GWR to cancel services due to issues with fleet
GWRA number of rail journeys will be cancelled across Devon and Cornwall from next week due to recurring issues with a fleet of trains, a rail operator has said.
Great Western Railway (GWR) said five weekday services will be cancelled between Penzance and Plymouth/Exeter from Monday.
The issue is down to the company's Class 175 fleet, which it said had been "challenging from a reliability perspective," prompting too many cancellations for customers.
The operator said it understood the timetable changes would be "frustrating for customers" but believed the move would "provide a more reliable service in the short term" while it worked to bring its fleet up to standard.
The Class 175 trains entered service in 2000, when they were used by Transport for Wales.
GWR brought in 26 of them last year to replace older diesel trains, with hopes to reduce costs and pollution.
The trains, however, had been "out of service for a prolonged period" before transferring to GWR, "requiring more recommissioning work than anticipated", a spokesperson for the operator said.
'Right to be disappointed'
"Since entering passenger service, we've seen several technical issues associated with their long-term storage," they added.
"Since the introduction of our May timetable, Class 175 issues have accounted for nearly 15% of delay minutes and around 14% of cancellations."
Journey planners will be updated with the schedule changes in the coming days and customers with bookings on affected services will be contacted directly, GWR said.
Additional moves to help tackle the problem will include trains undergoing extra assurance checks before returning to service after repairs.
GWR said each train would be required to complete 1,000 fault-free miles in simulated passenger operation before re-entering service.
It said a dedicated technical investigation team would be used to identify the root causes of recurring faults and strengthen maintenance arrangements.
Last month, GWR managing director Mark Hopwood said customers were "right to be disappointed" but said "we're absolutely determined to sort this out".