Sort Out Reading West Timetable |
Commuters at Reading West Station have joined in the row over First Great Western’s (FGW) new timetable which has left hundreds of commuters without a fast service to London Paddington.
There has already been a storm of protest by commuters from Tilehurst and Pangbourne who, prior to the introduction of the new timetable had a choice of 3 fast services to London between 7am and 8am. This has now been reduced to just one. Reading West MP, Martin Salter, has been sent a petition this week from 70 angry commuters from Reading West station pointing out that they too have been reduced to only one fast London service at 6:46am, and demanding that services to their station are restored. Following a meeting with Thames Valley MP last week, FGW Managing Director agreed to review the situation affecting commuters from Mr Salter’s constituency. She also promised to lay on a new service from March for passengers from Newbury and Theale whereby the previous through train from Frome in Somerset would be increased to 10 carriages and stop at Newbury, Theale (7:38am) and arrive in Paddington at 8.18am. Following the petition Mr Salter held a further meeting with FGW managers on Monday and has now written again to Alison Forster asking for this new service to also stop at Reading West in order to restore at least one of the fast services to London in the morning and evening peak times. Martin Salter said: “Trying to get First Great Western to sort out this timetable fiasco is like pulling teeth. I am now on my fourth letter to Alison Forster, my second meeting with senior managers, and about to join a delegation of local MPs to protest to the Secretary of State for Transport about the performance of the company. "At the very least FGW should be restoring some of their fast services to London for passengers from Theale, Reading West, Tilehurst and Pangbourne. All they have to do is arrange for a couple of through trains to make an extra stop or two – it’s not rocket science!” Mr Salter has also written to the Health and Safety Executive asking them to investigate the levels of overcrowding on trains to and from London. He added: “On some peak hour services overcrowding has reached a level that endangers public safety. People should not be paying £4,000 a year to be crushed against a stranger’s body parts for half an hour. Farm animals in transit enjoy more room that many commuters on First Great Western Trains” 23/01/07 |
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