Commuters on the railway between Bristol and London have had a desperate time over the last three months

Moir Lockhead, First Great Western

The train operator has been criticised over its performance.

It says the new trains will allow more frequent services, and dramatic improvements are expected over the next few months.

Chief executive Moir Lockhead told BBC Radio Bristol: "I think that commuters on the railway between Bristol and London have had a desperate time over the last three months.

More trains

"The performance of the system, particularly the infrastructure, has caused tremendous difficulty, so timetabling has been extremely difficult to achieve.

"We did, however, increase the numbers of trains running between Bristol and Paddington there are more trains on that line now than ever before and we increased the service to Cardiff.

"The use of the new trains, when they come in, will be to complement those services, not to take old trains out and we're providing more seats with these new trains rather than saying we're going to replace the old ones."

Mr Lockhead said he remained optimistic about the future of the company.

"The good news is that the �80m we are spending on the new trains will give more seats, a more frequent service and if we can get the infrastructure problems sorted, I think in the next few months you will see a dramatic change," he said.