LESS money is spent on the Great Western rail network than in any other part of the country, says the leader of a powerful rail lobby.

"We have to get across to MPs that we have been hard done by," Chris Irwin, chairman of Travel Watch South West, said in Plymouth yesterday.

Mr Irwin was speaking to business leaders, who are being urged to lobby the Government for better and faster trains.

He said the South West had been an area of enormous population growth and a 70per cent increase in train travel since 1995.

But Network Rail spent less on infrastructure and maintenance in the Western area than it did in any other part of England and Wales.

He warned that there could be a two-tier rail service in the West, with planned electrification on the London-Bristol-Cardiff corridor while the rest of the region lagged behind.

Mr Irwin was speaking as ministers prepare to spell out how rail services to the South West should be delivered over the next 15 years.

With rail operator First Great Western due to relinquish its franchise next year, the Government is seeking the views of councils, MPs and organisations.

He told a meeting at the Royal Western Yacht Club that Plymouth needed to work with the rest of the South West to ensure the Government got a single set of messages.

"Pull together and we might get somewhere."

But Mr Irwin urged the Plymouth rail task force not to try to tie the hands of a future train operator to any "wish list". Reliability and customer satisfaction were more important than journey times, he said.

Mr Irwin called for "simple" improvements to the track and signalling, which he said would deliver improved journey times.

These included "straightening a few sharp bends" and closing level crossings that caused hold-ups.

"At the moment you have a second-rate service on a second-rate line. Plymouth deserves better."

He praised Plymouth for its co-ordinated response to the Government's consultation, and said the city was "showing the way and others are being caused to follow".

Mr Irwin said he understood that five companies were interested in bidding to run the new franchise form April 2013: First Group, Stagecoach, Arriva, the German-owned Arriva, National Express, and the Spanish operator RENFE.

He said the last time that rail franchise was issued, in 2005, the outcome was "pretty disastrous". It was expensive for First Great Western, and expensive for the Government to put right.

"We must not see the 2005 mistake happen again."

He said the new franchise needed to ensure there was a "real improvement in the passenger experience. Trains need to be punctual and reliable, you need to be able to get a seat, and you need value for money."

He said billions of pounds were involved in the rail franchise and Plymouth needed to ensure it was in the forefront of ministers' minds.

Mr Irwin warned that much of the next ten years would see major rail disruption because of electrification of the London-Bristol-Cardiff corridor and Crossrail in London.

Ian Jackson from city firm Argans Ltd, which provides satellite data services for customers including the European Space Agency, said: "We used to use the airport regularly, up to Gatwick and then on to places like Rome. Now we have to take the train, and it's in our interests to make it as good as possible.

"It's not just the journey time, it's the level of service. I can't work if I haven't got WiFi."

Guy Walker, chairman of the Plymouth Chamber of Commerce transport group, said: "We are at the point where we are going to have a major influence on the specifications of the rail franchise."

PLYMOUTH'S FUTURE MUST NOT BE STIFLED

PLYMOUTH is "a city on the move" and must not be stifled by lack of connectivity, business leaders were told yesterday, Keith Rossiter writes.

They were urged to lobby the Government to make the case for a better train service.

Plymouth has the poorest rail, road and air links of the country's 67 biggest cities, Philip Heseltine, the council's head of transport strategy, told yesterday's meeting.

The Department for Transport is consulting on the terms for a new Great Western rail franchise after First Group decided to end its franchise three years early. The company is understood to be bidding to win the new, longer-term franchise.

Plymouth's rail task force, which brings together the city council, chamber of commerce and MPs, has drawn up a list of the city's key transport needs.

These include: a fast train from London, arriving in Plymouth before 10am, with a return service at around 5pm; more three-hour trains to London; and WiFi and better mobile phone coverage on trains to allow people to work.

Mr Heseltine said the objectives for the region were: two-hour journeys from Exeter; three hours from Plymouth; and five hours from Penzance.

Much-needed improvements to the track and signalling would have to come from Network Rail and not the franchise holder, he said.

