OK Chiltern, why don't you publicise the Business Zone?

Declaration of Interest: the basic fares for today's journeys were covered by a Chitern Railways' Free Travel Pass. I paid for the Business Zone supplements on the 0655, 0837, and 1807 journeys, and for the food consumed...

In today's Rail magazine, Barry Doe lambasts Chiltern for the marketing effort put into the Business Zone, and more generally for the timetable publicity published for Chiltern Mainline. Seeing this article on Saturday, and having a personal reason to be travelling to / from Banbury over lunchtime, I decided that it was about time that I experienced Chiltern Mainline 'for real'...

The 0655 Silver train set was sitting in Platform 3 as I arrived in Moor Street at 0645; not that the main concourse departure board was showing it, though the one beyond the barriers was. No barrier staff and no announcement, either on the station or on the train prior to departure. Clearly, Chiltern staff are like the rest of us: slow to get going in the morning!

I had taken the trouble to buy my supplement the day before at the Moor Street ticket office and so expected to find my seat reserved. Alas not as no reservation tickets were in evidence. Not that this really mattered as there were two of us in the Business Zone upon departure... (a further person joined at Solihull, and 5 more at Warwick Parkway).

First pleasant surprise of the day: free tea / coffee offered on departure, along with a copy of the Birmingham Mail or Financial Times. So much for the 'no extras' policy - though of course Chiltern publicity hasn't caught up with this change. Bacon Roll at £3 was tasty and, as promised, freshly made, and, of course, the tea comes in a pot with real milk and large cups.

Working power points and free working wi-fi along with plenty of space made it an ideal laptop working environment; and, as ever, the Chiltern staff were a delight - a refill of the tea pot was no problem (Virgin Trains please note).

Minor niggles... why did the magazine rack have out-of-date Economists? And did I really hear the Train Manager refer to the Business Zone as First Class???

Straight back on the 0837 which was formed of the Silver Set which had worked the 0619 up from Moor Street. This time there were 8 of us taking advantage of the £10 supplementary fare (what a bargain Marylebone - Moor Street is at £45 Business Zone return - pity the timings aren't business friendly, and, of
course, the services terminate and start from Moor Street, not the Birmingham Business District station of Snow Hill).

Another friendly business zone host and attentive service. Sausage roll at £3 was enjoyable too. As above, working wi-fi and power points meant that the Zone was a hive of purposeful activity...

Time to stretch my legs at Moor Street before rejoining the set which was working back as the 1055. No supplement on this service as officially it doesn't have a business zone, but the on board catering crew still came round to see if anything was needed. Had to pay for my coffee! Very quiet however as of course most Chiltern Railway passengers think 'standard class' and Chiltern don't really explain when BZ carriages aren't (as it were). Point to Barry here...

Off at Banbury. All three journeys roughly to time though the 0655 did suffer an emergency brake application outside High Wycombe, and the 1055 lost time at Warwick Parkway due to signalling problems. Did I mention that the toilet was spotless?

To be continued