Chiltern Railways update from Meet the Managers...

I am told on good authority that Malcolm Holmes is NOT returning to London Overground but he has definitely relinquished his role as General Manager Mainline and will be leaving Chiltern at the end of October. Apologies for not cross-checking the Rail 705 new item

(Following on from Rail 705 news item on the return of Malcolm Holmes (General Manager Mainline) to London Overground,) Chiltern have confirmed that Chad Collins, currently General Manager South*, will become Head of Stations, and that Alan Riley, currently Head of On-Board Services, will become Head of Trains.

The latest refurbished Silver Set, currently undergoing testing, is to be split for the Autumn to provide extra coaches on the two existing Silver Set diagrams, the peak hours trips of which are nearing capacity**. Alas, hopes that overcrowding on the 1915 ex-Marylebone will be eased by deployment of a Silver Set are not to be realised.

Talking of the Silver Sets, the experimental meal service is set to continue on certain trains but it does depend on staff rotas as to when the meals will be available... Alas, the introduction of the Leamington Spa stop into the current 90 minute runs is confirmed from December so Chiltern's fastest south will be 93/94 mins (shame).

The December timetable is still being tweaked by Network Rail so the version of the online planners is correct in outline but may have minor timing changes in practice.

Finally, Chiltern are planning a robust response to Andi Swain's letter in Rail 705 about the confusion at Marylebone over the Silver Set Business Zone provision. No doubt, management are also taking the comments on board!

* Many thanks to Chris Bates for correcting the current designations of Malcolm and Chad

26 September: Chiltern have now confirmed that the full relevant management structure is:

Jenny Payne – Customer Services Director

Is reported to by:

Chad Collins – Head of Stations AND Alan Riley – Head of Trains

Chad has reporting to him:

Sandra Harper – Regional Manager North (responsible for stations and staff Bicester North northwards)

Debbie Osborne – Regional Manager South (responsible for stations and staff south of Bicester North) 

** Additional capacity to be introduced from Monday 8th October. Each Silver Set to gain an additional standard class carriage http://bit.ly/Sm9IcL NOTE too that a Class 172 two carriage set will be added to the formation of the 0733 from Moor Street from the 8th. This set is NOT to Mainline standard (no WiFi etc) and is there to relieve overcrowding from Banbury. Chiltern will be advising Moor Street passengers not to use this portion of the train!

Chiltern Railways Business Zone or Virgin Trains First Class - which will First Group emulate?

In all the furore over the West Coast Franchise, it seems to be going unnoticed that Chiltern are quietly but steadily improving the Business Zone offering between Birmingham and London. I am told that the 0655 Silver Set Business Zone is packed more often than not and that alcohol flows freely on the return 1807 (presumably on Friday nights...). Alas, I cannot vouch personally for these stories but I can reveal that the company is trialling 'plated' meals on the off-peak 1055 from Moor Street and the return 1337 from Marylebone.

Yesterday, I travelled in a very quiet Business Zone on the 1055 and enjoyed Sweet and Sour Chicken with Noodles served to my seat after the Banbury stop. At £4 with 'complimentary' cold drinks and tea or coffee (actually included in the £10 BZ supplement), this seems good value and perhaps similar to what First Group may be planning for their West Coast premium standard class should they be awarded the franchise.

I am told that Chiltern are planning to introduce a range of meals over the next few weeks, which will include Chicken Tikka Masala, Chilli con Carne, and a range of jacket potato fillings. Another Silver Set is undergoing testing next week and should be in service by October, so it will be interesting to see how the meal service takes off. As a side note, I understand that the 'famous' bacon roll on the Clubmans is now joined by a sausage bap in the mornings.

Of course, the Chiltern 1055 service is available for a Super Off-peak walk-on return fare of £27.50 plus the £10 on the train supplement. Virgin don't have a comparable fare offering but I did come back on the 2103 Pendolino from Euston for £23.50 First Class advance last night.

As First Group keep pointing out, the trouble with Virgin Trains is that they don't know how to market a mid-range offering to passengers who don't want to be cramped in Standard but also don't want the full at-seat service. Last night's Pendolino was vaguely busy in First Class but one wonders why Virgin feel the need to cart empty First Class carriages around their network for most of the day and why they can't cater for an on-train upgrade...

