Greater Anglia : Improved TOC?

[bspahh]

For the journey between Ely and Cambridge, Greater Anglia introduced cheaper fares last month, charging £4.90 for a peak day return for just Greater Anglia trains (instead of £7.10 for the Anytime day return), with trains at 7.30, 7.33 and 8.00. From 9.38 onwards, there is an off peak day return which is £2.30, although the service is then only hourly. The reliability has been pretty good too.

They also sell these tickets via their app, which you can get as a mobile ticket to avoid having to queue at a ticket machine.

 

[Z12XE]

My 1st class annual is due for renewal in October. Will I be charged a pro rata amount or will any balance be refunded?

Last week 1st class was declassified. I have asked Greater Anglia if this applied to Southend services so I can claim back the difference. I successfully claimed this earlier in the year when the carriage was locked out of use.

There were extra passengers in 1st class who appeared to think that it had been declassified.

If you renew it for the year they will charge the full price but if you decide at any point during the validity as long as there are 7 days left and you will get back the difference.

'Changeovers'

• If you move house, change your place of work or wish to change the class of travel, you may apply to exchange any Season Ticket with at least 7 days remaining, for one with the same expiry date for your new journey or class. This is called a changeover.
• A changeover may be applied for at the rail ticket office where the original ticket was issued or at any station relevant to the new journey. The new journey Season Ticket is a continuous renewal and it must start on the day following surrender of the original ticket. Any additional charge or refund will be based on the ticket prices when the original Season Ticket was bought, pro rata to the periods before and after the changeover.
• No administration charge is made. Any ticket that has already been exchanged in this way may be accepted for further exchanges if necessary.

Last week from Tuesday all evening peak GE service from lst were declassified and all morning peak into lst from Wednesday

 

[dk1]

I travelled First Class at the weekend on an MK3 rake and there was only one First carriage that was full and the guard suggested I fill in for compensation, have to see if I get it or not.

We have had a set running around minus coach K for a few days. It has caused a lot of grief as even off peak first class on Anglia Intercity can be very heavily used. Out based sets, maintanaince commitments at Bounds Green & operating incidents have all played their part in preventing the set being reformed correctly.

 

[47421]

Re first class, National Conditions of Travel March 2018 para 31 makes clear if got first class tic for service with advertised first and cannot sit down in first are entitled to refund, minimum difference to std class fare.

Withdrawal of first when Bombardier Aventras arrive is not going to go down well with some commuters on West Anglia, the 3 peak Camb-LivSt 12car 379s are very well loaded in first, often all seats taken from Stortford. Well to do types from Cambridge, Whittlesford and Audley End who currently enjoy the plush 2+1 first are going to find themselves squashed up 3+2 whether they like it or not. Admittedly will only affect a small number of people in total, but even so.

 

[Tube driver]

Never used it in National Ex days but....

Constant short forms.
Poor comms when the proverbial hits the fan.
Staff and drivers not knowing what's going on when things go wrong.
Someone sneezes in Norwich? Cancel the Braintree train.
Cat got sick? Cancel the Braintree train.
England lose on penalties? Cancel the Braintree train.
Far too expensive (in my opinion, maybe that should be in the other thread...)
Seats on refurbished trains are far too hard.

Apart from that, they ain't too bad

 

[yorksrob]

Generally I like the refurbishment of the mk3's. Unfortunately a major downside is that there are now far fewer toilets on a set and (surprise surprise) when I travelled on one recently, two of these were out of use.

 

[F Great Eastern]

Well at least Abellio clean the trains and stations on a regular basis, under NXEA it looked like some stuff hadn't been touched in their whole time running the franchise almost.

Generally I like the refurbishment of the mk3's. Unfortunately a major downside is that there are now far fewer toilets on a set and (surprise surprise) when I travelled on one recently, two of these were out of use.

I must say they did a far better refurbishment than the one NXEA did which was crap and a joke to even call a refurbishment. I don't like IC70 seats but apart from that they did a pretty good job.

 

[yorksrob]

I must say they did a far better refurbishment than the one NXEA did which was crap and a joke to even call a refurbishment. I don't like IC70 seats but apart from that they did a pretty good job.

They did, but its still a nuisance to have to traipse through three or four carriages to find a working toilet.

 

[chubs]

I must say they did a far better refurbishment than the one NXEA did which was crap and a joke to even call a refurbishment.

