Forum Topic

First Great Western deliberately creating overcrowding

Any commuters who have the misfortune to regularly travel on the Paddington-Greenford service will have noticed that First Great Western have recently deliberately increased congestion on their trains.  The two-carriage train has a section reserved for First Class passengers.  Not much point to this, as you can't get a first class season ticket!  And now there is large and slightly threatening security guard who blocks entry to the First Class section (apart from an occasional passenger who, I suspect, is a personal friend) in the rush hour.So the train runs with a significant proportion of the already overcrowded train completely empty.Seems to me that First Great Western is deliberately increasing crowding in the remainder of the train.  Surely this is a Health & Safety issue.Does anyone have any suggestions on how to bring this craziness to the attention of the authorities?

Robin Hall ● 6898d8 Comments

The watchpoodle for National Rail 'services' is Passengerfocus (wonder how much some image/branding consultant trousered for dreaming that up):-http://www.passengerfocus.org.uk/Good luck.Must ask why on earth first class accommodation is necessary/justified on such a short local service anyway.Of course such short (2 coach) trains interworking with other, longer local trains on the busier demand section of route between Ealing and London is a problem in itself, but the alternative of just a Greenford-WEaling shuttle requiring interchange at WEaling would cause more problems than it would solve.On the positive side, those brand new trains are a damn sight better than the disgusting ageing 'Pacer' rattletrap diesel railcars which all too many punters on train services elsewhere in the country, particularly in our Northern English metropolitan heartland, are still fobbed off with, at outrageously hyperinflated lease charges the rolling stock companies have been allowed to get away with ever since the rail privatisation.

Chris Veasey ● 6897d

Well, the timetable shows the Greenford trains as offering First Class, and has done for some time apparently. (I've just looked up the 2004 timetable, and it's just the same.)  It's crazy to have First Class on a short suburban service like that.By contrast, although South West Trains have First Class seats on, for example, the Waterloo-Richmond-Hounslow-Chiswick-Waterloo services, they allow anyone to use them, as the timetable shows it as a one-class service.  First GW should declassify (to use the railway jargon) the Greenford service.

Richard Jennings ● 6897d

Robin, suggest you take a photo or two if you can to illustrate your complaint. Even if first class is maintained as part of a wider strategy you would expect that the operator would have the capability and commonsense to respond to demand and add a carriage. From memory the steam and then the early two-car set used to run between Greenford and Ealing Broadway.

Robert Darke ● 6897d

I suppose the service offered is what one would expect of a northern company!The HQ of First Group is even further north than Doncaster, even Edinburgh. In fact it's in Aberdeen.I bet those poor b*gg*rs in Swindon (FGW division's HQ) are tearing their hair out.

Alan Brainsby ● 6897d

"I suppose the service offered is what one would expect of a northern company!"But the counter example I gave was from South West Trains, part of the Stagecoach group which is also based in Scotland, Perth in fact.  So how does that fit your regional prejudices?

Richard Jennings ● 6897d

Very simply.Commonsense prevails and HQ probably doesn't know what's happening.Consider the London Underground - when it was run by LT it worked.Metronet tried to run the maintenance for some lines and failed so badly it went bankrupt. Not bad for a company that was 20% Australia, 20% Canada, 20% Cheshire, and 40% London based.

Alan Brainsby ● 6897d

Returning to Robin's original point, or very nearly, Chiltern Railways have a similar fleet of Class 165 cars. However their cars were refurbished recently and the first class section which is in the motorcar with the lavatory was removed. The other driving motorcar in the trainset does not have a lavatory.It is interesting to note that the Chiltern Railway's units were refurbished when the company was owned by Laing plc, a London based company...

Alan Brainsby ● 6897d

I sent an email to PassengerfocusThey forwarded my comments to First Great Western.I received an email from FGW which seemed to agree that the first class on the train was nonsensical and that they were forwarding my comments to the relevant manager.Watch this space.............

Robin Hall ● 6891d