LondonMidland has relaunched the Rail Sale for the period Monday 9 April to Thursday 31 May (booking now open through to Monday 7 May). Included in the Sale is the purchase of Advance First Class tickets on LondonMidland routes...
Using a journey that I need to make at peak time on Monday 16th April, let's compare the prices for advance tickets for the three train operating companies running services between Birmingham and London.
LondonMidland £28.80 advance first class return - 0653 out / 1813 return
Facilities: compartment with table seating and power points; reclining seats; curtains
Lacks: WiFi, refreshments, newspaper, First Class lounges, Quiet Coach
Disadvantages: Only one service per hour peak time; journey time of 2hrs 17mins out / 2hrs 4mins back
Possible drawback: First Class compartment might get crowded both ways (only 24 seats at which 8 at the tables)
Chiltern Railways £110 advance standard class return (incl Business Zone supplements) - 0655 out / 1807 return
Facilities: table seating with power points; reclining seats; curtains; WiFi; complimentary tea / coffee; complimentary Financial Times
Lacks: complimentary meals, First Class lounges, Quiet Coach
Disadvantages: Only two services out at peak time and two back at evening peak; journey time of 90 mins out and 93 mins back
Possible drawback: WiFi has been unreliable of late
Virgin Trains £188 advance first class return - 0710 out / 1803 return
Facilities: table seating with power points; reclining seats; curtains; WiFi; complimentary meals; complimentary Financial Times / Independent; Quiet Coach; First Class lounges
Lacks:
Disadvantages:
Possible drawback:
Clearly, Virgin offer SPEED, FREQUENCY, and the COMPLETE business package but the company will charge over 6 times the fare of its cheapest competitor for these advantages. Will business travellers vote with their wallet or with their desire to be looked after???
Thursday 29 March 2012
Chiltern Railways: (many) pleasures, (occasional) surprises, and (some) disappointments
On Tuesday, my meetings allowed me to use my favourite train for travelling from Birmingham to London: the 1055 'Silver Bullet' Chiltern Mainline service between Birmingham Moor Street and London Marylebone...
This service brings together the many pleasures that are to be had in travelling with Chiltern Railways. First, of course, is the fare: £25 super off-peak return if you are able to return in the evening (or weekend) or £50 off-peak return if you need to return over the tea-time peak. Secondly, you are travelling in a 'proper' train (loco hauled carriages), the Standard Class comfort of which is better than the First Class offering of a certain very expensive company also operating between Birmingham and London. Thirdly, tables, power points, and WiFi are all included in the price, and the Expresso Bar offers value for money refreshments during the journey.
So what was the surprise on Tuesday? Well, a couple of weeks ago, Chiltern's management reduced the price of the Business Zone on 'peak' services from £20 to £10 but said that this supplement was now payable on all Business Zone trains. So, naturally, I was expecting to pay £10 to sit in the Business Zone carriage of the 1055 and being served by a 'dedicated' host. However, it would appear that Chiltern have backtracked: although the £10 supplement offer remains, it is NOT being applied to the 1055 service nor to the 1337 balancing working.
So a pleasant surprise, made even better by the fact that Chiltern catering staff are such good ambassadors for the company that they will serve 'Business Zone' carriage passengers at their seat anyway! Have I mentioned before that the Bacon Roll / Drink combination is wonderful value at £3.50???
Onto the disappointments (regular readers will know what is coming)... the problem that Chiltern has as a Birmingham to London service provider is that of the London commuter traffic. Thus, although one feels wanted as a passenger leaving Birmingham in the morning (peak, off-peak, or super off-peak), one does not get that feeling in the evening when Marylebone is a sea of commuters and Chiltern revert to being a commuter-driven railway.
Tuesday was classic. The 1915, which takes an eye-watering 105 mins to stagger to Moor Street, was crowded to standing on departure. BUT, of course, much of this crowding is caused by commuters to Bicester and Banbury. Chiltern tell me that the service pattern and loading is dictated by the Public Service Requirement; even so, there must be some things such as differential pricing or the fabled 'pick-up' only timetable note that could be done to make early evening travel back to Birmingham more attractive.
