Never used it but did many people use it?
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Virgin Trains East Coast franchise to end 24 June 2018 and is temporarily re-nationalised
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Never used it but did many people use it?
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haddock1000
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- 9 Jan 2016
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I didn't have time to take a photo, but all the "Stand Here for Coach X" signs at Peterborough are now in LNER branding.
It's coming!
It's coming!
91109
Member
- Joined
- 21 Jul 2017
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- 77
Newark and Retford also have them.
ShwervinMervin
Member
I completely agree, it was quite a slow, battery draining service, but definitely made the journey quicker
DenmarkRail
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- 13 Jun 2016
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- 665
In general I found Virgin to be a more friendly face for the East Coast. From day 1, the guys over at Twitter Towers began to spread the Virgin brand, and started to offer a more friendly way of service. It felt less corporate, and more of of an incentive to choose Virgin over flying. The guys over at design were (and still are) great to communicate with, and were always happy to share some of their designs, for what could've been, and what should've been... I still think it was a shame that they didn't use the same West Coast livery, but they did an amazing job with the livery, which felt like a mix between the original West Coast livery, and the second West Coast livery... I wish we could have seen their full plans for their unified livery post WCP. Even down to the MD David Horne, who was always happy to communicate with passengers! It became a much more personal experience.
Onboard, they enhanced the service in First class, with leather seats, and better catering... Their full refresh of each set, despite their imminent retirement, made the trains have a more warm look on the inside, with the red, and black seats. With the new Beam service along side the West Coast, travel in standard became more competitive with the airlines.
Lounges were overhauled, and brought up to the West Coast standard. It seemed as if the East Coast was becoming 'cool' again, just like their West Coast sister is... The new Azuma branding, gave trains that some may perceive as boring new trains, a name that everyone recognised, and now refers to even away from the East Coast.
VTEC had its problems, and I am completely aware that in some cases they didn't go far enough, especially in the loyalty scheme of running. That being said, Virgin in some aspects revolutionised the East Coast, and gave it a bit of character, which it hadn't seen before. I think in general, some people on this forum haven't treated VTEC with a lot of the credit it deserved. They were only 3 years into their franchise, and the majority of changes couldn't be implemented due to the failure of the PUBLIC network rail. Despite all the failures pushed at VTEC, they did a good job with the bad lot they had, and for that they can't be knocked. I can't help but believe the DFT are making a mistake by introducing an operator of last resort, when Virgin had so much to offer.
To all the staff, and the management, thank you for a great 3 years!
Onboard, they enhanced the service in First class, with leather seats, and better catering... Their full refresh of each set, despite their imminent retirement, made the trains have a more warm look on the inside, with the red, and black seats. With the new Beam service along side the West Coast, travel in standard became more competitive with the airlines.
Lounges were overhauled, and brought up to the West Coast standard. It seemed as if the East Coast was becoming 'cool' again, just like their West Coast sister is... The new Azuma branding, gave trains that some may perceive as boring new trains, a name that everyone recognised, and now refers to even away from the East Coast.
VTEC had its problems, and I am completely aware that in some cases they didn't go far enough, especially in the loyalty scheme of running. That being said, Virgin in some aspects revolutionised the East Coast, and gave it a bit of character, which it hadn't seen before. I think in general, some people on this forum haven't treated VTEC with a lot of the credit it deserved. They were only 3 years into their franchise, and the majority of changes couldn't be implemented due to the failure of the PUBLIC network rail. Despite all the failures pushed at VTEC, they did a good job with the bad lot they had, and for that they can't be knocked. I can't help but believe the DFT are making a mistake by introducing an operator of last resort, when Virgin had so much to offer.
To all the staff, and the management, thank you for a great 3 years!
Wallsendmag
Established Member
What did you want to know about them?
That they wouldn't be deleted as happened when VTEC changed websites although it's been confirmed elsewhere that that won't (shouldn't?) happen.
Silver Cobra
Member
I can help there
Here's a picture of the Coach E sign on platform 5 at Peterborough.Attachments
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Wallsendmag
Established Member
Definitely not this time.
