Twyford

I know that many of you are aware that I recently had another meeting with First Great Western to discuss their proposals for the December 2007 timetable. I have been holding off this email whilst waiting for Network Rail to confirm FGW’s proposals. But as this has not happened yet, I would like to let you know as much as I do at this time.

The good news is that FGW seem to be getting the message that we need more fast and semi-fast services in the morning peak. Their proposal includes more fast and semi- fast services. I could see one potential problem area where the wait between trains is longer than I would like and I raised this with FGW.

The not so good news is that FGW have submitted their proposals to Network Rail and are waiting for them to be accepted. That’s why they won’t publish details yet. Given that they have proposed more services for Twyford and Maidenhead and that in the past Network Rail has been reluctant to accept this, I have also written to Network Rail to urge them to support FGW’s proposals. Network Rail have frequently been there when I have met with First Great Western so they should understand the extent of the problem. I will be very disappointed if Network Rail are the barrier to our improvements. 

However I have only seen the proposals for the morning peak and FGW have implied to me that they have not been in a position to make many improvements in the evenings – although this is high on their agenda. It is hard for those who have seen services get steadily worse since 2004 to be asked to wait.  We need to see improvements to the evening peak, throughout the evening to the late evening service and on the branch lines with improved connection times. I will not let FGW forget that even if they improve the morning services there is still a desperate need to improve the evening services too.

But even if we get these changes they won’t be until December 2007 so I am pleased to say that FGW have listened to our complaints about the 0634 Twyford and 0641 Maidenhead service to London and plan to make improvements soon.

The frequent shortening of this service is because the Adelante train had been ear-marked as a contingency train which could be shortened in the event of failures elsewhere on the network. This is necessary because one of their Adelantes is completely out of action due to mechanical failure. I pointed out to FGW that using our service as a contingency was unacceptable – especially as this is one of our few fast morning services. It was only lengthened in March, in recognition of the unbearable overcrowding on board and FGW added an extra stop at Pangbourne to justify this.

FGW have now identified different contingency arrangements and although they could not promise that our service would never be shortened, they said that it should happen less frequently.

It will take a few weeks for this change to bed in, but once it has I would be grateful if you would keep me informed of whether this is a truly positive step.

Thank you all for your support and as ever please do keep up the pressure on FGW. If we get our improvements to the morning peak this will be a real victory but there is still so much more to achieve. I believe that our emails have made them sit up and listen. If we stop, we run the risk of making them think the problem has gone away.

Sincerely ,
Theresa