On the Clubman itself, I did get a table once the driver opened the doors for the scrum of passengers which had formed but, although the power point was working, the WiFi was not. Sympathy from the Twitter team @chilternrailway but it would be more helpful if Icomera, the company behind the WiFi provision, stopped hiding behind the 0845 support number (which is horrendously expensive from a mobile) and used Twitter instead!
Overall, I love using Chiltern but the company need to do more if it is to be a serious competitor to the West Coast Mainline alternative.
This service brings together the many pleasures that are to be had in travelling with Chiltern Railways. First, of course, is the fare: £25 super off-peak return if you are able to return in the evening (or weekend) or £50 off-peak return if you need to return over the tea-time peak. Secondly, you are travelling in a 'proper' train (loco hauled carriages), the Standard Class comfort of which is better than the First Class offering of a certain very expensive company also operating between Birmingham and London. Thirdly, tables, power points, and WiFi are all included in the price, and the Expresso Bar offers value for money refreshments during the journey.
So what was the surprise on Tuesday? Well, a couple of weeks ago, Chiltern's management reduced the price of the Business Zone on 'peak' services from £20 to £10 but said that this supplement was now payable on all Business Zone trains. So, naturally, I was expecting to pay £10 to sit in the Business Zone carriage of the 1055 and being served by a 'dedicated' host. However, it would appear that Chiltern have backtracked: although the £10 supplement offer remains, it is NOT being applied to the 1055 service nor to the 1337 balancing working.
So a pleasant surprise, made even better by the fact that Chiltern catering staff are such good ambassadors for the company that they will serve 'Business Zone' carriage passengers at their seat anyway! Have I mentioned before that the Bacon Roll / Drink combination is wonderful value at £3.50???
Onto the disappointments (regular readers will know what is coming)... the problem that Chiltern has as a Birmingham to London service provider is that of the London commuter traffic. Thus, although one feels wanted as a passenger leaving Birmingham in the morning (peak, off-peak, or super off-peak), one does not get that feeling in the evening when Marylebone is a sea of commuters and Chiltern revert to being a commuter-driven railway.
Tuesday was classic. The 1915, which takes an eye-watering 105 mins to stagger to Moor Street, was crowded to standing on departure. BUT, of course, much of this crowding is caused by commuters to Bicester and Banbury. Chiltern tell me that the service pattern and loading is dictated by the Public Service Requirement; even so, there must be some things such as differential pricing or the fabled 'pick-up' only timetable note that could be done to make early evening travel back to Birmingham more attractive.
On the Clubman itself, I did get a table once the driver opened the doors for the scrum of passengers which had formed but, although the power point was working, the WiFi was not. Sympathy from the Twitter team @chilternrailway but it would be more helpful if Icomera, the company behind the WiFi provision, stopped hiding behind the 0845 support number (which is horrendously expensive from a mobile) and used Twitter instead!
Overall, I love using Chiltern but the company need to do more if it is to be a serious competitor to the West Coast Mainline alternative.
Sunday 25 March 2012
Birmingham New Street Saturday - it's the little things that irritate
Yesterday, I enjoyed a trip to sun-drenched Oxford using CrossCountry Trains... services on time, not too crowded, and staff friendly and interacting with the passengers. Even got to fill in the Passenger Focus survey on attitudes to engineering work - wonder if Network Rail will listen?
Of course, not everything was perfect. The CrossCountry priced through fare is £33 BUT splitting the fare at Banbury reduces this to £23. Not that you would be told this when booking unless you asked specifically. WHEN will this rip-off be tackled?
However, in terms of the focus of this blog, my irritation is the mess that is passenger information at Birmingham New Street. Yesterday was a classic case. According to the main concourse departure boards, the 9.33 was running on time and would depart from Platform 9a. Down on the platform, alas, a LondonMidland service to Rugeley - due out at 939 - had apparently tripped the display so that the screens on there were showing this service rather than the preceding CrossCountry...