You see I can agree with an awful lot of that. The refurbishment of the trains (whilst it was a bit slow of the mark) was excellent and has breathed new life into them as the Mallard refurbishments of GNER were starting to get a bit worn. The lounge refresh was also a good thing (though West Coast lounges are better if you want snacks/nibbles/drinks) as a number of them were getting quite tired having also not been touched since GNER (Darlington lounge still had a plaque on the wall with a sticker of GNER). BEAM was nice and seems to be the way that a lot of companies are going now and I'm sure is appreciated by a number of passengers (just as I'm sure LNER will sort something out to bring back an BEAM equivalent before too long). The new first class menus were also good (particularly the revamped breakfast) but I would note that East Coast provided four menu rotations whilst VTEC cut that to two.
However, whilst all of that stuff is excellent and I give Virgin credit for that, the last twelve months have seen, in my opinion, a significant decline. Catering in both standard and first has become much less reliable since the crew changes. It feels like we're back in the dark days of mid-2011 when East Coast were still getting to grips with their new catering offer. Rolling stock seems to be much more prone to either outright failures or having broken aircon or accessible toilet issues. Meanwhile the media/marketing/PR section continue to shout from the rooftops how "awesome" everything is and will be. Which feels akin to rearranging the deck chairs on the titantic.
Over the last twelve months it really feels like VTEC have become about style over substance. To give an example which felt like VTEC in microcosm. Whilst waiting in the first class lounge in Kings Cross yesterday afternoon they had a masseuse providing free massages. In the hour I was there I think she had one taker. It's an nice headline perk. However I can't help but feel that more passengers would prefer that VTEC spend the money that they're spending on providing that service on providing glasses for cold drinks in the lounge rather than plastic coffee cups.
VTEC, particularly over the last twelve months, have done flashy attention/headline grabbing stuff and happily shout about it from the rooftops. Meanwhile the small stuff, the bread and butter stuff, has suffered a serious decline.
lincolnshire
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- 12 Jun 2011
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Rail Blues
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- 2 Aug 2016
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- 608
Yes, like the complete failure to add up and run a railway on a day to day basis.
Their branding (which I always found infantilising and affected and about as cool as Jeremy Clarkson's stonewash denim) and willingness to use Twitter pales into insignificance.
DanNCL
Established Member
The coach marker boards on Newcastle platform 4 now have LNER branding, however the VTEC branding remains on the marker boards on platform 3
Edit: the coach marker boards on platforms 2 and 3 have been replaced in the last hour, meaning that all of the VTEC coach marker boards have now been removed at Newcastle
Edit: the coach marker boards on platforms 2 and 3 have been replaced in the last hour, meaning that all of the VTEC coach marker boards have now been removed at Newcastle
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Wallsendmag
Established Member
Check the TVMs as well
All Line Rover
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Where was a passenger expected to leave their luggage while having a massage?
Opening the lounges to all and sundry (resulting in overcrowding) and replacing desks which provided space to work with 'futuristic' chairs was not, in my opinion, 'a good thing'. I think most passengers holding First Anytime tickets just want a quiet space to rest and/or work, not a crowded boisterous space with the option of a free massage. As usual with Virgin, get rid of the useful, basic things (e.g. reliable catering, first class quiet coaches) and replace them with gimmicks.
You think they provided a private room for this? It was just done in a quiet corner of the lounge! No need to lose sight of one's luggage.
It's not all and sundry though is it? You still need to have a first class ticket! Personally opening the lounges to holders of 1st Advance tickets made sense as otherwise, outside of London, they were all dead. Before that restriction lifted I used them when I had a Reward Lounge Pass and I'd regularly be the only passenger taking advantage of the facilities at which point they're surely pointless if no one uses them?
I can see an argument for having the £10 fee still being in place in London Kings Cross as that lounge does get very busy (but I've always been able to get a seat) but outside of London it would be crackers in my opinion.
DanNCL
Established Member
Only some of the TVMs have been updated, the card only ones still have VTEC branding on the screensCheck the TVMs as well
I've noticed that the majority of the Great Exhibition of the North banners at Newcastle have also had the VTEC logo replaced by the LNER logo (presumably the who'll banner gets replaced?), the vinyls next to the ticket gates advertising VTEC are currently being peeled off, and some of the luggage trolleys now have the LNER logo too.
