The decision to taxi from Dundee was really the only one that could be made in the circumstances of line closures and stock positioning this morning. I suppose the passenger could've been given the choice of staying on to Aberdeen and making their own arrangements for getting to the west, but that would have been worse.
I know that there are plenty of cabins showing premature signs of wear and tear. I suspect that this is down to combination of construction standards and materials, hit and miss cleaning, and inadequate luggage storage. On the couple of trips I've made on the new trains I was forever moving things around just to make a bit of space, and this meant that I was constantly knocking surfaces and fittings. It wouldn't surprise me if manhandling of luggage was the cause of the scratches on the window. The absence of overhead luggage racks, supposedly on safety grounds, is one of the biggest shortcomings of the mk5s.
As for apparently demoralised staff providing minimal communication and service, I have my suspicions as to a few individuals who that might have been northbound at Dundee on Saturday morning, but I won't say any more than that.
On both points, the rooms and the service, the number one concern emerging is consistency. How is that cabins can find themselves damaged, dirty or faulty and that not get dealt with, and why can one crew provide fantastic service in difficult circumstances (and they still do night in night out) and another finds the slightest excuse to do nothing at all?
I don't know for sure, but from what I hear one of the ways that Serco is controlling losses on the service is by reducing management and supervision costs. I can't remember the last time I heard one of the regulars I'm touch with say 'I spoke to so-and-so manager in the lounge this week'. I fear that they've got to the point that they'd rather save the money than ensure that everything's right, whether that's when a train leaves the depot or onboard during the journey.
On a slightly more positive note, there's no doubt that the new trains are performing more reliably than they were during the summer and autumn, not that this fact would've been much consolation while consuming an 'emergency' breakfast just before 6 this morning.