Cross Country - serious concerns

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page)

The transport secretary has voiced "serious concerns" about rail operator CrossCountry and threatened to take action if things do not improve.

In a scathing letter to the train company's interim directors on Friday, Louise Haigh said she “reluctantly” approved its request to temporarily cut down on services.

CrossCountry has said the timetable reduction is necessary to address a backlog of training required by drivers, something it said had been worsened by recent industrial action.

[simonw]

About time.

Since COVID, the number of non-reported cancellations has been tending on the ridiculous.

The total lack of capacity on the Bristol-Birmingham corridor, with frequent standing, probably caused in part by the number of non-show trains (cancelled a day earlier).

[Richard Fairhurst]

And Bristol–Birmingham still nominally has most of its services, albeit running short. Reading–Birmingham is running hourly, half its frequency before Covid.

[ChrisB]

The letter can be found here

[John D]

The mayor of WECA^» (West of England Combined Authority - about) has laid into the poor experience of XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) Cross country trains.

Per Bristol Post article (quote)
The mayor of the West of England region has complained about having a miserable experience catching CrossCountry trains. The operator runs services from Bristol Temple Meads up to Birmingham and Manchester and down to Devon and Cornwall.

Helen Godwin said the customer experience is 'incredibly poor' on CrossCountry services. Passengers will be all too familiar with delays, overcrowding and cancellations, while people travelling for work can struggle to get any work done without connecting to the internet.

She told councillors on the overview and scrutiny committee that she drafted an angry email to the managing director of CrossCountry, but has not yet sent it. The company was owned by Deutsche Bahn, but was recently bought out by a private equity firm.

She said: “I had to travel on the CrossCounty line five times last month and every single time I was either delayed or it was cancelled. You can’t make a phone call, you can’t send a text, let alone do any business on those trains. They are hot and it’s miserable. The customer experience is incredibly poor.

“Prior to this role I was travelling to Manchester and Leeds for work, I was losing six hours a day of work time because I wasn’t able to connect on those trains. I have an email drafted in my phone which was probably written in anger and it’s a good job I didn’t have the managing director’s email on me at the time.”

The Labour mayor sat next to the transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, on a CrossCountry train recently, and has already discussed the issues with her. CrossCountry is owned by Arriva, which itself is owned by I Squared Capital, an American private equity company. The operator’s franchise runs out in 2027, when the government plans to take it back into public ownership.

Ms Godwin added: “I’ll reach out to the other mayors to discuss this as well. I had the pleasure of sitting with the Secretary of State for Transport on a CrossCountry train a few weeks ago. So we have discussed this informally. But I’m really happy to reach out to the government.”

A huge focus for the new mayor is improving suburban trains within the wider Bristol region. Several new stations are planned, including at Portishead, Pill, Henbury and Charfield. Services should also start running more frequently too. But for many people travelling further afield, catching the train can still be an arduous and exorbitantly expensive experience.

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/miserable-crosscountry-trains-incredibly-poor-10571399

[Timmer]

Cross Country is an absolute basket case of a TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) and I’m sure the government is only too happy that it’s one of the last to come back to public ownership so Arriva can continue to carry the can for the absolute state that it’s in.

[Phantom]

I am so glad my work moved it's head office from Manchester to London

I used to hate travelling on a voyager, always overcrowded and for some reason people always seemed to struggle to find their reservation

I would even take sitting in a smoking carriage on an old HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) against a voyager

[Timmer]

I would even take sitting in a smoking carriage on an old HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) against a voyager

Coach B Std and half of coach H First. Seat reservations used to be in coach A, so if you wanted to visit the buffet car you had to walk through coach B with the air thick with cigarette smoke as all the smokers were concentrated in one carriage.

[CyclingSid]

I am obviously more tolerant than some. The thing that I do wonder at is on my journey down to Southampton why do they only use a four car set when there six cruise ships due to depart. The cruise timetables are available about a year in advance so they can't claim ignorance. Needless to say sods law applies if there is only one cruise ship due, voila here is a nine-car set!

What does irk me is the South West trains disabled toilet situation. This appears to be a technology that is beyond them. Look at Other Service Updates on Journeycheck on a Saturday and there might be 150 or more listed, of which an unscientific sample suggest most are disabled toilets out of use. Now if councillors and ministers want something to complain about try a warm summer Saturday bucket and spade trip to the coast in two five-car sets with no disabled toilets (and yes it can get worse).