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Caledonian Sleeper
- Thread starter Essexman
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What staff issues?
Sleepy
Established Member
GWR still check-in the old way and works fine AFAIK - if it isn't broke don't try to fix it !
47271
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Well, I suppose indirectly in that crews are unhappy about technical issues on the trains and that they've been inadequately trained to deal with them. If the Lowlander runs as it should and with properly trained teams operating it, then the new stock can be introduced on the Highlander...
MrEd
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GWR still check-in the old way and works fine AFAIK - if it isn't broke don't try to fix it !
My thoughts exactly! I get the feeling that the current CS system will be shown to be a failed experiment...
TimboM
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Short answer - no.
Highlandspring
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I don't know the rationale but I know the current system of disorderly and fractious queuing at Euston doesn't work. It turns into a rabble with people not realising there are two seperate queues for Inverness and Aberdeen/Fort William. Although you are checked off the list no one actually asks whether or not you've travelled before, if you need any help finding your berth or explains the system to you. The breakfast cards are ok but on my last trip the wee pencil lead was broken so I had to walk from coach G all the way to the lounge car to borrow some sort of writing implement, once I'd filled it out there I asked if I could leave it with the Lounge host and was told no, I'd have to take it back to my room and hang it on the door to be collected and taken back to the Lounge....
When I travelled a few weeks ago there was an option on the breakfast card to tick to say whether or not you wanted to be informed of any delays or left to sleep.
Honestly I don't think CS can do much about OHL problems. I couldn't give a stuff when they stop responding on Twitter as a I don't use it, but packing up after trains have departed seems reasonable. If I was on board and wondered why we hadn't moved in ages I'd press the call button, or get off my backside and find someone to ask if I was that worried about it. Wouldn't occur to me to resort to Twitter so that somebody sat at a desk miles away can give me some second or third hand information.
Honestly I don't think CS can do much about OHL problems. I couldn't give a stuff when they stop responding on Twitter as a I don't use it, but packing up after trains have departed seems reasonable. If I was on board and wondered why we hadn't moved in ages I'd press the call button, or get off my backside and find someone to ask if I was that worried about it. Wouldn't occur to me to resort to Twitter so that somebody sat at a desk miles away can give me some second or third hand information.
To be fair flying does give you the scenery, just from a different angle.
ashkeba
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I'm deaf. Does that make it OK if no one talks to any passengers?
TimboM
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When I was on a heavily delayed 1S26 a couple of months back the host waited until a sociable time (0700 ish I recall) and knocked on everyone's door to update them in person.
TimboM
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Yeah, St Pancras is 100 yards closer - should've told them to go there.
MrEd
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That is exactly the sort of farce which I find ensues every time at Euston... a recent (and pointless, in my view) development (since October 2018) is giving first class passengers 'priority boarding', so that if you have a First Class ticket, the Duty Manager on the platform checks your name off the list before the train is due to board (i.e. before 20:30) and tells you that you can walk down the platform to find your coach (but cannot board as the doors are still, quite rightly, locked). The problem is, the on-train staff (understandably) don't want you on the platform while they're doing their pre-boarding checks so they send you back where you started, that's absolutely fair. Then you get a bemused (and sometimes exasperated) look from the duty manager who tries to send you down the platform again... you do wonder why the duty manager doesn't liaise with the on-train staff to see when they're ready to receive any passengers, that would save no end of hassle. Bizarrely, you don't get treated to 'priority boarding' if you're in first class and board at one of the Scottish termini, though this may actually be a blessing rather than a curse. I've now taken to pretending to the duty manager at Euston that I'm in standard to avoid this bizarre carry-on (walking up and down platform 1 at Euston like a yo-yo with heavy luggage is not many people's idea of fun). This 'priority boarding' is clearly something which was dreamt up by someone in an office (perhaps as another way of justifying premium First Class fares, or perhaps as a way of stopping a huge queue from building up at the platform end which looked good on paper?) without much of a clue as to how it could be implemented in reality, and which puts needless pressure on staff... it's obvious, because of a whole host of operational reasons, that the Highlander cannot start boarding until 20:30.
Once that farce is complete, you can then enjoy an amazing journey (and a fabulous run it is too up to either Fort William or Inverness).
WesternLancer
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I'm sure you have it correct.
Last week on the highlander with an ECML diversion I was in the bar car, train left slowly, stopped at wembley (?) sidings for 15 mins or so, then eventually slowly restarted apparently to most, heading back towards Euston. This caused mass confusion to many in the bar, but staff too busy to explain, and (thankfully IMHO), no pointless tannoy announcements to tell people what was going on, as we were all to schedule as per RTT info. I explained to the people sitting opposite me - but I must have been speaking loud enough for other nearby tables to hear - that the train had to be cleared of Euston, was now reversing onto another route across north london and then heading north, and it didn't matter as we all had beds to sleep in comfortably and the only issue to concern oneself about was where we were in the morning, not where we were now! A lady sitting a table or so away was most grateful for the info and said, 'you should have been making a public announcement'.
