Declaration of interest: as with part 1 of this blog posting, the journey back from London Marylebone on the 1807 yesterday was courtesy of Chiltern Railways BUT I did pay for the pot of tea (see below) at £1.60...
Among the guests of Adrian Shooter on the journey up to London were fellow tweeters Phil Tonks (@philtonks2) and Chris Bates (@chrisbates3). Phil recorded an interview with Thomas Abelman (Chiltern's Marketing Director) for his next Bridge Radio show so had to retire to the pub to recuperate but Chris and I found ourselves, along with 2 others, in the Business Zone of the 1807 'Silver' train from Marylebone back to Moor Street...
Though the 1807 is a 'Silver' train with first stop Warwick Parkway, it actually runs through to Kidderminster in a time of 140mins. Presumably Chiltern are testing the market for fast trains from the Worcestershire hinterland yet to do so, they have had to cut out the Dorridge stop... and the Leamington stop...Who would be a train / business planner!
Back to the journey... the Business Zone branding is interesting as the Antimacassars simply state 'Business Zone' with the word Mainline underneath, and the carriage window destination stickers simply say 'Mainline.
Clearly there is a more spacious feel to a carriage with 2 + 1 tables as opposed to the 2+2 arrangement of Standard Class, and it is nice to see the tables set with cups and saucers and to have a pot of tea served with real milk. BUT is it really necessary to charge £1.60 even if that is comparatively good value (Chiltern are adamant that their market research shows that business people do not want 'free' items pushing up the basic fare).
As a business person, I was very disappointed that the power sockets weren't working (but at least Chiltern staff try to do something about it unlike other TOC staff) and that the free WiFi was very intermittent. No doubt both matters will improve....
More worryingly for Chiltern is the lack of awareness of the business zone - no indication at Marylebone as we boarded the train, no announcements about upgrading, and a lack of clarity as to the role of the dedicated host. So I was the only occupant of the carriage from Warwick Parkway! All first day teething issues one hopes.
Talking of teething problems, the new signalling around Northolt Junction played up and we lost 15mins on the journey overall. Still, the travellers waiting at Moor Street for a train to Rowley Regis were delighted to try out the Business Zone for their trip (though the catering staff leave the train at Moor Street).
Finally, Chris Bates is the Chair of the Cherwell Valley Rail Users Group and sits on Chiltern's passenger board. He is in regular contact with Chiltern's management team, and clearly has views on how Chiltern should look after all their customers. To know more, contact him through his Tweeter feed or email him on chrisjbates AT btinternet.com
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