PARLIAMENTARY COLUMN

Parliamentary column RAILING IN THE WEST www.rmt.org.uk :: january 2008 :: RMTnews 9 Firstly, a Happy New Year to you all! To make my journey to Westminster, I rely on the First Great Western (FGW) service to and from Swansea. The past two and a half years have been an interesting and frustrating experience. As an ex- employee of the rail industry, I have made every excuse under the sun for late running services and overcrowding. Little did I think that I would personally face the same problems. Given my great love of rail travel, I have been campaigning to improve high speed long distance rail services to and from South West Wales. It appears there is an obsession with providing high frequency services from Paddington, to passengers who have journey times of less than an hour. The apparent lack of commitment to long distance services has caused overcrowding, delays and inconvenience for many people, including myself and several other MPs. 2006 was a particularly bad year for FGW services. Firstly, the company was named as one of the worst rail services in the UK. According to figures from the Office of Rail Regulation, more than one in four trains ran late. During summer 2006, only 72.7 per cent of FGW's high speed services arrived on time. The problems were compounded by a new timetable, which included cutting out certain stations, adding to the delay and misery for thousands. In an attempt to avoid these delays, many passengers switched to alternative services, creating overcrowding on important commuter trunk routes. FGW decided to terminate the 15:15 London Paddington - Swansea service, at Cardiff. Although this may seem to be a small timetable amendment, it had huge implications for passengers along the South Wales mainline. It caused a sixty minute gap in high speed services between Cardiff and Swansea during the weekday evening peak. Currently, there is no high speed service between 16:49 and 17:48 to Swansea and key intermediate stations: Bridgend, Port Talbot and Neath. As a result local services, which are often two-car units, deal with considerable numbers of passengers travelling to West Wales destinations, causing overcrowding and inconvenience. Many people have simply abandoned the train and returned to using their cars. Given the government’s commitment to modal switch, forcing people off public transport back on to the road, this is ridiculous. I am sad that an important commuter service between the capital city of Wales and its second largest city has been downgraded. Everyone recognises that Swansea is a key rail city and the gateway to West Wales. I welcome the recent management restructuring at FGW. I and my fellow South Wales MPs have met with the company’s new chief operating officer Andrew Haines who spoke of his plans to tackle the major challenges facing the franchise. It was agreed by all in attendance that the meeting had been both useful and constructive and that an All-Party Parliamentary Group on Rail in Wales, should be formed. I have agreed to take this proposal forward and set up a formal opportunity for Welsh MPs to meet with rail operators and authorities that provide services in Wales. My wish list for 2008 is to see a reduction in cancellations, an improvement in performance, less overcrowding on services and the restoration of the 15:15 to Swansea. I am prepared to work with the rail industry, user groups and others to achieve this. Hopefully, my wishes will become reality at some time in the not too distant future. Sian James Labour MP for Swansea East M ore than 600 RMT guards and train drivers are being balloted for industrial action over breakdowns in industrial relations and the use of managers to guard and drive trains. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that industrial relations for both guards and drivers had hit a serious low. “Rather than try to deal sensibly with the various issues that affect their workforce the company has fanned the flames by using managers to guard and drive trains. "Our reps have tried to avoid these disputes, but when the company adopts a confrontational style of management it can hardly complain when it results in confrontation,” he said. The union has pointed out the safety implications in using managers to undertake operational duties, not least because it is unclear what level of training they have received, and now managers are going sick at an alarming rate because of the pressure. Delays and overcrowding have also accompanied the introduction of FGW’s supposedly improved new timetable last month as a number of 90mph 158 class trains on commuter routes were replaced with slower, smaller, older and far less comfortable 142 class trains. RMT argued that it was more evidence that the franchising system simply cannot deliver the railway required. Labour MPs have backed an early day motion put down by Stroud MP David Drew calling on the government for a review of the franchise, with a view to taking it back into the public sector. It is only a few months since massive passenger and union pressure forced FGW and the government to bring mothballed trains back into service after the last rolling-stock cock-up. However, First has just axed buffet cars from high-speed services, leaving all services to Cardiff, Exeter and Bristol without proper catering facilities. First was also supposed to have built a new train maintenance depot in Bristol, but there is no sign of it being completed and maintenance workers are having to work on trains in the open without adequate facilities. GUARDS AND DRIVERS BALLOTED AT FIRST GREAT WESTERN