LondonMidland once more

Although my preferred fare between Birmingham and London is the £25 Super Off-Peak from Chiltern Railways, the block on travel from London Marylebone between 4pm and 7pm for this fare does mean that other options are worth exploring.

Until the end of the month, LondonMidland are offering a 25% discount on First and Standard Advance fares for returning users of their online booking system. As my day in London yesterday was well defined in terms of timing, I was able to use the discount to travel south for £12 First Class on the 0913 from Birmingham New Street, and to return on the 18.13 from London Euston for £13.15 First Class

As I have blogged before, the LondonMidland Desiro EMUs make superb travelling offices for project work as the ride is good and the First Class compartments tend to be quiet. Of course there are no refreshments nor WiFi... Yesterday's 9.13 service started off with four passengers in the First Class compartment and ended up with around 16 as there seems to be an off-peak First Class market south of Northampton. Coming back, there were six of us in the First Class compartment of the Birmingham portion of the train. Journey times of 2hr 14mins out and 2 hrs 4 mins back were adhered to.

Interestingly, LondonMidland train managers were very much in evidence on the journey south both before and after Northampton. However, on the journey back, a train manager didn't make it to the front portion of the 12 coach train by Northampton, though one did do a sweep through the onward 4 carriage set after that stop. As there are no barrier checks for the 18.13 at Euston (it starts from Platform 18), one wonders at the apparent LondonMidland policy to be pro-active in the morning and less so in the evening....