FGW issues - November 2012

Thu 22 Nov 2012, 13:36

The biggest joke is that one would assume that thos of us who purchase season tickets each month would be due to receive a 5% discount however this isn't the case!

High Speed Services (as the trains from Charlbury are classed but again that's debatable) has a punctuality performance result of 84% from 14th October - 10th Novemeber therefore didn't meet the target of 90% Reliability however was surprisingly higher than the target at 99.3%! I don't think FGW know the meaning of the word 'reliable' as when asked, they state that if a train arrives at its destination, it is classed as reliable. I class 'reliable' as being able to rely on the train getting me to work on time! Therefore they argue that even if a train arrives at Paddington 2 hours late it is not punctual but IS reliable!

I think figures are also played with in some cases. For instance, the 06:28 comes from Great Malvern and one particular morning last year it was cancelled. The train did however get diverted and ran via Cheltenham and therefore did manage to get to Paddington. Incidents such as these are not recorded as negative because the train was not totally cancelled and arrived at its timetabled destination!

Another frustration is that FGW love to state that nearly all delays are due to infrastructure issues such as Network Rail engineering or signals etc which means they are not responsible. They do make huge claims from Network Rail in such cases but none of that money gets redistributed to us lot who pay a fortune to travel.

Don't forget that fares increase again in January but increases are capped at 4%!

Thu 22 Nov 2012, 11:58

And they spent £60m (my memory may be inexact!) because they said the single track was the problem. It wasn't. Timekeeping improved before the track was doubled, and is now worse again. Can crap management be the problem -- again?

Thu 22 Nov 2012, 11:36

I have moved all the relevant postings to here - as the other one was too long!!

Thu 22 Nov 2012, 11:33

Oh dear! Glad I am not commuting at the moment. Do you think a new thread needs to be started for this?

Thu 22 Nov 2012, 11:23

Further to Elaine's posting, the 22:52 out of Oxford did not run either as the Cotswold was closed due to an incident at Evesham, reportedly a train fire. All the passengers (and me with my bike) that were on the the late running 21.21, or that had intended to catch the 22:52 were sent off in taxis to various stations along the line.

Wed 21 Nov 2012, 22:23

Yes please Richard, hope you can resurrect the train commuter blog. It's been terrible for a couple of weeks now.

Wed 21 Nov 2012, 22:15

The 20.20 Paddington train was terminated at Oxford tonight due to a train fault! not flooding etc it should have left Oxford 21.21 next and last train 22.52 decided to get the bus at least I will get home today! I will get a good supply of Compensation forms

Wed 21 Nov 2012, 14:04

My husband only uses the train in the winter and bought a months season ticket a couple of weeks ago the trains have been really bad. Last Sunday his train was cancelled and had to come home to get his motorbike to get to work ! all extra costs most trains since he started using them have been late or cancelled. I would rather use the bus to Oxford far more reliable .

Wed 21 Nov 2012, 13:36

I'll have a look into resurrecting it.

Wed 21 Nov 2012, 12:37

Canceled train on Monday morning meant my friend missed her Eurostar departure, thus missing her connection to Strasbourg. Disaster! A daily log would be good!

Wed 21 Nov 2012, 12:17

Maybe it would be a good idea for Richard to resurrect the commuter blog so that you can record these failings so you have some evidence to take to either FGW/David Cameron. However in order to have some credence it needs to be completed everyday, including those trains which are on time.

Wed 21 Nov 2012, 06:52

wed morning and more disruption! the last few weeks have been shocking! The only (semi) reliable commuter train seems to be the 6:06. I cannot remember the 17:50 arriving on time at 19:03. The service degradation is obvious to all regular travellers. Come on fgw, explain the service figures.

Mon 19 Nov 2012, 20:11

Anyone else noticed the recent decline in punctuality on the Cotswold Line? If you're on Twitter I recommend following @fgw - they update on delays and you can also "engage" with them to express constructive opinions about the *service* provided in real time and help to raise the profile of the Cotswold Line at FGW HQ !