A bit unfair, the ones that got pushed into service straight from Virgin were absolutely gross. They looked a lot better with the panels repaired and new fabric.

 

[F Great Eastern]

A bit unfair, the ones that got pushed into service straight from Virgin were absolutely gross. They looked a lot better with the panels repaired and new fabric.

True, they managed to migrate from gross to being just poor, but still it was NXEA in a nutshell.

What they did do, which was very little, was done as cheaply as possible.

The condition of stations, trains and facilities before and after they took over couldn't have been more different.

 

[dk1]

Never used it in National Ex days but....

Constant short forms.
Poor comms when the proverbial hits the fan.
Staff and drivers not knowing what's going on when things go wrong.
Someone sneezes in Norwich? Cancel the Braintree train.
Cat got sick? Cancel the Braintree train.
England lose on penalties? Cancel the Braintree train.
Far too expensive (in my opinion, maybe that should be in the other thread...)
Seats on refurbished trains are far too hard.

Apart from that, they ain't too bad

Braintree should be a shuttle from Witham anyway. Pain in the backside them keep crossing the mainline especially as infrastructure for going on/off the branch is so limited & has no scope for improvement.

 

[dk1]

Generally I like the refurbishment of the mk3's. Unfortunately a major downside is that there are now far fewer toilets on a set and (surprise surprise) when I travelled on one recently, two of these were out of use.

There was no choice but to lose a toilet in each vehicle & when step-ups happen at Norwich as it's the only station capable of topping up then there is no chance of watering.

 

[yorksrob]

There was no choice but to lose a toilet in each vehicle & when step-ups happen at Norwich as it's the only station capable of topping up then there is no chance of watering.

Does Liverpool Street not have a water bowser ?

 

[dk1]

Does Liverpool Street not have a water bowser ?

It does but not for IC sets. Only ever does units.

 

[yorksrob]

It does but not for IC sets. Only ever does units.

Ah well. May be something worth investing in then !

 

[dk1]

Ah well. May be something worth investing in then !

Good idea but I doubt it. If it was feasible then it would already be being done.

 

[yorksrob]

Good idea but I doubt it. If it was feasible then it would already be being done.

Its got to be worth it to avoid IC services running with half of their toilets locked out. The other issue may be that the other tanks fill up too quickly.

 

[sadgit]

I don't travel frequently any more, and then only really on the GEML side, but there has been a dramatic improvement in service levels since 2015-ish. AGA circa 2014 was unreliable and had extremely poor comms in case of disruption, but has since improved greatly to the point that I'm actually kind of fond of them at this point.

 

[trebor79]

There was no choice but to lose a toilet in each vehicle

Is this because of the retention tanks? I recall reading something to effect of a tank could only go under one end of the coach because other equipment already present prevented the other toilet being hooked up to a tank?

What's a step-up?

 

[dk1]

Is this because of the retention tanks? I recall reading something to effect of a tank could only go under one end of the coach because other equipment already present prevented the other toilet being hooked up to a tank?

What's a step-up?

Yes was due to underframe equipment space.

Sorry, as it's used every day at work I sometimes assume 'step up' is always universally understood. It's when we are short of IC sets at Norwich & the XX:27 arrival forms the XX:30 (instead of the XX:00) & the XX:50 forms the XX:00 (instead of the XX:30). Obviously cleaning/watering goes out the window & i have turned a set around in just 6mins. Control will often prefer to cancel a service as this isn't acceptable practice for too long & performance goes to pot.

 

[Yorkshireguy]

I’m not sure if this has been brought up before - I’ve remembered this from someone who found the trademark for LNER - but the DfT also hold a trademark for Great Eastern Railway, registered on March 27. I hope it’s completely unrelated (they’re not using this name for anything else, are they?) to this, but there’s always a possibility.

https://trademarks.ipo.gov.uk/ipo-tmcase/page/Results/1/UK00003299835

 

[47421]

I had a look at their latest published accounts for year to 31 March 2017. Abellio Netherlands and Mitsui are on the hook for a £271,879,970 loan to Abellio East Anglia Limited if needed to cover underperformance. That is a lot of shareholder support to burn through yet.

 

[47421]

PA reporting on twitter GA have accepted offer to end guards' dispute re driver only trains

 

[dk1]

PA reporting on twitter GA have accepted offer to end guards' dispute re driver only trains

Guards voted 91% in favour of accepting the deal. No routes that currently operate with a guard will operate DOO. No agreements with drivers on these routes yet though.