August 2019 / Welcome to "Meet the Managing Director"

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Welcome to "Meet the Managing Director" hosted by the Coffee Shop forum.  In a few minutes our own Red Squirrel (also know as Tim) will place the first question on a new thread for the team that's seated in Swindon and waiting to answer.   Picture take by our own BobM - there to provide forum support. "Hello" to others there to support too.

Enjoy the session everyone, keep it within forum guidelines please and I'm sure we will learn a lot.   I'm looking forward to watching for the next hours or so

[MarkHopwood]

Good Evening - good to be here! I haven’t invented a silly name so apologies for the lack of imagination in using Mark Hopwood

[CyclingSid]

Can I thank Mark for taking the time to respond to questions.

And to CfN, Red Squirrell and Grahame for organising.

Not understanding the etiquette of forum status, should Mark be advanced beyond Jr Member? Assuming he is not black-balled by the forum gastronomes (tongue firmly in cheek)

[grahame]

Looking at the top of the forum I note

Most liked recent subjects
[211] Qn.6 for Mark Hopwood: Finally: Three wishes!
[112] Qn.5 for Mark Hopwood: Are the jobs of train guards secure?
[88] Qn.2 for Mark Hopwood: Decarbonising local railways
[53] Qn.4 for Mark Hopwood: When things go wrong...
[30] Qn.3 for Mark Hopwood: Trolley service on IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train)
[19] Qn.1 for Mark Hopwood: Future "Meet the Manager" ses...

and that say a big THANK YOU and more than just a high thank you - a real appreciation of you coming here to talk with us, Mark.  Thank you too to the rest of the team in Swindon, in the WECA^» (West of England Combined Authority - about) area and to members from far and wide.

[Timmer]

Many thanks for your time Mark. Appreciate it.

[Red Squirrel]

Absolutely! Many thanks.

[MarkHopwood]

Thanks all - I’ve enjoyed it. Mark

[bobm]

Not understanding the etiquette of forum status, should Mark be advanced beyond Jr Member? Assuming he is not black-balled by the forum gastronomes (tongue firmly in cheek)

It is based on the number of posts - and you’ll note he is now a Full Member following today’s event.

[MarkHopwood]

Thank you for your comments and questions this evening.  I hope the answers have been helpful.  For any members who weren’t able to join live, we’ll be picking up any additional replies tomorrow.

Thank you for inviting me to do this session.  Have a good evening!

[johnneyw]

Most informative, many thanks.

[rogerw]

I add my thanks as well for very forthright answers.

[grahame]

Can I thank Mark for taking the time to respond to questions.

And to CfN, Red Squirrell and Grahame for organising.

Not understanding the etiquette of forum status, should Mark be advanced beyond Jr Member? Assuming he is not black-balled by the forum gastronomes (tongue firmly in cheek)

Thanks to the the hidden team - BM, CC, PG and were there others with you?  Very happy to name you with and present badges of honour.

The membership levels are automated based on the number of posts an adding special code in to re-rank members would make the upgrade I'm going through all the more "interesting".  What I could and should invite Mark to become is a "Transport Scholar".  That's not count based and opens a further board of technical discussion which can get esoteric and frightening to the "newbie" and scare him away.

[Westerncrusader]

I've read the correspondence with Mark Hopwood on the replacement of buffets with trolleys on the longer distance inter city services with interest.Is this the same Mark Hopwood who,when interviewed in Modern Railways in April 2009 in his capacity as MD of First Great Western admitted that trolleys did not work on long distance services and outlined plans to create a new fleet of Trailer Standard Buffets for its HST^▸ (High Speed Train) fleet to ensure every set had a buffet? He was quoted as saying" I dont think anyone is suggesting that if you're going to be making a journey for several hours we want to withdraw the ability for you to buy food and drink on the train...and yes, the original franchise proposition has changed in that we're not going for the trolley service in Standard Class now"
His current attitude to buffets also contrasts strongly with that of the East Coast where it has been reported that Virgin East Coast fought successfully to secure the inclusion of buffets.I'm afraid my interpretation of the situation is that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) no longer have an appetite for running the   business beyond the current franchise period,have no longer a vision for delivering a quality service and were accordingly  prepared to be rolled over by the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about)

[CMRail]

I've read the correspondence with Mark Hopwood on the replacement of buffets with trolleys on the longer distance inter city services with interest.Is this the same Mark Hopwood who,when interviewed in Modern Railways in April 2009 in his capacity as MD of First Great Western admitted that trolleys did not work on long distance services and outlined plans to create a new fleet of Trailer Standard Buffets for its HST^▸ (High Speed Train) fleet to ensure every set had a buffet? He was quoted as saying" I dont think anyone is suggesting that if you're going to be making a journey for several hours we want to withdraw the ability for you to buy food and drink on the train...and yes, the original franchise proposition has changed in that we're not going for the trolley service in Standard Class now"
His current attitude to buffets also contrasts strongly with that of the East Coast where it has been reported that Virgin East Coast fought successfully to secure the inclusion of buffets.I'm afraid my interpretation of the situation is that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) no longer have an appetite for running the   business beyond the current franchise period,have no longer a vision for delivering a quality service and were accordingly  prepared to be rolled over by the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about)

Firstly, the choice that is made by the DfT and the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) is one that is the most practical, that hopefully works the best and suits the design a lot. Now, whether the MD did make these comments a lot I am sure that he could have a different opinion or the original attempt of using trolleys was not the best trial and that later on it proved more successful. The reason that East Coast were able to have a buffet on their trains is because they were allowed minor interior adjustments and (this was after the GW^▸ (Great Western) design was confirmed) were allowed to have a buffet on their trains.

Seats are the main thing that DfT want when it comes to new trains and railway upgrades. GWR do still work hard to run the franchise and if they were so incompetent then I am sure they would have been stripped of their franchise. As far as I am concerned I am unaware that the main requirement when running a TOC is to have a buffet and the catering offering is looking to be improved at the moment.

(Apologies if this should be on the buffet question thread however I thought here would be an appropriate place to reply.)

[grahame]

Welcome to the forum, Westerncrusader.

I've read the correspondence with Mark Hopwood on the replacement of buffets with trolleys on the longer distance inter city services with interest....

... (Apologies if this should be on the buffet question thread however I thought here would be an appropriate place to reply.)

Yes indeed that was a very interesting correspondence ... big subject around here.

I have written a longer reply - but posted it under the specific thread that's related to catering on IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train), and I've quoted the previous two posts there.   Always hard to know where to post - especially for a newcomer - and our team of moderators / admins is quite used to some moving of the furniture - especially as threads drift.

P.S. That longer reply is at http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=22019.msg271105#msg271105