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KX-Hull services before Hull Trains

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Tom

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No-one.

Hull Trains is an open access operator and as such it runs alongside all other services. An open access operator basically means that it was not created as part of a franchising process.
 

yorkie

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ikar said:
Don't know if I'm a bit of annoying with this simple question, but who did the service to Hull before Hull Trains
GNER operate one through service to Hull in each direction every day, this remains unchanged.

I find that this service offers cheaper fares than the Hull Trains fares, as well as a quicker and (IMO) a significantly more comfortable journey, as the seats are far more comfortable for me.

I find that £9.50 singles are often available on this service, a substantial amount cheaper than the cheapest Hull Train ticket.

For travel at other times you need to take a connecting train between Hull and Doncaster, most (although not all) GNER services call at Doncaster, so this does provide a lot of connection opportunities.

I do not support the requests for Hull Trains to use up any more valuable paths on the ECML and I feel that they are extremely lucky to have the number that they have, given that Grand Central are constantly refused access for no apparent reason. Hull Trains should lengthen their trains significantly before any more paths are allocated to them.
 

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And before thaaat, it was Intercity East Coast, who ran more than 1 train per day to Hull, but I'm not entirely sure what the frequency was.

As for Hull Trains, I don't see the problem with the service - it does after all call on the ECML, the units are fairly comfortable, they are fast, so it's hardly an issue, and far better than when the 170/3s were plying the route.
 

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TBH I think its a valuable link, its true what you say Yorkie, you can Achieve getting to London from Hull by changing at Doncaster - but surely a direct serivce would attract more customers. Before HT existed, I think Hull was one of the only Rail Connected cities not to have a direct link to London and also, they are providing a more frequent serivce to London from Retford, as well as one from Selby Howden and Brough - not forgetting the Extra services from Grantham that were created.

Jordy
 

yorkie

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Jordy said:
TBH I think its a valuable link, its true what you say Yorkie, you can Achieve getting to London from Hull by changing at Doncaster - but surely a direct serivce would attract more customers. Before HT existed, I think Hull was one of the only Rail Connected cities not to have a direct link to London and also, they are providing a more frequent serivce to London from Retford, as well as one from Selby Howden and Brough - not forgetting the Extra services from Grantham that were created.

Jordy
Yes, I'm not calling for the service to be cut.

I'm just saying that the fares are cheaper on GNER (regardless of what Hull Trains say), and I don't support any more 4 or 5 coach trains on the ECML. I would support lengthening the trains though to cater for increased demand.

But I challenge people to travel on absolutely wedged GNER and WAGN trains with loads of people in all vestibules, and then travel on a rather empty (in comparison! still well loaded by other routes standards!) Hull Trains service, and then tell me HT deserve more paths at the expense of GNER/WAGN, it just does not add up. I don't think people realise just how busy some GNER and WAGN trains get. Certainly HT don't consider this when they request more paths!
 

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What annoys me about GNER is that they are quite happy to allow every seat on the train to be reserved. At least Virgin do keep one coach totally free of reservations.
 

yorkie

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AlexS said:
What annoys me about GNER is that they are quite happy to allow every seat on the train to be reserved. At least Virgin do keep one coach totally free of reservations.
Last I knew of, they had an unreserved coach. It used to be Coach B, but that appears to have changed and it's now the quiet coach. I'll see if I can find out what it is now.
 

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I have to admit that only having one coach out of 9 unreserved is a little low, if I wasn't particularly rail savvy and didn't reserve my ticket, I wouldn't be particularly impressed at sitting in a vestibule from say London to Newcastle.
 

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yorkie said:
AlexS said:
What annoys me about GNER is that they are quite happy to allow every seat on the train to be reserved. At least Virgin do keep one coach totally free of reservations.
Last I knew of, they had an unreserved coach. It used to be Coach B, but that appears to have changed and it's now the quiet coach. I'll see if I can find out what it is now.
It deffo ain't 'D'
 
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We have a certian quota for each train we run where you can buy the cheap tickets, those come with complementary reservations and depending on time of day can alter up and down with current demand. Then you have the people who make reservations with there normal tickets. I have seen trains with no unreserved coach, yet unreserved seats! you usually find the quiet coach has least reservations if any!

To be honest, we should get rid of reservations, they cause more trouble than there worth! Would make our job easier. People just cant seem to grasp the concept of a sticker on Coach E means thats coach E and seat 54 is seat 54. Then not to mention the arguments between passengers.
 

yorkie

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The biggest problem occurs when there are no reservations (usually due to a quick turnaround) and some passengers insist that someone gets out of their seat, disregarding the lack of reservations. I normally just say "there's no reservations on this train" and they eventually shut up!

I once had some posh people join at Grantham and demand we got out of our seats, I said they were unreserved and could I have a look at their tickets to see if they could help. I saw they had reserved for the next train, and advised them to alight and get the next train. They didn't take my advice and asked the conductor to remove us, the conductor quite rightly just repeated what I'd said and they went off in a huff. But people like that are a minority, and they just have to be told politely but firmly!
 

richa2002

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yorkie said:
AlexS said:
What annoys me about GNER is that they are quite happy to allow every seat on the train to be reserved. At least Virgin do keep one coach totally free of reservations.
Last I knew of, they had an unreserved coach. It used to be Coach B, but that appears to have changed and it's now the quiet coach. I'll see if I can find out what it is now.
As far as I know, Coach C is the coach which is left unreserved.
 
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