IETs into passenger service from 16 Oct 2017 and subsequent performance issues

[whole diary]

[1st fan]

During a break at Grahame's meeting at Westbury some of us had an interesting and informal chat with the Senior Lady from GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) (whom we were delighted to see at the meeting, and whose name I forget). At the time I thought that all of her answers to questions were logical, (courteous) and 'off the cuff' except for one response which seemed pre-scripted - "you can give up any idea of seeing buffets reinstated".

My friend says she would settle for no buffet on one condition. They reinstate the same coffee choices on the IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) as there was on the HST^▸ (High Speed Train). "And no f@©#ing instant, real freshly ground coffee like they did in the buffet." She got very excited about the shiny new trolleys that I had mantioned were promised on here by Mr Rule. She was the one who put me on to these trolleys https://www.ceka.ch/files/medien/bilder/Branchen/ceka-minibar-03.jpg which she'd seen in Switzerland

[GBM]

Most of my rail journeys seem to make a drink afterwords a good idea, not been on a IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) yet, lets hope they have the same effect even if on time, full length and woroking on electric.

May I join you?  hic...

[REVUpminster]

During the break did a trolly come round the seats or was there a hall tea bar serving drinks.

[grahame]

Most of my rail journeys seem to make a drink afterwords a good idea ...

I had one of those yesterday ... 90 minutes late home.   Lots of others held up yesterday, mind, though my delay was not the aftermath of the (! yikes !) two more "person hit by train"s last night.

[TonyK]

Most of my rail journeys seem to make a drink afterwords a good idea, not been on a IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) yet, lets hope they have the same effect even if on time, full length and woroking on electric.

May I join you?  hic...

Did somebody say "Drink!"?

[GBM]

Most of my rail journeys seem to make a drink afterwords a good idea, not been on a IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) yet, lets hope they have the same effect even if on time, full length and woroking on electric.

May I join you?  hic...

Did somebody say "Drink!"?

"Fek" 

[IndustryInsider]

Glastonbury is over.
The weather is only moderately warm, certainly no heatwave.
Hitachi had a bonus on Sunday with a chance to catch up on maintenance.

The number of diesel only sets has shrunk considerably and there is only one at the moment, 800006.

[IndustryInsider]

I see the 16:03 Paddington to Penzance is down on JourneyCheck as a 5-vice 9 car, which on a Friday afternoon would have been a severe crush, but sensibly as swap was undertaken with the set that forms the 15:50 Paddington to Moreton-In-Marsh and 9-car 802106 is working the Penzance train. 

So, the Costwold Line loses out and that means the 15:50 is a 5-car (and possibly the 19:22 to Hereford later as well) but that won't be much of an issue, and I would expect seats were available after Slough, although it might have been a little cosy between Paddington and Slough.

In fact that means in effect GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) have shortformed three services 5 vice 9 instead of the one if the Penzance had remained a 5-car.  But three times the number of shortforms was definitely the right decision, as the 16:03 PNZ has three times the number of seat reservations as the 19:22 and four times the number on the 15:50.

#YouCan'tTrustJourneyCheck!

[IndustryInsider]

The number of diesel only sets has shrunk considerably and there is only one at the moment, 800006.

Down to none today.  Only the second time I can remember that.

[Umberleigh]

So, the 15.18 Exeter to Truro 9 car IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) my friend travelled on had no visit at at all from the trolley to coach B. After Plymouth he was told this was because the castors on the trolley had broken and the trolley was stationary further back on the train! A stationary trolley? Hmmm, how about a counter to put sales onto whilst taking payment, and maybe a proper coffee machine and perhaps even a fridge to keep cold drinks cold...

Anyway, said friend booked a window seat and was looking forward to a trip through glorious West Country scenery. The ‘window seat’ turned out to be a view of two pillars (B16)Now this was bad enough, and frankly bordering on fraudulent, but to compound matters there were unreserved seats opposite that had almost full window views and were occupied by customers who either hadn’t reserved in advance or who moved from similar pillar-view seats...

Come on GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), you know which seats have no view whatsoever, so give those customers who book in advance a proper view please

[Richard Fairhurst]

One might argue that the passengers who hadn't reserved in advance had probably paid more for their ticket, so deserve a better service...

(runs away very fast and resolves not to check replies in the next 24 hours)

[grahame]

One might argue that the passengers who hadn't reserved in advance had probably paid more for their ticket, so deserve a better service...

(runs away very fast and resolves not to check replies in the next 24 hours)

I believe with certain airlines, you pay more if you want to choose a seat or have one of the emergency exit ones with a bit more legroom - rock bottom price and you have what you're given, including splitting up two people travelling together onto different parts of the aircraft.

[Robin Summerhill]

One might argue that the passengers who hadn't reserved in advance had probably paid more for their ticket, so deserve a better service...

(runs away very fast and resolves not to check replies in the next 24 hours)

I believe with certain airlines, you pay more if you want to choose a seat or have one of the emergency exit ones with a bit more legroom - rock bottom price and you have what you're given, including splitting up two people travelling together onto different parts of the aircraft.

Graham is correct - some airlines do charge quite hefty sums for booking seats in advance, whilst others do not charge at all. However, when you get down to the total price you have to pay, you find little difference. Some airlines advertise a rock bottom price where you then have to pay for "extras" like seats, luggage and in some cases meals, whilst others just quote a higher initial price that is "all in."

Richard, however, has not considered the fact thay many of those reservations would be for Advance tickets, that will usualy be considerably cheaper than the walk-up fare.

[IndustryInsider]

...perhaps even a fridge to keep cold drinks cold...

There are plenty of fridges in the kitchen, which is where the drinks are usually taken from. 

I observed excellent customer service from one of the Customer Hosts a month or two ago, who offered to get a cold can from the kitchen as her remaining supplies on the trolley had lost their chill after a few trips up and down a 9-car unit.  The draw they are kept in on the trolley does a reasonable job of keeping things cold for a while, but not forever.

Excellent customer service is lacking in quite a few of the Customer Hosts though sadly.

I hope there's a catering question for Mark Hopwood (though not of the predictable and fruitless 'bring back the buffet' type) concerning the future of refreshment provision on IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train) and how use will be made of the expensive kitchens installed on the new trains.  Lots of options, including ordering from your seat via an app, rather than the falling-between-two-stools* approach we're currently seeing.

*By which I mean failing to maximise the advantages of having a kitchen and a trolley on board by having lazy staff/lack of staff/lack of consistency/lack of suitable produce.

[a-driver]

...perhaps even a fridge to keep cold drinks cold...

I hope there's a catering question for Mark Hopwood (though not of the predictable and fruitless 'bring back the buffet' type) concerning the future of refreshment provision on IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train) and how use will be made of the expensive kitchens installed on the new trains.  Lots of options, including ordering from your seat via an app, rather than the falling-between-two-stools* approach we're currently seeing.

*By which I mean failing to maximise the advantages of having a kitchen and a trolley on board by having lazy staff/lack of staff/lack of consistency/lack of suitable produce.

I think there’s massive potential for ordering via an app, even if it’s a staff member walking through the coach with a tablet taking orders for those not technically savvy.  There’s already enough staff onboard to make this workable surely.