What Now For East Coast?

[tbtc]

Interest that the post above states virgin have improved stations. I didn't use them much before privatisation but Warrington bank quay and Carlisle don't seem to be that hot

I think Homebase have done more to improve Carlisle station than Virgin
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regarding Midland Mainline i just meant one company apart if stagecoach was to run east coast from london to yorkshire sheffield, doncaster, wakefield, leeds, Bradford, Skipton and york stagecoach would be the only company operating services so if you wanted to travel from london to yorkshire travel stagecoach, bit like virgin and east coast between scotland and london

Apart from Grand Central and Hull Trains running from London to certain Yorkshire stations, you mean?

Nobody has a problem with Virgin running all services from London to Lancashire

 

[Hobbo]

Virgin Trains Manages/Operates 17 stations and is improving all parking at all 17 stations and improvements over the whole network - can i suggest u look at this

Rugby - in 2008 work was completed to give Rugby 3 new platforms and a new ticket office and entrance
Stoke-On-Trent - Newly Refurbished Waiting Room and one of the platforms was lengthend
Macclesfield - New Roofing and Canopy, a improved footbridge
Stockport - the new platform 0 now in full operation in 2008
Stafford - in 2007 the visual display Units were upgraded/ more car parking for passegengers set to be finished by end of year
Wolverhampton - new through platform in 2004, new footbridge
Warrington Bank Quay - New Entrance Hall with ticket office and newsagent
Preston - Passenger screens improved
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no i mean if stagecoach won east coast stagecoach would be only opertor serving from london to yorkshire because east coast operate to yorkshire from london to bradford, Shipley, Keighley and skipton once a day each way and to leeds wakefield and doncaster every half hour

 

[tbtc]

IZE="1"]i mean if stagecoach won east coast stagecoach would be only opertor serving from london to yorkshire because east coast operate to yorkshire from london to bradford, Shipley, Keighley and skipton once a day each way and to leeds wakefield and doncaster every half hour

...but they wouldn't be the only operator running from London to Bradford/ Wakefield/ Doncaster, would they?

Plus, I hardly think the "once a day" Skipton to London train is a monopoly worth worrying about when there's only one operator running Manchester to London, one operator running Sheffield to London and one operator running Cardiff to London. No offence to Skipton, but... :roll:

 

[Failed Unit]

Don't believe the virgin trains spin machine. Spin is something virgin do well. Have look at the report for the stations champions published in November. Manchester victoria was the worse (northern). Virgin had the following Crewe, Warrington, Wigan North Western, Stockport and Preston. Out of the top ten 5 of the worse were managed by virgin. Out of 17 stations virgin manage 5 are poor that is terrible for an IC franchise. Wasn't Rugby and Stockport all network rail money. I have used Warrington many times to change trains and if Virgin have invested what was it like under BR. Last time I was there for a 40 min connection there was no refreshments on the station and no working toilets in the entire station. Not good.

I admit that places like Newark and Peterborough are not mecas either but the independent report didn't single them out.

As for monopolies. Rail will always have competition. Cars, buses and planes for example. How do you travel from Cardiff - Bristol without using great western? Maybe London - ashford without using govia? These are large flows as well!

 

[Hobbo]

i can hardly see how grand central/northern/Union operating 3 trains a day each way is gonna even affect who ever the east coast operator i admit grand central may get small revenue from Halifax, Pontefract and Brighouse and really who is gonna travel to Wakefield Kirkgate (one of the worst stations in united kingdom in my opinion) to travel to the same station (London Kings Cross) when there are about 60 trains a day to/from London Kings Cross from Wakefield Westgate (Weekdays) on the franchised east coast route. i would also like to see what time the morning train to kings cross will be as east coast operate one at 6:30am from Bradford F Square i wonder if it will be around same time and if people will travel on grand central/northern/Union service from bradford interchange calling at Halifax, Brighouse, Wakefield Kirkgate, Pontefract Monkhill and Doncaster to LKX when East Coast Operate a service calling at Shipley, Leeds, Wakefield Westgate and Doncaster to LKX but we will see

 

[David]

when there are about 60 trains a day to/from London Kings Cross from Wakefield Westgate (Weekdays) on the franchised east coast route.

