Intermediate stations, avoiding Birmingham..

[Hobby]

Just one point, XC do not operate any stations and so don't have staff to man them, New Street is run by Network Rail and Virgin and NR have Customer Service staff who would have been on the platform and aware of the situation. 

[rockershovel]

Just one point, XC do not operate any stations and so don't have staff to man them, New Street is run by Network Rail and Virgin and NR have Customer Service staff who would have been on the platform and aware of the situation.

 

... that may well be true, but from the point of view of a paying customer needing information, so what? Nobody on the concourse or platform was able to tell me that the train I wanted was almost literally, under my feet - and I spent an extra 90 minutes at BNS as a result, and I couldn’t find the information on the XC website either.

 

The Virgin ticket office and enquiries office staff clearly had no idea of what was happening at XC

 

Their on-train information was very poor and materially wrong when it mattered; very poorly thought out, too. They were rubbish, when it mattered, and that’s really all that counts.

Edited October 15, 2018 by rockershovel

[Oldddudders]

... that may well be true, but from the point of view of a paying customer needing information, so what? Nobody on the concourse or platform was able to tell me that the train I wanted was almost literally, under my feet - and I spent an extra 90 minutes at BNS as a result, and I couldn’t find the information on the XC website either.

 

The Virgin ticket office and enquiries office staff clearly had no idea of what was happening at XC

 

Their on-train information was very poor and materially wrong when it mattered; very poorly thought out, too. They were rubbish, when it mattered, and that’s really all that counts.

 

I think this was what I was envisaging in my original response to you - BNS is a tough place to change trains because it is an absolute pig to operate. A quart-into-pint-pot if ever there was one, the signallers no doubt make the best of it, and I am sure are much more impartial in their preferences than in the bad old days of the BR NE-SW Route, when such trains were regarded as a nuisance and inferior to London services. Nevertheless, as a result, platform changes are rife, and I have no doubt flustered platform staff are concerned with the immediate, not the bigger picture. 

 

Be it remembered that at the time of TOC Privatisation, the TOCs made it clear rather late in the day that they were not prepared to run stations like New Street or termini in London or other big cities, not least because the emphasis on retail trading was simply not TOC business. At very short notice Railtrack had to set up a Major Stations organisation to run these places. If Mike Storey sees this he can tell a great deal more than I know.

 

I remain convinced that separating train services into multiple TOCs, whether in competition or not, did little for the customer in terms of feeling that the railway is a seamless organisation that will guide them through their journey. There are still good staff everywhere, but their brief often isn't exactly holistic. 

[rockershovel]

I think this was what I was envisaging in my original response to you - BNS is a tough place to change trains because it is an absolute pig to operate. A quart-into-pint-pot if ever there was one, the signallers no doubt make the best of it, and I am sure are much more impartial in their preferences than in the bad old days of the BR NE-SW Route, when such trains were regarded as a nuisance and inferior to London services. Nevertheless, as a result, platform changes are rife, and I have no doubt flustered platform staff are concerned with the immediate, not the bigger picture. 

 

Be it remembered that at the time of TOC Privatisation, the TOCs made it clear rather late in the day that they were not prepared to run stations like New Street or termini in London or other big cities, not least because the emphasis on retail trading was simply not TOC business. At very short notice Railtrack had to set up a Major Stations organisation to run these places. If Mike Storey sees this he can tell a great deal more than I know.

 

I remain convinced that separating train services into multiple TOCs, whether in competition or not, did little for the customer in terms of feeling that the railway is a seamless organisation that will guide them through their journey. There are still good staff everywhere, but their brief often isn't exactly holistic.

 

... a plague a’ both your houses.. [DIES]. If there’s any justification for the present system, it escapes me entirely.

[Hobby]

Posr removed as he wants to blame the wrong people and won't accept corrections.

Edited October 15, 2018 by Hobby

[rockershovel]

Re #53 above, BNS seems to be quite an easy place to change trains, mainly because it resembles an airport in many ways. The system of “lounges” spanning groups of platforms, inside the barriers, works well; I solved my problem yesterday by following the assumption that any train going in a useful direction, would be in Yellow Lounge, probably on the island of Platform 11b, and so it proved.

 

It’s quite easy to move between islands, too.

 

Really, apart from the inadequate information desks, it’s a very functional station. I’m not a fan of the “half-melted flying saucer” architecture, but that’s mostly mercifully hidden by the surrounding buildings; but the actual functional interior seems to me, rather well designed.