It seemed to me that if the train was not going forwards at speed some sort of collective panic was at risk of setting in!!
Maybe twitter has a role, but what's the point in tweeting some remote customer service centre, who can't do anything more than is already being done to get to the destination on time? If you have a time sensitive reason for arrival then surely you would have the good sense to simply find a member of staff (it's generously staffed after all, compared with an OPO commuter train!) tell them, and get some advice, which I'm sure they would do their best to offer.
WesternLancer
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It isn't a mess, really, and flying is not appealing IMHO.....
some of the criticisms are fair tho - but only in the constructive sense. All in all it's a great service. Even in an old Mk3 the other day I found it clean and tidy - only criticism I'd have was that the vestibule carpets were rather dirty - which get heavy traffic and of course they would have assumed these would be heading to the scrap yard by now if plans were on track, rest of train in a better state that many newer carriages I have been on on day trains over the last few weeks I'd say.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
Making an announcement is probably not the done thing on a night train, but they could have leaflets printed to put in the rooms and on the lounge car tables warning of the diversion.
Highlandspring
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On my last trip as well as the diversion via the East Coast, which caused very similar consternation in the lounge car to what you describe when the train reversed, we then sat in Copenhagen Tunnel for just over an hour because of a failed LNER train at Finsbury Park. I knew what was going on because I have ways and means of finding out but it was apparent that the lounge host neither knew nor made any effort to find out why we were stopped or when we might be going again. In fairness he was dealing with a very busy Sunday night crowd but almost everyone was asking him what was happening and he just kept saying that he didn't have a clue; also the card reader didn't have a signal and wasn't connecting to his ordering ipad (presumably because we were in the tunnel) so no one was able to pay for anything by card. It all just seemed a little bit shambolic.
BRX
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I assumed it was brought in as part of the 'hotel on wheels' conceit. In a hotel you check in at reception then you find your room. Thing is, it's not a hotel, it's an overnight train, and in fact it has something a hotel doesn't, which is someome dedicated to looking after your carriage through the journey. The check-in system manages to make people unaware of this, gets them to fill in forms to hang on the door for collection by an anonymous entity, and leaves them trying to get information via twitter.
Seems to me like a fixing (or breaking) of something that wasn't broken.
Yes, this is exactly the problem.
When I last used it a few years ago, there was something special about being greeted by the carriage host who explained everything and took orders for breakfast and wake up calls. You felt welcomed and looked after.
The check in recently was a damp squib. I had my name ticked off a list and that was it. The carriage attendant was nowhere to be seen (I recognised him in the morning as one of the guys at the check in lectern). All felt very impersonal and pointless.
Scotrail84
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If enough people complain about the check in process perhaps Serco will get rid of it in favour of something else?
Norther Monkey
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One of the, admittedly small, pleasures of the sleeper is the absence of regular PA announcements.
Perhaps they could have a 'thread' on their website posting any updates so those who care could 'pull' information. With screens in the carriages (but not in tha cabins) repeating this.
jagardner1984
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The old check in process used to be simple, quick, informal, friendly.
Something very British about making an unnecessary queue where previously there wasn’t one, at most there would be 2/3 people waiting for your carriage host.
Surely the most basic analysis of Euston concourse at 11pm would find it to be a cold inhospitable place, and the quicker you can get people onto the train into a cosier, friendlier environment the better.
On the communication point, I wouldn’t have thought it beyond the bounds of technology to give the Team Leader some sort of device to input delay / other relevant information to onboard screens / CS website ? A simple “check our website for overnight service updates” acting as a close down message on Social Media. I agree engaging in protracted twitter discussions at 2am isn’t practical, but I’d have thought when stationary 3 hours after departure “Where am I ?” Is quite a reasonable question.
Something very British about making an unnecessary queue where previously there wasn’t one, at most there would be 2/3 people waiting for your carriage host.
Surely the most basic analysis of Euston concourse at 11pm would find it to be a cold inhospitable place, and the quicker you can get people onto the train into a cosier, friendlier environment the better.
On the communication point, I wouldn’t have thought it beyond the bounds of technology to give the Team Leader some sort of device to input delay / other relevant information to onboard screens / CS website ? A simple “check our website for overnight service updates” acting as a close down message on Social Media. I agree engaging in protracted twitter discussions at 2am isn’t practical, but I’d have thought when stationary 3 hours after departure “Where am I ?” Is quite a reasonable question.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
Isn't it? A number of TOCs now have a 24 hour Twitter service.
tsr
Established Member
Indeed, and you would think a predominantly overnight train operator would be amongst the first to invest...
ashkeba
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It could reduce the pressure on the on-train staff who already have their hands full instead of them answering the same question over and over and over again and I don't know if you've heard, but things like twitter do work from places other than customer service centres, so it could be handed over to someone on a train when the centre shuts if wanted. As others have hinted, having individual accounts or webpages for each train and updating on-board displays could be a cool double-purpose of it.