Great Western Coffee Shop

A ^10m programme to refurbish 25 East Midlands trains has been completed.
The East Midlands Trains carriages now have more seats, improved air conditioning and CCTV.
The train firm provides rail services linking Norwich to Liverpool, via Peterborough, Nottingham and Sheffield, and services from London to Derby.
The refurbishment programme which has been carried out by DeltaRail in Derby, took 20 months to complete and aims to improve passenger safety and comfort.
A spokesman for East Midlands Trains said the new carriages would be a marked improvement on the Liverpool and Norwich route.
Internally, the new look trains feature an improved seating layout with more than 10% more seats and new toilet facilities.
David Horne, commercial and customer service director of East Midlands Trains, said they had received "some great feedback" about the newly refurbished trains.
John Saunders, chair of the Peterborough-Ely-Norwich Rail User Group, said: "This refurbishment has given passengers a brighter decor, cleaner toilets and above all more seats, which were particularly needed on the Liverpool to Norwich route."
David Thornhill, chair of Nottinghamshire Campaign for Better Transport, added: "We know the rail industry won't be immune from the spending cuts announced recently. However, what we've seen with this refurbishment is what marvellous results can be achieved with relatively little money being spent."
In total, East Midlands Trains is investing almost ^30m to improve its fleet, the company said.
The company's 11 High Speed Trains are also currently being refurbished.

Buffet car services are to be scrapped on East Midlands Trains and replaced with a trolley service. The firm, which run trains from Sheffield to London, said standard class passengers could still choose hot and cold drinks, and hot baguettes. First class will have more catering staff, in a bid to reverse a 30% decline in premium passengers. Managers insisted all customers would enjoy an improved experience being served in their seats.

Passengers travelling from the East Midlands to London will soon be able to access the internet.

East Midlands Trains, which runs services from Nottingham, Derby and Leicester to London St Pancras, has begun to install wifi on its trains.

The service will be free to first class passengers but those in second class will have to pay a fee by debit or credit card.

It is expected to be installed in all trains by the end of the year.

Managers insisted all customers would enjoy an improved experience being served in their seats.

I've never quite understood how it is 'an improved experience' to be offered refreshments at the TOCs convenience rather than when you want them.

Walking to the end of Coach F on a Voyager and asking for a coffee and having to wait while an impromptu staff meeting is conducted is not my idea of 'an improved experience'.

EMT should tell it like it is - it's a cost cutting exercise and nothing to do with improving the experience for customers.

Trolleys are fine on regional services on dmus/emus, but Inter-City operations should have a buffet.

In fairness to EMT, the Meridians are poles apart in terms of internal spec from the Voyagers despite being constructed in the same bodyshell, and actually pretty pleasant to travel on.

In fairness to EMT, the Meridians are poles apart in terms of internal spec from the Voyagers despite being constructed in the same bodyshell, and actually pretty pleasant to travel on.

Could be.

I take it the Customer Host had a chip 'n pin jobbie?

Paging readytostart.... who maybe able to tell us whether the XC Retail Services Managers have now got the facility to take card payments.

Unlikely we will see this on FGW after they have spent money on converting a number of standard class coaches with mini buffet counters but another IC TOC has scrapped buffet cars resorting to a trolley service from the end of this month:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-10939358
EMT are about to begin a refurb program of their meridian fleet. Wonder if they will do a XC and have their serving areas removed. I doubt it.

East Midlands Trains has saved 800,000 litres of fuel by using energy saving technology in the past year, the company says.

The firm is using a new fuel additive which has resulted in a 4.4% improvement in fuel economy.

East Midlands Trains also uses an energy-saving engine standby mode to reduce carbon emissions.

Any train which stands still in a station for more than seven minutes virtually shut downs its engines.

New recycling collections are also being introduced at all stations and offices which will increase the amount of waste that the company recycles.

Managing director Tim Shoveller said the firm, owned by the Stagecoach Group, has also refurbished waiting rooms and bathrooms at stations fitting them with motion-sensitive lighting and energy efficient hand-dryers.

Stagecoach Group is investing ^11m in a bid to reduce buildings CO2 emissions by 8% and cut annual fleet transport CO2 emissions by 3% by April 2014.

The firm is aiming to reduce its CO2 emissions by 40,000 tonnes annually by April 2014.

East Midlands Trains backed by customers

Staff at East Midlands Trains are celebrating after being named as the best rail operator in a recent customer survey.

The report by the Institute of Customer Services examined passenger attitudes to 25 different transport companies who provide rail, coach, air and ferry services.

East Midlands Trains finished seventh overall in the survey, the best-performing rail operator. It was placed ahead of rivals Virgin Trains, East Coast and First Great Western.

Other rail companies included in the survey were First Scotrail, Northern Rail, First Great Western, London Midland, Transpennine Express, South West Trains, First Capital Connect and South Eastern.

Neil Micklethwaite, customer service and commercial director for East Midlands Trains, said: ^This is a great achievement and is testament to the hard work and effort of our employees in delivering significantly improved customer service. Whilst it^s always great to be rated against other train operators, our real objective is to be ranked as one of the best customer service organisations in the country and these latest Customer Service Satisfaction Index scores mark a significant step towards that goal. I am delighted with the progress we have made so far and we will continue to focus on delivering the best possible service for our customers.^

The UK Customer Satisfaction Index is published twice a year, with the most recent results published in July. It is based on feedback from almost 10,000 people and is carried out through an online survey of actual consumers.

For more information, visit www.instituteofcustomerservice.com