Having vented at the Chief Exec of FGW I am pleased to have had a response!!! See below... I sense that perhaps he didn't catch some of the barbs in my email to him but he seems like a decent fellow.
Dear Mr Hogg,
Thank you for your email and for your supportive comments which I shall pass on to the team at Swindon. I am sorry that your journey was badly disrupted.
The freight train failure tonight sat down right across the junction north of Oxford which prevented any movements to or from the Kingham line so in this case track doubling would have had no impact. However I met with Network Rail this afternoon coincidentally to continue to press the case for the doubling. The new Route Director is a supporter and the scheme is included in the NetworkRail Strategic Business Plan, published last Friday for the 5 year period from 1/4/09.
The key now is to progress with the development work and business case and I have appointed a projects director Matthew Golton to work with Network Rail on facilitating these schemes.
Best wishes
Andrew Haines
2 comments:
Is that not Ricky Gervais with just a little more hair???
Dear TrainFellow
Congrats are in order that you have received a reply from on high; albeit large chunks of your original letter / complaints appear to have been side stepped!
Besides the 'honest' response between the lines of 'it was not me Gov', you will notice the confirmation of double tracking having been included within NR's Strategic Plan issued 02.11.07. which is good news. The less eurphoric points are that (1) it may take until 01.04.09 or beyond to get anything moving, and (2) until construction work is started (eg committed contracts and costs etc are rolling) then anything can be delayed, postponed or abandoned for a variety of reasons. Lets hope the pressure is now put on NR, by all, to announce an early commencement date.
Regards
TrainMan
PS hope your journey was OK this morning. The Chiltern train I caught arrived at Marylebone 7 minutes early! This must be becoming quite frustrating and embarrassing within the world of 'TOCS' Train Operating Companies, especially LWW.
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