Of course the Network Rail platform staff had retreated to the platform office so ten minutes of confusion and consternation ensued as passengers milled around wondering what was going on. In the end, the CrossCountry turned up and departed on time. Passenger information is not rocket science BUT time after time I find that the Network Rail-run New Street fails to deliver. Perhaps its about time that the three TOCs got their act together and took over passenger information and platform staffing from Network Rail...
The only positive from the experience was the fact that at least the @LondonMidland twitter team take an interest in such reports and do their best to respond. Just wish the Network Rail station management team were as proactive.
Of course, not everything was perfect. The CrossCountry priced through fare is £33 BUT splitting the fare at Banbury reduces this to £23. Not that you would be told this when booking unless you asked specifically. WHEN will this rip-off be tackled?
However, in terms of the focus of this blog, my irritation is the mess that is passenger information at Birmingham New Street. Yesterday was a classic case. According to the main concourse departure boards, the 9.33 was running on time and would depart from Platform 9a. Down on the platform, alas, a LondonMidland service to Rugeley - due out at 939 - had apparently tripped the display so that the screens on there were showing this service rather than the preceding CrossCountry...
Of course the Network Rail platform staff had retreated to the platform office so ten minutes of confusion and consternation ensued as passengers milled around wondering what was going on. In the end, the CrossCountry turned up and departed on time. Passenger information is not rocket science BUT time after time I find that the Network Rail-run New Street fails to deliver. Perhaps its about time that the three TOCs got their act together and took over passenger information and platform staffing from Network Rail...
The only positive from the experience was the fact that at least the @LondonMidland twitter team take an interest in such reports and do their best to respond. Just wish the Network Rail station management team were as proactive.
Friday 16 March 2012
Chiltern Railways Peak travel
Declaration of interest: Tuesday's journeys were undertaken using a Chiltern Railways Mainline VIP Travel Pass
The 0655 Silver Train service from Birmingham Moor Street is one of Chiltern's flagship 90 minute Mainline
services to London Marylebone (a timing achieved by stopping only at Solihull and Warwick Parkway). The Silver Trains use the former Wrexham & Shropshire loco-hauled carriage sets, with the former First Class carriages being designated Business Zones.
For a promotional period, Chiltern have reduced the supplement payable to use the Zone at peak times from £20 to £10. For this sum, the traveler gets wider seats, more legroom, a complimentary Financial Times, and complimentary tea / coffee served to the seat. Also offered as part of the at-seat service is a selection of snacks including the Twitter famed #maryleroll (bacon or sausage baps) for which one is meant to pay...
In addition, Business Zone, as in Standard Class, offers full power point provision at all seats and access to Free WiFi. Alas, on Tuesday, the WiFi refused to start up despite the efforts of the on-board crew but it did seem to lead to the charge for the bacon roll being waived...
Timing on the approach to Marylebone is very tight, so although the Silver Train passed other Chiltern services at Leamington Spa, Princes Risborough, and West Ruislip as planned, it still drew into the platform 5 minutes late. An 0830 arrival is fine but it is 95 not 90 minutes...
Tuesday evening saw a full array of Chiltern Managers on duty for the Meet the Manager session. Even at 630 they were still smiling... feedback from the session will be on the Chiltern Railways' Meet the Manager page in the near future. My key takeaway was the effort that is being made with Icomera to make the Silver Trains WiFi reliable!
The 1840 return to Birmingham is a Chiltern Peak service so in theory shouldn't be too busy. The trouble is that the train has first stop Bicester... not only does this make the journey time to Moor Street 107 minutes but it also skews the loading as naturally Bicester commuters prefer this service to the slower 1844. On Tuesday, the train was virtually full to standing until Bicester then relatively quiet for the rest of the journey.
