Stuart Keith

Said the following about Bristol Driver Depot Team:

“Bristol Depot has worked very hard to get in to the position that it is in today. The depot is at the heart of the biggest investment in the rail industry for the last century. At nearly 200 drivers, we have had to increase: the number of trainee drivers to ensure we have the drivers to work the cascade of new rolling stock; route learning to ensure we are covering all of the required routes to deliver for our passengers; and briefs to ensure that we are kept up to date with all of the new developments on the infrastructure. This has left the depot well prepared for the new traction and infrastructure when the engineering works have been completed. This is all vitally important to ensure that our customers are kept moving and given greater service.

The drivers at the depot are always willing to help out when they are needed to cover the service to ensure our passengers keep moving where they need to go. This is evident from the performance of the depot reducing delay minutes by nearly 2500 minutes and reducing cancellations by nearly 25% between 13/14 and 14/15.

Over the past year, the operational incidents at the depot have reduced across the board and this is made even more impressive as we have had a lot of new Drivers come into the depot from other depots or passing out from the training school. Their professionalism continues to show as they have worked through degraded working conditions whilst Network Rail have been completing engineering works at Bathampton without any operational incidents.

Ultimately, the drivers are professional, conscientious and a credit to themselves, their colleagues and First Great Western.“