Jul 17 2007
Meeting with Great Western Trains
First the good news - they wanted to see me,and are clearly trying to improve their service and customer relations. The current timetable left many people in my area frustrated, because there were too few trains, and too few seats on the trains that did run. It was a local illustration of a national problem - insufficient rail capacity. We are promised 6 trains a hour at peaks from Reading to London and back, and 4 trains an hour during peaks from Twyford to Paddington and back, 3 of them fast, for the new timetable late this year.
Now the bad news. They are still planning their railway on the assumption that they will only be able to get 20 trains an hour into Paddington, the eastern terminus of the Great Western railway. They are spending large sums on refurbishing old diesel train sets that are far too heavy, forcing large gaps between trains to allow for slow braking and poor acceleration. The new engines will be a bit more fuel efficient, but the whole package remains wasteful of fuel. The matter was so unimportant to the industry that my guests could neither tell me the horsepower nor the fuel efficiency of the engines they are fitting. The new trains and the refurbished trains still have no restraints to keep luggage safe if the train suddenly brakes or crashes. There will be no seat belts on the new or refurbished express trains.
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John Redwood has been the Member of Parliament for Wokingham since 1987. First attending Kent College, Canterbury, he graduated from Magdalen College...
John,
To begin with the company is First Great Western - if you do some basic research you will find they are renowned for poor service.
Regarding the weight of trains their newer Adelante trains actually weigh more per passenger than the older 125s that are being refurbished - so it is not accurate to associate weight with age.
I frequently use the line out of Paddington and on to the Cotswolds and I can assure you Reading is a major problem. Commuters use long distance trains that are already full - people traveling to/from Reading to Paddington should not be allowed to use long distance trains. With more trains not stopping at Reading a significant bottleneck would be relieved - commuters should use the short distance commuter trains specifically designed for short distance high density traffic.
How exactly would seat belts on trains help the many standing?
“No car maker is allowed to sell a vehicle without a secure boot for luggage” - this statement is totally incorrect.
Regarding car emissions improving this is down to legislation implemented through Europe -the institution you despise. The way to guarantee improvements is through legislation, exactly the same way the motor industry has been forced to improve.
The reason that the railways are in such a deplorable state is very much down to governments you were involved in.