First Great Western has announced it is investing more than £8 million to improve its fleet of commuter trains in the London and Thames Valley area, as part of its plans to provide the best service possible to customers.

The budget for the work has been increased by £2 million to incorporate improvements suggested by customers in last year’s National Passenger Survey.

The upgrade will see 151 carriages, a mix of Class 165s and 166s carrying more than 36 million passengers every year, improved as part of the programme that will include:

• A GPS-linked public address and customer information system to improve the accuracy and clarity of journey information for customers
• Toilet system upgrade for more reliable operation
• Upgraded air-conditioning, to improve the existing systems, which are prone to breaking down
• New carpets, refreshed seats, overhead racks and repainted interiors

Work, which is being carried out at Reading Depot, has already started on the first two vehicles, with the entire fleet scheduled to be up and running on the network by the end of March 2012.

Improvements will take place on up to five carriages at a time so some trains on quieter routes will be made up of fewer carriages than normal.

First Great Western’s managing director, Mark Hopwood, said: “This investment is a direct response to the issues our customers have been telling us about. Understandably their first priority is for their trains to be on time, and with improvements in punctuality and reliability of more than 3% in the past year, we’re making real progress in that area.

“Their second priority is the quality and clarity of journey information and the comfort of their journeys with us, which this work will significantly improve.”