Whilst much of the last couple of pages do feel like history repeating, I’m sure precisely this discussion and precisely these viewpoints were articulated only months ago, I must say on my last few journeys I haven’t felt rushed in either direction.
On the topic of showers, it seems worth noting that it is always spoken of about Euston. But CS does go in the opposite direction too ! To a number of places with station showers which, if present at all, are certainly more … variable. Clearly neither Euston nor those places have capacity for a full train to have a shower at even a roughly similar time, let alone the same time, so the onboard showers serve some function, even if nobody would imagine showering in a moving cubicle will be as ideal as being on terra firma !
On a final point. It’s a service. Some people like it. Some people don’t. It’s undeniably expensive. Some people pay it. Some people can’t. Statistics prove on the most complicated extensive routes on the network, with Rolling stock and Traction which is far from ideal, many many users regular and occasional get to the place they want at roughly the time they want. Approximately 94% according to the ORR stats here.
That figure hasn’t gone much up or down since at least 2016. Within that of course, some passengers have had terrible experiences. But they are not in the majority by any stretch. I am not sure therefore dissecting every post with a positive experience and running a line by line take down of every aspect, from the length of time someone might want to sleep, where someone might want to have a shower, whether a 60 year old locomotive is struggling a bit up a hill, whether a 600 mile 13 hour journey has lost a few minutes doing a very complex coupling at Edinburgh, the interminable discussion of whether or not marketing people were overhyping the service (see every marketing campaign ever) … is particularly illuminating.
This thread makes total sense as an umbrella for a lot of linked issues and challenges related to the service. There are a lot of genuine issues which are of interest to users and enthusiasts alike, and issues of governance and management over the last few years, particularly around Mk5 procurement. But it is becoming bogged down by the incessant bashing of the service.
Perhaps it can best be summarised, with some degree of balance, for people who may be visiting our country and interested in using it, as such.
It isn’t going to be as cinematically dreamy as the advertising might suggest. It also isn’t going to be as dreadful as some regular posters on this thread might suggest.
In fact, most people get there on time.
In fact, more than 80% people say it met or exceeded their expectations, and 2/3rd say they would “very likely” or “definitely” use it again.
I definitely recall the mk3s were smoother.
