And here is my reply from
FGW▸ to my complaint.. It's a mixture of a standard email with the odd incorrect fact thrown in (the bit about re-timing the 18.33.. if only!
) and some apologising..
"Dear Ms Hoare
Thank you for your email of 24 May 2010. I was sorry to learn how unhappy you are with the new timetable, and the re-timing of our former 18:33 service.
Planning our services is always a difficult balancing act, as we are trying to satisfy as many customers as we can. Our timetable is the best fit we can achieve between improved journey times and opportunities, and a schedule that reflects changing customer demands. This means that timetable planning decisions are inevitably a compromise and at each review we examine a wide range of factors such as:
^ The number of passengers and journey patterns
^ The types of customer on different routes - business, commuters and leisure
^ Customer feedback
I also realise that you hold concerns about how busy our 18:36 service now gets in view of the new schedule. I am genuinely sorry that you've had such an unpleasant journey, as I realise how uncomfortable such busy conditions can be, particular on hot days.
We try very hard to provide the best service possible and constantly monitor our services to identify areas where improvements can be made, this includes reviewing our timetable and looking at the type of trains we use on each journey. We also use customer feedback to help us identify how we can do better and I have registered your comments as part of this. It is however inevitable that some services will be more popular than others and can become crowded.
Running more trains may seem like an obvious solution but there is a limit to the number of trains we can run at peak time. The track between Reading and London Paddington is operating at its full capacity and there are no additional timetable paths available to us. The Department for Transport is now working with Network Rail on the long-term plan to expand Reading station, which will give the extra capacity needed to run more trains at peak time. For now though this is our position and I understand how frustrated you must be.
The schedules we decide on meet the needs of as many customers as possible, but we do know we can never satisfy everyone, however much we'd like to. I have, however, recorded your comments and these will form part of a report that will be used to plan our future timetables. Specifically, I'll highlight the details of your case in direct support of re-introducing a service at 18:33.
I was also sorry to hear how you feel the conditions of our 18:36 service are made worse due to the reliability of our air conditioning units. We do thoroughly check each train overnight, and put right any problems before the train goes out again. There are times though when faults develop once the train has left the depot, and we do realise how uncomfortable this can be. On the rare occasions it does happen we believe that passengers would rather we kept the train running, than delay or cancel it, or have to send a replacement. So I do apologise that we had the fault, but hope you agree that keeping the train in service was the best course of action in the circumstances.
As a rule, if the air conditioning fails in one carriage we try and move passengers into others wherever possible. Even if the train's whole air conditioning system were to fail, we would normally keep the train running until we could repair the fault. Naturally we'd do that at the earliest opportunity, which may not be until the train returns to the depot that evening.
Because we realise how important the right carriage conditions are, we have been working hard to upgrade our air conditioning. We know there have been some problems with the units on Turbo trains and we wanted to replace them all. So in our most recent negotiations for the franchise we entered one bid that included the cost of new units. That bid wasn't successful and the one that was did not cover the costs of a wholesale change. As a result we cannot implement the one-off refurbishment we would have liked for our customers.
Instead we have been steadily working through the fleet, overhauling our air conditioning units so they're now more efficient and much more reliable. Clearly it will take longer to bring all the units up to scratch doing it this way, but we are doing our best to finish the work as soon as possible.
We are currently refreshing our Turbo fleet and when this is complete, our customers will benefit from cleaner, more modern trains. The first refreshed vehicles have now entered service, with plans to complete the project by March 2012. We are very pleased to be making the following modifications, which will improve the overall comfort of our customer's journeys:
- Fitment of laminated glass with anti graffiti film.
- Provision of a new public information system.
- Renewal of flooring in the saloon, vestibule and toilet areas.
- Upgrade of the toilets and the installation of more reliable equipment.
- Provision of new signage and magazine racks.
- Repainting of ceiling, wall panels, bulkheads and toilets.
- Renewal of seat covers, seats trims, dado panels and waist trims.
- An upgrade of the air conditioning system.
Thank you once again for bringing your comments and concerns to our attention. We welcome feedback from customers, which highlights areas in which we can improve any aspect of our service."
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