Train GraphicClick on the map to explore geographics
 
I need help
FAQ
Emergency
About .
 Travel & transport from BBC stories as at 13:35 19 Apr 2025
 
- Race Across the World winner on 'authentic travel' and how to do it
Read about the forum [here].
Register [here] - it's free.
What do I gain from registering? [here]		 10/05/25 - BRTA Westbury
10/05/25 - Model Railsay Show, Calne
13/05/25 - Melksham TUG / AGM
14/05/25 - West Wiltshire RUG

On this day
19th Apr (1938)
Foundation, Beatties of London (link)
Train RunningCancelled
13:50 Liskeard to Looe
Additional 13:59 Bristol Temple Meads to Cardiff Central
14:22 Looe to Liskeard
16:38 Bristol Temple Meads to Worcester Foregate Street
18:52 Worcester Foregate Street to Bristol Temple Meads
21:32 Cheltenham Spa to Swindon
22:39 Swindon to Gloucester
Short Run
10:23 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
12:23 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
13:18 Paignton to Exmouth
14:14 Exeter Central to Barnstaple
14:30 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour
14:38 Bristol Temple Meads to Worcester Foregate Street
14:52 Worcester Foregate Street to Bristol Temple Meads
15:35 Barnstaple to Exeter Central
16:52 Worcester Foregate Street to Bristol Temple Meads
18:12 Salisbury to Cheltenham Spa
20:45 Bristol Temple Meads to Weymouth
21:23 Portsmouth Harbour to Westbury
•
PollsThere are no open or recent polls
•
Abbreviation pageAcronymns and abbreviations
•
Stn ComparatorStation Comparator
•
Rail newsNews Now - live rail news feed
•
Train companiesSelect from:
GWR
SWR
XC
Chiltern
TfL
TfW
WMR
Southern
• Site Style 1 2 3 4
Next departures • Bristol Temple Meads • Bath Spa • Chippenham • Swindon • Didcot Parkway • Reading • London Paddington • Melksham
Exeter St Davids • Taunton • Westbury • Trowbridge • Bristol Parkway • Cardiff Central • Oxford • Cheltenham Spa • Birmingham New Street
April 19, 2025, 13:37:15 *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Forgotten your username or password? - get a reminder
Most recently liked subjects
[147] FOSS and FOSW validity - some quirks
[111] Fifteen years of the Transwilts CRP
[97] Wiltshire Day Rover - new multi-operator bus ticket
[81] St Erth station - facilities, footbridge, improvements, incide...
[56] Destination: London Travelcard Zones 1-6
[44] Melksham's rail service - where are we, on the anniversary of ...
 
News: the Great Western Coffee Shop ... keeping you up to date with travel around the South West
 
   Home   Help Search Calendar Login Register  
Great Western Coffee Shop > All across the Great Western territory > The Wider Picture in the United Kingdom > Arriva "joke" Country
Pages: [1] 2
« previous next »
  Print  
Author Topic: Arriva "joke" Country  (Read 5065 times)
devon_metro
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 5175



View Profile
« 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 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.
Logged
caliwag
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 342


View Profile
« Reply #1 on: December 29, 2009, 21:14:02 »
bus company...don't invite them to tender again!...amateurs
Logged
Steve44
Sr. Member
****
Posts: 100

I quite like thames turbos...


View Profile
« 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..
Logged
Btline
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 4782



View Profile
« 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!
Logged
readytostart
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 608


View Profile
« Reply #4 on: December 30, 2009, 10:01:09 »
Quote from: caliwag on December 29, 2009, 21:14:02
bus company...don't invite them to tender again!...amateurs


Bus company? Not like First, National Express or Stagecoach then?
Logged
JayMac
Data Manager
Hero Member
******
Posts: 19304



View Profile
« Reply #5 on: December 30, 2009, 10:50:01 »
Erm....'Former contract hire company' don't have the same ring to it Grin
Logged
"Good news for regular users of Euston Station in London! One day they will die. Then they won't have to go to Euston Station ever again." - David Mitchell
6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 2754



View Profile Email
« Reply #6 on: December 30, 2009, 11:46:29 »
can we start an online pet to get them off the franshise?
Logged
old original
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 911


View Profile
« 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
Logged
8 Billion people on a wet rock - of course we're not happy
dog box
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 653


View Profile
« 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
Logged
All postings reflect my own personal views and opinions and are not intended to be, nor should be taken as official statements of first great western or first group policy
Btline
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 4782



View Profile
« 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...
Logged
devon_metro
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 5175



View Profile
« Reply #10 on: December 30, 2009, 19:14:34 »
Quote from: Btline 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...

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.
Logged
eightf48544
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 4574


View Profile Email
« 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".
Logged
IndustryInsider
Data Manager
Hero Member
******
Posts: 10450


View Profile
« Reply #12 on: December 31, 2009, 13:06:09 »
Quote from: eightf48544 on December 31, 2009, 12:38:18
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?
Logged
To view my GWML▸ (Great Western Main Line) Electrification cab video 'before and after' video comparison, as well as other videos of the new layout at Reading and 'before and after' comparisons of the Cotswold Line Redoubling scheme, see: http://www.dailymotion.com/user/IndustryInsider/
brompton rail
Sr. Member
****
Posts: 262



View Profile
« 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.
Logged
Btline
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 4782



View Profile
« 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.
Logged
Do you have something you would like to add to this thread, or would you like to raise a new question at the Coffee Shop? Please [register] (it is free) if you have not done so before, or login (at the top of this page) if you already have an account - we would love to read what you have to say!

You can find out more about how this forum works [here] - that will link you to a copy of the forum agreement that you can read before you join, and tell you very much more about how we operate. We are an independent forum, provided and run by customers of Great Western Railway, for customers of Great Western Railway and we welcome railway professionals as members too, in either a personal or official capacity. Views expressed in posts are not necessarily the views of the operators of the forum.

As well as posting messages onto existing threads, and starting new subjects, members can communicate with each other through personal messages if they wish. And once members have made a certain number of posts, they will automatically be admitted to the "frequent posters club", where subjects not-for-public-domain are discussed; anything from the occasional rant to meetups we may be having ...

 
Pages: [1] 2
  Print  
« previous next »
 
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.2 | SMF © 2006-2007, Simple Machines LLC Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!
This forum is provided by customers of Great Western Railway (formerly First Great Western), and the views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that the content provided by one of our posters contravenes our posting rules via admin@railcustomer.info. Full legal statement (here).

Jump to top of page • Jump to Forum Home Page