:?

So, between 0600 and 2100, I work that out at 4 trains an hour from Wakefield Westgate to London. Someone is spouting bull**** me thinks .....

 

[Failed Unit]

The old toc press release trick. 60 trains between London and Wakefield sounds better than 30 northbound and 30 southbound. Just like Grand Central run 8 per day between London and Sunderland or 6 between London and Bradford.

 

[Hobbo]

yes a half hourly train service between wakefield and london kings cross at 17 and 52 the hour 2 southbound and 2 northbound at 36 and 17 not just to london to/from london and the first train to london is at 0517 at wakefield and last one at 2040 and first one to leeds/wakefield is 0810 and last one at 2342 and there is 30 northbound and 30 southbound which makes 60 in total at this moment grand central are only a year late starting running services

 

[Pumbaa]

Don't suppose it would hurt to use a little punctuation would it? I gave up reading your post - half because I ran out of breath, and half because it's probably just as [incorrect] as the rest of them you've made above.

 

[eddygrim]

if virgin are so great why havent they done up crewe on of the worst condition stations in the UK???

 

[Hobbo]

Don't suppose it would hurt to use a little punctuation would it? I gave up reading your post - half because I ran out of breath, and half because it's probably just as [incorrect] as the rest of them you've made above.

This is Your Opinion, and i respect that but try not to be so rude to people that are sharing there personal views on railway matters
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if virgin are so great why havent they done up crewe on of the worst condition stations in the UK???

http://mediaroom.virgintrains.co.uk/2009/11/let-us-improve-our-stations-says-sir.html

 

[yorkie]

This is Your Opinion, and i respect that but try not to be so rude to people that are sharing there personal views on railway matters

I have changed the word that could be seen as insulting, to 'incorrect'.

However please bear in mind that we do ask that people do make an effort to use good English. We don't expect everyone to be perfect, and of course everyone makes mistakes, but please do make an effort as it makes your posts so much easier to read and make sense of.

By the way, there is no such place as 'LKX'. If you'd like to use 3-letter station codes, please see http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/codes/ alternatively you can refer to stations by their name.

 

[Failed Unit]

This is Your Opinion, and i respect that but try not to be so rude to people that are sharing there personal views on railway matters
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http://mediaroom.virgintrains.co.uk/2009/11/let-us-improve-our-stations-says-sir.html

Mate you keep quoting Virgins press releases but surely these problems applied to GNER, national express and First Group. Virgins stations seem to be a lot worse than other IC operators. Why did they get so bad in the first place? Lincoln central now has an accessible bridge funded by network rail and national express. Virgin could have improved things in partner ship they chose not too. Newark northgate is not perfect but GNER did a lot so why could virgin do the same at warrington. You have yet to convince me virgin are major investors.

 

[Hobbo]

I have changed the word that could be seen as insulting, to 'incorrect'.

However please bear in mind that we do ask that people do make an effort to use good English. We don't expect everyone to be perfect, and of course everyone makes mistakes, but please do make an effort as it makes your posts so much easier to read and make sense of.

By the way, there is no such place as 'LKX'. If you'd like to use 3-letter station codes, please see http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/codes/ alternatively you can refer to stations by their name.

no offence, but all information i have put on this forum is from press releases, my own knowledge and public information. none of the information given is incorrect, it might not be agreed with, but rude language is not needed what ever the issue
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Mate you keep quoting Virgins press releases but surely these problems applied to GNER, national express and First Group. Virgins stations seem to be a lot worse than other IC operators. Why did they get so bad in the first place? Lincoln central now has an accessible bridge funded by network rail and national express. Virgin could have improved things in partner ship they chose not too. Newark northgate is not perfect but GNER did a lot so why could virgin do the same at warrington. You have yet to convince me virgin are major investors.

My (TOC) of all time is GNER not virgin. i also just think Virgin are doing ok punctuality and train running wise. But noticed you mention Warrington Bank Quay (WBQ), but what about (East Coast) Wakefield Westgate (WKF) not even a lift to get from and to platforms 1 and 2, and (Northern) Wakefield Kirkgate (WKK) well lets Not go there. Even further what about (London Midland) Bedford St Johns (BSJ). a number of stations need improvement.

