Hey people used to build all sorts of things on top of old VW chassis.That would be like ordering a brand new car but telling them to deliver it without wheels as you have an old set of alloys in the shed!
Hey people used to build all sorts of things on top of old VW chassis.That would be like ordering a brand new car but telling them to deliver it without wheels as you have an old set of alloys in the shed!
So they can do it so, so well. If they were rubbish all of time we could dismiss them as complete clowns. It's the inconsistency that's so upsetting.
Some positive CS news has just reached me, and I'm no cheerleader for Serco as we know.
I have a contact who is a very regular Highlander user. On Sunday night there was a problem with capacity on the southbound Inverness section (does anyone know about this, some coaches out of service apparently?). He received a call in the early evening informing that a taxi would collect him from his door at Dunkeld and take him to Glasgow for the Lowlander. It did that exactly on time and, he says, on arrival on Glasgow the crew were superb, immediately acknowledging him as a put out Highlander user and making a difficult situation feel like a privilege. He was put in a double cabin, the train and service were immaculate, and had a fantastic experience throughout. On time arrival at Euston.
So they can do it so, so well. If they were rubbish all of time we could dismiss them as complete clowns. It's the inconsistency that's so upsetting.
This service was cancelled between Tulloch and Edinburgh due to a problem with the traction equipment (MD).
Indeed. The arrangements you describe are exactly the sort of things a true luxury brand should be doing as a matter of course. If CS always provided such customer service this thread would be considerably shorter and tripadvisor etc ratings would be considerably higher.
Looks like Fort William - Edinburgh has sat down at Tulloch
I reckon a couchette type service would be well used. Sleeping on seats isn't really worth a great amount to the end user...
So after last nights issues, I take it there is no down FW portion running this morning?
Loco and stock are back at fort william.Yes, presumably the full eight car unit has gone to Aberdeen. More shuffling of the Fort William carriages between units I guess.
1M16 ran to Euston with 13 coaches. Delayed at Edinburgh waiting for the Fort William passengers to arrive by road.
The one coach that has wheel flats is awaiting a skate move from Tulloch for onward road transport I believe. Should be sufficient time mid afternoon most days for that I would think.Loco and stock are back at fort william.
Indeed. It seems like the current situation is part Hilton and part "people sleeping in seats in a meeting room just off the lounge" - a hostel would be ashamed of offering the CS seats!It already is - the seats are hardly Hilton territory!
Abysmal and embarrassing lack of communication again last night on the CS Twitter feed - advised an issue with the down highlander and a delay of 30 minutes with further updates to follow, 21 hours later no further updates as to the "problem" - the public having to tweet the cancellation on their behalf is embarrassing
The seats to FW don't recline as much and are harder than most planes.The seats to Fort William are cheaper than the seats on a plane to the US.
How do you know that the relevant passengers weren't contacted individually? Not all of the communication has to be done in the public arena on Twitter particularly with a service which is pretty much reservation only.
(I must admit that no one told me why we sat at Edinburgh for an hour last night on the southbound lowlander but they probably didn't want to disturb people sleeping. When I asked the member of staff they confirmed that we were waiting for the Fort William guests.) I didn't need to look at Twitter to find that out.
Does it really cost more to go in a bed from London to Fort William than in a bed from London to the US? I think you are comparing economy seats on the plane with beds on the train. The seats to Fort William are cheaper than the seats on a plane to the US. I agree that the costs of travelling on the sleeper are now quite expensive but that doesn't mean it isn't booked out on some dates in the Summer already.
The seats to FW don't recline as much and are harder than most planes.
And you won't have to shift coaches midway through the night when at Edinburgh on a plane.
It will be like landing first in Nova Scotia to change plane to carry on to the destination in America
but when you are charging "guests" more for a return trip to London from FW than it costs to fly to the US and back
Sounds good, but really is bunkum. Compare apples with apples please.
What does it cost to travel return to US in a bed? much more than any CS fare!
I'm using the simple analogy that it is regularly cheaper to fly to New York from London and back than it is to travel from London to Fort William on the sleeper in a Club Room.
I'm using the simple analogy that it is regularly cheaper to fly to New York from London and back than it is to travel from London to Fort William on the sleeper in a Club Room. CS have a proven track record of either not communicating at all or at best sporadically and I used the example of Tuesday night when they promised an update shortly and 2 days later still have yet to provide that update. It's called Customer Service and for £400+ for a return journey it's the very least they should provide. Remember too it's not just about contacting passengers travelling it's also about friends and families meeting up at arrival stations, communication is key and for the record I was at Crianlarich on Tuesday night waiting to meet a colleague who'd used the service from Fort William. Several people were waiting on the platform to board, others like me to meet people. No-one had a clue what was going on and if it hadn't been for other twitter users updating the CS initial message we wouldn't have known it was cancelled
my house cost more than 500 return tickets to New York, so what kind of customer service do I get for that?
I suspect that there is no more money available for more spare staff to cope with failures and disruption, either front line or customer serving. The whole thing is grotesque and set up for failure.
UK railways in 2020 are just not set up/capable of running such an operation at a sensible price. If we can't do it properly then we should not be doing it at all.
That is a silly analogy. When you buy a house you buy a physical thing, not a service, and you gain an asset which you can sell later on, if you are lucky, for more than you paid for it. If you are selling a house at the same time as buying you will pay for solicitors and an estate agent, who will provide services related to the selling process in return. It is not in the slightest bit compatible with paying a high price for a service, which customers would expect to get something that they feel was worth paying that price, which includes service.
I agree. The logical conclusion of that is that it needs to either go back into ScotRail or be moved into InterCity West Coast. Either would make sense for different reasons, but the present situation simply doesn't, it is a really inefficient way to run it.