LNER Harrogate services: booking issues reported by customers

yorkie · 7 Jan 2020

https://twitter.com/hilpax/status/1212795162797195264

My daughter got one of the new @LNER direct trains to KX on Monday. But the carriage with her booked seat wasn't open until Leeds! So it wasn't a direct train from HG1! She had to get off and walk along three or four carriages in Leeds and get on again with all her heavy luggage!

Same just happened to me. With a big heavy suitcase

There seems to be an issue involving 10 car Azumas from Harrogate to London with people being booked in the wrong portion, so they have to swap sets at Leeds. Anyone got more info on that? Are these supposed to be 9 car or is there a bug or something?

Also some people trying to book tickets on direct Horsforth to London trains, but the Horsforth call was removed from the timetable about 4 weeks ago.

( @Wallsendmag )

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Failed Unit · 7 Jan 2020

They are mixed bookings Yorkie. Some 9 cars and some 10 cars. (2 services operated by 10 cars if my memory serves me correctly 1333 and 1533 ex London)

Wallsendmag · 7 Jan 2020

Nowt to do with me but I do know the Horsforth calls were dropped due to 10 vice 9

Ianno87 · 7 Jan 2020

yorkie said:
https://twitter.com/hilpax/status/1212795162797195264

There seems to be an issue involving 10 car Azumas from Harrogate to London with people being booked in the wrong portion, so they have to swap sets at Leeds. Anyone got more info on that? Are these supposed to be 9 car or is there a bug or something?

Also some people trying to book tickets on direct Horsforth to London trains, but the Horsforth call was removed from the timetable about 4 weeks ago.

( @Wallsendmag )

Why do you "have to" swap sets on a southbound journey? Getting on at Harrogate gives first pick of the unreserved seats.

alistairlees · 7 Jan 2020

Ianno87 said:
Why do you "have to" swap sets on a southbound journey? Getting on at Harrogate gives first pick of the unreserved seats.

People were booked in the five car set that was locked out of use between Harrogate and Leeds, and then felt they had to move to their reserved seats at Leeds when it was unlocked. At least, that’s how I read it.

Failed Unit · 7 Jan 2020

What is the process on these trains?

Arrive at Leeds, walk through train and lock out front 5 then continue?

If it is 10 vice 9 is if coach G and M that are the problem? Probably best not loading the reservations in such a situation.

Capybara · 7 Jan 2020

I was on the 9:36 from Harrogate on Monday last week and this happened. Passengers were advised to move when the train got to Leeds. Also, the reservation indicators weren't working and rather than advise passengers to sit where they like, which had happened in the past, it was implied that they should find their booked seat which led to a confused situation.

talltim · 7 Jan 2020

What’s the point of pairs of 5 cars if they just lock one set out? Might as well have been a 9 car. Slightly less fresh air carried around, plus two expensive cabs fewer.

Failed Unit · 7 Jan 2020

talltim said:
What’s the point of pairs of 5 cars if they just lock one set out? Might as well have been a 9 car. Slightly less fresh air carried around, plus two expensive cabs fewer and on set of bogies.

Ask Dft.

. Would love to see them all extended to 9 or more coaches.

TUC · 7 Jan 2020

Why not set the system to only allocate Harrogate seats to the set that will be in use?

yorkie · 7 Jan 2020

TUC said:
Why not set the system to only allocate Harrogate seats to the set that will be in use?

It must be something more complex, such as 10 cars instead of 9 cars or confusion as to which way round the set is supposed to be, or something...

Wallsendmag · 7 Jan 2020

Basically lots of fairly (less than 12 weeks) short notice set swaps after the reservations have gone live.

Failed Unit · 8 Jan 2020

I have got some more detail on this. The train in question is the early morning service. The 0734 Harrogate to London. (Others are probably impacted in the same way)

It is booked for a 9 car Azuma. If a 10 car turns up the people with reservations in coach G (and probably M) can’t get to their seats.

Don’t know the loading level of this service to know if it is possible to find a seat in coach D and just stay there as coach D would only exist on a 10 car. I guess it was never a problem on other set swaps / short forms as you can still walk through the entire train.

cactustwirly · 8 Jan 2020

But why is the set locked out in the first place?

Failed Unit · 8 Jan 2020

cactustwirly said:
But why is the set locked out in the first place?

