SBB-CFF-FSS of Switzerland have dedicated family carriages on their double deck IC2000 EMUs which are filled with varieties of activities and toys exclusively for children - including slides and play mats.
Kidz Bagz (or some other horrific variation on the words)
To be pedantic they are not EMUs They are pushed or pulled by a Re460 locomotive.
3) prone to vandalism - children and teens in the UK cannot be trusted to respect their environment and therefore don't deserve the luxury of onboard perks. People wonder why trains in the UK are so bland and cheap - they get ripped to pieces too often to be provided with quality products!
Would never happen here in the UK for 3 reasons;
1) no space - I'm sure every fare paying commuter would be more than happy to sacrifice a large majority of their precious seating for some little sprog to have their own dedicated play corner in the train...
2) too expensive - whose going to pay for such luxury? As someone with no offspring - as well does not want any in the future - don't look at me to fill the pot to fund Vicky Polland's kids playtime. :roll:
And what "seating" would this be? I never even bothered looking for a seat after about three days of using the overcrowded railways (and I was admonished here once for being naive enough to assume that a ticket = a seat).
Correct. For some bizzare reason my brain agreed that the IC2000 was the Stadler KISS RABe 511.To be pedantic they are not EMUs They are pushed or pulled by a Re460 locomotive.
You knew what I was talking about, did you really have to take your time out to point that out a single letter mistake to me, FFS? (that's For F*** Sake, not Ferrovie Federali Svizzere)To be further pedantic it is FFS, not FSS.
I posted in my initial reply that I traveled on ICE in Janurary between Brussels and Frankfurt.I guessing this is just a Daily Mail inspired moan without you actually having experience many European trains... Off the TGV and AVE, I've seen some pretty badly vandalised SNCF and Renfe stock running about in service, particularly the latter.
The only post so far to contain any common sense...I'd be more in favour of train friendly babies.
Do FGW still do Family Carriages in summer and school holidays? I'm not sure what was so special about them, I think there were just packs laid out for kids, with colourings books etc in.
Don't forget Virgin still be free Kidz Bagz (or some other horrific variation on the words), available from the Shop. .
I've also experienced CFL (Luxembourg), DB (Germany - icnl Regio, S-Bahn and Fernverkehr), SNCB-NMBS (Belgium), SNCF (France - incl TER, Transillien, TGV, Intercities and Téoz), NS (Netherlands), ÖBB (Austria - incl Railjet and Eurocity) plus several high speed operators including Alleo, Eurostar, FYRA and Thayls as well as private open access operators including Veolia and countless other open access operators in Germany.
Given that list I think I'm in a bloody good position to say that yes - I do have rather good experience of European railways - therefore don't need the likes of you to tell me yes and no...
FGW have always been helpful on the Cornish branches, always helped lift the pushchair on and off and never worried about keeping the baby in the pushchair.
2) too expensive - whose going to pay for such luxury? As someone with no offspring - as well does not want any in the future - don't look at me to fill the pot to fund Vicky Polland's kids playtime. :roll:
3) prone to vandalism - children and teens in the UK cannot be trusted to respect their environment and therefore don't deserve the luxury of onboard perks. People wonder why trains in the UK are so bland and cheap - they get ripped to pieces too often to be provided with quality products!
Would never happen here in the UK for 3 reasons;
1) no space - I'm sure every fare paying commuter would be more than happy to sacrifice a large majority of their precious seating for some little sprog to have their own dedicated play corner in the train...
2) too expensive - whose going to pay for such luxury? As someone with no offspring - as well does not want any in the future - don't look at me to fill the pot to fund Vicky Polland's kids playtime. :roll:
3) prone to vandalism - children and teens in the UK cannot be trusted to respect their environment and therefore don't deserve the luxury of onboard perks. People wonder why trains in the UK are so bland and cheap - they get ripped to pieces too often to be provided with quality products
As a regular traveller across Europe, I'd say it's more a case of 1 and 2, the fancy baby/child facilities on the continent are usually on the highest quality intercity trains, which are less prone to vandalism than trains on regional/urban routes. Same is true in the UK, haven't heard of FGW having problems with the VOLO TV carriages on the HSTs. It depends on the route really as well - I doubt the HEX has problems with onboard vandalism.
3) prone to vandalism - children and teens in the UK cannot be trusted to respect their environment and therefore don't deserve the luxury of onboard perks. People wonder why trains in the UK are so bland and cheap - they get ripped to pieces too often to be provided with quality products!
2) too expensive - whose going to pay for such luxury? As someone with no offspring - as well does not want any in the future - don't look at me to fill the pot to fund Vicky Polland's kids playtime. :roll:
Some pictures of a Finnish train. We got the wee man to check it out:-
Some pictures of a Finnish train. We got the wee man to check it out:-