Threatened by Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly with the retraction of its franchise if performance was not improved, First Great Western (FGW) has achieved its highest ever punctuality figure of 90.6% for April.

The operator’s nemesis in recent times – the campaign group ‘More Train Less Strain’ that organised numerous ‘fare strikes’ – has even published a ‘qualified welcome’ while claiming some of the glory: ‘This turn around in performance by FGW demonstrates just what can be achieved by mass public protest.’

“It’s early days – it is only one month – and our job now is to ensure it’s consistent every month and we’re working hard to achieve that,” said FGW chief operating officer Andrew Haines.

And a spokesman told ABTN: “We’ve been searching for extra rolling stock for a while and that’s now making the difference. We’re also in the act of refurbishing all local trains – we’ll be able to offer three-carriage trains on the Portsmouth–Cardiff run, a key service.”

The company has spent around £160m ($312m) on extra high-speed stock and more than £15m on local trains, he said.

Department for Transport (DfT) warned that it could lose its franchise after it exceeded the threshold on cancellations in the second half of last year – "Their efforts to enhance their service will be assessed in February 2009," said a DfT spokesman in February, "and their level of cancellations will be measured in February and August 2009, to ensure they are at, or below, the target level."