From yesterdays parliamentary debate (link below.)
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmhansrd/cm070118/debtext/70118-0020.htm#07011844000002

Mrs. May: We can tell First Great Western that the Minister is shaking his head and that when it tells us that the Government are being prescriptive, that is not the case and it can widely vary the timetable. However, First Great Western needs the agreement of the Government and Network Rail to vary that timetable.

Mr. Harris: I am delighted to have an opportunity to place on the record that the service level commitments contained in franchises are minimum levels of specification. Train operating companies have every right, and are encouraged, to add to that minimum level of service. There is some discontent and a lot of misinformation being circulated in the south-west of the country and the Bristol area. That is not an area that affects her constituency, but it is still the First Great Western franchise. That misinformation has accused the Government of ordering First Great Western to remove carriages from trains. We have been accused of forbidding First Great Western to increase the length of trains. That is nonsense. I am happy to put on the record that the minimum service level commitment is a minimum level. Train operating companies should add value to those levels.

Lee ... from that article:

"FGW spokesman Adrian Ruck said the company is meeting all its performance targets so far. If it continues to do so, the franchise could be extended for a further three years."

Is Mr Ruck in a different world to us, or is there really an absence of effective targets to monitor the current appalling situation?  Three trains out of four cancelled most days this week, and they're still "on target"?

---OOO---

Looking back to Mr Harris' comments to Mrs May, I think I would be more likely to believe him and his stift of the blame onto FGW if we didn't have FGW shifting the blame back on to him in exactly the same way.   Perhaps we should invite Mr Tom Harris and Mr Dean Finch to share a common platform in our area and explain to us the metrics of how responsiblity lies between them.

Dear Mr Ruck,

You are quoted as follows in the press:

""FGW spokesman Adrian Ruck said the company is meeting all its 
performance targets so far.""

http://www.maidenhead-advertiser.co.uk/news_article.php?section=5&category=89&story=2656
http://www.rmtbristol.org.uk/2007/01/farce_track_rail_service.html

I wonder if you can help me understand how this applies to the line I 
use.  On the Swindon to Westbury service we are very used to frequent 
cancellations and in the last week more than one half of the trains 
scheduled to run have been cancelled.

QUESTION ONE. What is your performance target for this line, and what 
figures do you have that show you are meeting it?

QUESTION TWO. Do you consider your current performance on this service 
to be adequate irrespective of targets?

I have a copy of the SLC2 document dated last summer that shows a 
requirement to schedule a train to arrive into Swindon from Westbury 
between 08:00 and 08:30, but no such service is shown on your schedule

QUESTION THREE. Can you explain why you are not providing a service 
within this designated time slot - has the performance requirement been 
relaxed, for example. If so why, by whom, and with what consultation 
with customers on the service in question?

Customers travelling from West Wiltshire to Swindon are very unhappy 
with the current schedule, and its appalling (in our opinion) 
reliability record.  We would much appreciate your feedback as an 
official FGW spokesman on the above questions, for publication on the 
web site at http://www.savethetrain.org.uk - perhaps there's a problem 
with the targets, or perhaps you have been misquoted?   Whichever, it 
would be great to have that answered and to move on to working for a 
service that meet the needs of the customers, which the current one 
does not.

Many thanks

Graham Ellis

Mr Ruck has not answered my questions, or is there an answer hidden in there somewhere?

More on the debate in the link below.
http://www.rmtbristol.org.uk/2007/01/questions_in_house_over_trains.html#more