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- Chiltern to Munich??? DB the German railways have taken over the Company
that runs the Chiltern Line. So will we see improvements.
- First Great Western have taken over Thames Trains and we had concerns
along with London Travelwatch over what
happened in December 2004 with new timetables. We helped with Friends of the
Earth, Local Councillors and other volunteers to do a survey in November and
February which showed a decline in passengers due to the changes.
- A stopping Heathrow service was introduced with new trains which are
lovely trains but for many people they are now overcrowded in a morning. At
West Ealing even with all the Trains being five care units we are seeing
crowded trains.
- In December 2007 we will get a new Timetable but we will probably not get
any improvements. We will be looking at the first draft very soon.
- In October 2007 the Track on the slow lines is being replaced so that
Trains can run faster.
- The signs at Hanwell Station form part of
and are protected by the listed building status that this Brunel built station
enjoys, but the signs at Southall also enjoy “heritage” status as passing into
railway history as the only dual language signs on any English railway
station. So when FGW replaced them with English only signs the protests came
thick and fast. Yes we know there are many other languages spoken in Southall,
as indeed there are in many other places with railway stations, but the dual
language signs were unique, were widely photographed by visitors and others,
were used in brochures and magazines across the globe as examples of racial
harmony and held a special place in railway folklore. Thankfully they have now
been restored. Let the matter rest.
- In 2006 we had the strange experience of consulting on one Timetable
seeing a second one published which had great benefits such as many more
trains for Southall and also improvements to Hanwell and West Ealing. Then we
got the published timetable which was completely different and showed no real
improvements. Funnily enough the services that were going to be withdrawn are
included. Did the Dept for Transport pull the plug. We will try to get the
answers.
- Southall Station is busy and overcrowded and more capacity on trains are
required. We feel that the local services which are fast would attract many
more people if managed better. The December 2004 changes damaged local
services westwards. This led to a drop in passengers.
- Chiltern Railways serve the northern end of the Borough but for the
residents of Sudbury and North Greenford they find trains into Marylebone few
and far between. Where was the "Chiltern Metro".
- Silverlink services from Acton Central and South Acton are a success
story and if platforms were longer we could see an even better service. EPTUG
are campaigning for a link path between Acton Central and the Uxbridge Road.
The idea is to link with buses.
- At Brentford which is accessible from Ealing we see South West Trains
using 10-car trains that run every 15 minutes into Waterloo. A pretty good
service and a useful alternative for people at the southern end of Ealing and
Hanwell.
- Hanwell station as a listed building was painted thanks to pressure from
many people.
However not all the painting has been completed.
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Ealing Passenger Transport User Group
