Branson's Rail Pickle (Virgin Trains)

Name: plipplop

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Product:	Virgin Trains
Date:	24/05/01 (971 review reads)
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It has always been a regular occurrence for me to travel relatively long distances on business, to attend meetings, and get to know new colleagues and clients. I have always felt that, rather than travel by car, it is always preferable to travel on business by train, as you can at least do some work or attend conference calls whilst you're on the move.

As I now live in South Cheshire, most of the mainline "InterCity" routes are operated by Virgin Trains, so I have become something of a regular with these services. To be fair, I am sure that many of my observations would apply equally across most rail carriers - nonetheless, Virgin Trains remain the focus of my attention.

Rail travel has come under intense scrutiny over recent months and years, with a marked increase in the number of rail accidents, as well as a continued decline in reliability and quality of service. The privatisation of the rail networks years ago seems to be cited as the main cause of all the problems. To be honest, I've never really understood how the accountability for trains, stations and tracks can sensibly be shared around so many different Companies, but then what do I know?

My first observation around the Virgin Train service is that the rolling stock appears to be very dated. Despite the fact that the trains have been decorated out in trendy Virgin livery, underneath this they look and feel like the same trains that have been on the networks for donkey's years. I have to say that, on the whole, Virgin seem to make an effort to keep the trains clean - despite the fact that the seat covers and carpets are visibly worn, they are at least fairly clean. In comparison, I have found that newer trains on suburban routes are very often filthy by comparison. I regularly see staff wandering up and down collecting empty packets and cups, so the attention to detail is there at least. One thing that I don't like is that there are no covers on t
he head rests - disposable covers seem like an essential to me, simply for hygiene reasons - you really only ever see these in the first class carriages.

In standard class, the carriages tend to have one of two types of seat - most seats are set in pairs, rather like a normal bus. These are broken at intervals by groups of four seats, paired around a table. These seats are, not surprisingly, more popular, as you can spread your stuff out, or use a laptop. Nonetheless, the table seats are actually not very practical if you are travelling alone or with a partner - you will doubtless end up sat opposite a stranger, so being completely British you'll have to spend the whole journey desperately not trying to look at the person opposite you. You also suffer from a lack of leg room, as you have a pair of legs immediately opposite yours. In short - I would always recommend the twin seats with no tables -there is a fold down lap table which pretty much serves the purpose anyway- and you can relax in the knowledge that you won't be playing footsie with a window-licker.

Virgin Trains have also introduced the concept of the quiet carriage. In this carriage (due allegedly to public demand) you are politely requested to refrain from using your mobile phone. Personally, I don't have an issue with other travellers using their mobile phones - if only they would turn the ringer off. My journey from Crewe to Milton Keynes recently was rather like a concert for mobile phone geeks, who proudly aired their latest downloads. The only drawback with the quiet coach is that, due to the volume of seat reservations on the average train, you may well not be able to find a seat there - or conversely you may only be able to find a seat there. On one journey, I found myself one of few available seats, only to discover that I couldn't use my mobile phone. I duly turned it off for fear of being lynched, but was rather put out that I couldn't contact friends
and colleagues. The concept of selective seating arrangements is good - but availability soon becomes an issue on the average train.

Conscious of the dodgy trains currently in service, Virgin Trains have tried to implement some service initiatives that, whilst they are not unwelcome, do little to detract from the generally poor quality of the trains. It is now the norm to find one member of Virgin staff on attendance in every carriage - so they always open and close the carriage doors for you. There is a real emphasis on greeting customers - if you're feeling grumpy first thing in the morning you will find the cheeriness something of a shock. There is also a complimentary magazine - the Hotline - which is offered free to all customers. The only drawback of this is that there are only about three copies per carriage - so chances are you'll not see this. Of course, all these measures could be scrapped, and the money they cost could be used to subsidise some of the (exorbitant) train fares.

I noticed that there are quite reasonable fares available, providing you meet certain conditions. Off-peak travellers, in groups of three or more seem to do best, with deals such as Manchester to London for as little as £12 return. Unfortunately, the real crisis for road traffic reflects upon peak travellers, but as with any form of public transport, there are no subsidies if you travel before 9 a.m. I recently paid £108 Warrington to Watford Junction. This seems excessive to me - whilst I am not knowledgeable enough to have a breakdown of the average costs incurred running a single train journey, I noticed that most of the seats on the train were occupied (both ways) with a considerable number of the seats taken by reservations. Bearing this in mind, I was a little bit disappointed that the fares were so high - the comparative cost of petrol on a similar journey would easily be at least half the train fare. And of course, that doesn't take into ac
count the actual journey times on a train?

Warrington to Watford Junction - timetable journey time 2 hours 24 minutes - actual journey time 3 hours 35 minutes.

Milton Keynes Central to Crewe - timetable journey time 2 hours 26 minutes - actual journey time 3 hours 3 minutes

Due to the fact that my journeys seldom operate direct (I normally have to change twice each way), as my journey continues I seem to accumulate delays from one train to another - and most of the delays seems to be attributed to a Virgin Train. Typical journey follows:

1. Local train due to leave station at 7.09 - delayed ten minutes because Virgin Train passing through is running twenty minutes late.

2. Virgin Train arrives at Crewe 5 minutes late - finally arrives at Watford junction 55 minutes late. In this instance, the train was delayed due to power failure around Nuneaton - we rather infuriatingly crawled along for about 40 minutes at walking pace.

3. Local train due to leave Watford Junction is ten minutes late due to late running London Euston Virgin Train.

Even if you are not travelling on Virgin Trains, they still manage to hold everyone up. Whilst I have always accepted that trains are always late I have never really understood why - surely the timetable is designed on the basis that, freak conditions notwithstanding, all trains are given the right amount of time to get out of each other's way?

In my experience there are all sorts of reasons that trains get delayed, but operationally, these seem to the be the big ones, as far as I can tell:

1. Goods trains. It may be rush hour, it may be very busy, but goods trains are still allowed to use the tracks. I'm not sure how priorities are worked out, but the simple rule seems to be - "Whichever train Phil is on will have to wait until every other train has gone past"

2. Incidents in stations. Drunk people, accidents, l
ots of parcels to be loaded - all these things take up time in stations - although the timetables allow for a two or three minute wait it is fair to say that these things cannot be predicted. What I do object to, are the unecessary delays, such as little old ladies who prefer to walk the length of the train on the platform, rather than simply getting on and then finding a seat.

3. Technical problems. Or at least that's what they tell us?. Recently I have experienced power failure, flooding and signal failure. Put it this way, the rail network must be either completely incompetent, extremely unlucky - or utterly dishonest. You choose?

After a while it all starts to wash over you. Virgin Trains simply aren't reliable enough. Train journeys are relatively lengthy on the timetable - by the time they've actually been completed, the timetable looks rather optimistic. Criticising trains for running late all gets rather dull after a while - one tends to accept delays like one accepts that you have to queue in the supermarket. But that doesn't make it right does it?

There are some potentially positive developments ahead for the Virgin Rail network. Millions of pounds of new rolling stock are due to be introduced on key routes over the coming months. Virgin has just announced a freeze on fares until May 2002, 50% discount off Value tickets until August 31st and a new Early Bird offer for business customers (hurrah!). Mind you, it's worth bearing in mind that these initiatives are entirely funded by £100 million compensation paid in lieu of financial losses incurred by Virgin after the Hatfield rail disaster. What a shame that only through the death of rail passengers are Virgin able to offer decent prices.

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