First Great Western made the unpopular changes to the December 2006 timetable
MYTH. This is the biggest myth of all and one that has frequently been repeated in the media and elsewhere. The truth is that the December 2006 timetable was set by the Department for Transport in consultation with Network Rail, and not by First Great Western. Certainly, First Great Western will have been invited to comment and did consult widely on the changes so they could put customer representations for the DfT, however, the final say on timetabling lies with the DfT. It is probable that the customer feedback made by First to the government as a consequence of the consultation process resulted in some proposed cuts being scrapped. Like First Great Western, the majority of other train operating companies also have their timetables set by the Department for Transport.
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One question I've never had a satisfactory answer to: in the original December 2006 consultation there was an 0609 from Paignton to Exeter calling all stations and arriving at Exeter Central at about 0820-ish. It was (when Wessex ran it, anyway) a very busy train.
When the actual timetable came out, that train terminated at Newton Abbot, and left Dawlish and Teignmouth without a peak-time arrival in Exeter. (There was a good deal of comment in the Express and Echo at the time!)
So who was responsible for the withdrawal of that train? FGW or the DfT?
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