Meeting update

Many of you will know that Ox Rail Action put together a monitoring report in early March this year, demonstrating the continued problems for Oxford commuters, particularly our morning services. As a follow-up to this report, representatives were invited to meet FGW to discuss our findings and recommendations. This meeting, attended by three Ox Rail Action members, Chris Bates (FGW Customer Panel representative), Richard Rowland (FGW Regional Director), Glenda Lamont (FGW Customer Services Manager) and Adrian Ruck (FGW External Relations), happened on the 20th April.

The minutes from this meeting will be soon be are available to read in full but here is a brief summary of the main points:

1. ORA members expressed disappointment that the changes in May would not improve travelling from Oxford in the short-term. Apparently large-scale changes will not be made until the December timetable.
2. The changes in December 2007 will not involve a complete re-draft of the present timetable (FGW is keen not to repeat last December’s fiasco) but will involve some significant changes. FGW will have a draft timetable by early summer 2007 and wishes to consult with ORA when it has this - we will arrange another meeting at this time.
3. FGW is aware of the performance and timekeeping issues that it has with all trains. Some of this (e.g. the 7.33am) is due to trains that were squeezed into the timetable. There are some long-term solutions to this ( i.e. major investment plans for both Oxford and Reading stations) but few short-term apart from the December changes.
4. Complaints about the state of the turbo trains have meant that FGW have brought forward an interior ‘refreshment’ program to next year. In the meantime, if there are specific problems on a turbo train ( e.g. window keeps flying open, smelly toilets etc) passengers have been asked to make a note of the problem, the specific carriage and the train number (on the front, usually starts 165…) to Chris Bates, who will pass this information on to the appropriate engineers - his e-mail is chrisjbates@btinternet.com
5. FGW is investing in customer service training for its staff and setting minimum standards of service. In particular, the issue of the electronic boards not working at Oxford station was raised, and the suggestion of ORA that the station should use wipeboards to give service information when they are working was taken on board.

For the full minutes, please check back to the website in a few days!

Future meeting with FGW

Ox Rail Action members are in the process of arranging a meeting between Ox Rail Action and FGW’s Regional Director, Richard Rowland, to discuss our monitoring report and our recommendations. We will be asking them about further changes that have been hinted at for May and the changes in December.

There is a petition on the Prime Minister’s website, calling for the removal of the FGW franchise. If you feel strongly about this, then please go and sign up - http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/FirstGW/

Also, if anyone was invovled in the fiasco that was Wednesday 7th March’s afternoon journey home, FGW have promised to give compensation to passengers involved. Have a look here for details about how to get yours. They’ll give season ticket holders £50 of rail vouchers and £100 if you cc in Alison Forster.

Further timetable changes

You may have heard in the press at the end of this week that FGW have made some changes to our timetables. The changes will not affect Oxford commuters that much, but if you look here you can see them in full.

The key changes for us are:

05.55 will change from a 5-carriage Adelante to a 10-carriage, and will call additionally at Radley and Pangbourne - I imagine that few people use this train on a regular basis, but the extra stops will probably slow dow this journey a little.

07.33 will change from a 5-carriage Adelante to a 10-carriage. This will be good for Oxford passengers as there will be an even slimmer chance of not getting a seat, but it will largely benefit Didcot and Reading passengers who will be pleased to see some empty seats on this train.

These changes are very small, and there as far as I can see, there are no substantial changes to the evening services either, apart from very slight re-timings. What FGW don’t seem to realise is that other trains are far more deserving of extra carriages - for example the 07.05am service.

Monitoring report published

As promised here, we have now completed the analysis of the information that you have provided on the overcrowding and lateness of morning peak-time services. In the next few days we will be handing out copies of the executive summary of the report and you can get the full report and our press notice here.

The report highlights continued issues of overcrowding and lateness, but will also address other concerns raised by passengers such as lack of heating, problems with passenger information boards, a lack of communication and poor announcements.  Representatives of OxRailAction have been invited to a meeting with Richard Rowland, the Regional Director for FGW, to discuss our report and any changes that can be made. Copies of the report will be sent to FGW and other organisations such as the Department for Transport, the Office of Rail Regulation and the Rail Passengers Council.

Monitoring report

Thankyou to all those commuters who have been sent in their train monitoring data to Ox Rail Action. The information was very useful, and we have managed to get data on levels of overcrowding and lateness for nearly all the morning peak trains for the period 22nd January to the 2nd Feb.

Organisers of Ox Rail Action are now collating this information into a monitoring report. The aim of this report is to show FGW the continued problems after the small alterations made to the timetable on the 15th January, and to make recommendations for further changes. It will cover continued issues of overcrowding and lateness, but will also address other concerns raised by passengers such as lack of heating on turbos, passenger information boards, lack of communication and poor announcements.

