The DfT served FGW with a remedial plan notice to improve services. First Great Western was regularly at the very bottom in the punctuality statistics.

Only last month FGW doubled the compensation paid to season ticket holders and apologised for delivering a poor service over the previous 12 months.

Passenger group “More Train Less Strain” staged another fare strike in the Bristol area in protest of First Great Western’s fare increases on 2 January 2008 which saw the cost of some of the most overcrowded routes increase by up to as much as 10%.

In December a seven-year-old girl fainted in the Bath area on an overcrowded commuter train operated by FGW. The train was so jam packed that the girl was wedged upright between passengers despite having lost consciousness and her grandfather as well as a nurse could not reach her to lay her down on the floor or a seat.

In a remedial plan agreed with the DfT, First Great Western aims to invest £29m for service improvements and an increase in compensation paid to customers. The train operator is planning to provide additional rolling stock and speed up the refurbishment of its Thames Valley commuter trains.

The key points of said plan are as follows:

• Passenger compensation – Between January 2008 and January 2009 First Great Western will double its compensation rates under the passenger charter. This will benefit any passengers who suffer disruption as well as season ticket holders who renew their tickets. These are the customers who have been most affected by the unacceptable performance. From January 2009 to January 2010 there will be a fifty per cent increase in compensation rates.
• Fares offers – an additional 500,000 of the cheapest off-peak tickets will be made available for a selection of First Great Western’s most popular destinations. Fares offers will commence from 1 April of this year until 31 March 2009.
• Additional trains on the Cardiff-Portsmouth route – from summer 2008 until summer 2011 every through train will have an additional carriage to provide extra capacity. This will increase trains from 2 carriages to 3, an aggregate increase of 40% capacity. This will mitigate the overcrowding on one of First Great Western’s most popular routes, which runs through Bristol.
• Upgrade of station customer information systems – new and additional high quality information equipment will be installed at more stations. This will include additional modern monitors. This will finish by end of December 2010.
• Accelerating the refurbishment of Thames Valley commuter trains – First Great Western will refurbish these trains earlier than contracted and will spend double the previously agreed amount. Refurbishment of Thames Valley commuter trains will commence this year and will be completed by 2011. Refurbishment will include the modernisation of carriage interiors to a far higher standard than originally planned. Lines to benefit will include London to Reading, Oxford, Newbury and Reading to Gatwick.

Additionally to that Andrew Haines, Chief Operating Officer at First Great Western, said that FGW wants to:

• Recruit new drivers, guards and technicians to improve customer service and reliability.
• A £4m enhanced customer service training package for FGW’s passenger facing employees.
• Establish a new performance directorate to improve management of disruption alongside Network Rail.
• A package of additional fleet and depot improvements to enhance reliability.
• To ensure resilient operating performance, provide an additional High Speed Train in April 2009.

Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly said “The £29m package of benefits agreed with First Great Western will make a real difference to passengers. It includes over 500,000 cheaper tickets on the busiest routes, extra carriages between Cardiff and Portsmouth and vastly increases investment in the refurbishment of Thames Valley commuter trains. “The measures I have announced today will lead to a reduction in train cancellations and also provide a substantial package of benefits to First Great Western’s customers.”

Regular passengers on FGW will breath a small sigh of believe as they have been calling for service improvements on the Great Western Route for quite a while.

However, one wonders if the provision of five additional class 150 units and one more HST will be sufficient to tackle the daily overcrowding on some of the operator’s services.

Failure to deliver the commitments specified by the remedial plan would constitute defaulting on the franchise agreement on the part of FGW, for which the DfT can terminate the franchise

Further information:

• Financial Times article
• Times article
• First Great Western press release
• DfT press release

For 30 years the class 43 fleet has operated well with its original Valenta Paxman engines, however, with the HST fleet to remain in service for at least another decade, it was decided by First Great Western to look into the possibility of replacing the aging Valentas.

In summer 2004 the company has started a trial project, sending its power cars 43004 and 43009 for refitting with German made MTU engines. The rebuilt power cars were revealed to the public on 11 May 2005.

With the rebuilt units completing thousands of almost fault free miles, and First Group securing the Great Western Railway franchise until 2016, it was decided to refit the entire FGW class 43 fleet with the successful MTU engines.

The MTU engine is a liquid cooled 16V V-shaped diesel engine running at 1,500 rpm and generating a power output of 1,680 kW / 2,250 h.p, which is the same output as the original Valenta engines.

The MTU’s principal improvements over the 30 year old Valenta engines include:

• 15% fuel saving
• CO2 emissions reduced by 64%
• Nitrogen Oxide emissions reduced by 21%
• Hydrocarbon emissions reduced by 46%
• Particulate emissions reduced by 75%
• An MTU on full power generates less smoke than a Valenta at idle speed
• Reduction in lubricant consumption and oil leaks

Over the last year the MTU refitted HST sets have seen a 30% reliability improvement over their Valenta counter parts. On 2 January 2008 the last of FGW’s Valenta powered HST sets was having its final day in operation.

The total cost of FGW’s class 43 refitting programme is £80 million.

Following the success of the FGW refitting, HST power cars in service with other train operators started being rebuilt with MTU engines as well.

On the East Coast Main Line the new franchise holder, National Express, is carrying forward the refitting programme started by GNER with almost half of all power cars rebuilt by now. The completion of the programme is expected for 2009.

Arriva Cross Country is having ten power cars rebuilt, due to be completed by November 2008.

It is estimated that by spring 2009, 159 of the 194 HST power cars should be having an MTU engine.

The only class 43 keep their original Valenta Paxman engines are the East Midlands, Grand Central, and Network Rail operated power cars.