CrossCountry Voyagers

[whole diary]

[Btline]

Talking if re-furbs, how has Virgin increased the no of seats on a Voyager, and created a hybrid coach?

And why will the hybrid coach be First Class on busy trains? Surely extra capacity will be needed in Standard!?

[willc]

Because on some of the peak services to and from North Wales and Chester, there is the demand for first class to justify doing this. Most of these trains are operated by a pair of 221s between Chester and London, so they aren't short of standard seats.

[RailCornwall]

Last time this happened to me I actually had the WHOLE fare for First Class refunded, in vouchers, for that leg of the journey.

[inspector_blakey]

I've heard through the grape vine that XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) aren't going to refurb their voyagers

Depends how you define a "refurb". XC are "refurbishing" their voyagers but it's nothing like the "back to the metal" repaint and refit that FGW^▸ (First Great Western) gave the HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train). Basically it consists of removing the shop, adding some cruddy bike storage, nipping up the seat pitch and removing some fixed tables. dog box has posted on the subject elsewhere:

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=4226.msg34547#msg34547

Notably, the seats are not being reupholstered, nor are the carpets being replaced. Allegedly the vehicles are being "deep cleaned" but having travelled on a couple of refurbs they haven't done a very thorough job.

I was wholly unimpressed with FC^‡(resolve) on a refurbished Voyager the other week (filthy antimacassar, broken seat recline) until I battled my way through the mass of people in standard to the trolley to pick up some refreshments and at that point gave silent praise for forking out the extra few pounds for an FC advance fare!

Two ways of telling a "refurbished" set from a non-refurbished one. Firstly, if it's got a trolley service not a shop then it's refurbished. Secondly, the refurbished units have the box immediately above the Dellner coupler coloured blue at the standard class coach F end, or blue-yellow-blue at the first class coach A end. Unrefurbished units have a yellow bar above the coupler at the first class end only.

[Btline]

Having read here about the appalling standard class refurb, I will now make an extra effort to book ahead for a cheap 1st ticket!

The legroom was bad enough before! I can't start to imagine a trolley pushing through...

Willc, if there is demand for 1st seats on certain trains, I expect there is even more of a demand for standard seats!

[willc]

Yes, but on a handful of trains, there is a clear demand for first class, in excess of the 52 seats that the two regular first class coaches offer, so they have taken steps to meet it - and a 10-car Super Voyager formation isn't short of standard seats - something in the region of 400, even with the dual-purpose coaches.

And you'll probably find a Virgin coach D to your liking, since it is now seats arranged around tables throughout, so probably a half-decent way to do Birmingham-Glasgow and off-peak to Chester and Holyhead. All they need to do now is fit a pantograph and an electric power pack under one of the coaches and they can stop using diesel power all the way under the wires to Scotland.

[Super Guard]

The 5 car set I was on today had a buffet in D, and the customer host's announcement went:  "I regret to inform that we do not have a trolley service, but a static buffet... we have no INSTANT drinks, just stuff from the coffee machine, and unfortunately we are able to offer a wide selection of sandwiches and hot bacon panini's."

One way of telling everyone she was anti-trolley I guess... 

[caliwag]

Marvellous...do these people get no training?

[Phil]

The past couple of trips I've been on I've been treated to an announcement from the buffet car to the effect that they are offering a selection of instant hot tea and coffee.

I'm rather tempted to tell them where they can shove their hot instant tea next time I'm passing.

[caliwag]

Ah sorry! The irony was lost on me