Exactly a month after the biggest shake up in railway timetables in the South West for many years, it's interesting to look back at what's been a fairly turbulent time. What's also clear is that despite First Great Western's disdain for it's customers views, they were uncannily accurate in their early judgements that it just wasn't going to work. Anyone who has ever complained to FGW will know how the process works - you make a reasoned and polite representation based on the aspects of the service you found deficient. In replying, a customer service advisor will scan your complaint for keywords and will cut and paste a stock paragraph - however irrelevant it might be to the context of your reply. Eventually, if you challenge these responses you'll be told politely but firmly that you are a persistent complainant and that it's better for them to get on with 'transforming travel' than to answer your queries. Well, I think there are probably an awful lot of persistent complainants out there today!
Even before the timetable started, people using Severn Tunnel Junction had some minor success in getting peak services reinstated. The timetable (which if you believe FGW was the work of the DfT and if you believe anyone else was the work of the devil) had crumbled by midday on 11th December, and the warm media glow of 'listening to customers' following the Severn Tunnel Junction reinstatements was soon replaced by stony silence from FGW. A couple of days into the farce, during which there were never less than twenty cancellations on the website at any given time, we received the infamous letter from Customer Services Director, Glenda Lamont. This is best summed up as "It's really not very good is it? But it's someone else's fault". No-one cared whether DfT or FGW was responsible for serviceable units being stored whilst the fleet limped on with a half-built maintenance facility unable to cope with repairs. In fact, we all assumed that the day-to-day tribulations of running a Train Operating Company meant that you developed contingencies for such events. What we really wanted was to get home on time.
My own experiences weren't too horrendous - my ten minute commute was frustratingly cancelled or delayed on a fair number of occasions, but I didn't suffer a great deal of hardship. But seeing people disentangling themselves from the mass of bodies getting out of short-formed trains, and hearing about the Verbal Warnings delivered to commuters for repeated lateness at work was heartbreaking for someone who actively tries to persuade people to use the railway. Still there was no response from FGW. And ultimately, perhaps it would have been better if they'd stayed quiet because the solution which was finally delivered this week left a very nasty taste. Someone somewhere described the substitution of buses for trains on the Cornish Branch Lines this week as "finally succeeding where Beeching failed". The idea was to redistribute the capacity from Cornwall around the Bristol area to strengthen trains and relieve congestion. A Cornish friend of mine, well aware of my 'persistent complainant' status with FGW simply emailed the words 'Cheers Mate, Thanks for the buses'. There was much concern that we were seeing FGW's true colours now, and they weren't the benevolent pink and blue of their barbie livery after all!
So we enter a second month of chaos, delay and overcrowding. My journey is still nothing compared to those Bristol-Bath commuters, rammed in so tight that if one of them passes out they don't hit the floor, or of the locals in Cornwall, with no service at all. At best it's erratic here - unreliable and prone to sudden, unexplained delay - much of which is the knock on effect of what's happening elsewhere. From a commuter's point of view its an imposition and an inconvenience. From an enthusiasts stance, its heartbreaking to see a railway so full of potential being run into the ground like this.
There are a number of meetings being arrange, MPs being lobbied and such - so many in fact I can't keep up and wouldn't presume to list them here. If you live in the South West, these campaigns deserve your support. You'll probably find more detail at the Save the Train Forum.
Lost::MikeGTN
I've had a home on the web for more years than I care to remember, and a few kind souls persuade me it's worth persisting with keeping it updated. This current incarnation of the site is centred around the blog posts which began back in 1999 as 'the daylog' and continued through my travels and tribulations during the following years.
I don't get out and about nearly as much these days, but I do try to record significant events and trips for posterity. You may also have arrived here by following the trail to my former music blog Songs Heard On Fast Trains. That content is preserved here too.
