The government should act to ensure that mothballed rolling stock is brought back into service and should order the reversal of service cuts, RMT said.

"Rail passengers on FGW are being treated worse than cattle and it is hadly surprising that they are up in arms," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"It is absolute madness to have rolling stock mothballed while trains are dangerously overcrowded.

"It is not our members who have made these absurd decisions, but it is they who have to get out there every day and do their best to run a service in highly stressful circumstances.

"The only way to ease overcrowing is to increase capacity, and passengers and rail workers have a common interest in getting mothballed rolling stock brought back into use and FGW's unjustifiable service cuts reversed.

"In the longer run, FGW, like all franchises, should be brought back in-house and run for the benefit of us all, not just a handful of shareholders," Bob Crow said.

ends

Notes for editors: First Great Western introduced a new winter timetable on December 11, 2006, which has significantly reduced the frequency and quantity of trains serving commuters and other rail users across the franchise. 41 MPs have so far signed an Early Day Motion 311 (see below) submitted by Bristol East MP Kerry McCarthy.

Early Day Motion 311: 27.11.2006

FIRST GREAT WESTERN TRAIN SERVICE REDUCTIONS IN BRISTOL AND WEST OF ENGLAND

McCarthy, Kerry and 44 other MPs

"That this House notes with concern that from 11th December 2006 users of First Great Western train services in the Bristol and West of England area will suffer the loss of their early morning train service from Cardiff to Bristol, early morning services and late evening services between Bristol and Gloucester, irregular intervals between trains from Bristol to Weston-super-Mare and Taunton, reduced capacity on short platform stations to Weston, such as Worle, loss of connectivity on trains to and from London and extensive reductions in train services to local stations in the Bristol area; further notes that First Great Western plans to reduce the amount of rolling stock used on train services in the Bristol area, including cutting Cardiff-Portsmouth trains from three to two coaches, an overall reduction of 1,839 seats, equating to a 20 per cent. cut in train seat availability, and a reduction in the number of trains from 69 to 57, equating to an 18 per cent. cut in trains; calls on the Government to urge First Great Western urgently to reconsider the reductions in levels of rolling stock on these key services, the consequences for overcrowding and forcing passengers onto the already heavily congested road network, with all the outcomes for increased carbon emissions, pollution and road traffic accidents that these train service cuts will lead to; and further calls on the Government to ensure that capacity and train service frequency in the Bristol and West of England area are maintained and improved."

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FirstGroup was awarded the new Greater Western franchise by the Department for Transport just over a year ago in return paying the government around a £1 billion premium. On Friday 5 January 2007 FirstGroup chief executive, Moir Lockhead and FGW Managing Director, Alison Foster received a 'yellow card' warning from Department for Transport officials that unless services improve FirstGroup will lose the Greater Western franchise.

BBC News Points West reported on Friday 5 December that 4 class 153 train units (single cars) were in "warm storage" at Eastleigh depot in Southampton although industry sources also confirm 3 class 158 train units (two or three cars) are stored at the depot, while a further class 158 (798) three car unit is stored at Reading. All units were in passenger service on the Greater Western franchise before 11 December 2006 and it is feared that further units will be withdrawn from passenger service to go into "warm storage" as FirstGroup struggle to meet the repayment terms of the franchise agreement.