Meeting with Andrew Haines on February 27th 2008

A meeting was held on February 27th between OxRail Action and FGW’s Chief Operating Officer, Andrew Haines, and other members of FGW. Read all about it here.

Minutes of the OxRail Action Group meeting held on February 19th 2008

OxRail Action group met at the Waterman’s Arms on February 19th. The minutes of the meeting are here.

Latest update – March 7 2008

 Ox Rail Action is now stronger than ever with new members joining all the time as dissatisfaction with First Great Western’s peak-time service between Oxford and London Paddington grows. The continued poor punctuality remains top of our concerns and while performance may have improved from the disastrous service provided during December 2007 and early-January 2008, there is still a very long way to go.  Early-morning services regularly arrive 15 minutes late and sometimes delays are up to 30 minutes, with little information given. Cancellations still regularly occur with no guidance offered from station staff as to what alternative routes can be taken. 

Ox Rail Action’s latest meeting was held just days before we were due to meet Andrew Haines, FGW’s chief operating officer, and we used the meeting to consult members on what they wanted us to ask Mr Haines.  Councillor Susanna Presselm who represents Jericho and Osney Ward, came along to the meeting to find out more about the campaign and offer her support.

 All members reported consistent delays on their morning services with many being forced to catch earlier trains in order to ensure they reach their desks on time. They wanted to ask what concrete steps were being taken to change the situation and ensure that trains ran according to the timetable. Other issues put on the agenda included: 

• Performance of newly-refurbished High Speed Trains
• Network Rail’s responsibility for poor performance
• May and December 2008 timetable changes
• Passenger representation
• Oxford station’s renovations – when are they due to be completed?

 The meeting with Andrew Haines took place on February 27, at First Great Western’s offices, at Paddington station. Minutes of the meeting will be posted on this site once finalised. 

The Ox Rail Action meeting was attended by several new members who have volunteered to help support the running of the campaign. The extra help is much-needed if we are to maintain our momentum and there is still a real need for members to get involved.

 Responsibilities we would like members to take on include:

·         Monitor your trains – fill in the monitoring sheet – click here for more on this

·         Being media spokespeople – we need people to be available to talk to the media at short notice

·         Attending consultation meetings with First Great Western

·         Report writing – we will put together a report on the performance of services on a quarterly basis

·         Writing for the website – and taking pictures/short videos to use online – send all entries to saveourtrains@googlemail.com

·         Writing to First Great Western whenever services are not up to scratch – write direct to Andrew Haines, at andrew.haines@firstgroup.com

·         Liaison with other passenger groups, MPs, the city council

Anyone who would like to get more involved should drop us a line at our email address saveourtrains@googlemail.com