More Train Less Strain

More Train Less Strain gives a qualified welcome to improvements in FGW services following the Fare Strike this January.

Thanks to the support for the strike by thousands of travellers the government was forced to publicly acknowledge that FGW had failed to meet the terms of their franchise. Ruth Kelly showed FGW a yellow card, and issued a Remedial Plan Notice in a final attempt to force FGW to deliver a decent service.

The rest, as they say is history. Their new Chief Executive Andrew Haines pulled the stops out finding more rolling stock where previously we were told there was none. Miraculously more drivers were found and, even more surprisingly punctuality figures began to improve.

The latest published figures for April show FGW achieved a punctuality rate of 90%. Lets hope they maintain this trend and improve on it. This turn around in perfomance by FGW demonstrates just what can be achieved by mass public protest. Without your support for the Fare Strikes FGW, would still quite literally be taking us all for a ride.

We at MTLS Towers are now taking a well earned break from train campaigning and returning to the saner world of our allotments. But we will continue to keep an eye on FGW, and should you tell us that they are once again failing to deliver or that their fare rises are beyond reasonable, we will be ready, with your help, to once again demonstrate to FGW that they are accountable to their passengers, and that we can not and will not be taken for granted.

MTLS welcomes the Remedial Plan Notice issued by Ruth Kelly and the DfT today in a final attempt to force FGW to deliver a decent service. Both the Remedial Plan and the Breach Notice issued for exceeding the threshold on cancellations, and then misreporting the cancellation rate, are an acknowledgement by governement that FGW has reneged on its franchise terms.

The £29 m to be spent by FGW in an attempt to cling on to the franchise represents a significant victory for passenger power following 2 high profile fare stikes which forced the governement to finaly take a stand.

However MTLS says that whilst £29m is welcome it is nowhere like enough to rescue FGW from the mire. This is a small amount of money for such a big transport operator and is unlikely to be enough to deliver significant improvements accorss the whole of FGW territory. It is equivalent to less than 1% of First PLC's operating revenue of £3.7b last year, and would buy less than half a mile of motorway.

Whilst we welcome more rolling stock on the Portsmouth- Cardiff route, there are shortages 7 days a week on almost all lines, with trains on several lines such as Weymouth-Frome- Bristol and Chippenham -Melksham reduced to such low service levels as to make them practcially useless.

MTLS demands that the DFT now sets transparent and measurable public targets for FGW to meet within 6 months.
The DfT should simultaneously launch an inquiry into FGW's fare structure to ensure that they have not breached any legislation and exceeded their permission to increase fares.
Walk on fares must be reduced in preference to extending reduced cost pre bookable fares, and special offers of limited use to the bulk of the travelling public.
The time bands for compensation must be changed so compensation for all ticket holders is triggered after a delay of 15 minutes instead of increasing compensation after a delay of an hour or more.

If FGW fail to meet their new targets within 6 months, the DfT must make it clear that their franchise will be reomoved without further discussion.

MTLS will be watching closely. If we fail to see long term improvements we will make the final push to rid the South West of FGW.

The Department For Transport has confirmed FGW is a failing company and is being monitored regularly .