Worcester’s MP met today with Great Western
Railway Managing Director Mark Hopwood to press for service
improvements on the line between Worcester and London Paddington.
The line has been beset by reliability issues in recent months,
with a number of Worcester commuters contacting Robin to pass on
their concerns and call for an urgent improvement in performance.
GWR explained that a number of recent issues have caused delays
to travellers on the line, with the primary cause being setbacks
in training drivers on new Intercity Express Trains (IETs), as
well as late delivery of the new trains, older trains going out
of service and signalling and power issues.
Today Great Western acknowledged that recent performance had not
been good enough and apologised to Robin’s affected constituents
in Worcester. In response to lobbying by Robin and his fellow
South Worcestershire MPs and , GWR have taken a number
of steps to address delays and cancellations, including speeding
up driver training – which is now complete at the Worcester
depot. 25 of the 36 new Express trains have now been delivered,
and from May of this year the launch of the first Crossrail
routes in the London area will free up a number of drivers to add
to GWR service rosters.
From September 2018, many of the new part-electric IETs will be
able to be stabled and charged overnight in Worcester, improving
resilience on the line by reducing the current reliance of
long-distance empty train movements. Crucially, the charging
process will generate no noise pollution, which has been an issue
with trains docked at Shrub Hill station previously.
At today’s meeting in Parliament, Mr Hopwood also gave assurances
that communication with customers is to be improved. A number of
local user groups are being consulted and meet regularly with GWR
management, and ‘Meet the Manager’ events are to be held at a
number of local stations with details to be advertised on station
noticeboards. Compensation is payable for delays over 30 minutes
or an hour depending on service, and season ticket holders will
get automatic discounts on renewal if punctuality targets have
not been met.
Speaking after the meeting, Robin said:
“I was glad to have the opportunity to meet with Great Western’s
management and press for service improvements today. A good
number of my constituents rely on these services to commute to
work and visit friends and family and I know how important
reliability is to individuals and businesses and so I have been
clear with the operator that recent delays and cancellations have
not been good enough.”
“Great Western accept this and have set out a number of measures
that should see reliability now improving. The new depot at
Worcester, which has become the first hub to complete driver
training on the new Intercity Express Trains, recognises the
importance of the North Cotswold line and I look forward to an
opportunity to visit and see the improvements for myself
shortly.”
“I continue to push for more frequent services on the line, as
well as for getting the journey time between Worcester and London
under two hours – a long-standing campaign of mine that I have
made clear I would like to see delivered as soon as possible. I
am encouraged to hear that a new local stakeholder group headed
by Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) is also
working on making the economic case for further improvements on
the Cotswold line.”
“Great Western remain a key partner in the development of the new
Worcestershire Parkway station which is still on track to open
next year, and I look forward to seeing the improvements in
reliability, performance and journey times that my constituents
have been calling for and which GWR assure me are being
delivered.”
