Passengers have set up an e-petition calling for a reliable service

Windsor and Maidenhead council met company bosses on Wednesday to voice its anger at the "commuter chaos" that a new timetable had caused.

Councillors said FGW apologised for its "poor performance" and pledged to urgently tackle overcrowding.

FGW has already faced protests by passengers and been criticised by MPs from across the Thames Valley region.

Three million seats

Antony Wood, lead councillor for traffic and transport, told BBC News the company admitted responsibility for the "inadequacies of the new timetable and for the poor performance of its service".

He said the company had promised to make three million more seats available across its network by the end of the year.

A FGW spokesman described the meeting as "very useful" and said the views of the council would be fed back into the review being carried out into its services.

A representative of FGW will be attending the council's full cabinet meeting on 22 February to give a detailed breakdown of how services will be improved in the Windsor and Maidenhead area.