Still to be fair to Virgin, I do think that the three trains an hour timetable is  brilliant; the staff are efficient, and the journey is fast (which is always welcome mid-evening). The light snacks and drinks were fine, and, of course, WiFi is free both on-board and in the First Class lounge. Nevertheless, I do wonder if First Group won't do better still, at least in the first five years

Clash of the Titans? Sir Richard Branson and Tim O'Toole face the Transport Select Committee

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to secure a place in a packed Grimond Room in Portculllis House to witness the 'grilling' of Richard Branson and Tim O'Toole by the Transport Select Committee. Of course, being a mere member of the public, I was perched on a hard bench which ran along the back wall of the room - a foretaste of FirstGroup's new class of seating as one wag remarked...

As a piece of theatre, the event lived up to it's billing. Richard Branson swept in with his large retinue and played the 'I can't believe that this is happening / I just want to do what is right for my staff and passengers' cards, whilst Tim O'Toole and Vernon Barker stayed ice-cool and basically indicated that Virgin Group were sore losers who were mis-representing what FirstGroup were offering to the West Coast Mainline franchise.

So, ignoring the heat, was any light shed upon what is actually being offered by the two sides?

Well, Richard Branson and his team emphaised that

• Virgin were looking to make £800 million of investment in the route as opposed to their claimed figure of £300 million for First Group.
• the benchmark passenger growth figure on which they based their bid was 7.9% per annum
• during the extension of the current franchise, the Olympics had generated £1m benefit to Virgin as opposed to the Dept of Transport's projected £15m (which would have been physically impossible to achieve...)
• Virgin have an absolute commitment to the new services offered - subject to the approval of the Office for Rail Regulation

Meanwhile, Tim O'Toole and Vernon Barker promised:

• growth as exemplified by their TransPennine franchise (the 'poster child' of rail franchises)
• 15% reduction in Anytime Standard fares by January 2014
• an additional class 'premium standard' for those who wanted more than Standard Class BUT didn't want the Virgin First Class experience
• use Off-Peak offers to drive up seat occupancy from Virgin's current 35% to TPE's 50% rate
• make £350m of investment in the first five years of the franchise, then roll forward as demand require
• Refresh the interiors of the existing fleet
• Free WiFi
• At-seat catering
• Use of new media to target offers to drive business
• staffing to stay the same for the first five years then to reflect growth AND changing patterns of use...
• 'Shoulder Peak' travel to be tackled through use of fare pricing around peak times (NOTE the peak times are not planned to be changed)

Overall, Virgin huffed and puffed and were clearly aggrieved but FirstGroup refused to be ruffled and seem supremely confident that they will deliver. Roll on the judicial review!

5 reasons why I travel with LondonMidland and 5 why you might not...

On Tuesday, I used the LondonMidland service between Birmingham New Street and London Euston to spend the afternoon in London. Here's my top five reasons for using the company...

1. The Fares: LondonMidland offer a wide-range of fares, which combined with the generous off-peak restrictions (no evening peak from Euston), mean that travelling with them is almost always cheaper than travelling with Chiltern Railways and, of course, many times cheaper than travelling with Virgin Trains.
2. The Promotions: on top of the already low fares, LondonMidland has led the way in using the online booking system to offer innovative marketing offers. Currently, the company is offering 29% off many fares in celebration of Team GB's success.
3. The Service: outside peak times, LondonMidland offers a 20 minute interval service between Birmingham and London
4. The Trains: the Desiro trains used by the company ride well (certainly better than Pendolinos) and are relatively spacious.
5. The Twitter feed: a key strength of LondonMidland is the engagement that the company has with its customers through its use of Twitter. Virtually 24/7, issues are generally resolved quickly and efficiently.

Of course, there are at least five reasons why LondonMidland might not make the grade for you...

