Great Western Coffee Shop

I've endured/enjoyed (?) a few trips with Cross Country recently and wonder how the experiences of their services into God's Wonderful country might relate to those I've noted of late.

First the promised catering falls far short of that originally promised, and possibly required by the franchise. On Saturday the trolley service on the Plymouth-Edinburgh train ceased at Sheffield, and fortunately the pragmatism of the conductor ensured that no passengers suffered from lack of fluids - by breaking out the water from the First Class complimentary supplies.  We have had no catering North of Edinburgh on XC for some time, and the week before I noted that catering shut before Newcastle.  It has also been suggested that there may be a cost to restore the original catering and stowage areas when the units are returned off-lease.

The provision of fluids for passengers to drink was indeed desirable on Saturday's train as the air conditioning in Coach B was failing to fight the major design flaw in Class 220/221 where the route for exhaust/cooling pipes from the underfloor engines runs up behind the panels adjacent to the toilets - or under the priority seating in Coach D.  I discovered this last week when I experienced a seriously hot draught in these seats and generally warm area at this end of the coach, whilst the aircon had delivered a fridge-like condition at the opposite end of the coach as it reacted to the heat being put in under my seat.  Given that the outside temperature was well in to double figures, it was most disquieting to find that the floor beneath my seat was at a higher than body temperature level - I'd guess around 40 degrees C.  The pattern was repeated by every toilet - the opening panel immediately before the saloon door was almost too hot to touch for any length of time, and making the aircon work overtime, delivering a noticeable and severe temperature variation between the opposite ends of the saloon.  This is clearly wasteful in energy terms and delivers a poor on train environment.  Have others experienced this?

The toilets are also a disaster - one the journey before last, 2 of the 3 had been blocked by misuse or over-use, leaving the third limping with a near continuous call on the conductor to keep resetting and purging the system, and the atmosphere in the toilet area rendered more fragant (sic) by the excessive heat from the engine noted earlier.  The suggestion that a combustion toilet be used (all waste is incinerated at over 800 degrees C to vapourise as CO2/NO2 and H2O - eliminating the need to carry around a ton or so of **** and the need to pump this out regularly at expensive 'dump' sidings), has yet to be tested on a mainstream train - or retrofitted to a DMU where the combustion toilet has the required supply of diesel and electricity..

Finally the neither fish nor foul requirement to have a long distance train with passengers plus luggage, required to also carry full loads of commuters in to the many cities along the routes served, with the slow loading arrangements of end doors and other compromises.  On one train I noted that 7 regular commuters were taking bikes (around ^20,000-worth of season ticket sales for this service alone).  Staff seem to have adopted a pragmatic approach of if there is no major threat to safety, the train runs on time, and we'll sort out any problems without creating a delay and confrontational stand-off.  The XC policy on bikes does embrace this by noting that reservations are not compulsory, and unreserved cycles are carried on a first come-first served basis subject to the space being available, and I wonder how the groups using the Birmingham-Cheltenham-Bristol route are working with XC staff in this respect (there were up to 6 bikes per train reported on some commuter services).

in a nutshell....about the same....Voyagers are totally inadequate especially the 4 cars for what is expected of them...inflicted on us by ol beardy who thought he knew best

There's been plenty of criticism on this forum over the Voyager units - much of it justified - though I thought I'd just fly the flag a little bit and highlight three positive design issues over some of their rival high speed train designs!

1)  Air Conditioning in the vestibules and toilets.  Unlike the Class 180 'Adelante's' which were almost unbearably hot in the summer if you were forced to stand in the vestibules.

2)  Internal doors which require a push of a button.  Unlike HST's where standing passengers in the vestibules can (and often do) keep stepping on the sensors which usually opens the door with a large 'whoosh' and thud - particularly annoying if you're trying to have a peaceful journey in the 'Quiet' carriage like I was on Saturday with a group of lads stood in the vestibule going to the speedway at Cardiff!

3)  Sensible vertical sun-blind design.  Unlike HST's where you have nothing in standard class and some curtains that flap around in 1st Class.

That being said, Arriva have certainly not impressed me as the operator of the Cross Country franchise (unlike my experiences of Arriva Trains Wales), and it will be interesting to see what impact the acquisition of Arriva by Deutsche Bahn may have in the future.

I've said it before and I will say it again. Voyagers are awful trains with their sister Meridians not much better. Worse DMUs ever built in my opinion and TOTALLY unsuitable for a long distance operation that the XC franchise is. These trains have ruined the travel experience on XC routes that I will not use them anymore and always go via London. Yes the journey times are longer but at least you a get to travel on a decent train*. You can see why FGW were keen to maintain and increase their HST fleet. At least they know a good train when they see it.

*except if travelling London-Sheffield where Meridians now rule the roost. What a crazy decision by EMT to take their HSTs off this route.

they are just wrong for the services they are being used on infact i would say that the voyagers would be ideal on cardiff taunton service

2/3 doors are needed on CDF - TAU really, instead of 2 doors per carriage.

but better suited than the current loco hauled set which is also 2 door, but one thing 220/221's do have and the drivers have a habit of showing it off when tornados in town and the platforms are full is fast acceleration! if you ask me xc should go back to loco hauled that way if its busyer add some carrages, use the voyagers on cotswold services and cascade the turbos to devon freeing up 150's and pacers for the north

The Voyagers have problems that will plague them for as long as they exist - being a DEMU is one of them.

But to lengthen them, and give a full internal refurb would sort out most woes. The fast acceleration and 125 mph capability would make them ideal for cross country (no capital letters) services where there are lots of stops and starts at conflicting junctions and stations.