Heard a suggestion (although not from any official channel, so I’m not sure how reliable it is) over the weekend that the introduction of the Mk5s on the Highlander might be further delayed beyond 2nd June. Is there any truth in this, do you think
I've come across two "official" communications. First
this tweet:
Hi - we plan to operate the new trains on the Highlander from mid June, although we do not have a fixed date as yet. Please DM me with your case number and I will look into your booking for you. Regards, Joe.
Though corrected by
this tweet:
Please accept my apologies for the error above - you are correct - tickets are available to purchase for our new fleet for journeys on or after the 2nd of June. There have been no changes to this date. Regards, Joe.
Today, a senior manager wrote to me, saying inter alia
If your preference is for travel on a Highlander Route, then to make the most of the new fleet, this travel would need to be once they have come into service, later in the summer.
I thought "later in the summer" is an interesting way to describe the 2nd June given it's 17th May already.
She also told me it would be extremely unlikely that I would be on the new stock for a journey on the 28th May.
Like you, I strongly suspect that it is being delayed.
If the Mk5s aren’t ready by then, would my reservation still be honoured in a first class berth in the existing Mk3 stock
Yes. The rule has been that such is automatic.
I wonder
r what the likelihood of the Highlander being Mk5s in early July is?
Frankly, I suspect nobody knows, but also that it is becoming less likely as time goes on...
I wonder what is going to happen when me and a disabled friend are supposed to be travelling "together" (read: one in one accessible cabin on one end of the accessible sleeper coach, one in the other accessible cabin on the other end of the accessible sleeper coach, so traveling a few tens of meters apart!) There aren't two accessible cabins on the Mk3s, only one, and it wouldn't be possible to share a cabin. So if it is swapped for Mk3s I don't know what will happen