It looks like the VTEC branding will be gone very quickly!
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All Line Rover
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I've seen where they put it. When travelling on business I wouldn't find a massage relaxing if I needed to constantly stare at my luggage to make sure it wasn't stolen (I wouldn't receive much sympathy from any employers in my sector if I lost confidential papers or a laptop, even if encrypted, containing confidential material). Which is why, for the business demographic, I consider the massages to be a gimmick. It is something of value to a leisure passenger holding a £35 1st AP to Grantham, but of little value to a business passenger holding a £240 First Anytime Single to Newcastle whose train has limited catering available due to factors within Virgin's / Stagecoach's control.
Under DOR East Coast, anyone purchasing even a moderately priced (£34+) 1st AP ticket received enough Rewards points for a lounge pass (and, not being lounge-specific, this pass was valid at both departure and arrival stations).* Under Virgin Stagecoach / VTEC, the eqivalent is 34p off at Sainsbury's - not enough even for a bottle of water. DOR's system worked fine. Anyone who wanted a lounge pass got one (within reason), overcrowding was avoided and maintenance costs were kept low. (*Also of interest is that anyone holding a Standard Anytime Single ticket got enough points for a lounge pass and plenty more besides, whereas Virgin / Stagecoach run a lounge pass lottery for less loyal customers while offering no lounge passes for high-spending standard class passengers.)
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So VTEC was great for first class pax, meanwhile the rest of us - the majority - stand around on draughty platforms or try and find a seat in tiny overheated waiting areas aka Darlington, waiting for services that always seem to be understaffed, overcrowded or very late boarding at terminal stations.
I don't necessarily disagree with any of that but the point remains that, outside of London, in my experience of DOR East Coast the lounges were dead when they were restricted.
That's surely to compensate for the biting cold on the platforms!? When the wind is blowing just the right direction Darlington is downright freezing
ForTheLoveOf
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I was at KGX yesterday evening and couldn't see any traces of LNER yet, having been to various ticket machines, the booking office and across several platforms!
At EDB I found several East Coast (DOR) liveried items though - such as catering trollies and a luggage sizer
However, the "VTEC only" fare route seems to have been updated to "LNER only", even before VTEC has finished. BR Fares is showing it and this now gets nightly updates I believe. It certainly hadn't been updated when I looked a few days ago.
However, this update seems not to have promulgated to most TISes yet. Even now I'm still getting some TVMs and some TIS' tickets-in-the-post which are still referring to 'London Midland'! It seems a rather long and draw out process.
At EDB I found several East Coast (DOR) liveried items though - such as catering trollies and a luggage sizer
However, the "VTEC only" fare route seems to have been updated to "LNER only", even before VTEC has finished. BR Fares is showing it and this now gets nightly updates I believe. It certainly hadn't been updated when I looked a few days ago.
However, this update seems not to have promulgated to most TISes yet. Even now I'm still getting some TVMs and some TIS' tickets-in-the-post which are still referring to 'London Midland'! It seems a rather long and draw out process.
Totally agree the service improved so did the trains. Back under public ownership I believe it will be like when the trains were grey it will be a worse service.
Virgin only owned about 10% but always seemed more with the branding.
For me the issue is price. London Edinburgh is about £100 for two even with a railcard. I can fly cheaper. That said I looked at same joruney on West coast line as it was double and this is fares for October 2018..
You can fly two people return between London and Edinburgh for less than £100? You'd spend a third of that on transport to the airport...
That's surely to compensate for the biting cold on the platforms!? When the wind is blowing just the right direction Darlington is downright freezing
+1 to that - I used to live near Middlesbrough in BR days and changing trains at Darlington was the worst part of a journey home. They even had a big thermometer off one end of the platform to really rub it in.
Not sure if it's already been mentioned but there have been radio announcements on Forth1, Kingdom and Central FM today saying that VTEC will change to LNER next week and that its business as usual and that everything will be the same so you can book in confidence knowing that your ticket will be valid.
The commercial seemed to emphasise the book now and everything will be ok even though the ticket says VTEC.
I'm guessing similar or the same had been on other stations.
The commercial seemed to emphasise the book now and everything will be ok even though the ticket says VTEC.
I'm guessing similar or the same had been on other stations.
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