Actually, what I mean is they are poo. They couldn't catch a cold, are as much use as a chocolate teapot and do not deserve the word 'Great' in their company name.
Today there are some invisible engineering works which mean that the Heathrow Connect services from London Paddington have been cancelled. Also the 1/2 hourly service between London Paddington and Greenford has been replaced by an hourly train between Greenford and Hanwell plus a replacement bus service between Ealing Broadway and Greenford.
I suggest the works are invisible only because I have just spent 45 minutes standing at Hanwell waiting for a train to Greenford and can confirm that (1) all four mainline tracks are in use and (2) there is no mention of engineering works in the are on either the National Rail site or the First Great Western Site. There may well be some works going on somewhere, but goodness knows where.
The train to Greenford never arrived. Other travellers and myself ended up catching a train back to Ealing Broadway, then getting the Central Line (changing at North Acton) back out to our destinations. Not so much as a by your leave from the cretins at the railway company in charge of communicating with their passengers.
Dictionary.com has an abundance of definitions for the word Great. You may wish to remind yourself of some of them. The company has 'Great Western' in its name as a historical reminder of the Great Western Railway. There is no comparison. Anyone with any sense of railway history will know that a mention of GWR is highly evocative: Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the Box Tunnel, the age of steam and Victorian Britain. The modern day company has purple trains that run late, stations with clocks that don't function for months on end and no real evidence of appreciating that their passengers are anything other than cattle.
First Great Western should remove the word Great from their name forthwith. They do not deserve it and certainly will have no positive impact on the history of railways in this country, if my experiences are anything to go by.
I also missed out on the unusual train journey from Hanwell to Drayton Green, a very short stretch of line that does not usually carry passenger trains.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Tell me about it. I've only used FGW twice, and both times they have made me late back into Paddington (nearly missing the last H&C back to East London), and sent me via Swindon on a replacement bus service, where I had to stand and wait for over 20 minutes, despite having a direct full-fare return.
You send them an e-mail to complain and asking whether a part refund can be offerred and nearly 6 months down the line you find they still haven't said a single word (and not even in the form of an automated e-mail!)
Post a Comment