Thames Valley MPs Win 40 Pt Recovery Plan in FGW U-Turn |
On Wednesday 28th February Reading West MP, Martin Salter, and Slough MP, Fiona Mactaggart, joined other Thames Valley MPs from Oxford, Wantage, Newbury, Reading East, Maidenhead and Windsor at a cross-party meeting with Transport Secretary, Douglas Alexander, to press their constituents’ concerns over the December 10th changes to the First Great Western (FGW) train timetable, which has led to a reduction in services and significant overcrowding.
Douglas Alexander announced that the Department for Transport has insisted on a 40 point recovery plan with monthly reports and monitoring that First Great Western would have to adhere to in order to improve services on the Great Western Mainline. The recovery plan will include the delivery of a new timetable in May, improvements to both the high speed and commuter services and an increase in standards of customer care along with significant strengthening of the technical staff and senior management capability at First Great Western. Martin Salter said: “There is no doubt that pressure from MPs across the region has resulted in this almost unprecedented move to publish a new timetable in May, hopefully rectifying the mistakes which were made by First Great Western just a few weeks ago. "I am really pleased that the Secretary of State has authorised such a comprehensive recovery plan which even goes as far as insisting that any bonus payments to First Great Western managers are linked to improvements in performance. "He also confirmed that should the company fail to meet its targets then he will have no hesitation in using the default powers available to him to remove the franchise from the company. "Personally I’m not after a pound of flesh, I just want things to improve for my constituents and the travelling public and after today’s meeting, I am a lot more confident that positive changes are on the way.” Yesterday First Great Western came bottom of the league of train operators serving London for timekeeping and reliability despite making the most profit. FirstGroup is on course to make a profit of £191million with £91million coming from its rail division. Martin Salter added; “I made it clear to the Secretary of State that the economy of the Thames Valley was put at risk by a train service which was driving more people back onto our already overcrowded road system. "Given the importance of the Thames Valley to the economy of Britain there are overarching reasons why we need to get our train service back on track.” 28/02/07 |
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