What was so good about GNER?

[MG11]

With the demise of VTEC, I keep seeing post about GNER being the cream of the railways. It made me wonder what you all loved abiut GNER? I did travel with GNER, but I was a very young child back then. My memories are limited of them. What was their attitude to customer service like and how does it differ to Virgin? Was the restaurant service important to you? I keep reading on the forum that catering is just an added bonus (their opinon, not mine). Also, did you prefer the chargeable meals in First Class as opposed to complimentary but varying in quality meals?

 

[gazthomas]

In my view a mixed bag. I liked the loyalty scheme and the fact that the dining car was open to everyone but they took far too long to get around to refreshing interiors (and when they did “Mallard” was a bit cheap) and I recall punctuality as being poor, though others might direct this towards Railtrack/Network Rail

 

[SquireBev]

The livery was loverly.

 

[Failed Unit]

Agree it was very mixed.

You could go on trains where the buffet was empty and had to wait until the re-stocked it on route. Restaurants you could run out of your preferred option if you were not quick enough. I did prefer to pay to be honest. Even if it was get the buffet menu delivered to your seat.

Overall catering seemed to be more consistent back then.

Dealing with delays etc is a mixed bag like now.

The did used to publish revised timetables on their website which was a big bonus compared to recent operators.

I haven’t travelled as much on the route recently but too many forum members are commenting about the VTEC decline for it just to be anti-beardy.

One thing I didn’t like about GNER was they didn’t like to take commercial risks or work with other operators for the greater good. Using a competing bus for Lincoln rather than work with Central trains to provide decent connections was a good example.

 

[Marton]

GNER took over a good business unit from BR. That was a good start, but it built it up. Several things stand out to me.

1. “Sweating the assets”. Ie using the same number of sets for something like 10% more journeys. That did have knock on effects, but is a key difference between private and public management
2. A culture of service. Unlike the current operator whom I believe is all image over substance, this was substance with image (livery and glasses fro example)
3. Supporting staff. The crews I met regularly appreciated seeing amazement and being heard by them. Examples such as seeing the Chief Exec at the barriers in the post Hatfield days, or collecting dirties seemed to mean something.
4. Dining cars. In reality a continuation of the BR service. There was some more inspired dishes, but the improvement was more marginal than some think.
5. Rewards. I do wonder if there was a BR scheme. BR certainly promoted the EC brand. I still have an East Coast luggage label on a case with the rising sun logo

The down side

1. Not getting to run at 225
2. No advance tickets. I remember using mid morning first class with 2 or 3 people in the coach.
3. No off peak tickets.

In conclusion the best there has been since BR, with DOR as the fairly close runner up.

 

[TBirdFrank]

GNER was BR's Inter City East Coast, complete with Chris Garnett, allowed a little more freedom and encouragement than they had under BR and a bit more style with the interiors. they were intrinsically left alone to do the job and that is why they were so successful in public relations terms. When we lost GNER thanks to DfT greed we lost the last of the BR ethos and sense of service.

The industry so badly needs that back as the current round of timetable revisions makes clear with journey options being slashed so trains can go faster - but without those passengers they used to pick up!

 

[yorkie]

See also:

• Your travel experiences with GNER
• What was so good about GNER?
• What was GNER really like?
  

 

[Welshman]

One thing I didn’t like about GNER was they didn’t like to take commercial risks or work with other operators for the greater good. Using a competing bus for Lincoln rather than work with Central trains to provide decent connections was a good example.

I think they felt that by hiring their own coach, they had control over the quality of the vehicle used. After all, Central Trains did not have the highest reputation for clean, well-maintained units if the ones I used around Lincolnshire were anything to go by!

 

[Failed Unit]

I think they felt that by hiring their own coach, they had control over the quality of the vehicle used. After all, Central Trains did not have the highest reputation for clean, well-maintained units if the ones I used around Lincolnshire were anything to go by!

True. Central trains were by far one of the worse TOCs that have ever graced the U.K. but still it was supposed to be a national rail system.

 

[whoosh]

....and I recall punctuality as being poor...

Garnett's Never Early Railway!

 

[xc170]

My one and only memory of GNER was siting in a tobacco stained Mk3, between Berwick and Edinburgh, before smoking as officially banned and getting off and wanting a shower and a change of clothes due to smelling like the contents of an ash tray.

So, unfortunately, this has rather tarnished my memory of GNER.

 

[AM9]

I rarely travelled by rail on business but when the 'no liquids' security issue kicked in, in the naughties, I did a few journeys from London to Edinburgh on GNER. My memories were:

a) travelling by IC225 was fine, relatively smooth and clean.
b) as the receipts were not marked std or 1st class I was able to make a couple of journeys where the 1st class ticket was less than the std fare.
c) had a good dinner in the restaurant car on return which was within my evening meal allowance. Plenty of room and service was good.
d) had a terrible couple of journeys in MKIIIs (HST). Noisy, wallowing ride and terrible soggy seats.​

Overall as others have said, it reflected some of BR's standards which seem to have disappeared now.

 

[yorksrob]

Garnett's Never Early Railway!

Although as I recall, somewhat more reliable than the West Coast Main Line when I started using it in the late 90's.

 

[Iskra]

I liked them for the following:

Nice livery
Novelty of 373's

I think generally the East Coast Mainline franchises are always more favoured with enthusiasts (and this forum) because they use 'proper trains' (compared to VTWC) and serve more exotic/random-oddball destinations and have named trains.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

I must say I never travelled with GNER nor National Express East Coast, but from travelling with DIR East Coast I must confess that while I am normally a bit of a sucker for Virgin’s propaganda, I do think GNER did a wonderful job with the Mallard refurbishment and the old GNER style interior had a nice, classy “less is more,” feel to it what with the subtle branding and calm blue and grey seating colours unlike the Virgin Trains East Coast interior of loud red which I must admit feels rather in your face.

A lot of you mention you liked the livery. Well I hope you don’t hate me for saying this but I think the Intercity 225 sets looked the best in GNER Blue with the white stripe as opposed to the red!

Is it true that they really used to salute passengers? That’s what I’ve come to expect from Emirates in first class, but not a British train company!