Further down the line in Romsey, the discontent is covered in the current edition of the local paper.
http://www.romseyadvertiser.co.uk/display.var.1120350.0.winter_of_discontent_for_rail_passengers.php
Winter of discontent for rail passengersCOMMUTERS can expect further disruption and misery on trains around Romsey.
It follows weeks of cancellations and late-running trains operated by First Great Western. But the company's regional manager, Andrew Griffiths, said FGW hoped to get its services back on track soon.
Mr Griffiths said problems started when the new timetable was introduced last month.
"On the same day, we also took in-house the maintenance of the local train fleet, the standards of the previous contractor not being up to scratch," he said.
Mr Griffiths explained that a new £8m depot has been built in Bristol to do this work.
"Unfortunately, the depot inherited a bigger backlog of work than expected and has teething problems which have gone on longer than we predicted," said Mr Griffiths.
"This has led to some cancellations and short-formed services - fewer carriages - and these have been shared as equitably as possible. Romsey has not fared worse than anywhere else. Additional staff have been recruited at the depot and the fleet should be up to full strength with no planned cancellations or short-forms in a couple of weeks."
All this week, the Bristol Temple Meads to Portsmouth train, which normally calls at Romsey station at 7.30am, has been cancelled. Other services through Romsey, Mottisfont & Dunbridge, and Dean stations have been cancelled or have run late since new timetables came into operation on December 10.
Angry passengers say FGW put up fares on January 1 and they are now getting less for their money.
One said: "It's disgusting and something has to be done about it. The service has been reduced and we are paying more."
A commuter, who works in Gosport and catches the train from Romsey for part of the journey, said the cancellation of the 7.30am train had upset his travel plans.
"It makes me at least half-an-hour late for work and there has been no explanations why this train has been cancelled all week, apart from a hand-written notice at the station. In my experience, FGW is running a far worse service than its predecessor Wessex Trains," said the irate passenger.
Alistair Scott, who travels from Romsey station to Southampton regularly, said FGW service had gone downhill.
"When FGW took over last spring trains were regular and on time, now it's a diabolical and unacceptable service. They put fares up and downgraded the service. If the trains keep failing to turn up, I will stop using the train and catch a bus," said Mr Scott.
Passengers destined for Dean and Mottisfont & Dunbridge stations were left stranded for hours at Romsey and Southampton stations last week because of cancelled trains.
Information screens and the public address system were not working leaving passengers without information on arrival times.
Not all services stop at these two rural stations and when a scheduled train has been cancelled travellers have been left waiting for more than two hours for the next stopping train.
FGW can authorise stop orders on the next available train to replace the cancelled services, but this is not an automatic procedure.
"It is not an automatic contingency insofar as the controller on duty must make the final decision, taking into account any other factors at the time, but it is certainly expected to happen," said Mr Griffiths, adding that he would look into the reasons why information systems were out of order at Romsey station.
FGW has experienced problems on many of its routes and has already started to make changes to the new timetables in some areas.
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