GREAT Western performance has improved for the same reason Tottenham Hotspur climbed from the Premiership’s relegation zone, according to Dave Ward, Network Rail’s Western route director.

He moved to Western from Kent in September 2007, but doesn’t take all the credit.

“There were 89,000 delay minutes in Period 8 last year, compared with 112,000 in the same period in 2007,” he said.

“First Great Western’s PPM is nearly 89 per cent, compared with 79 per cent last year. But I’ve still got people saying to me, ‘We should have done better. We should have got to 90 per cent’.”

That keenness symbolises the crucial change brought about in staff attitudes.

“When Harry Redknapp went to Spurs, he couldn’t clear out all the players. He said he didn’t want to. It was the same when I came to Western. It’s about a change in leadership style and how we do things.

“How we respond to incidents now is very different from 12 months ago. We’ve got targeted improvement plans for the asset and day-to-day accountability.

“What had the potential to cause quite serious train de-lays 12 months ago now passes almost unnoticed, because people have got passion and feel accountable.”

When FGW’s problems were headline news, the industry often pointed to future major investment, such as the Reading station scheme.

“Getting out of the problem Western was in 12 to 18 months ago didn’t need massive investment,” says Mr Ward. “There was a lot of outside scrutiny politically, and it tended to drive the leadership teams into a bunker mentality. There was a lot of blame evident.

“For a long time, the people running this route were used to seeing failed targets and red numbers. Once they started to see targets being achieved and green numbers, that drove people on to be better and better.”

When he arrived at Western, signallers and controllers were frustrated. “They saw repeat failures of infrastructure and little progress in addressing these issues. They’ve been at the forefront in keeping a good check and balance on us, and challenging their own line managers.

“They know their bit of railway better than anyone and have been willing to adapt. In some of the bigger signalboxes where we’ve changed procedures, they’ve contributed to and implemented them.

“I would ask anybody travelling on Western to remember the last time they were stopped at Airport Junction for regulation between FGW and Heathrow Express.

That’s down to regulators at Slough.”

The London end is not the only location where slick regulation is needed. “We put more trains into Cardiff Central on a daily basis than into Padding-ton. At Oxford we’re trying to get a quart into a pint pot. It depends on signallers, station staff and shunting staff working together.”

He believes the rules of the plan have become conservative over so many years of struggling with performance.

“At Western we have locations where we have fairly dated views on how the plan is put together. So we will have a detailed review of the plan.

“Somebody leaving Paddington in an HST will be at Hayes and Harlington by the time the platform they left at Padding-ton is re-occupied. Is that good use of capacity?”

“First doesn’t get the credit it deserves. FGW is a mixture of rural, suburban and high- speed railway. Only 12 per cent of PPM is high-speed services.

“The most notable improvements we’ve seen have come from rural and suburban services which everybody said they shouldn’t be operating.

“It’s an indication of how we’ve worked together at all levels to provide solutions to some fairly sustained and long-standing problems.”