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Train RunningCancelled
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Author Topic: Arriva "joke" Country  (Read 5090 times)
devon_metro
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« on: December 29, 2009, 20:29:48 »

Whilst most other operators are providing a near normal weekday service over Christmas, Arriva have decided to operate a service worse than normal Sundays. They are providing 1 tph (trains per hour) on all core routes. That consists of:

Hourly Plymouth - Edinburgh
Hourly Bournemouth - Manchester
And vice versa

Therefore the following are cancelled:
Hourly Bristol - Manchester
Hourly Reading - Newcastle

Clearly XC (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) don't understand that many of their customers are leisure travellers at this time of year.

I nearly forgot, many of these services are 4 car Vomits and all 5 HST (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) sets with over 500 seats are sat in sidings.

What a joke.
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caliwag
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« Reply #1 on: December 29, 2009, 21:14:02 »

bus company...don't invite them to tender again!...amateurs
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Steve44
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« Reply #2 on: December 29, 2009, 22:40:18 »

I wouldn't even call them a bus company!
out of the 3 arriva services i had to get today... not one of them was on time. infact, the first was 15 minutes late, the second was 40 minutes late, and the 3rd didn't even turn up, so i had to get the next one!!
This is a regular occurance in the Shires and Essex area... probably because 70% of the buses are old, and the newer ones don't get looked after!! So i don't really expect much from their train services..
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Btline
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« Reply #3 on: December 30, 2009, 00:10:38 »

Appalling.

This makes my blood boil. No wonder there're no advance tickets left, leading to Daily Mail headlines that damage the whole UK (United Kingdom) railway!

Is there a petition to get rid of AXC» (Arriva Cross Country - about)? 'Cos if there is, put a link here as I want to sign it!
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readytostart
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« Reply #4 on: December 30, 2009, 10:01:09 »

bus company...don't invite them to tender again!...amateurs


Bus company? Not like First, National Express or Stagecoach then?
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JayMac
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« Reply #5 on: December 30, 2009, 10:50:01 »

Erm....'Former contract hire company' don't have the same ring to it Grin
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« Reply #6 on: December 30, 2009, 11:46:29 »

can we start an online pet to get them off the franshise?
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old original
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« Reply #7 on: December 30, 2009, 16:32:26 »

Cornwall only has three long distance XC (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) services normally. This week, being one of the busiest travel times, they've cut it down to two... sort of.. the 0940(ish) penzance - manchester is running as far as >>>>>> PLYMOUTH


WHY!?!?!?  Huh Huh Huh
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8 Billion people on a wet rock - of course we're not happy
dog box
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« Reply #8 on: December 30, 2009, 18:55:19 »

The AXC» (Arriva Cross Country - about) frequency of services have been causing FGW (First Great Western) a few problems as a number of train crew are regularly booked to pass on services which dont happen to be running,..this has caused certain turns to be altered/ extended
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Btline
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« Reply #9 on: December 30, 2009, 18:57:05 »

I never knew FGW (First Great Western) and XC (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) pooled crews! It makes sense if they do...
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devon_metro
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« Reply #10 on: December 30, 2009, 19:14:34 »

I never knew FGW (First Great Western) and XC (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) pooled crews! It makes sense if they do...

They don't. FGW staff travel on Cross Country services in between jobs. Exeter drivers might take a XC train from Exeter to Bristol to take over a working to Cardiff for example.
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eightf48544
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« Reply #11 on: December 31, 2009, 12:38:18 »

Presumably FGW (First Great Western) has to pay Arriva for their drivers travelling on the cushions.

Ce la vie!

More useless work for the "bean counters".
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IndustryInsider
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« Reply #12 on: December 31, 2009, 13:06:09 »

Presumably FGW (First Great Western) has to pay Arriva for their drivers travelling on the cushions.

There's an agreement in place. It works both ways for many TOC (Train Operating Company)'s - i.e. ArrivaXC staff will travel PAO (Passenger / As Ordered. Traincrew travelling before/after working a service) on FGW's services too. I'm not sure how much FOC (Freight Operating Company, or possibly 'free of charge', depending on context)'s pay though as their drivers are always travelling PAO (or in taxis) and can offer no reciprocal service for the TOC's - I presume an agreed annual payment is made rather than for each journey?
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brompton rail
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« Reply #13 on: December 31, 2009, 16:09:27 »

Yep, XC (Cross Country Trains (franchise))'s excellent service means that there are NO direct trains from Doncaster to Birmingham between Christmas Eve and Monday 4th January. Plus a 50% reduction in the number of trains between Doncaster and York and Newcastle.
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Btline
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« Reply #14 on: December 31, 2009, 16:53:38 »

I think XC (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) want to drop the Doncaster route in the future and route all trains via Leeds.

Bloody annoying, as it adds an extra 20 minutes to the Birmingham - North East journey time! I always choose via Doncaster trains at the moment.
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