Friday 7th December

Trust First Great Western to bugger up your day. I attempted to leave work early and catch the 1638 from Britaol Temple Meads, only for it to never depart. No explaination, nothing, Just didn't move. So evetually decided to cut my losses and catch the 1704.

God knows when the 1638 finally departed, if ever.

Bloody useles First Great Western

Comment on Passenger Focus post

Lee Fletcher said...
I have some questions on this :1) Mike Greedy says that 8 units are going back but Andrew Griffiths (FGW Regional Manager for the Severn / Solent area) says that 10 are going back. Who is correct?2) How can it be that FGW "will have more than enough carriages" if they are trying to divert Bath - bound passengers away from the local services and onto HST's in the evening peak?3) I am most interested in Mike Greedy's "intervention" which (apparently) has ensured that "a ‘spare’ unit will be stabled at Westbury from next Monday onwards to cater for breakdowns or shortages which may occur during the morning peak."Is his obviously growing influence anything to do with the fact that Passenger Focus is funded by the Department for Transport , I wonder?Recent comment from Rail minister Tom Harris :"The Department continues to listen to the representations of Passenger Focus and has invited them to take a greater role in commenting on the specification of future franchises."Wouldnt the next logical step be for the DfT to "invite" Passenger Focus to "comment" on rolling stock allocation?Lee Fletcher said...
I have some questions on this :1) Mike Greedy says that 8 units are going back but Andrew Griffiths (FGW Regional Manager for the Severn / Solent area) says that 10 are going back. Who is correct?2) How can it be that FGW "will have more than enough carriages" if they are trying to divert Bath - bound passengers away from the local services and onto HST's in the evening peak?3) I am most interested in Mike Greedy's "intervention" which (apparently) has ensured that "a ‘spare’ unit will be stabled at Westbury from next Monday onwards to cater for breakdowns or shortages which may occur during the morning peak."Is his obviously growing influence anything to do with the fact that Passenger Focus is funded by the Department for Transport , I wonder?Recent comment from Rail minister Tom Harris :"The Department continues to listen to the representations of Passenger Focus and has invited them to take a greater role in commenting on the specification of future franchises."Wouldnt the next logical step be for the DfT to "invite" Passenger Focus to "comment" on rolling stock allocation?

Leased rolling stock not to be replaced?

moretrainlessstrain posted the following :


Bad news, First Great Western are going for the maximum fare incerase on this line on 2nd Jan. A return from Bath to Bristol TM is going up from 6.20 to 6.80.
This suggests that the fare reduction in Sept was nothing more than a cheap publicity stunt.
In addition 12 coaches of the better sprinter stock are being sent back to the leasing company and then on to Northern rail att the end of this month. These are the coaches that FGW leased in response to the Fare Strike. Unfortunately, FGW only took on a 12 month lease. It is uncertain how or if they will be replaced, as FGW have made it clear they have been unable to find an equivalent replacement.
More Train Less Strain is sensing that appetite may be building for another demonstration early in the new Year. Suggstions so far are another fare strike ( difficult with the barriers at Bath) or rebranding a train as it pulls into Bath or Oldfield Park.
If you would like to be kept informed of plans please email me at: tambrose31@yahoo.co.uk

Light at the end of the (Twerton) tunnel?

It was not a good week to be travelling to and from Oldfield Park, but there was one cause for optimism. On Thursday and Friday the 17:04 from BTM was 3 carriages. Certainly an odd collection of carraiges(those manual dividing doors REALLY confused us), with some apparently coming from the Trans Pennine route, but carriages all the same. However the down side is that the 17:22 seems to be 2 carriages more often. Lets see what happens next week.