A COMMUTER has launched a second online campaign for improvements to First Great Western's train service network - including the Romsey area.

Wiltshire-based Graham Ellis is behind the move and he believes FGW bosses and Department for Transport chiefs should be pulling out all the stops to work with disgruntled passengers to ensure they are provided with what he describes as an "appropriate" train service.

Graham launched the Save the Train website campaign last year, when the Department for Transport announced that it planned to wield the axe on services right across the FGW franchise area, including many stopping trains at Dean and Mottisfont & Dunbridge stations.

"I set up the Save the Train website to oppose the removal of the Swindon to Southampton service proposed by the DfT to happen last December, that would have left Mottisfont & Dunbridge, and Dean with just two or three trains a day, and my home town of Melksham with just two trains each way a day.

"The Dean and Mottisfont & Dunbridge services were retained under FGW for a year and they then switch to South West Trains, but, for the moment, the northern section has been lost," said Graham, who is now behind the firstgreat western.info website, which is currently under development.

The Swindon to Southampton service was scrapped in December and replaced with a shuttle service linking Westbury with the port city instead, but with limited stops at both Dean and Mottisfont & Dunbridge stations.

Graham added: "Our campaigning over some 18 months and our good range of knowledgeable posters and practical discussions led to other people asking me to do a more general forum/ information site, both for the exchange of information and to help campaign for the provision of a service that's reliable and appropriate - right times, frequent, not overcrowded - at a sensible price."

He also ran a petition, which closed on Wednesday, calling on Tony Blair to provide a train service suitable for passengers needs on all regional lines, including the Bristol to Portsmouth route that covers Dean, Mottisfont & Dunbridge and Romsey stations.

"We had over 1,600 signatories, including eight MPs, Romsey's Sandra Gidley and Salisbury's Robert Key among them.

"We also got MEPs, many councillors and some famous names such as Jenny Agutter.

"My view of FGW is that I would prefer to be working with a train operator who puts the customer and the long-term business development higher up its agenda and has different policies in some other areas.

"But FGW is not totally to blame for the current dreadful service that's being provided in certain places. It's six of one and half-a-dozen of the other between FGW and the DfT," he added.

Highlighting the misery commuters had endured since FGW took over the franchise from Wessex Trains last April, Graham said: "The service has gone downhill. Wessex Trains were a bit dirty and cancelled about two per cent of the time on the Swindon-to-Southampton run.

"Since December, six per cent of trains have been cancelled on the Cardiff-Bristol-Portsmouth runs and certain services - such as the Westbury-Southampton shuttle have fared much worse."

Commuters interested in registering their views on FGW's services can visit Graham's site at www.first greatwestern.info.