Maidenhead & Windsor

First Great Western "Transforming Travel" for Maidenhead

Angry commuters have branded a compromise deal from a rail firm as 'appalling' as the number of signatures on the Save Our Trains petition rose to 2,500.

Train users slammed First Great Western's offer to provide an extra service on the Maidenhead to London line after it initially decided to reduce the number of fast and semi-fast services from five to two when the new timetables comes into force in December.

The extra train will bring the number of services running between Maidenhead and London Paddington between 7am and 8am to three and will be timed to arrive at the latter station at 7.30am

But Graeme Wilcock, 32, who lives in Gordon Road, Maidenhead, was not satisfied and said: "It is appalling. I think the people who are deciding this ought to come down on to the platforms and see how many people are here. The demand is here to take on the passengers and I do not see many people standing at other stations."

Rail users travelling from Maidenhead were particularly concerned about the loss of the popular 7.27am service.

Andy Harvey, 38, who lives in Marlow, was considering getting the train from High Wycombe rather than Maidenhead if the new timetable came into force and did not think the extra train, which would leave Maidenhead at about 7.10am, was the answer. "It means I have got to be here earlier for a start - the 7.27 is the one that most people rely on."

And investment banker Peter Roe, 50, who lives in Cookham Dean, said: "I would not be happy to see fewer fast trains because they are already overcrowded, but it is no good if it is overcrowded and packed because there are few fast trains."

Last Thursday, Maidenhead MP Theresa May visited the Department for Transport to hand in the Save Our Trains petition, which has risen from just over 2,000 signatures at the start of the month to the current 2,500.

She said: "I am delighted by the response to the Save Our Trains campaign. Thanks to the strong support of the local community I have been able to drive this issue up the political agenda in Westminster and

I am extremely grateful to everyone who has added their name to the petition.

"The proposed cuts would have a devastating impact on our area and hit commuters hard; I am determined to ensure that they do not come into effect. "

But FGW spokesman Adrian Ruck said the service would be a 500-seater and would only run between Twyford, Maidenhead and London, so there would be plenty of seats because it would not have to make the previous stops that the current service, which runs from Reading, has to make.

He said the company had consulted rail passengers about the proposed timetable changes and was taking action to solve the concerns raised.

"We had 9,000 responses to that consultation, including the issues that we referred to in Maidenhead and we took action in consultation with them by providing this additional service in the timetable."

First Great Western has recently taken on the franchise for the area, but under the terms of its agreement with the Department for Transport it had to run the new timetable.

This involved the loss of the 7.27am service in favour of two trains at 6.49am and 7.12am.

ic Berkshire ~ Maidenhead