HaxbyTraveller
Member
Got to the station at Bourg St Maurice (yes, thanks for asking, great holiday), early, walked along the platform to the train - which was numbered ready for leaving in an hour and a half 6422. No, that wasn't it. Walked back and looked at the other train sitting, open and unmanned, 6420; ah yes, that's it. Destination Paris Gare de Lyon. Went back to the station and bought two coffees (knowing the coffee cups would be small even for 'grand cafe creme'), back along the platform. One hour to go, pressed the door button. Door opened, got on and found my seat and stowed my luggage. No problem. No waiting on a freezing platform or in a cold unfriendly station with no seats.
By the time the train left, corridor was full to overflowing with luggage (what do you expect? We were all coming off holiday). Conductor just looked and didn't even give a Gallic shrug. Okay, so evacuation would be difficult in an emergency, but people have luggage, if trains aren't designed for it, what can you do?
Train left smoothly and I read my book and fell asleep. Conductor came through, I looked up. "Bonjour." she said with a smile. Later came to check the tickets.
Forty five minutes in, the train slide to a halt. We wait five minutes, an announcement in French that there was a technical fault (and went on long enough to probably be explaining her life history). Then the conductor repeated a summary in English. "Sorry for the delay." she ended. When we finally set off again, and explanation in French and English that we were twenty seven minutes late, with an apology again. Later, she came on (only in French this time) with explanations on what this would mean to connections from all the Paris stations. She kept us updated as the train ran smooth and jolt free and lulled me back to sleep. After a couple of hours, I went to the cafe bar and bought another coffee where the steward joked (in English) with me about how his colleague was 'very messy woman, ho ho'. Another customer bought a ticket for the metro.
Admittedly a five hour journey, but we made the time up and arrived on time. The cost BTW - was Business Premier was half what a discounted fair with a rail card would be to go less than half the distance in UK.
Eurostar was nearly as good except that French Passport Control had hundreds of people queueing for the 'all passports' kiosk and three for the EU passports (which included CH and Norway, but not UK of course).
St Pancras - queues, chaos and no information, followed by standing room only on a train I was booked on; with announcements in English (only, of course) that we were leaving ten minutes late, which meant that by Leicester we were twenty minutes late, and by Sheffield we were twenty seven minutes late - so SNCF starts out 27 minutes late and made the time up and UK leaves 10 minutes late and ends up 27 minutes late. The reason given was something like 'delayed due to delays on the network'. I translated to an Italian that she would miss her connection. I found the next possible connection train for her. No help from conductor, no suggestions, just 'we apologise for the inconvenience' - which is now a euphemism for 'we couldn't give a *&^%'. Train rattles and bashes along.
Earlier experience of York - 5:10am, train to Manchester Airport is sitting there, we are standing in the cold for twenty minutes until the doors are opened to let us get on. No food or drink available as the first train doesn't have catering (people don't like coffee at 5am I assume).
Similar experience at York on airport train: lots of people going on holiday "You can't put the luggage there." "Well, the luggage rack is too small, where should we put it?" "Don't know but you can't block the aisles, can't block the doors." Can't, can't, can't - this is the train for the airport! Train rattles your teeth out as it struggles across the Pennines
LNER trains on the premier line from the North - the East Coast Main Line - you have to drink your coffee before it spills it onto you laptop, the ride is so rough.
I know these are only single examples each time, but the overall impression that we must give travellers in the UK is of a lack of investment, a lack of care, a lack of interest. We took the car last time we drove to Manchester airport, it was easier, cheaper and more reliable.
The difference is that France is proud of its trains, it invests in them and they work. In UK, the trains are run by profiteers who see customers as gullible idiots to be treated as such.
By the time the train left, corridor was full to overflowing with luggage (what do you expect? We were all coming off holiday). Conductor just looked and didn't even give a Gallic shrug. Okay, so evacuation would be difficult in an emergency, but people have luggage, if trains aren't designed for it, what can you do?
Train left smoothly and I read my book and fell asleep. Conductor came through, I looked up. "Bonjour." she said with a smile. Later came to check the tickets.
Forty five minutes in, the train slide to a halt. We wait five minutes, an announcement in French that there was a technical fault (and went on long enough to probably be explaining her life history). Then the conductor repeated a summary in English. "Sorry for the delay." she ended. When we finally set off again, and explanation in French and English that we were twenty seven minutes late, with an apology again. Later, she came on (only in French this time) with explanations on what this would mean to connections from all the Paris stations. She kept us updated as the train ran smooth and jolt free and lulled me back to sleep. After a couple of hours, I went to the cafe bar and bought another coffee where the steward joked (in English) with me about how his colleague was 'very messy woman, ho ho'. Another customer bought a ticket for the metro.
Admittedly a five hour journey, but we made the time up and arrived on time. The cost BTW - was Business Premier was half what a discounted fair with a rail card would be to go less than half the distance in UK.
Eurostar was nearly as good except that French Passport Control had hundreds of people queueing for the 'all passports' kiosk and three for the EU passports (which included CH and Norway, but not UK of course).
St Pancras - queues, chaos and no information, followed by standing room only on a train I was booked on; with announcements in English (only, of course) that we were leaving ten minutes late, which meant that by Leicester we were twenty minutes late, and by Sheffield we were twenty seven minutes late - so SNCF starts out 27 minutes late and made the time up and UK leaves 10 minutes late and ends up 27 minutes late. The reason given was something like 'delayed due to delays on the network'. I translated to an Italian that she would miss her connection. I found the next possible connection train for her. No help from conductor, no suggestions, just 'we apologise for the inconvenience' - which is now a euphemism for 'we couldn't give a *&^%'. Train rattles and bashes along.
Earlier experience of York - 5:10am, train to Manchester Airport is sitting there, we are standing in the cold for twenty minutes until the doors are opened to let us get on. No food or drink available as the first train doesn't have catering (people don't like coffee at 5am I assume).
Similar experience at York on airport train: lots of people going on holiday "You can't put the luggage there." "Well, the luggage rack is too small, where should we put it?" "Don't know but you can't block the aisles, can't block the doors." Can't, can't, can't - this is the train for the airport! Train rattles your teeth out as it struggles across the Pennines
LNER trains on the premier line from the North - the East Coast Main Line - you have to drink your coffee before it spills it onto you laptop, the ride is so rough.
I know these are only single examples each time, but the overall impression that we must give travellers in the UK is of a lack of investment, a lack of care, a lack of interest. We took the car last time we drove to Manchester airport, it was easier, cheaper and more reliable.
The difference is that France is proud of its trains, it invests in them and they work. In UK, the trains are run by profiteers who see customers as gullible idiots to be treated as such.