Alas, Chiltern's May timetable changes won't help: the 1840 becomes the 1837 but with the stop at Bicester (and Warwick) retained, the journey time actually worsens to 110 minutes. Come on, Chiltern - your peak business flow to Birmingham surely doesn't end with the 1807.
Leaving aside the Bicester irritation, the Clubman was fine: power points and WiFi working at the table, and an on-time run (though the timings are very generous). Nonetheless, I wouldn't want to be paying £85 for the privilege of using this service
The 0655 Silver Train service from Birmingham Moor Street is one of Chiltern's flagship 90 minute Mainline
services to London Marylebone (a timing achieved by stopping only at Solihull and Warwick Parkway). The Silver Trains use the former Wrexham & Shropshire loco-hauled carriage sets, with the former First Class carriages being designated Business Zones.
For a promotional period, Chiltern have reduced the supplement payable to use the Zone at peak times from £20 to £10. For this sum, the traveler gets wider seats, more legroom, a complimentary Financial Times, and complimentary tea / coffee served to the seat. Also offered as part of the at-seat service is a selection of snacks including the Twitter famed #maryleroll (bacon or sausage baps) for which one is meant to pay...
In addition, Business Zone, as in Standard Class, offers full power point provision at all seats and access to Free WiFi. Alas, on Tuesday, the WiFi refused to start up despite the efforts of the on-board crew but it did seem to lead to the charge for the bacon roll being waived...
Timing on the approach to Marylebone is very tight, so although the Silver Train passed other Chiltern services at Leamington Spa, Princes Risborough, and West Ruislip as planned, it still drew into the platform 5 minutes late. An 0830 arrival is fine but it is 95 not 90 minutes...
Tuesday evening saw a full array of Chiltern Managers on duty for the Meet the Manager session. Even at 630 they were still smiling... feedback from the session will be on the Chiltern Railways' Meet the Manager page in the near future. My key takeaway was the effort that is being made with Icomera to make the Silver Trains WiFi reliable!
The 1840 return to Birmingham is a Chiltern Peak service so in theory shouldn't be too busy. The trouble is that the train has first stop Bicester... not only does this make the journey time to Moor Street 107 minutes but it also skews the loading as naturally Bicester commuters prefer this service to the slower 1844. On Tuesday, the train was virtually full to standing until Bicester then relatively quiet for the rest of the journey.
Alas, Chiltern's May timetable changes won't help: the 1840 becomes the 1837 but with the stop at Bicester (and Warwick) retained, the journey time actually worsens to 110 minutes. Come on, Chiltern - your peak business flow to Birmingham surely doesn't end with the 1807.
Leaving aside the Bicester irritation, the Clubman was fine: power points and WiFi working at the table, and an on-time run (though the timings are very generous). Nonetheless, I wouldn't want to be paying £85 for the privilege of using this service
Monday 12 March 2012
Chiltern Railways update (again!)
Business Zone
Chiltern has extended its Business Zone offering to all four Silver Train services to / from Birmingham Moor Street and London Marylebone (see http://www.chilternrailways.co.uk/content/business-zone) For a 'promotional period', the Business Zone Supplement will be £10 per journey. DO NOT buy the £115 package ticket whilst this promotion is in place as you will be paying £10 more than you need to...
May 2012 Timetable Changes
Introductory letter from Graham Cross (Business Development Manager) http://www.chilternrailways.co.uk/sites/default/files/01_0%20CRCL%20May%2012%20Timetable%20Introduction%20Public.pdf
Published timetable http://www.chilternrailways.co.uk/sites/default/files/02_1%20Joint%20line%20[SX]%20May%202012%20timetable.pdf
Key changes Birmingham to London
1555 Birmingham Moor Street to London Marylebone, calls additionally at Haddenham & Thame Parkway at 1707 and ceases to call at High Wycombe
The 1710 Birmingham Snow Hill to London Marylebone slow train is broken into two halves and becomes the 1710 Birmingham Moor Street to Leamington Spa and the 1813 Banbury to London Marylebone (This will improve punctuality).
