A wonderful image of Gloucestershire cheeserolling taken by Mike Warren. During this fine annual Whitsun bank holiday tradition people from all over the world chase (roll) in pursuit of a rather large Gloucester cheeses down Coopers Hill, Gloucestershire. See more cheeserolling photos here.
News stories seem more concerned with how many people get hurt than the amazing event it is.
Here is the reply from Alison Forster, Managing Director of First Great Western to my letter of concern regarding the decimation of the services provided on the TransWilts line. The reply is dated 17 May 2007. A superb bit of verbal engineering in the second paragraph. And also note that although my concern was for the communication route that links south and north Wiltshire, it is addressed as a Melksham issue (I am Salisbury-based).
Dear Tehmina
Thank you for your email. I appreciate that you are disappointed with the current timetable for Melksham.
The new timetable was based on the one specified in the Greater Western franchise bid. During the bid process and subsequently we made over 200 changes to the original draft proposals many of which came as a direct result of customer feedback in our consultation. (more…)
Here is the response to my letter of concern regarding the decimation of services on the TransWilts line from a representative of Wiltshire County Council, dated 15 May 2007. At least two other campaigners received the same reply (word for word) though from different people in the council.
Dear Tehmina
George Batten has asked me to reply to your e-mail below.
Wiltshire County Council is in agreement with your assessment of the value of the rail service at Melksham. However the Council has no powers to direct the rail industry. Decisions about what service to provide are made by First Great Western (FGW) acting under its franchise contract with the Department for Transport. (more…)
FGW boss Alison Forster said in an announcement on 20 April that:
Customers will see real benefits soon
I dread to think of the reality of the benefits FGW will offer. Not to travel by train perhaps? She also said that last year was an “enormous challenge” for the rail company. How hard is it to continue to run a rail service that was running relatively well and improving before they took it over?! It’s not a flippin’ space programme!
I wrote to my MP Robert Key (Salisbury) about my concerns and complaints about First Great Western’s service in my area. He on my behalf wrote to Tom Harris MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport, from the Department for Transport. Here is a summary of the reply. It seems to me that the assurances given to the Government by FGW were empty when you consider the outcome of the meeting held between the More Train Less Strain campaign and Alison Forster of FGW on 13 March.
I would like to thank Robert Key for his assistance with my complaint.
Summary (letter dated 2 March 2007)
-When seeking bids for the franchise DfT issued a Service Level Committment specifying the minimum service requirements.
-It is the operator’s responsibility to plan the timetable and deployment of rolling stock “in accordance with passenger needs.” (my emphasis)
-FGW has accepted responsibility for underestimating the capactiy required for the 10 December timetable and “has subsequently made a number of changes.” (my emphasis)
-When the poor performance of FGW was raised in the House of Commons on 24 January, Ministers were given assurances by FGW “that appropriate measures are now being taken.” (my emphasis)
-DfT will continue to monitor the FGW franchise to ensure they meet their committments to Ministers and the public.
-On the question of fare rises, while commuter and long distance Saver Return fares are DfT regulated, other fares are unregulated and train operators can set them on a “commercial basis.”
There are several points in this letter that are incompatible with Alison Forster’s responses yesterday. A couple of instances, she said:”we are not going to have any new trains during our franchise.” This may meet their slippery promises to Ministers but certainly not to the public. FGW also say they have, “sufficient rolling stock capacity to meet demand,” but clearly current performance shows that this is not “according to passenger needs” which Tom Harris cited in his letter, and also not true since they themselves admitted that they underestimated stock after timetable reductions on 10 December 2006.
So exactly what is FGW’s Service Level Committment and why is the committment to the Government and not to passengers/customers? I will do some digging on the FGW website and the DfT website and try and find out more.
A new discussion website has been launched specifically for First Great Western passengers to air their thoughts about the state of service on the FGW network which now stretches across large parts of the south and south-west of England.
Be enlightened. Come and take part. Stop moaning and actually do something to help save your train service.
Cornwall lost services on two of its branch lines for an entire week to salve the cuts made in the Bristol area. They said it was only for a week, but is this not setting a bad precedent?
The cuts and bad service I have been discussing seem to be the product of badly written franchise agreements, greedy directors and shareholders and a government who doesn’t want the problem of creating an excellent train service, save to keep feeding people into London which – the Department for Transport’s only priority for the railways. To hell with the rest of us.
In my correspondence with Passenger Focus, the rail passengers representative body, they said:
3 January 2007
“Some of the reasoning behind this change is because of a Government initiative where there is a clause added to First Great Western’s franchise agreement. This clause basically means that they must provide extra capacity to the severely overcrowded London routes. As the extra capacity needed have come from elsewhere, services such as yours have had carriages or even services removed. While I do understand why this has needed to be introduced, I can also see where this is in turn creating problems for other parts of the country.”
The PF representative went on to say:
“We feel that the long term solution to solving the rolling stock problem is investment, but accept that at this point in time train operators have to do what they can to manage the stock they have within the individual financial climate of their franchise.”
I am currently investigating current profit margins and other financial aspects of the First Great Western franchise. They claim they are investing 2 million pounds in the network. I think this is a piddling amount after what they spend on unecessary advertising and the payout to directors and shareholders.
If you want to be part of the discussions about the state of the railways, why not particupate in the User Forum of the Save the Train campaign.
I wanted to find out more about people and organisations who have declared UDI (unilateral declaration of independence) against something or someone. On my travels I came across the Scottish Republican Socialist Movement (SRSM). It is extremely pleasing to read that unequivocal socialism still exists in the politicking of the United Kingdom. The SRSM don’t just want Scottish independence but want to ensure that any independence is not accompanied multi-national corporate domination short-term capitalist gain for the few (for example like that which we are witnessing now in the ever-growing gap between the rich and poorer). Their principles are very much based in Wallace-esque rhetioric but if you scratch through this and excuse the sometimes overly-polemical content, there is an organisation and a solidarity that is refreshingly reassuring. (more…)
I took this photo on the train into work one morning. Someone was drinking Coca Cola, presumably for breakfast. However, drinking Coca Cola at any time of day is bad enough, not only for its horrendous chemical properties (have you seen how shiny it makes your loo bowl??) but also for the company’s most unethical practices, syphoning off irrigation water in India for one and also reports of the company using Indians and others as ‘guinea pigs’ to test human tolerance for pesticide chemicals.