My understanding is the 10 cars don’t have SDO. Not sure on the length of Harrogate but at Lincoln 2x5 car would mean 1 set is totally off the platform and useless even if they did have SDO.

Lincoln probably for that reason only see the 9 car set subbed with a 5. (All others are allocated 5)

Starmill · 8 Jan 2020

Problems have been identified with 9 Car units too. A customer booked assistance from Horsforth to Harrogate on a service which ran with a 9 car set. Due to short platforms, neither area of the train with a low floor and wheelchair access was available at both Horsforth and Harrogate. It was unclear if the customer could safely travel in other parts of the train. This problem wasn't identified until the train the customer was booked on arrived at the station, despite tickets having been booked and confirmation of the assistance having been given.

I'm afraid I don't yet know what the official response from LNER is to this situation. I understand that the train was delayed in departure from Horsforth as a result.

Bletchleyite · 8 Jan 2020

Didn't they "solve" this by dropping the Horsforth stop?

Failed Unit · 8 Jan 2020

Bletchleyite said:
Didn't they "solve" this by dropping the Horsforth stop?

Correct. If 1 passenger cant board - no passengers can board.

theblackwatch · 8 Jan 2020

Starmill said:
Problems have been identified with 9 Car units too. A customer booked assistance from Horsforth to Harrogate on a service which ran with a 9 car set. Due to short platforms, neither area of the train with a low floor and wheelchair access was available at both Horsforth and Harrogate. It was unclear if the customer could safely travel in other parts of the train. This problem wasn't identified until the train the customer was booked on arrived at the station, despite tickets having been booked and confirmation of the assistance having been given.

I'm afraid I don't yet know what the official response from LNER is to this situation. I understand that the train was delayed in departure from Horsforth as a result.

I'd be interested to know when this was. As far as I'm aware, no trains have stopped at Horsforth since the new services were introduced (it was removed before the TT change I understand - or am I wrong?), other than the 07.34 - and travel from Harrogate to Horsforth is not permitted on that service as it is pick-up only at Horsforth.

Starmill · 8 Jan 2020

theblackwatch said:
I'd be interested to know when this was. As far as I'm aware, no trains have stopped at Horsforth since the new services were introduced (it was removed before the TT change I understand - or am I wrong?), other than the 07.34 - and travel from Harrogate to Horsforth is not permitted on that service as it is pick-up only at Horsforth.

Open data certainly implies that
1D24, 1733 London Kings Cross > Harrogate, did make the call as booked on 1st January 2020.

TUC · 8 Jan 2020

This issue yet again is an example of the surprising lack of attention to detail by TOCs on practical implementation issues for new rolling stock.

theblackwatch · 8 Jan 2020

Starmill said:
Open data certainly implies that
1D24, 1733 London Kings Cross > Harrogate, did make the call as booked on 1st January 2020.

That may explain it.... that service has never normally called at Horsforth since it was re-introduced in around 2011, so presumably it was a revised timetable that day being a BH. But... if this occurred on Jan 1st, why was Horsforth knocked out from the services right from the new timetable in December? The plot thickens.

Deerfold · 9 Jan 2020

I caught a train that started at Harrogate from Leeds to London on Monday. It was 2x5 carriages.

We asked where our carriage would be and boarded what we thought was coach K even though no coach letter was displayed.
We'd just got settled when the coach letter came up as 'D'. We picked up our stuff and got off the train, just in time for the letter to change to K. We only just got our seats back as they were about to be taken by someone who claimed they'd been told there were no reservations on the service.

Haywain · 9 Jan 2020

Deerfold said:
We only just got our seats back as they were about to be taken by someone who claimed they'd been told there were no reservations on the service.

Were the reservations displayed on the train? If not, there were no reservations in place and the train would be considered unreserved. This has happened quite a bit recently, and I think that the 10 coach trains do not have reservations in place but I'm not certain of this.

Deerfold · 9 Jan 2020

Haywain said:
Were the reservations displayed on the train? If not, there were no reservations in place and the train would be considered unreserved. This has happened quite a bit recently, and I think that the 10 coach trains do not have reservations in place but I'm not certain of this.

They were displayed once the carriage had decided it was actually carriage K.

There were some reservations displayed when it thought it was D, but I've no idea if they were right for D or not.

LNER Harrogate services: booking issues reported by customers

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