First Great Western announces changes to draft December timetable

3 April 2006 - http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/NewsItem.aspx?id=302

Train operator First Great Western will make significant changes to its draft timetable for December 2006 following extensive consultation with stakeholders and customers.

The company received more than 9,000 responses during a month-long consultation process which closed on 8 March. Senior management from First Great Western also attended numerous meetings with customers and stakeholders to discuss the draft timetable in detail.

Since then, First Great Western timetable experts have analysed the feedback and identified with the Department for Transport where changes can be made.

The framework for the new timetable has now been agreed, including a range of improvements made as a result of the consultation (see below).

Alison Forster, Managing Director of First Great Western, says: ³We realise many people have concerns about the draft timetable and that¹s why we¹ve been open and honest from the start. We gave people a chance to air their views and we¹re pleased so many of them decided to respond.

³As a result of this feedback we¹re delighted that we are able to make modifications to the draft timetable and address most of the concerns raised during the consultation.

³The changes we¹re announcing today are the main improvements to the draft December timetable but we will continue to make additional changes over the next few weeks.²

The company is also looking at better utilisation of its extensive fleet of trains to provide at least the same number and, in many cases, more seats on busy services in the Bristol, Exeter and Plymouth travel to work areas.

For example, 500 seat High Speed Trains will be used on services in the Cornwall and Bristol travel to work areas to provide additional seats.

First Great Western will now work closely with Network Rail to establish detailed timings and finalise the draft timetable in time for implementation in December 2006.

In addition First Great Western will write to everyone who contacted them giving specific responses to the issues raised.
The changes to the draft timetable includeŠ



Bristol, North Somerset and Wiltshire

· An early morning service will operate at around 0500 from Bristol Parkway to London Paddington, serving Swindon, Didcot Parkway and Reading.
· The two London Paddington to Exeter St Davids semi-fast services will continue. This will allow the continuation of hourly services at Bedwyn and Kintbury, with one two-hour gap in the early afternoon.
· Services on the Severn Beach line will be retimed to better cater for schoolchildren.
· High Speed Train services from London Paddington to Weston-super-Mare will be retimed to provide more capacity from Bristol Temple Meads in the evening peak
· Services between Bristol Temple Meads and Weymouth will be retimed to better suit leisure and commuter customers on the line, including the retiming of a morning peak service from Frome to Bristol Temple Meads. Connections at Castle Cary to and from the West of England will be improved as a result.



The West of England and South Coast

· The existing two London Paddington to Exeter St Davids stopping services in each direction will continue. This will allow the continuation of hourly services at Bedwyn and Kintbury, with one two-hour gap in the early afternoon. It is also expected to enable the provision of two three-hour journeys between Plymouth and London Paddington in each direction.
· The number of London services calling at Totnes and Tiverton Parkway will be increased to a level similar to the current timetable.
· Dawlish Warren and Starcross will benefit from daily through services to and from London Paddington for the first time, which will also provide extra capacity between the two stations and Exeter St Davids.
· Additional calls will be made at Saltash and St Germans to provide nine daily services each way, compared with six in the draft timetable.
· The early morning stopping service from Penzance to Plymouth will be retimed to connect with a northbound Virgin Trains service
· The 1600 Plymouth to Liskeard service will be extended to Penzance to provide an evening peak service for stations in Mid and West Cornwall.
· Services between Exeter St Davids and Barnstaple will be extended to/from Exeter Central.
· The first service from Barnstaple to Exeter Central will arrive at around 0815, rather than 0745 to better meet the needs of commuters, and trains on this route will have additional intermediate stops.
· Options for providing an earlier service on the Gunnislake to Plymouth line are being developed ,
· Services between Bristol Temple Meads and Weymouth will be retimed to better suit leisure and commuter customers on the line, including the retiming of a morning peak service from Frome to Bristol Temple Meads. Connections at Castle Cary for the West of England will be improved.
· A shuttle service will be introduced between Westbury and Southampton, including calls at Dean and Dunbridge. This will operate until December 2007, when service levels will be reviewed in the light of subject to the new South West Trains franchise.
· An additional London Paddington to Penzance service will call at Hayle.
· The last train from Paddington to the West of England will depart later, at 20.35 rather than 20.18



The Thames Valley and North Cotswolds

· An additional service with six carriages (around 500 seats) will operate from Twyford to London Paddington arriving at around 0730, calling only at Maidenhead.
· The journey time between Slough and London Paddington will be reduced by removing some Ealing Broadway calls, compared with the draft. The number of calls at Ealing Broadway will remain similar to the current timetable.
· A High Speed Train from Bristol Temple Meads will call additionally at Slough providing a fast early morning service at around 0655.
· Services on the Thames Valley branchlines will be retimed to call at all stations, except the 0556 Maidenhead to Marlow, which will not call at Furze Platt or Bourne End.
· Services on the Henley branch will be retimed, including additional calls at Wargrave and Shiplake, to better cater for schoolchildren
· An earlier first train to London will be provided from Iver, Langley and West Drayton.
· A better spread of fast trains will call at Didcot Parkway in the evening peak.
· Services at stations between Oxford and Didcot Parkway will be broadly in line with the current timetable.
· An evening service will operate from Oxford to Banbury at around 2050, calling at Tackley, Heyford and Kings Sutton.
Basingstoke and the North Downs
· An earlier service will be provided from Reading to Basingstoke at around 0530, and in the reverse direction, a later service will be provided at around 2350.
· Services between Reading and Gatwick Airport will still increase from hourly to half-hourly, but with a revised stopping pattern, in particular to address college traffic.



 

Very disappointing but I note Alison Foster says that 'we will continue to make additional changes over the next few weeks' so perhaps there is still a very small chink of light or am I grasping at straws?
My initial thought is that if they are improving services for Dean and Dunbridge on the Wesbury to Southampton section then surely it would make sense to include the Westbury to Swindon section as well?

It almost seems that everywhere else has at least got some improvements apart from us folks on the Swindon to Westbury line, why?

That is a real shame. In addition, there's no mention to the concerns I put forward either. It's this quote that I don't understand:
How do First know this after less than one day of running it?

Why?

Choose from:

1. They must save face and can't give way on everything.
2. There's a hidden agenda to run the service down to extinction
3. The line is too valuable as a diversionary route to have it clogged with scheduled trains
4. The decision maker's ex lives in Melksham
5. First Bus and First Great Western have come to an arrangement
6. Even with traffic rising 35% per year compound, that's not enough for them!
7. They get just as much money if someone drives from Melksham to Chippenham and parks there to go on by train as they do if someone parks free at Melksham and travels up by train.

This is written tongue in cheek - I'm not seriously suggesting all of these factors are the cause - but at times you do wonder!

2, 6 and 7 would be the one I would think would be most likely