National Rail Enquiries

[Clevercat]

http://www.livedepartureboards.co.uk/ldb/summary.aspx?T=WSB

[pucouajio]

I booked a train ticket over the Internet today.  It seems to have gotten ten times more complicated than it ever was.  There are now about a dozen different kinds of ticket to choose from at wildly different prices, and when I finally wanted to buy the ticket I'd chosen I had to choose which company to buy it from.  I then had a squillion different ways of delivery to choose (I chose to pick it up at Chippenham where I can use the automatic ticket machine), and to cap it all the system required me to register as a user of 1st not-so-great Western.  Oh, and it tried to sell me insurance I didn't want too!  Surely the simplest method would be to allow me to print off my own ticket (complete with bar-code) and have that ticket scanned (and my identity checked) by the ticket inspector on the train.

Bring back good old British Rail please!

[Alg]

Sorry, not quite on topic.
Last Tuesday a girl friend (16 y/o) of my daughter was coming down to Westbury from Padddington. She rang to say she'd mislaid her purse and was stuck at Paddington without any means to pay for a ticket to get down here. I called Great Western and was told I could pay for a ticket over the phone.
Her original fare was going to be £22 one way and get this......................the same journey bought over the phone.............£66.
I'm thinking of trying to recover the difference between the two fares because I'm sure I was incorrectly told I would have to buy the £66 ticket.
Is it worth chasing or would i be banging my head against a brick wall?

[Pete]

It may have been £22 if it was bought 6 months in advance. 

Pete

[Alg]

No. It was on the National Rail Enquiries website and was also the fee she was asked for at the ticket window in Paddington.

[pucouajio]

My ticket Westbury-Paddington was £18 single a few days in advance. Sorry ...

[Clevercat]

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

[Clevercat]

CHANGES to rail timetables later this year could mean services to towns in west Wiltshire will be cut by a third.

When First Great Western announces its new timetable for December 2007, it is expected that the current Bristol to Southampton service, which runs through the county, will be replaced with a Bristol to Westbury and Salisbury to Southampton service.

This means that there would be nothing in place to provide direct services between Westbury and Salisbury, cutting the number of trains in Warminster and Dilton Marsh from 28 to 18 in each direction.

advertisementWiltshire County Council has been in consultation with First Great Western to increase direct services to stations all over Wiltshire, and has called for a regular Swindon to Salisbury service to boost commuter options in towns like Melksham, which suffers from a vastly reduced service of just two trains a day.

David Phillips, transport policy liaison officer for the county council, said: "We have made representations to First Great Western highlighting the gap in the services in the area between Westbury and Salisbury.

"A Salisbury to Swindon service would be a good idea. The main issue we have is to secure a regular train service for Dilton Marsh, Westbury, Warminster and Salisbury that meets the needs of holiday makers and commuters."

He added: "Melksham has an appalling service at the moment and we have been having constructive discussions about this but no definitive timetable has emerged as yet."

A final draft of the new timetable will be announced next month.

Andrew Griffiths, the regional manager of First Great Western said: "The timetable is still up for discussion. At the moment there is no definitive answer as to what it will look like."

Despite this, rail user groups have expressed concerns that they have not been properly consulted this year about commuter needs prior to the revised system.

The chairman of the West Wiltshire Rail Users Group, John Ingram said: "This is very bad because they seem to be making changes without proper consultation to rail users in West Wiltshire.

"They are trying to rationalise services to focus on Bristol and that concerns me in that there will be fewer straight through services in west Wiltshire."

Wilt Times

[LONDONER]

When ever we go to London we go on national express from trowbridge departs 7:30 outside castle place arrive London 10:00 approx depart London Victoria 18:00 arrive trowbridge 10:00 approx guaranteed seat all for £19:00

[Clevercat]

The government is expected to announce plans to spend billions of pounds to remove bottlenecks on the rail network.

Measures to increase capacity to cope with growing passenger numbers are also set to be in a White Paper unveiled by new Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly.

There are likely to be details of 1,300 new carriages on the network - 300 more than first announced earlier this year.

The Tories dismissed the White Paper as containing "reheated announcements that are years later than promised".

Station improvements

Planned improvements to Birmingham New Street, Reading station and London's Thameslink route are also expected in the government's plans.

It is set to give the go-ahead for the delayed £3.5bn upgrade of the crowded cross-London line.

Ms Kelly may announce that the limit on rises for advance saver fares of 1% above inflation will be removed.

Platform extensions, longer trains and the possible reopening of disused lines could also feature in the White Paper.

Although the punctuality of trains has improved overcrowding is still a problem.

George Muir, director-general of the Association of Train Operating Companies, described the proposals as the "first plausible plan for expanding the railway" in recent years.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the funding for longer trains could be expected to come from growing passenger revenues, with government support needed for many of the other planned improvements.

   
HAVE YOUR SAY
Proper investment in high speed rail links would minimise the need for internal flights
Kay, Liverpool

Send us your comments

But passenger groups have been angered that some train companies have raised off-peak prices by up to 20%, and the system of franchising routes has come under criticism.

Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT union, said passengers were "already paying through the nose to subsidise the profit habits of fat-cat franchisees and train-leasing companies".

'Most overcrowded

BBC transport correspondent Tom Symonds says the announcement may disappoint those hoping for bigger thinking on the future of the railways, such as plans for a new high-speed rail link between London and Scotland.

Brian Cooke, chairman of London TravelWatch, which represents the interests of passengers, said extra capacity was urgently needed in the capital.

   
This government has broken so many transport promises in the past, why should anyone believe them now
Theresa Villiers
Shadow transport secretary

"Over 70% of all national rail journeys are to, or through, London. London's rail travellers pay the highest fares and London's train operators are paying the highest premiums to the government for running train services," he said.

"London's train services are the most overcrowded, with use of rail in London growing much faster than projected."

Shadow Transport Secretary Theresa Villiers said nothing had changed under the new prime minister, Gordon Brown.

"There'll be a lot of hype and spin about the future of the railways to disguise a series of reheated announcements that are years later than promised," she said.

"If they do announce progress on the Thameslink 2000 of course that would be welcome but the project is already 7 years late.

"This government has broken so many transport promises in the past, why should anyone believe them now?"

[kaz12]

I`v just had to complan to the train company due to the over crowding on my train to bath on Saturday (12th august). It was a two carriage train all the way from portmouth harbour to cardiff central. People were backed up the aisle which must be a health and safety issue. It was also v hot and with no air conditioning i ended up passing out on the train.

[Slow Joe]

Sorry to hear about your experience Kaz, but I think this is sadly par for the course.

I rarely travel by train but every train between Westbury & Bath that I have been on in the last couple of years has been exactly the same. Jam packed full of uncomfortable and unhappy people. It really is no wonder we all love our cars so much.

[kaz12]

thanks, but i have to admit i was emailed back the same day. i  have also received compensation which surprised me. ill just be glad when i start my driving lessons.

[Clevercat]

Train companies have announced above inflation rate fare increases.
Season and saver ticket fares will rise by 4.8% on average, says the Association of Train Operating Companies (Atoc).

Others such as cheap day returns will go up by 5.4%. The increases will come into effect in the New Year.

Transport Salaried Staffs' Association general secretary Gerry Doherty said commuters travelling to London would be worst hit.

He said continual rises meant the UK now has the most expensive fares in Europe.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "We're 10 years down the line since privatisation and when you get above inflation increases for that length of time and it's continued then it exacerbates itself.

"And the result is that we've got the dearest fares in Europe now."

BBC NEWS 24