1. Northampton: alas, everything revolves around this town in terms of the Birmingham to London service. It has to be said that sitting at this station for between 4 and 16 minutes does not add to the pleasure of the journey.
2. Journey times: at 2hrs 14mins to 2hrs 24mins Birmingham to London, the company's services are slow. Strangely, coming back from London in the evening peak sees journey times reduced to a shade over 2hrs
3. Commuters: when all is said and done, LondonMidland is primarily in the business of moving commuters to and from the big cities which it serves. Thus, peak trains can be long (up to 12 carriages from Euston with the Birmingham portion at the far end) and can be mobbed...
4. Facilities: the services lack WiFi, refreshments, and power points (though these are found in First Class). Table provision is rather sparse too
5. Punctuality: although I have been rarely affected, LondonMidland do use the crowded West Coast Mainline and are thus at the mercy of events often outside the company's control Performance figures overall hover around the 90% mark...

Chiltern Railways and LondonMidland increase fares from Sunday 2nd September 2012

In all the media fuss about the 3% +RPI fare increases in January, it seems to have been overlooked that both Chiltern Railways and LondonMidland are increasing fares between Birmingham and London on Sunday 2nd September.

For Chiltern, the affected fare is the Super Off-Peak Return which is currently £25 and will go up to £27.50 (the Super Off-Peak Single goes up from £24.90 to £27.40) - giving a rise of 10%

LondonMidland's affected fares are:

Anytime Standard Return: currently £65; will rise to £69
Anytime First Return: currently £90; will rise to £95

Off-Peak Standard Return: currently £27; will rise to £28
Off-Peak First Return: currently £45; will rise to £46

Super Off-Peak Standard Return: currently £20; will rise to £21


Anytime Standard Single: currently £40; will rise to £42
Anytime First Single: currently £51; will rise to £55

Off-Peak Standard Single: currently £26.50; will rise to £27.50
Off-Peak First Single: currently £44; will rise to £45

Super Off-Peak Standard Single: currently £19.90; will rise to £20.90

Thus LM's rises are between 5 and 6 % on the Birmingham to London route (though LM tell me that across their network, the increase is 3%)

Fares set by Virgin Trains (Any Permitted route) are NOT being increased.

Chiltern say that the increase is necessary because of the continued improvements that the company is making to the service offered.

LondonMidland have commented:

On the Birmingham to London route we have invested heavily over the past year, trebling the Monday to Saturday daytime frequency and introducing direct trains on Sundays. The next stage is to build on this with longer trains at weekends (we've already addressed this on certain departures) and a further review of our weekend service provision. Whilst our key strength is our low prices, the improvements do require significant ongoing investment, so it's important that we strike the right balance with our fares. We feel £21 for a Super Off-Peak Return remains a very competitive price. One of the options for our off-peak prices was to introduce differential pricing at weekends, but for the sake of simplicity this has thankfully been shelved in favour of developing opportunities in our off-peak 1st class range. That said, we'll continue to use our rail sale and Great Escape promotions to fill empty seats whenever we can!

So it's farewell Virgin Trains and welcome to FirstGroup

After weeks of clearly well-informed speculation, today saw the formal announcement that Virgin Trains will cease to run after close of play on Saturday 8th December 2012, and the WCML franchise will pass to First Group from Sunday 9th December.

Naturally, FirstGroup are delighted at their coup - see press release and web page - whilst Virgin Trains are devastated (see Richard's Blog) but what will it mean for Birmingham to London passengers?

Well, the only two details that I have gleaned so far that could affect this route is first, that a cut of 15% is promised in standard anytime fares within two years, and secondly, that the 'cliff edge' of fare difference between First and Standard is to be tackled. This latter promise is to be welcomed as most Virgin Pendolinos run with near-empty First Class carriages outside the peak hours Monday-Friday...

Let the countdown begin!

LondonMidland celebrate Team GB's Gold Medal success

In another marketing coup, LondonMidland are offering a discount on their advance and long-distance off-peak fares based on the total number of gold medals won by Team GB (as I write, worth 28% - go Team GB!). Registration with LondonMidland is required by Tuesday 14th August, after which a code will be emailed out for online purchases from 15 August to 2 September. Full details at http://bit.ly/NXg7VY

Yest again, LM show themselves ahead of the pack in their imaginative use of the online booking system... Gold Medal stars in their own right...

Update Friday 17th August: the discount ended up being 29% (well done Team GB) BUT no code is required. Simply click on the CLAIM Button on the offer page