The 2042 Birmingham Moor Street to London Marylebone will leave at 2037 and call additionally at
Hatton and Lapworth
The following popular Saturday trains will have extra vehicles added:
o 0815 Birmingham Moor Street-Marylebone (formerly 0812 Birmingham Snow HillMarylebone)
o 0714 Kidderminster-Marylebone
o 0813 Kidderminster-Marylebone
o 0912 Birmingham Snow Hill – Marylebone will have two extra vehicles
Key Changes London to Birmingham
The popular 1507 from London Marylebone to Birmingham Snow Hill will be lengthened
from 3 cars to 4
The 1737 London Marylebone to Birmingham Snow Hill will call additionally at Haddenham
The 1840 London Marylebone to Birmingham Snow Hill will depart 3 minutes earlier at
1837
The busy 1915 London Marylebone to Birmingham Snow Hill will be lengthened from 4
cars to 7 on a Friday night
The busy 1937 London Marylebone to Birmingham Snow Hill will be lengthened from 3
cars to 4 every weekday evening
The 2107 London Marylebone to Birmingham Moor Street calls additionally at Hatton (2242) and Lapworth (2248)
Tweet the Manager
Bevis Thomas (Head of Train Planning) was in the firing line today... http://twitter.com/#!/search/realtime/%23ttmbev
Chiltern has extended its Business Zone offering to all four Silver Train services to / from Birmingham Moor Street and London Marylebone (see http://www.chilternrailways.co.uk/content/business-zone) For a 'promotional period', the Business Zone Supplement will be £10 per journey. DO NOT buy the £115 package ticket whilst this promotion is in place as you will be paying £10 more than you need to...
May 2012 Timetable Changes
Introductory letter from Graham Cross (Business Development Manager) http://www.chilternrailways.co.uk/sites/default/files/01_0%20CRCL%20May%2012%20Timetable%20Introduction%20Public.pdf
Published timetable http://www.chilternrailways.co.uk/sites/default/files/02_1%20Joint%20line%20[SX]%20May%202012%20timetable.pdf
Key changes Birmingham to London
1555 Birmingham Moor Street to London Marylebone, calls additionally at Haddenham & Thame Parkway at 1707 and ceases to call at High Wycombe
The 1710 Birmingham Snow Hill to London Marylebone slow train is broken into two halves and becomes the 1710 Birmingham Moor Street to Leamington Spa and the 1813 Banbury to London Marylebone (This will improve punctuality).
The 2042 Birmingham Moor Street to London Marylebone will leave at 2037 and call additionally at
Hatton and Lapworth
The following popular Saturday trains will have extra vehicles added:
o 0815 Birmingham Moor Street-Marylebone (formerly 0812 Birmingham Snow HillMarylebone)
o 0714 Kidderminster-Marylebone
o 0813 Kidderminster-Marylebone
o 0912 Birmingham Snow Hill – Marylebone will have two extra vehicles
Key Changes London to Birmingham
The popular 1507 from London Marylebone to Birmingham Snow Hill will be lengthened
from 3 cars to 4
The 1737 London Marylebone to Birmingham Snow Hill will call additionally at Haddenham
The 1840 London Marylebone to Birmingham Snow Hill will depart 3 minutes earlier at
1837
The busy 1915 London Marylebone to Birmingham Snow Hill will be lengthened from 4
cars to 7 on a Friday night
The busy 1937 London Marylebone to Birmingham Snow Hill will be lengthened from 3
cars to 4 every weekday evening
The 2107 London Marylebone to Birmingham Moor Street calls additionally at Hatton (2242) and Lapworth (2248)
Tweet the Manager
Bevis Thomas (Head of Train Planning) was in the firing line today... http://twitter.com/#!/search/realtime/%23ttmbev
Thursday 8 March 2012
Travelling Chiltern Railways super off-peak
The Spring 2012 issue of the Colmore Business District digest suggests that the £85 Anytime Return fare between Birmingham Moor Street and London Marylebone offers significant savings over the fares on the Euston route. Whilst certainly true, even better savings are to be had by travelling Super Off-peak on the Chiltern services. Those of us whose work takes us to London for lunchtime / afternoon meetings know that you can't do better than the £25 fare using the declassified business zone on the 10.55 Silver train to Marylebone.