Representatives of Ox Rail Action have been invited to a meeting with Richard Rowland, the Regional Director for FGW, to discuss our report and any changes that can be made. We will be provide copies of our report on our website as soon as it is written. In addition, we have been invited to an Oxford County Council meeting which the Transport Minister, Douglas Alexander, will be attending, at some point in March. We have not been told of the date of this meeting yet, but will provide updates when we know more.

Please keep e-mailing in (saveourtrains@googlemail.com) with details of your journeys, problems encountered, recommendations for changes and general comments. Also, keep complaining to FGW and to your local MP - train overcrowding is still a very hot issue within Parliament. We need to show everyone that we are still not satisfied with the level of service that we are receiving.

Thanks everyone, and happy commuting!

Susan

Ox Rail Action

Here to stay

Thank you for everyone’s support over the last month and a half of campaigning. According to our calculations, the new changes mean that we have gone from losing 80% of seats in the morning peak to losing 20%.

Ox Rail Action will continue as a permanent Oxford rail users group. The aim of this group is to ensure that Oxford has an adequate supply of services and seats in the peak rush hours. This is particularly important in view of the fact that FGW are changing timetables again in December 2007. Oxford passengers need a voice and a forum to make sure that their views are represented to FGW and the Department of Transport.

One aspect of our campaign should be to ask for better consultation and better passenger representation. We want FGW to learn the lessons of their recent mistakes, and to not repeat such disastrous timetable changes in the future. Also we want them to thoroughly evaluate the impact of the additional services they have now announced, including the numbers of passengers who have to stand. Most importantly, we want FGW to listen to passenger feedback and be ready to put on further additional seats and services should that prove necessary to meet passenger needs.

Ox Rail Action will be monitoring the new services over the next few weeks - but we need your help! We want you to be our eyes and ears. After next week (15^th to 19^th Jan), viewed as a ‘bedding in’ week for the new services, we will run a monitoring system on the Oxford morning trains for two weeks.

During the period 22^nd-2^nd Feb, we need volunteers to monitor the Oxford services. In particular, if people could check their particular carriage on their usual train in the following ways:

1. For those trains that start in Oxford – how many standing passengers without seats after leaving Oxford.
2. For through trains – how many free seats were in the carriage when boarding at Oxford, and how many standing passengers without seats after leaving Oxford.

If travellers could make a note of these figures each day that they travel in the two week period, and e-mail them to saveourtrains@googlemail.com, we can compile the data into a report on the situation. We need to make sure that each carriage of each train is covered for two full weeks, to ensure accurate figures with which we can continue to campaign if necessary. If volunteers could e-mail to say which train they usually get and on which carriage, by Wednesday of next week, we can make sure all the trains are covered adequately.

Also, just to remind people that a ‘Meet the Managers’ session will be happening on Wednesday 17th January, from 4-7pm. Please let the managers and regional director of FGW know your views on the initial timetable changes and the recent alterations.

Thanks very much,

Susan

The details

Following on from the brilliant news broken below, we have now had chance to ‘look at the small print’. The seat availability on the new timetable will be:

• 0638 – Adelante; 282 seats; approx 150 empty on arrival at Oxford
• 0645 – 6 car Turbo; 550 seats; starts in Oxford
• 0705 – 3 car Turbo; 275 seats; approx 13 empty on arrival at Oxford
• 0733 – Adelante; 282 seats; starts in Oxford
• 0744 – HST; 472 seats; approx 100 empty on arrival at Oxford

Giving a total of 1015 seats. Not back to the 1379 we had before 10 December, but a huge improvement on the 270 we have had since (our previous analysis of the timetable changes is still available).

Victory!

First Great Western has just issued a press notice (the full text is also below) detailing revisions to their timetable. Among other things they have reinistated two of the cancelled Oxford services bringing capacity back to sensible levels. We have won!

Text of press notice follows:

First Great Western announces timetable changes

Train operator First Great Western is to make further changes to its new timetable following a review of the performance of train services and seating capacity in some parts of the region.

The review was carried out in response to customer and stakeholder feedback received following the introduction of the new timetable on 10 December 2006.

Alison Forster, Managing Director of First Great Western, explains: “We recognise that some elements of the timetable have not met all our customers’ needs and we apologise to those customers who have experienced crowding and train cancellations on some key services.

“As a result of the review, I’m today announcing a number of changes, including additional morning peak time services and extra seats, to alleviate the problems experienced by some of our customers.”

