RAIL passengers want a safe, reliable service that runs on time and is not overcrowded, a report produced by the Rail Passengers Committee for Western England has said.

The report, produced by the committee on behalf of the Strategic Rail Authority, was based on a consultation with 700 rail users and was launched in April.

The consultation panel was chaired by Christopher Irwin, of Bishops Cannings, near Devizes, who is also chairman of the Rail Passengers Committee for Western England.

The Strategic Rail Authority wanted public feedback on its proposals to amalgamate various rail franchises in the South West, but the public was not interested in how it could be achieved.

Mr Irwin said: "It became clear to the panel during the course of the consultation that there was consensus on one thing above all. It can be summed up as 'we wouldn't have started from here'.

"In the West of England passengers don't like the present structure of the railway industry, but there is no over-riding view as to how it should be. Indeed, most of the rail users we encountered as opposed to the rail professionals and the rail watchers were indifferent to the structural questions on which the Strategic Rail Authority was seeking answers."

Mr Irwin said that passengers want a system that delivers reliable trains that run at times that meet their needs. They object to overcrowding and they want to feel safe. They like the idea of more staffed stations and a service that is properly integrated with other modes of transport.

He said they also want easy access to information about fares, train times, connections, why things have gone wrong and how it will affect their onward journey. They want to wait in the dry in a safe environment and to still feel reasonably clean and unruffled when they complete their journey.

Mr Irwin added: "They would like to pay less for using the railway and they certainly want fares that are consistent, simple to understand and fair."

The Strategic Rail Authority is particularly keen to combine the Wessex rail franchise with the new Greater Western franchise (including the Great Western and Thames franchises). They feel it would lead to more efficiency and greater economies of scale on timetable planning and emergency planning when services are disrupted.

But passengers expressed their concern about the need to protect local services and to ensure that sufficient capacity is provided for increased numbers of both long-distance and local services.

Mr Irwin concluded: "The railway in the West of England is in desperate need of investment. Most of the main line track and signalling on Railtrack's Great Western zone dates from the modernisation programme of the 1960s and early 1970s. It is fast approaching the end of its working life. The region's secondary routes and branch lines have largely been stripped down to a basic railway with the emphasis on minimising operating and maintenance costs. Whole sections of route are reported to be in need of early renewal.

"In all the melee of privatisation and protecting the rights of shareholders, the rights of passengers have become eclipsed. The respondents to the survey want assurances that passengers' needs are paramount and will be protected."