Lunchtime / afternoon event in London on Wednesday offered a chance to use Chiltern's Super Off-peak fare from Birmingham - £25 walk-on. Alas, on arrival at Moor Street for the 0955, I found that the disruption of the morning peak caused by a fallen tree meant a delay in departure of at least an hour. However, Virgin Trains were accepting Chiltern tickets I was told...
Got to New Street in time to join the 950 Virgin departure: a packed two set Super Voyager. However, the Virgin staff were adamant that Chiltern 'refugees' should leave at Birmingham International and wait for the following 1010 Pendolino as the 950 is a 'peak' service. Customer care is never a Virgin strong point in Standard Class but for once the 'jobsworth' attitude did me a favour as the Pendolino had table seats available in Quiet Coach 'A'.
Of course, when one's mindset is geared to working on a Clubman, the Standard Class of a Pendolino is rather a shock. Cramped, claustrophobic, lacking tables and power points, and you have to pay for WiFi (£4 for an hour)! Still, I did get to a table and power point, and the WiFi did work once I had paid up.
The journey itself was fine, though I was amused by the announcement from the Shop stewardess as we sped through Milton Keynes that we were nearing London Euston. What she meant of course is that she was shutting up shop at Watford Junction!
One advantage of an arrival at London Euston is the chance for a Fairtrade Coffee and organic refreshments at the Friends Meeting House on the opposite side of Euston Road. Great conference venue too...
Coming back with Chiltern meant of course facing up to the dreaded 1915 departure from London Marylebone - on Wednesday made worse by the earlier disruption meaning it was a 3 carriage rather than 4 carriage train. The secret to getting a seat is to be on the concourse by 7pm at the latest and then walking rapidly to the train on announcement...
As ever, the 1915 left packed, and, as ever, emptied the standees at Bicester North. Bevis Thomas, Head of Train Planning, will be on Chiltern's Tweet the Manager on Wednesday 2nd May (8am-10am #ttmbev) so at least there is an opportunity to challenge Chiltern on their train planning with regard to the early evening super off-peak services!
Apart from the overcrowding, a further issue is the lack of checks that WiFi is working on departure from Marylebone. As the trains are driver-only until Banbury, there is noone to reset the WiFi until that point of the journey. Come on Chiltern, you can do better than this.
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