Mary Grant Appointed Head of First Rail

[F Great Eastern]

Full time position now. Not just acting. Director shakeup at First happened this weekend.

Steve Mongomery now full time managing director of Scotrail. Kenny McPhail, previously finance director now appointed deputy managing director.

Info here:
http://www.iworkforfgw.com/railblog/index.php?month=may09

 

[merlodlliw]

Info here:
http://www.iworkforfgw.com/railblog/index.php?month=may09[/QUOTE]

gremlins at work

 

[Aictos]

I might be new but why post the same link twice in two separate postings?

Thanks anyway for the link to the OP.

 

[merlodlliw]

I might be new but why post the same link twice in two separate postings?

On my PC the link wont work, thats all, I was hoping the helpful person
on thread one might assist me.

 

[me123]

I was hoping to get Mary back But Steve Montgomery will hopefully do a good job. It'll be hard though; the Glasgow Herald has been publishing stuff about the state of Scotland's railways, all of which is really just old news being rehashed, and very few things were anything to do with Scotrail in the first place. If Mary Grant's overseeing things, I wouldn't expect a drastic change.

 

[F Great Eastern]

I've read the Glasgow Herald and some of the rubbish thats been printed. Totally ridicolous, The paper has given me an impression that no matter how good a job First Scotrail do, they will not be happy until everything is nationalised.

Scotrail is one of the better TOC's, there are far far worse.

 

[me123]

Herald's normally a good paper as well. I love some of the reader comments about Scotrail as well; one person suggested upgrading the line to Fort William to the same standard as Grantham-King's Cross... They may have forgotten about the large mountains and lochs methinks... Another common complaint is the "unsuitable" class 170 stock. I honestly think that, if it was built with the doors at either end of the train (more like a 175) there wouldn't be as many complaints :roll:

I appreciate that some people have genuine complaints; for example I saw somewhere that a disabled passenger struggles to use the Fife Circle rolling stock as it's not wheelchair accessible compared to the 170 it replaced; I appreciate points like that. But most complaints are trivial and baffling. First has done an absolutely fantastic job with Scotrail. It's one of the best in the UK and, since First took over, it's definitely one of the most improved. And that's reflected in high customer satisfaction and increasing punctuality. I think a lot of problems are caused by people who just want to complain about something.

 

[First ScotRail]

Mary was always going to get that role, she was well suited and her track record wherever she has been whether it be FSR, Silverlink or with NX she has performed fantastic. Well done to her in her new role.

Monty being the new MD at SR is I think a sesible move. SR has a new management structure which sees many previously high ranking directors leave the company, it will be interesting to see how this affects SR. Times are tough and they are like every other business feeling the pressure. Steve Montgomery knows the business very well, being there since the franchise started in October 2004, also he has been under the wing of Mary Grant for the past year.

 

[tbtc]

I appreciate that some people have genuine complaints; for example I saw somewhere that a disabled passenger struggles to use the Fife Circle rolling stock as it's not wheelchair accessible compared to the 170 it replaced; I appreciate points like that

Even so, the Fife Circle is twice the frequency it was in BR days, with disabled access trains on 95% of services - there's plenty routes south of the border without any DDA trains which haven't had any increase in frequency.

Whilst I don't want to criticise one person, I'd rather have the stock and frequency improvements on the Fife Circle than commuter routes in the north of England.

(okay, National Express deserve a lot of credit for these improvements, credit where it's due)

 

[Mojo]

What kind of disability does the passenger have that prevents them from using the train? Is it running around without wheelchair ramps or a wheelchair space or do they have some other kind of complaint?

 

[me123]

Apparently there's no wheelchair space or priority seat on the Mark IIs. This isn't fair, I'll admit, but they'd be moaning if they ran a single 158 up the line, so you can't really win. Besides, it's only until the Bathgate rolling stock is freed up to help Fife out a bit; I appreciate it's the busiest route.

I also saw a comment that everyone in Japan uses trains because they've got such a good network :?
[youtube]STNWc7Rlpfk[/youtube]
Maybe shove a few Fife Circle passengers on there; I don't think Scotrail has it that bad!

 

[clagmonster]

Can the wheelchair not get in the guard's van? I thought that was standard practice.

 

[me123]

Yes, that's what they don't like I think. Being treated like bikes.

 

[clagmonster]

The simple fact is that it is a temporary mesure, for 2 trains a day, on a route where trains a frequent (certainly at the times the loco hauled set runs). In this case, there is accomodation available, just less comfortable than that on the other trains. When the Bathgate project is complete, it will be the same as the other trains. If the hauled set hadn't been introduced, and I am just speculating here, it is likely that there wouldn't have been space for the wheelchair to get on at all, making this an improvement, with better to come.

 

[me123]

Exactly; in fact if the loco hauled set wasn't there, they'd be moaning about lack of capacity and that Scotrail are terrible for not doing anything about it. It's typical crap from the media.