The following changes to services will be introduced on Monday 15 January:

Oxford, Didcot and Thames Valley

• The current 05.52 Oxford to London Paddington service will be faster with fewer stops, departing later at 05.55, calling Radley at 06.02, Didcot Parkway at 06.11, Reading at 06.25 and London Paddington at 07.00. This service will no longer call at Cholsey, Goring & Streatley, Pangbourne and Tilehurst. The 06.02 from Oxford will continue to serve these stations.
• An additional early morning high speed service will be introduced from Oxford and Didcot Parkway to London Paddington every weekday. The service leaves Oxford at 07.33, calls Didcot Parkway at 07.48, Reading at 08.04 and arrives London Paddington at 08.30.
• An additional Oxford to London Paddington fast train service will be introduced at 06.45. This service runs non-stop to Twyford, calling there at 07.26; Maidenhead at 07.35; and arriving London Paddington at 07.58. The current 06.45 Oxford to London Paddington stopping service will therefore depart earlier at 06.33 and run as advertised from Didcot Parkway.
• Didcot receives a new morning peak high speed train service with more seats - the 06.30 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington service will call at Didcot Parkway at 07.30, calling Reading at 07.46 and arriving London Paddington at 08.15. This replaces the 05.34 Great Malvern to London Paddington service which will no longer call at Didcot Parkway (07.17).
• More capacity will be provided for Twyford and Maidenhead customers on two morning high speed services due to changes in stopping patterns. Both the 05.55 Oxford to London Paddington (now calling Twyford at 06.32 and Maidenhead at 06.39) and the 06.51 Oxford to London Paddington will call at fewer stations prior to calling at Twyford and Maidenhead.

Timings on some branch lines will change to ensure connections with main line services:

• The 06.19 Marlow to Bourne End service departs earlier at 06.17, arriving Bourne End at 06.24.
• The 06.20 Henley-on-Thames to Twyford service departs earlier at 06.19, calling Shiplake at 06.23, Wargrave at 06.26 and Twyford at 06.31.
• The 06.29 Bourne End to Maidenhead service departs earlier at 06.27, calls Cookham at 06.32, Furze Platt at 06.35, arriving Maidenhead at 06.38

Westcountry

• Capacity on the 06.47 Frome to Cardiff Central service will be doubled with two additional coaches providing more than 100 extra seats for customers travelling between Frome, West Wiltshire, Bath and Bristol.
• An additional train service will run between Exeter St Davids and Highbridge, departing 06.52 and calling Tiverton Parkway at 07.06 and Taunton at 07.22. This service continues to London Paddington, leaving Highbridge at 07.40.

Alison Forster continues: “We will have the opportunity to make changes to the timetable in December 2007. Also, our current review is continuing and we will consider making further changes, in particular for customers using Bedwyn/Newbury to Reading services, over the next few months. We will announce these changes as soon as possible.

“Recent capacity problems in the Bristol and Bath commuter areas have been caused by a backlog of maintenance work required on our fleet of local trains. We are pulling out all the stops and have recruited additional staff at our Bristol maintenance depot to get this work completed as soon as possible. I’m confident that this will improve the reliability of our services and therefore seating capacity over the next couple of weeks.”

ENDS

Local MPs to meet managing director

We have been informed that this Thursday, Alison Forster, MD of First Great Western, will be meeting MPs from the Thames Valley region re the recent timetable changes, including the Oxford MPs Evan Harris and Andrew Smith. It could be that she shares with MPs the outcome of the timetable review which was allegedly taking place over the Christmas period.

If you have a chance between now and Thursday, please drop your MP a line to let them know that you’re aware of the meeting and that you’d be grateful if they could let you know the outcome. It’s vital that we make our MPs aware that we know this meeting is taking place and that we consider it a key opportunity for them to show their influence on this matter.

Do keep us up-to-date on any responses you receive.

The campaign continues….

It is now nearly a month since First Great Western introduced its new timetable between
Oxford and London Paddington. On a daily basis passengers are being forced to battle for a seat on overcrowded trains that are often late. And because of the Christmas break we have still not yet seen the real impact of the changes… Ox Rail Action is gaining daily support. We have so far had extensive press coverage and the issue has been raised in Parliament by local MPs. 

Ox Rail Action research shows that with the new timetable, between 6am and 8am (key commuter times) FGW have removed around 80% of the seats available to
Oxford travellers and has halved the number of fast trains, resulting in serious overcrowding.

We are in constant communication with FGW over these issues. We have challenged FGW’s Managing Director, Alison Forster, to join us on a morning train from
Oxford to
London, to experience first hand the kind of conditions we are facing every day. A date has now been finalised - Glenda Lamont, the Head of Customer Services at FGW will be travelling on an Oxford morning train in the next few weeks, and we will invite selected members of the press to this.

First Group, FGW’s parent company, has announced a 23% increase in profits in 2005/6 to a record £79.6 million. Despite this, regular rail passengers from
Oxford face fare increases of around 10% this year – while our train services have been slashed. FGW has increased fares at the same time as it has slashed services. It clearly believed that passengers, who have no alternative, would just put up with this. Well, we won’t.