Campaigners say the cancellation of five weekday services between Penzance in Cornwall and Plymouth or Exeter in Devon has been "the least bad choice" for operator GWR to get on top of reliability problems with its newer Class 175 fleet locally.
Roger Blake, national director at campaigning group Railfuture, said temporary cancellations from Monday were "an unfortunate step back in order to then, we hope, take a couple of steps forward".
The trains, previously used by Transport for Wales, were in storage for two years before GWR started using them in May. Timetable changes were scheduled to run until 11 December, but GWR said it hoped to bring the trains back before that if possible.
GWR said the Class 175s had suffered technical problems after spending a long time out of service before joining its fleet. It said the trains had been responsible for about 15% of delays and 14% of cancellations since May. It said extra testing and maintenance checks were being introduced to improve reliability, and they would be run for at least 1,000 miles (1,600km) without any faults before they were used for passengers. It added that it had also organised rail replacement services "as a back up" and it was working with schools and colleges as the timetable changes started when students returned after the summer break.
Andy Bowes-Roden, deputy editor at Modern Railways Magazine, was affected by
GWR Cancellations Called ‘Least Bad Choice’ After Fleet Issues