John Penrose

Conservative Party | Weston-super-Mare

Weston MP Holds Rail Chiefs to Account on Delays

Local MP John Penrose met with First Great Western Rail Chiefs this week demanding to know why the new rail timetable had failed to deliver.

The timetable, which came into effect from Sunday 9th December 2007, was set to provide higher capacity, more reliable, London-bound High Speed Trains (HSTs) to stop more regularly at Weston-super-Mare and, for the first time ever, at neighbouring station Worle.

The timetable had originally been welcomed by the Weston-super-Mare MP who had been campaigning for an improved rail service that would provide the seaside town with better links to Bristol and provide Weston’s 20,000 commuters with an alternative to their cars and the overcrowded M5 and Junction 21.

Since being implemented on the 9th December, however, the timetable has failed to deliver. Trains have been running late and the extra capacity has been eclipsed by the delays.

Mr Penrose said:

“The new rail timetable was supposed to be the answer to Weston’s prayers, with bigger, less crowded and more reliable intercity trains supplementing many of the old two-carriage local services.

It was supposed to be a decent alternative to the misery of queuing for ‘malfunction junction’ and the M5, and attract commuters away from their cars.

Unfortunately First Great Western seemed to have dropped the ball. Users of the service are suffering too many delays and reliability isn’t up to scratch.

I have met with First Great Western chiefs and demanded improvements.

They’ve assured me that the initial creases are being ironed out and that the problems which many travellers experienced are now dwindling. With most people returning to work at the beginning of this week, they say they expect the problems to have been solved.

Rail passengers want action not promises. I will be monitoring the situation closely to make sure they deliver. I use the trains myself so I’ll have personal experience if things don’t improve.”

Speaking on behalf of First Great Western, Regional Manager Andrew Griffiths said:

"Introducing a new timetable just before Christmas is far from ideal, but unfortunately that's what we have to do. 

The problems we have had with the reliability of the local trains and availability of train crew are easing, and the position will improve over the next few months as more and more of the fleet are refurbished and we get back to full strength of staffing. 

There has been a problem with what is called 'selective door opening' on the High Speed Train fleet - which has enabled these trains to call at Worle for the first time.  Both mechanically and operationally there have been delays and cancellations because of this system.  In particular when trains are heading towards Bristol it was far from satisfactory for commuters to have to board the front of the train and walk through First Class, or queue up at the handful of Standard Class doors.

Platforming the rear of the train is the logical answer, but in practice is far from simple.  We are evaluating the best method of operation but in the meantime delays have been significantly reduced.

Once these teething problems are ironed out then the benefits of the new timetable will be felt - in particular better use of the HSTs, a return to the half-hourly local train pattern to pattern and reinstatement of through services to Newport and Cardiff."