Cllr Kevin Wigens, the city's Cabinet member for transport, said: "The things we are asking for are realistic, achievable and affordable."

He said that winning improvements to the city's rail service was the most important issue the city faced.

"It is close to a once in a generation opportunity to shape rail services to Plymouth and the region.

"It is totally unacceptable to me that our earliest direct arrival from London is about 11.20am."

He said he believed faster journeys was at least as important as reliability.

"Plymouth is the key driver for jobs and investment in the region, and rail connectivity to the capital is absolutely fundamental to that," Mr Wigens said.

Clive Perkin, assistant director for transport at the city council, said the strength of Plymouth's case was that it benefited the whole of the far South West.

He said people had to be realistic and not hope for electrification of the line to Plymouth. But electrification elsewhere could release more trains for use on the Plymouth lines.

He said there were two ways to achieve the shorter journeys – through faster trains, or fewer stops – but that was an argument to be had on another day.

Mr Perkin said there was also a need for a much better commuter network.

Cllr Tudor Evans, leader of the Labour group on the council, backed the city's submission to the Government.

He added: "We really should be asking for a rail head into Exeter airport.

"At this stage we need to make the case for the infrastructure, and it's even more important now that Plymouth Airport has closed."

Mr Evans said he and the city's Labour group were "entirely supportive" of the rest of the case from the task force.

Mr Perkin told him the city was having discussions with Devon County Council over plans to create a rail link to the airport.

"It is part of the debate we are having with our neighbours."

Jeremy Fox of Plymouth-based Claro Learning Ltd, said he travelled all over the country visiting clients.

"Travelling on First Great Western every week is a kind of punishment," he said.

Philip Hamilton, former managing director of Wrigley's in Plymouth, said that when he first came to Plymouth 25 years ago "there were always two and a half to three-hour trains".

He said the problem started when the Government introduced penalties for lack of punctuality and the train operators changed their timetables in response.

The city council and the Chamber of Commerce were urged to "keep an air service on the radar", despite last December's closure of the City Airport.

"Reducing the journey to London by 15 to 30 minutes isn't going to deliver the city's aspiration for 42,000 new jobs", a member of the audience said.

CRITICISM AS PLYMOUTH GOES OUT ON A LIMB IN CALL FOR IMPROVED RAIL LINKS

PLYMOUTH has been accused of going out on a limb with calls for more faster trains to London, Nick Lester, Parliamentary Correspondent, writes.

The city's bid for more fast trains "goes right across what everyone else is trying to do," Torbay Lib Dem MP Adrian Sanders said.

Increasing the frequency of the three-hour service would mean fewer high-speed trains stopping at Totnes, Tiverton Parkway, and Taunton, to shave time off the journey, he said.

MPs from across the region met to agree a shared list of demands they want to secure in the new 15-year Great Western rail franchise.

These included the roll-out of electrification, measures to speed up the track, and tackling future overcrowding.

"There is a lot of anger that Plymouth has gone out on a limb when we need to be united," Mr Sanders said.

Alison Seabeck, Labour MP for Plymouth Moor View, who arranged the regional cross-party event, said: "The aim of the meeting was not to fight about local issues but to come up with some over-arching key issues."

TRAINS FACTFILE

EIGHT out of the 10 most crowded trains into London at peak times are arrivals at Paddington Station, the Great Western terminal.

70% – the increase in South West train travel since 1995.

187 trains operated by First Great Western.

54 Intercity 125 train sets operate on the Western network.

1,580 train services each week day.

66million passenger journeys a year.

17 million train miles a year.

4,800 employees work for First Great Western.

72per cent of train miles in the Great Western area are operated by First Great Western. Other franchise holders include CrossCountry Trains.

First Great Western operates on 1,300 miles of track in the region, across towns and cities including Plymouth, Bristol, Oxford, Cardiff, Swansea, Exeter, Penzance, Southampton, Portsmouth, Brighton, Newbury, Gloucester, and Hereford and Worcester.

£694million: First great Western revenues in the last financial year.

£250million: premium paid by FGW to the Department for Transport.