Chiltern Railways 90 min swansong - well, at least that was the idea...

So the Chiltern Railways Mainline 90 minute journey time adventure ends - no more will passengers on the (superb) Silver Sets be able to lay bets on what was today's reason for the journey time not actually being 90 minutes...

Yesterday was a classic Chiltern experience: great value fares, comfortable stock, friendly visible (Virgin Trains take note) on-board staff... and of course neither the 0655 up to London nor the 1807 return to Birmingham keeping to time...

Going up to London, the delay was caused by a failed freight train blocking the through line at Leamington which meant that the 0655 couldn't overtake the preceding 0647 from Stratford. 10 minutes late into Marylebone.

On the way back, a mixture of Chiltern confusion and Network Rail obduracy meant a 12 minute late arrival at Moor Street. ONLY Chiltern could cancel a train (the 1810 to Birmingham), add a stop at Leamington to the 1807, then reinstate the 1810 at 1807 so delaying the departure of the Silver Set by 4 mins. Sometimes Chiltern try tooooo hard to be 'nice'. As for Network Rail - well clearly they don't believe that Chiltern run Class 1 services! Classically last night, control let a late-running CrossCountry (stopping at Banbury) ahead of the Silver Set at Anyho Junction, then compounded the delay by sending a LondonMidland local ahead of the service at Dorridge! Clearly Chiltern need to send in a Tony Collins to sort out the situation.

So brave try Chiltern but perhaps the 94 min best timings are more realistic... Good luck from Monday