DECEMBER 2017: THE GREAT WESTERN IEP TRAIN COMPLETE BALLSUP

The Doctor has been to London for a few days, and got the opportunity to travel on one of GWR's much trumpeted IEP trains.
Ghastly - and all because of their pathetic management.

Going up to town, I arrived at my local station with my seat reservation.  The signs said it was travelling in reverse formation, and first class would be at the rear ... but of which unit - the front one, or the rear one?  The platform staff did not know, and they told me they were frustrated at not knowing the train formations.  (In the Continent, of course, this sort of thing is second nature).

I got on board after guessing where the carriage might stop.  No seat reservations were on the seats.  Scrum.

I went to the WC - after committing myself (as it were), I discovered too late that there was no loo roll; no water, no drier and no towels.  I had no alternative but to dry my hands on the upholstery of the new deeply (wrong word - they're not deep) unpleasant seats.

Coming back from town - the same sort of thing:  I entered my coach to find no seat reservations were indicated.  There was some real anger amongst people fighting for seats they thought were theirs.  I asked the 'train manager' (joke, surely - manager of what?) what was up with the reservation system.  He said it was uploaded correctly, but he didn't know they weren't being displayed - for goodness sake, was he not supposed to check these things?  Too busy managing, I suppose.

Great Western (ex 'First' Great Western) have spent a fortune on publicity for this wretched service - and they clearly can't yet deliver it properly.  This is crass management of a privatised company that is excellent at self-publicity; excellent at protecting its revenue - yet piss-poor at being able to deliver its service properly.

16TH SEPTEMBER - OUR GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY TRANSFORMS TRAVEL ONCE MORE

Mrs Doctor and I leave a very enjoyable family wedding reception early to be sure of catching the 2227 train from London to Bath.

We arrived at Paddington at 2215: it's CANCELLED.  Whaaaattt!  No reasons on the illuminated board.

Let's see if some of the uniformed servants can tell us why:

... at the ticket barrier - "no idea";
to some Police officers - "We don't know but it wouldn't surprise us with this lot";
to the bloke at the 'information' desk - "No idea - it's probably due to staff shortages - you know, diagrams...." 
Well, that's the best we got.

So we waited over an hour for the last train of the day (notice they don't cancel that one, as it costs a fortune in taxi fares).  Once again in this Age of Information, the Senior Conductor had no idea why the previous 'service' had been cancelled, but also guessed it was to do with the staff shortages.  The other fascinating fact about this last train is that it was re-routed via Oxford, so it was well after 2 in the morning when we pulled into Bath - an hour later than the normal schedule, and two hours later than we had planned.

The inevitable conclusion is that this is an Operator who knows it is well worth knocking off a few trains in order to reduce 'customer' expectations - and it is much more profitable to knock off the next-to-last than the last train.

I'm used to getting replies from this outfit's complaints department telling me that they're not obliged to give compensation - as if I'm desperate for their vouchers.  All I want is a service that I can respect and rely on.  But I am writing, and if I get a reply, I'll post it here.

Fingers crossed.

(FIRST GROUP'S) GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY ON TOP FORM

Here's a fabulous evening's service out of London for my family, waiting to join me here in Bath:

The 39 minutes' delay to the 2130 is due to "A broken down train earlier today"; the cancellation of the 2227 is due to "A borken down train"; the delay to the 2321 is due to "A broken down train earlier today".

These operators don't know how to run a railway - but they sure know how to make profits from not maintaining trains, and therefore not running them.

... and they make an announcement on the 2321 arrival saying "We have to let crew have a 20 minute break" ... oh that's all right, then ... not enough well-maintained trains; not enough crew ... 

... do they expect sympathy?

COUNTRY RAILWAY HAS FAULTY TRAINS

I don't seem to be getting the courtesy of replies from 'First' Great Western when I take the trouble to write to them - so this is where my observations will have to reside in future (unless, of course, I need some retribution from them)....

So here I was today at Avoncliff Station, waiting for my usual weekly service to Bath Spa.  I pressed the button for the recorded announcements, and was told that the train was delayed by (at the time) 36 minutes!  36 minutes on a country railway!!!  

Surely, for a railway service that is:

• Adequately resourced
• Adequately maintained, and
• Adequately staffed

... delays like this just shouldn't happen.  Let's see what our Railway Company told us ...  

... "This train has been delayed by a fault on this train".  So, if they're telling the truth - and I know they frequently don't - it's the adequate maintenance that we have to put the cross against.

Pathetic, isn't it? - And they simply don't seem to care.

'FIRST' GREAT WESTERN DREADFUL SERVICE

You would think, wouldn't you, that standing on an isolated country platform late at night in the cold; waiting for a train that turns out to be nearly one hour late, and a so-called 'Help Point' that doesn't work was ground for complaint.

But the company that used to call itself First Great Western - the same company that used to claim it was 'transforming travel' - apparently doesn't think it grounds for complaint at all.  Here is the text of a letter we sent to the Company that has transformed itself into Great Western Railway:

Apparently 'signalling problems' caused the extreme delay to this 'service'.  As I understand it, these were in the Southampton area, so how come the delay increased even more in the Westbury area, causing a delayed final arrival of over one hour at Bath?

You will wish to pass the blame, no doubt, on others in the railway industry - but how come, when I arrived at Dilton Marsh for my wait, did your so-called 'Help Point' on the platform not work at all?

This was a miserable effort by an organisation that is happy to pay dividends to shareholders; is vigilant in everything to do with 'revenue protection', but is lacking in basic customer service.

No pitiful refund, please.

You are managing my expectations downwards very effectively.

That was back in November.  So far we have not had the courtesy of a response.  Maybe their 'customer relations' people find the multiple points raised too complex to process.  So, we are posting our comments here for you to decide.

They're transforming travel all right.