First Class?

The curse of First Great Western strikes me again. After the touch and go game of roulette with cancellations of Taunton-Great Malvern services on Friday, today it's the mainline which is causing grief. There seem to have been numerous times now that I've booked to return from a weekend trip and been scuppered by a cancellation at Paddington. Whether it's lineside fires, breakdowns - or as in this case oversleeping on-train staff, it's provided a slightly bitter ending to some excellent weekends. Today, it's really not a major issue, however, the poor Sunday service to Highbridge presents some challenges. The staff at Paddington were also clearly unhappy and genuinely concerned that they had to apologise for yet another problem entirely within the company's control. The ongoing resourcing and rolling stock issues present a fairly poor public face, and its going to be hard to convince customers that things are changing behind the scenes whiles this kind of situation continues to occur regularly. Naturally, the performance figures which the industry now holds so dear will also suffer.

On a more positive note the refurb on the HSTs is great, and I'm sitting in a comfortable, light and airy Mk III FO carriage writing this. The company seems to want to provide quality, but whether its the infrastructure, the Department for Transport or some other external problem, there appear to be constant barriers to progress. Having managed the odd project, I know how frustrating these bits outside your control can be, and I feel some empathy with the incoming MD, Andrew Haines.

On a beautiful Sunday morning heading westwards in the comfort of a newly refreshed carriage, it's easy to be positive about things despite the delays.