Theresa May recently met the new Managing Director of First Great Western Andrew Haines to discuss the current problems with the train service from Paddington to Maidenhead and Twyford and the impact of the new December timetable.
Theresa said, “I welcome the extra fast services and increased capacity in the new timetable which comes into force on 9 December but I wanted to make sure that the new FGW boss was in no doubt that there is still more to be done to meet the needs of local commuters.
In my meeting I raised the appalling level of overcrowding on recent services, particularly in the morning, and the recent poor reliability with late running and cancelled services.
Andrew Haines recognised the recent problems and apologised to all local commuters for this disappointing service. Part of the problems have been due to work on the line by Network Rail, but FGW’s resources have also been stretched by the need to train staff to operate the new HST trains which will be brought in as part of the December timetable. When the December timetable comes into force, train capacity will have been increased by 77% with the addition of 2320 seats in the morning and 512 in the evening. So the short term pain should lead to long term gain.
I’m pleased to hear that the transport minister Tom Harris MP, has called FGW in to keep up the pressure for action. He tells me that he was impressed by FGW’s renewed focus on delivering a service to customers, but has pledged to ‘keep a close interest in performance on the route to ensure that FGW and Network Rail live up to these promises’.
I’ve asked FGW to do more to improve the evening services and to look at filling the gap in morning services from Maidenhead. After 19.30 there is not a single fast running service from Paddington. FGW need to understand that people work later and its concept of peak time needs to be extended until at least 20.00. In the December 2004 timetable there was a fast service at 19.44’.
_Sadly these issues may not be resolved until the new timetable for December 2008, but I will keep pressing FGW on these matters. FGW make initial bids for the December 2008 timetable in January. Thus there is an exceptionally short period of time in which commuters can react to this years’ new timetable. So please make sure you let FGW and me know what you think of the new services before Christmas. This is the best chance we have of achieving even more improvements._
I would like to thank all the local commuters who have been in touch with me about their experiences with FGW’s service. It is only possible to make a real difference to the service if I hear first hand from commuters about the service.”
