The Government is continuing to express deep concern over the performance of the firm, which yesterday unveiled a management shake-up.

Ministers have revealed they have been bombarded with complaints about the firm, and are demanding improvements.

Only last week, Chancellor Alistair Darling told the train operator to "get a grip" - or risk losing its franchise.

Hard-pressed rail customers say they have had to endure severe overcrowding, soaring fare increases, poor levels of punctuality, and cuts in services.

And further criticism has now been heaped on the beleaguered rail firm on the floor of the Commons.

Responding to a question over the level of complaints made against FGW, Transport Minister Tom Harris said: "In the last 12 months ministers and officials at the Department for Transport have received many representations regarding various aspects of First Great Western operations.

"Ministers remain very concerned about First Great Western's performance, and want to see improvements matching those seen elsewhere in the industry."

A spokesman for the train operator said: "First Great Western is investing £200 million in its franchise and is refreshing all its fleet.

"We are providing more trains with more seats and urgently seeking extra rolling stock to address capacity needs.

"We have doubled our compensation offer in recognition that there have been performance issues and are working hard to improve our services.

"The benefits of our investments are beginning to show and First Great Western's latest performance figure is a punctuality rate of 85 per cent - six percentage points higher than this time last year - but we realise that our customers want to see sustained improvements consistently across our network and we are committed to achieving this."

The firm yesterday said it was "re-energising and strengthening its high level management team", with new appointments to five directors' roles - including customer service director and performance director.

Chief operating officer Andrew Haines said: "We've secured some of the best people in their fields to join me in turning First Great Western round. I'm delighted that they have shown confidence in our plans by joining the team and together we are determined that passengers will see real improvements in the coming months."