missed my meeting ^ and I might not have made it at all if there had not been an off-duty fitter on the loco.
In a week that has seen Plymouth lose its air connection to Gatwick, First Great Western couldn't have picked a worse time to give a prime example of the pitfalls of rail travel.
I was travelling with Plymouth businessman Tam Macpherson and scores of businesspeople trying to get to the capital for important appointments. We were heading to Westminster to meet Plymouth Sutton and Devonport Tory MP▸ Oliver Colvile, who had invited us to a meeting with Dr Simon Thurley, chief executive of English Heritage, to discuss at-risk Plymouth buildings.
However, the train stopped abruptly between Exeter and Taunton and stayed there for 90 minutes. Fortunately, an off-duty FGW▸ fitter, travelling as a passenger, came forward to help the driver sort the problem. The train manager did, however, keep us up to date via regular announcements.
When we crawled into Taunton, the whole train-load of annoyed passengers caught a service to Paddington.
Kirsty Humphreys, an IT worker from Saltash, was late for a meeting at her firm's London base. She called the three-hour link "vitally important" and said: "It would be nice if it was reliable". She said there needs to be other services, possibly even a sleeper.
Brian Coogian, who works for the Marie Curie Cancer Care charity, said he would have to reschedule meetings and maybe make another expensive trip to London to compensate. Mr Coogian, from Exeter, said that for such a charity, "keeping costs down is important".
Donna Stott, a retail manager from Torquay travelling to a meeting, said: "I'm disappointed. I won't get there until lunchtime; I get a couple of hours and have to come straight back." But she stressed "nine out of ten times", the service was "not bad".
That was echoed by Phil Winrow, an accountant from Exeter who regularly uses the link and stressed the breakdown was "unusual". "This is a reliable line," he said.
Mr Macpherson said that, with the loss of the air link, the numbers using the train would increase.
He said: "They promote three hours but arrive on the fifth hour. I would like to see the rail link simply called Plymouth First, as it's now in danger of becoming our primary business link to the capital."
In the end, we made it to the Commons at 11.08am and missed Dr Thurley by eight minutes. Nevertheless, we were treated to lunch by Mr Colvile ^ and who should be a guest on his table but Plymouth businessman Charles Howeson. He was at Westminster for a meeting and was bringing associates, one of whom was delayed on the service following ours. Mr Howeson is also chairman of First Great Western's advisory board. He defended FGW's record ^ particularly its strong performance during the recent snow and ice ^ and said the service was no longer the unreliable one it was back in 2007. He said breakdowns could not be prevented but stressed it is now a rarity.
Mr Colvile said he would like to see a fast bus link established between Plymouth and Exeter.
FGW said it was investigating the cause of the fault.
Should we also point out that planes also occasionally breakdown? And if that breakdown occurs mid-flight things can be a darn sight worse for the passengers compared to a train grinding to a halt.
And someone needs to tell Kirstie Humphries that there
is a sleeper service from the south-west.
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