GWR bans surfboards from IET services

[whole diary]

[bradshaw]

Featured on BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) Spotlight this evening.

[Andy]

From Cornwall Live

Fury over Great Western Railway's new surfboard policy

The new Great Western Railway (GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)) trains to speed up services in and out of Cornwall can not take surfboards.

Surfers wishing ride on one of the company's new Intercity Express Trains in the county famed for it's waves, will have to leave their boards behind.

While GWR previously allowed boards onto its trains, to be stored in the 'guard van', the new trains have been redesigned to accommodate more passengers, cutting storage space.

Surfers said that they felt that the issue was a "design flaw" which has been "overlooked".

Oh dear.

"can not take surfboards"
"famed for it's waves"
'guard van'?

[LiskeardRich]

Newquay surfboard hire companies I imagine are rubbing their hands!

[Kernowman]

From Cornwall Live

Fury over Great Western Railway's new surfboard policy

The new Great Western Railway (GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)) trains to speed up services in and out of Cornwall can not take surfboards.

Surfers wishing ride on one of the company's new Intercity Express Trains in the county famed for it's waves, will have to leave their boards behind.

While GWR previously allowed boards onto its trains, to be stored in the 'guard van', the new trains have been redesigned to accommodate more passengers, cutting storage space.

Surfers said that they felt that the issue was a "design flaw" which has been "overlooked".

Thank goodness this is getting some publicity.
I notice that GWR have kept this policy change quiet until the new trains have been designed, delivered and nearly in full squadron service. Maybe GWR did another ‘survey’ of passengers and that resulted in no demand for surfboard storage provision! Another example of the railway doing what it wants rather than what its passengers want. The whole thing is a dirty trick, quite disgusting really. For a while now we’ve been promised extra capacity with the arrival of the new fleet (with apparently no need to keep any 8 coach HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train)) and now we realise that they’ll be extra seats (and presumably extra revenue) but with less space for the stuff that people want to take with them! Furthermore, the policy of surfboards being permitted on units (such as 150s), Castle class HSTs, and the Night Riviera (or a rail replacement coach?) but not IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train) will probably just be confusing to most people.
There is some space on IETS for surfboards, I was on an IET in Cornwall quite recently and someone had a large mountain bike (which is bigger than most surfboards) in the cycle/storage area with no problem at all. I don’t see why you can’t open reservations up for surfboards and double basses etc as well as bikes. Any confusion over sizes permitted can be resolved with a maximum size guide in the Conditions of carriage. If, it turns out that, you keep getting the storage areas fully reserved, then you know that there’s a need to create some more storage areas.
The cycling lobby seems comparatively (commendably) quite strong and this is probably the only reason that you can still take bikes on trains. It’s about time the surfing lobby and the Musicians union etc were also heard.
Remember all this is at a time when we’re being told, on a daily basis, by the media on how the future of the planet is in the balance due to the nature of our energy consumption and travel behaviour.
The line from Paddington to Penzance is not a 30-minute commuter line in Central London where you may be able to get away with things such as no catering or toilets etc
It’s a 5hr plus Inter-City route and should have things such as:
Reservable seats,
Proper food provision – including hot food
Toilets and accessible toilets
Places to put luggage, wheelchairs, push chairs, bikes, surfboards etc
Seats suitable for a long-distance journey
Seats which give you a reasonable view of outside (not like on a Pendolino!)
A quiet coach
I would further add that stations should have platforms that are (wherever possible) extended to be long enough for the trains that serve them, so you don’t have to get on and carry your luggage through several carriages to get to your seat, and also avoiding the ‘for station x disembark through coaches x, y, and z, for station y disembark through coaches a, b and c’ scenarios.
I’m not sure if Ladybird do a book on ‘How to run a railway’ but if they do some TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) might find it useful!
Note to Administrators: This post possibly relates to wider than just Plymouth and Cornwall!?
KM

[IndustryInsider]

I must admit to having no knowledge of surfboards, but I’ve heard several people suggest that one or two of the five luggage/bike areas on a 9-car train could easily be used as a storage space for surfboards if a couple of securing straps were added. 

[didcotdean]

The DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) specified "stowage solutions" only for the following types of luggage to be accommodated:

Small Bag    300x345x420mm
Large Bag      800x570x300 mm
Bicycle      Full size ‘road’ bicycle with 25inch frame
Pushchair Full size single foldable pushchair 950x500x300mm (folded)

I guess no one in that procurement team was a surfer ...

[IndustryInsider]

Maybe not, but if they fit?  Mind you, no doubt it’ll be a variation of contract and have to go through approval with Hitachi and the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) before straps can be fitted... 

[froome]

….
Let's hope the Famous Five don't have any surfing planned.

Like the picture of the Famous Five surfing which I received in an email from GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) yesterday.

Part of a Senior Railcard promotion ... but the train shown in the background is 2 cars with end doors - so probably a class 143 on which surfboards would be allowed.

But not if it’s busy! The policy above states only permitted if the service isn’t busy. Now what constitutes busy?

I'm trying to imagine the scene where a surfer brings their board onto the train at Par, and then at Bugle the train becomes too busy and the surfer is ejected from the train.

[IndustryInsider]

Proof that they fit just fine!

[broadgage]

I must admit to having no knowledge of surfboards, but I’ve heard several people suggest that one or two of the five luggage/bike areas on a 9-car train could easily be used as a storage space for surfboards if a couple of securing straps were added. 

Yes but what happens when a 5 car unit turns up for a crowd that includes 5 cycles, 2 surfboards, a couple of wheelchairs, and a few giant baby carriages ?
BTW^▸ (by the way) there are about a dozen half length IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train) today, must be the start of the holiday season.

[Bmblbzzz]

I'm imagining a bronzed, tousle-haired dude catching the biggest wave and riding it onto the platform, onto the train, surfing all the way up to the buffet* and asking for a pint of Old Spice.

*Imagining, okay?

[IndustryInsider]

Yes but what happens when a 5 car unit turns up for a crowd that includes 5 cycles, 2 surfboards, a couple of wheelchairs, and a few giant baby carriages ?

There’s no doubt the HST^▸ (High Speed Train) power car space was useful on the oddoccasion like that.  A redundant utter waste of space 99.9% of the time though.

[broadgage]

A proper inter-city train should have provision for bulky luggage including cycles, surfboards and large cases. The fact that such space is unused much of the time is simply part of running a train service.
A lot of seats go unused at off peak times.
Large luggage space may be unused outside of the holiday season.
Wheelchair spaces are often unused.

As the IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train) make such efficient use of space, with no space "wasted" on a buffet and with minimal provision for cycles, no space "wasted" on carrying surfboards, may we look forward to significant reduction in fares ?
All this space saving efficiency should be reflected in the fares.

[IndustryInsider]

A proper inter-city train should have provision for bulky luggage including cycles, surfboards and large cases. The fact that such space is unused much of the time is simply part of running a train service.

I think the picture I posted this morning proved that they do have adequate space.  Potentially 10 bikes, or a combination of bikes, bulky luggage and, as proven, at least two surfboards per compartment on 9-car train.  Passengers are also able to keep an eye on their possessions during the journey unlike on HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train).

There is inadequate provision for buggies however, hence my suggestion of a few weeks ago.

[IndustryInsider]

Having had a good look at the luggage/bike areas today and looking at the photo I posted earlier, assuming that is of a full sized surfboard, I reckon you could fit three in each compartment.  There’s room for one to the left of the dividing bar (as shown), but there’s more room to the right of the bar as you don’t have the folded down shelves taking up space, so I reckon two could be stowed there.