Which is the *worst* FGW route.....

[whole diary]

[Mookiemoo]

i used to think it was my cotswolds line to hereford:
- single track so arriving within 45 minutes of schedule is a bonus
- the worst of the stock so if any long distance ends with a turbo, its us
- paucity of trains

however this is offset by:
- relatively cheap fares
- used to be friendly staff who knew most of the passengers as it was worked by a small sub set of crew (this is rapidly disappearing though)
-trains MOSTLY dont get cancelled

Having been on here a few months, beginning totink we dont get it that bad.

So what is the worst?

[Timmer]

So what is the worst?

At the moment IMHO^▸ (in my humble opinion) Cardiff-Bristol-Portsmouth for one reason...chronic overcrowding on two car units.

[vacman]

Severn beach seems to be the worst lately! Although on the Cornish mainline the 0604 Penzance to Newton Abbot seems to be the fist casualty for short formation/cancellation when any unit fails (this train is the main commuter train from Cornwall into Plymouth and is usually full and standing after Liskeard), whenever the Falmouth or St Ives unit fails then they nick the unit from the 0604, although this probably benefits the majority as by cancelling the one mainline train this saves cancelling 4,5 or maybe more trains on one of the branches!

[grahame]

Having been on here a few months, beginning totink we dont get it that bad.

So what is the worst?

TransWilts?

50% of trains cancelled yesterday ... not a single train from Swindon after the 06:19, last train of the day that actually called at Melksham (pop 24000) was there at 07:17 .... (yes, that's in the early morning) ... wouldn't mind a grotty old train that's more often late than on time (wait - that's what we have when it runs anyway!).

"You know you have it bad if you routinely have a backup plan to make your journey if the train fails to show up!"

[johoare]

And I thought my commuting into London from Maidenhead under FGW^▸ (First Great Western) was bad (which it is!). This site has shown me how much much worse FGW is making it for other people!

[devon_metro]

To be fair to the TransWilts lot, from Decemeber you do have a service in both directions from Melksham, and the late train is at a more sensible time.

[martyjon]

And I thought my commuting into London from Maidenhead under FGW^▸ (First Great Western) was bad (which it is!). This site has shown me how much much worse FGW is making it for other people!

johoare

And thats one of the pampered Maidenhead commuters confessing.

(Can you see my swollen cheek)

[martyjon]

11/11/2007
After yesterday and the last 2 Saturdays the Great Malvern - Gloucester section of the GMV to TAU^» (Taunton - next trains) route.
Maybe we should have a thread on which is the most reliable FGW^▸ (First Great Western) route as FGW seem to alienate passengers on almost every route they operate.

[grahame]

To be fair to the TransWilts lot, from Decemeber you do have a service in both directions from Melksham, and the late train is at a more sensible time.

I agree with you, Liam.   The Sunday trains from Westbury at 19:35 and 21:35 have been replaced by services at 17:05 and 19:35 - that's much better - and a new train runs from Swindon to Westbury at 18:31.

That's still a far cry, though, from services from Westbury at 12:29, 16:26 and 20:34, returning from Swindon at 13:31, 17:23 and 21:14 which is what was running this time last year and getting increasingly popular too! What services do you have on the line nearest you, Liam?  Can I ask if you would be contented with a similar service to that which is being provided on Sundays at my local ststion from December, or do you expect more than 3 trains a day?

[devon_metro]

I don't think my line is a fair comparison, 2 trains a day from Paignton/Torquay/Torre etc would be suicide on FGWs^▸ (First Great Western) part.

Obviously your service isn't great, two trains a day in each direction would probably be better suited if it was at times that people wanted/needed to travel at, although until FGW sort out their unit allocations joke I can't see anything improving soon!

[grahame]

Any comparison is fair, provided it takes the appropriate factors into account. Although care needs to be taken to avoid comparing services in such a way that there's even a hint that a practical suggestion is being made that "service for X should be reduced to the same as service for Y" as we need to raise the game for everyone and not lower it.   Which is why my apparently absurd suggestion about comparing the TransWilts line to the Torbay branch came about.

But I say apparently absurd.

If I go to Melksham station now - 11:30 on Sunday morning - and want to catch a train to London, I'll have to wait until 19:50.  And, yes, I would get pretty darned bored waiting around and resentful of the loss of my time.  It's not actually relevant to me from a selfish viewpoint as to how many others are waiting too.

So my comparsion asked "how would the people of Paignton feel if they wanter to travel at 11:30 but had to wait until 19:50" ... and at that micro (individual) level, the question is valid.  After all - if it wasn't, then surely First would be running an eight coach train every 4 hours between Cardiff and Portsmouth - same capacity on the route as at present, and just look at the efiiciency and profit gains if the traffic stayed at the same level 

[johoare]

And I thought my commuting into London from Maidenhead under FGW^▸ (First Great Western) was bad (which it is!). This site has shown me how much much worse FGW is making it for other people!

johoare

And thats one of the pampered Maidenhead commuters confessing.

(Can you see my swollen cheek)

That made me laugh out loud! And no I've never hit anyone... honest!!
But it's true, until I came across this site, I never realised quite how bad FGW could be! It makes me feel happier with my train service now (even if it used (pre FGW) to be even better!). Now if only my trains would run on time....

[Ollie]

From my point of view:

Reliabilty: North Downs Line (Reading - Redhill/Gatwick Airport)
Overall:   TransWilts

[simonw]

The worst route has to be

S Wales - BPW^» (Bristol Parkway - next trains) - Swindon - Reading - London

The variables that affect performance that are under FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s control are pretty common throughout the network, but NR^» (Network Rail - home page) Rail have problems with

Severn Tunnel
Chipping Sodbury Tunnel
Wootton Basset

and these affect the performance severely. These two tunnels are over 130 years old, and are in need of major maintenance! Even after this line was shutdown for 10 days last year to resolve track and flooding problems near Chipping Sodbury, the tunnel has still flooded several times.

[Shazz]

The worst route has to be

S Wales - BPW^» (Bristol Parkway - next trains) - Swindon - Reading - London

Use that once-twice a week, never had an issue.

Cardiff-Portsmouth is still the worst servcie by far for me personally