 

[Failed Unit]

no offence, but all information i have put on this forum is from press releases, my own knowledge and public information. none of the information given is incorrect, it might not be agreed with, but rude language is not needed what ever the issue
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


My (TOC) of all time is GNER not virgin. i also just think Virgin are doing ok punctuality and train running wise. But noticed you mention Warrington Bank Quay (WBQ), but what about (East Coast) Wakefield Westgate (WKF) not even a lift to get from and to platforms 1 and 2, and (Northern) Wakefield Kirkgate (WKK) well lets Not go there. Even further what about (London Midland) Bedford St Johns (BSJ). a number of stations need improvement.

The reason I didn't mention Wakefield Westgate was because it wasn't in this report.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8363621.stm

I don't know why Wakefield Kirkgate, but I didn't write the report either. Take care what you believe about timekeeping, padding and lots of slack at the end always is good for performance. I have done many trips on Virgin, when they get a good run the arrive early at every station. When they are say 10 minutes late they seem to get later because they have lost thier path and can't recover as they are following slower trains. (This is true of many operators not just picking on Virgin, if the 0900 East Coast service leaves Waverley 10 minutes down it is often 30 late into Kings Cross due to the loss of its path and stopping at places like Dunbar following the XC service.)

 

[Hobbo]

yes its had to pick up your time when you got slower trains in front of you, what are your views on eureka timetable?

 

[tbtc]

no offence, but all information i have put on this forum is from press releases, my own knowledge and public information. none of the information given is incorrect, it might not be agreed with,

When you claim that Stagecoach running both the Midland Mainline and East Coast Mainline franchises they would be running all the services between Yorkshire and London, that is definitely going to be disagreed with

 

[90019]

no offence, but all information i have put on this forum is from press releases...

And of course, Virgin will happily rubbish themselves in their own press releases, won't they?

 

[starrymarkb]

Thats a shame. We should have 'ad those.

Would have been overkill TBH - Eurostars are very complex beasts - the French are reluctant to use them away from LGV Nord, they make TGVs look steam powered by comparison

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I'd disagree - having travelled a lot on both types, I've always found TGVs have a greater aceleration rate than a Eurostar. The TGV has a much higher power to weight ratio.

 

[starrymarkb]

That I know - what I meant was a TGV has Thyristor controled DC motors, much like a 319. A Eurostar has a 3 Phase Asynchronous setup, combined with all the redundancy and fireproofing that the channel tunnel requires.

Last thing SNCF want is a dead Eurostar being towed in to $ProvincialDepot in the back of beyond where the Fitters are more accustomed to basic units/bog standard TGVs. With LGV Nord they are at least near Le Landy!

 

[trainfanatic]

As the original poster of this thread, I'm amazed and gratified to see the range of subjects it has spawned. I guess that until the Government gets bedded in, the East Coast (franchise?) and who is in the running to operate it will continue to be subject to continued discussion.

I like the idea of VT or DB taking it over. There has been a lot of discussion re other operators, but methinks these are matters of personal preference.

As far as stations are concerned, most of those (with exceptions) are in a fit state. Personally, I would prefer to see the money spent on passenger comfort and service on trains, where, after all is said and done, is where passengers spend the bulk of their time!

 

[harz99]

As far as stations are concerned, most of those (with exceptions) are in a fit state. Personally, I would prefer to see the money spent on passenger comfort and service on trains, where, after all is said and done, is where passengers spend the bulk of their time!

Surely the condition of most stations is down to Network Rail and their predecessor Railtrack who are responsible for the fabric of the station, even though with a few exceptions they do not run them.

And if you wish "the money spent on passenger comfort and service on trains"; VT is the last company that should run the ECML services on those criteria!

I say split the franchise and give the Yorkshire services to MML or Grand Central; and the Anglo Scottish services to Scotrail with each train set having a Scottish end (north) and an English end (south) with the buffet area being British!