Yesterday's trip was typical of the value you get from Chiltern. Lots of space in which to work, friendly staff, and a reasonable journey time. The experience was enhanced by working power points (hooray), a free copy of the Financial Times, and the sausage bap / coffee combo from the Expresso Bar at the very good price of £3.50
Coming back to Birmingham on the 1537 Clubman wasn't quite as comfortable though a table with working power points was to be had. The main problem that Chiltern have with their value proposition is that timings after Banbury are held back by station stops off-peak: 96 minutes to Moor Street once an hour without catering doesn't really compete with Virgin's Very High Frequency timetable.
Another problem that Chiltern seem to be having at present is poor WiFi connectivity. Yesterday, I got no connection on the 1055 or the 1537 and I see from Twitter that other users suffered too (although @alexcburrows tweeted that he had gained a connection on the 1055). Hope to hear from Chiltern or Icomera on why problems are occurring...
Yesterday's trip was typical of the value you get from Chiltern. Lots of space in which to work, friendly staff, and a reasonable journey time. The experience was enhanced by working power points (hooray), a free copy of the Financial Times, and the sausage bap / coffee combo from the Expresso Bar at the very good price of £3.50
Coming back to Birmingham on the 1537 Clubman wasn't quite as comfortable though a table with working power points was to be had. The main problem that Chiltern have with their value proposition is that timings after Banbury are held back by station stops off-peak: 96 minutes to Moor Street once an hour without catering doesn't really compete with Virgin's Very High Frequency timetable.
Another problem that Chiltern seem to be having at present is poor WiFi connectivity. Yesterday, I got no connection on the 1055 or the 1537 and I see from Twitter that other users suffered too (although @alexcburrows tweeted that he had gained a connection on the 1055). Hope to hear from Chiltern or Icomera on why problems are occurring...
Chiltern Railways Update
onboard
The Spring issue of the Chiltern newsletter has been published and can be downloaded as a PDF
Tweet the Manager
Two sessions coming up:
Monday 12th March 0830-0930: Thomas Abelman (Commercial Director) #ttmtom
Wednesday 21 March 0830-0930: Rob Brighouse (MD) #ttmrob
Meet the Manager
At Marylebone Tuesday 13th March 1600-1900
Birmingham Workshops
The Spring 2012 edition of the Colmore Business District Digest has an invitation from John Davidson (Business Relationship Manager) to register for workshops in 2012 on the Mainline service and on the cost of travel...
In the supporting article, Chiltern claims a 65% growth in the Birmingham to London market since the launch of Mainline.
ORB research on business travel
This week's Rail magazine carries a press release from Chiltern on research into business travel that the company commissioned from ORB (opinion research business). A fuller version can be found on TransportExtra; a rather jaundiced reworking of it by the Harrow Times can be found here
The Spring issue of the Chiltern newsletter has been published and can be downloaded as a PDF
Tweet the Manager
Two sessions coming up:
Monday 12th March 0830-0930: Thomas Abelman (Commercial Director) #ttmtom
Wednesday 21 March 0830-0930: Rob Brighouse (MD) #ttmrob
Meet the Manager
At Marylebone Tuesday 13th March 1600-1900
Birmingham Workshops
The Spring 2012 edition of the Colmore Business District Digest has an invitation from John Davidson (Business Relationship Manager) to register for workshops in 2012 on the Mainline service and on the cost of travel...
In the supporting article, Chiltern claims a 65% growth in the Birmingham to London market since the launch of Mainline.
ORB research on business travel
This week's Rail magazine carries a press release from Chiltern on research into business travel that the company commissioned from ORB (opinion research business). A fuller version can be found on TransportExtra; a rather jaundiced reworking of it by the Harrow Times can be found here
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