FGW warned over service

[AJR]

Online source: Western Morning News, 27 Feb. 2008

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FGW WARNED OVER SERVICE

Furious Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly last night warned beleaguered train operator First Great Western that it has one last chance to improve its services - or it will be booted off the region's railways.

In the strongest sign yet of ministers' anger at the company's dire performance, Ms Kelly began the process which could strip Scottish transport giant First of the Westcountry franchise.

The tough stance came after it emerged that the firm had been wrongly recording its cancellation figures, which have become the grim reality for thousands of long-suffering passengers.

Last night, rail minister Tom Harris told the WMN the situation could not be more serious for First Great Western (FGW) and he did not care how much it cost the firm to improve its services.

The many critics of the company - regularly branded "Worst Great Western" - welcomed Ms Kelly's tough intervention, with one warning FGW it had been "shunted into the last chance saloon".

The company was issued with a breach notice after the catalogue of cancellations exceeded agreed levels, but ministers are said to be furious at the bungling over the way cancellations were recorded. The mess made the firm's performance appear even worse than reality.

Instead of imposing a fine - which would do little to improve services - Ms Kelly ordered FGW to employ more drivers, more train crews and deploy extra carriages to get back on track.

And the company has also promised to fund a ú29 million programme of improvements, which includes issuing an extra half a million of the cheapest tickets on the most popular routes.

Ms Kelly said: "The performance of FGW has persistently fallen short of its customers' expectations and has been unacceptable to both passengers and Government."

She said failure to comply with the Remedial Plan would "be a default of the franchise agreement, which could lead to the Government terminating FGW's franchise".

Last month, in a bid to head off negative publicity, FGW announced plans to double passenger compensation for this year. But yesterday, it was revealed to be part of a deal with Whitehall for the company to get a grip on its performance.

In a statement to the Stock Exchange, it was announced the firm will further improve compensation from 2009-10, offer additional carriages on the Cardiff-Portsmouth route this summer, refurbish trains in the Thames Valley area by 2011 and install new hi-tech equipment in stations so passengers know what is going on.

Last night, South West Minister and Exeter MP Ben Bradshaw said he would be "watching the performance of FGW like a hawk".

The bungling of cancellation figures was "incredible", he said, but he welcomed "removal by the new management team of those responsible".

"We need more crews and more locomotives. We also need to see a complete change in the culture at FGW, putting the passenger first."

However, Julia Goldsworthy, MP for Falmouth and Camborne, expressed regret that Devon and Cornwall would not be seeing the much-needed extra carriages that were being dedicated to other parts of the vast franchise area.

"The Westcountry always seems to fall off the bottom of FGW's priority agenda. The routes that benefit most from this extra money are on the commuter routes from London."

She added that as a "regular victim of FGW", the Government clampdown did not come as a surprise to her.

"This should not be a long lifeline for FGW. If they don't turn this around in the short term, they should be facing losing their franchise."

Yeovil MP David Laws said: "If this situation does not improve, or the remedial plan is breached, this contract to run services should be terminated."

Gary Streeter, MP for South West Devon, said: "FGW have been shunted into the last chance saloon. All of us have been concerned about its performance for many months and I hope they now do as they are being told."

Alison Seabeck, MP for Plymouth Devonport, said: "While we can all see that FGW's performance has been inadequate, the measures announced by Ruth Kelly today should benefit all of their passengers."

Roger Creagh-Osborne, of campaign group Transport 2000 in Plymouth and Cornwall, said: "Pressure from passengers and rail groups is coming with pressure from the Government and I hope FGW will be able to respond.

"We are still suffering in Cornwall from regularly shortened services. Clearly, FGW are being hit by demand for services they cannot meet and they really need to get a grip of it."

A spokesperson for TravelWatch South West added: "At last someone appears to be listening to passenger complaints."

First's other rail franchises are First ScotRail, First Capital Connect and First TransPennine Express, making it the UK's largest rail operator.

In the six months to September 30, its rail division made operating profits of ú48.2 million and last month, the firm reported a ten per cent rise in rail revenues between October and December - despite "deep-rooted performance issues" on the FGW franchise.

Services have been plagued by ageing rail infrastructure while the franchise had the second-worst punctuality performance in the UK between July and September last year.

Chief executive Moir Lockhead said: "This additional investment will directly benefit passengers and underpins our plans to improve the quality and reliability of services we provide."

But Shadow Transport Secretary Theresa Villiers said FGW had "let passengers down badly".

"The level of service they have been offering is unacceptable and they simply have to get a grip and start performing a whole lot better," she said.

"Customer misery on their lines has gone on for far too long. While the Government has dithered, many of the problems at FGW have got worse."

[tugboatcharly2]

The lady should remember who caused all this mayhem on the railways in the first intance. A certain John Major and his cronies who messed it up ,so please Madam blame your gang for ruining the industry and to put it with all the others the the tory goverments have ruined ie," BT,THE ELECTRICS, BG AND TO FOLLW THE WATER COMPANIES "and the rest to many to recall. brigade the nasty party

[Mitch]

There is no doubt that the Conservative government made a mess of rail privatisation, just as they did with bus deregulation in 1986.
What concerns me is the fact that the Labour government has done nothing to reverse the situation. The government is pulling more strings in the rail industry than it did during the nationalised period.
The franchising process is a shambles: the government awards franchises not on the basis of what the service requirements are, but what the franchisee will pay back over the life of the franchise.
Why the government department responsible for rail franchising awarded the extended Great Western franchise to First is beyond me. FGW may have promised to pay millions over the life of the franchise, but there must have been little research into the company's previous performance when it ran not only Great Western but Thames Trains as well.
Neither company was exactly at the top of the performance table, yet this wasn't taken into account when the new franchise was awarded.
The government would never admit it made a mistake, of course, so FGW's failings are nothing to do with franchise awards.
Cynical, me?
Yes....