Slough's MP speaks out against train timetable changes

Slough’s MP has expressed his dissatisfaction in changes to trains that he says have left the town’s commuters in a worse position than neighbouring towns.

Timetable changes introduced in May saw some shifting around of train times, complementing the Great Western Railway services to new Elizabeth line services.

This has meant that fewer GWR services stop at Slough – with that route being taken by Elizabeth line trains.

But Tan Dhesi MP described this as ‘a gross mistake’ – due to the fact that Elizabeth line services are slower, taking journey time from Slough to Paddington from about 15 minutes to about 30.

“For my Slough residents it’s become a worse service because they’re not being served,” he said.

“It’s having a disastrous impact. It wasn’t supposed to make the experience worse.”

During the peak times, there is only standing room on these Elizabeth line trains – making the experience greatly more uncomfortable, he said.

Mr Dhesi feels this unfairly impacts Slough commuters and undervalues Slough as a town, given its size and economic output.

He criticised the system that he believes has more benefits for neighbouring Maidenhead.

“Tens of thousands of people are coming into town on daily basis,” he said. “Slough has the largest single trading estate in Europe and the second largest data centre in the world.”

“We’ve got a huge level of business activity.”

He added that there was ‘growing demand’ in Slough – increased housing and increases in economic activity.

“Slough deserves faster trains as well [as Maidenhead]. It shouldn’t be either-or.

“They said they were going to provide more trains and a better service – for Slough, it’s a worse service,” he said. “People are not getting what they were promised.”

Mr Dhesi also criticised the concept of scrapping the day travelcards- an idea currently being floated by Transport for London and the city’s mayor.

“What that will lead to is a substantial increase in costs,” Mr Dhesi said. “People with a 16-25-year-old railcard pay £17.85 instead of current £11.70. That’s a 52 per cent increase.”

“There needs to be change because we should be encourage people towards a greener way of travelling,” he added.

“If rail travel is not convenient and is more expensive, people will look towards another method of travel.

“My Slough constituents are now being forced to use Elizabeth line they shouldn’t have to pay through the nose for that.”

“There’s a lot of issues that are increasing the anger and disappointment with my constituents in regard to this changed timetable.”

A spokesperson for GWR said the changes allow it to speed up some of its trains.

“This does mean making some changes to our Slough calling patterns. We will be reducing journey time for more customers overall, and timetables are of course a balance, which we will continue to keep under review.”

A TfL spokesperson said: “Due to requirements of the government’s funding settlements, we are having to consider proposals to withdraw from elements of the Travelcard Agreement, such as TfL’s acceptance of Day Travelcards.

“The decision on whether to withdraw Day Travelcards is a Mayoral Decision. No decision has yet been made and there is not a set date for the final decision.”