DarloRich
Veteran Member
You wont get much sleep
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Caledonian Sleeper
- Thread starter Essexman
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Iskra
Established Member
I think we'd all prefer 20% off the sleeper ticket...
Grumpy Git
On Moderation
Is it me or is the CS website very clunky when it comes to buying a ticket.
Granted I was only playing, but once a choice as to which cabin / lounge seat you'd made, it seemed very difficult to edit the journey regarding what accommodation type you wanted?
Granted I was only playing, but once a choice as to which cabin / lounge seat you'd made, it seemed very difficult to edit the journey regarding what accommodation type you wanted?
Iskra
Established Member
CS advising of staffing shortages on Twitter this evening...
There really isn't much chance of that - a 158 runs ahead of it now from Perth and, at the moment, the seating capacity is highly limited for seated passengers travelling overnight.
Industrial action having a bit of an effect this week?
HST274
Member
Cause is referred to as 'due to current climate' which suggests isolation but could also be down to industrial action. Only they know...
Surely they wouldn't be pulling the wool over the eyes of their " Guests " !
HST274
Member
I've never known of a corporation to do that!
MrEd
Member
- Joined
- 13 Jan 2019
- Messages
- 599
Could it be a mixture of both? Once the strike finished an indefinite ban on overtime and rest day working began, which will undoubtedly leave CS very short staffed in the event that staff need to isolate.
Cheshire Scot
Established Member
That 158 was there pre Covid when the seating capacity was equally limited - normally one would expect some seated pass to have alighted further south creating space for the handful who might find the Sleeper arrival time into Inverness more attractive.
Yes, although for at least as long as the capacity is limited to 11 seated passengers I wouldn't expect it to be opened up as a day train. Is there any indication of that happening?
D6130
Established Member
Square (Lorne) sausage is what you normally get in Scottish cafes and restaurants. If you want the English-style sausages, you have to ask for 'links'.
Davester50
Member
That very much depends where you are, I find.
In the East, I've never had to ask for links.
The West? Ouch. That's a different country.
Grumpy Git
On Moderation
This made me giggle, I had visions of a regular sausage but square in cross-section rather than round before you posted this!
Seemingly a continuation of woes this evening.
- Passengers for the Edinburgh sleeper appear to have been told to board at Carstairs, with the train running empty from Edinburgh and a bus provided from Edinburgh
- The Fort William portion has run empty to Edinburgh.
- The Aberdeen portion left 35 minutes late (although this seems to be after a line closure for three hours)
- The northbound Highland sleeper departed from Euston an hour late
- The northbound Lowland sleeper is starting at Watford Junction, as already noted in this thread.
Last edited:
185143
Established Member
- Joined
- 3 Mar 2013
- Messages
- 5,331
I was on the Highland Sleeper last night from Euston. At about 20:30 it was announced in the first class lounge that we would be boarding shortly, so people gradually started making their way down to platform 1.
The train was not boarding, and was quite far from doing so. No information was forthcoming whatsoever. When we finally did get on after standing on the ramp for over an hour, it was a fairly rushed process to get us on. Hardly a relaxing start to the journey we'd paid not much less than £300 for. Once onboard we were told the host would take our breakfast orders after departure, which was pretty much "do you want a bacon roll? Tea or coffee?" At that point we were told there was no catering on the train at all other than breakfast. Quite why this couldn't have been communicated to us on the platform in the hour delay...?
The room itself was very warm with seemingly little way to control the temperature, although I do like it cool which didn't help. No explanation was given for the delay at any point, which was poor and we arrived on time so no delay Repay either. I did seem to sleep fairly well though, with the caveat that you are on a moving train. It felt far more like being on a train than in a "hotel on wheels". Despite being in the middle of the carriage, you could still clearly hear the Mk5 bogies being Mk5 bogies...
I too wonder if the staff shortages are related to the industrial action and they don't want to admit that.
The train was not boarding, and was quite far from doing so. No information was forthcoming whatsoever. When we finally did get on after standing on the ramp for over an hour, it was a fairly rushed process to get us on. Hardly a relaxing start to the journey we'd paid not much less than £300 for. Once onboard we were told the host would take our breakfast orders after departure, which was pretty much "do you want a bacon roll? Tea or coffee?" At that point we were told there was no catering on the train at all other than breakfast. Quite why this couldn't have been communicated to us on the platform in the hour delay...?
The room itself was very warm with seemingly little way to control the temperature, although I do like it cool which didn't help. No explanation was given for the delay at any point, which was poor and we arrived on time so no delay Repay either. I did seem to sleep fairly well though, with the caveat that you are on a moving train. It felt far more like being on a train than in a "hotel on wheels". Despite being in the middle of the carriage, you could still clearly hear the Mk5 bogies being Mk5 bogies...
I too wonder if the staff shortages are related to the industrial action and they don't want to admit that.
Mordac
Established Member
Was always able to get lorne sausage when I lived in Edinburgh. Down here in England it's a different story. I was finally able to locate them in the Tesco Extra in Corby, which has a whole Scottish Food aisle. Worth the trip to buy them in bulk and freeze!
Grumpy Git
On Moderation
Didn't you know Corby is actually in Scotland?
This pretty much mirrored my experience. Rush down to the platform as the train was running late and no new departure time set, so everyone was panicked. The crowd of 150 people or so was being processed by one poor unfortunate at the gates which was excruciating to watch, telling people which car to go to which is stated on the ticket, the destination is on the carriage and stated / checked again by the hosts near the relevant carriages, I don't know why they didn't just let people operate the barriers. And I've already mentioned the appalling practice of telling customers only once on the platform that there was no food and drink available for purchase, one woman was in tears as it was a honeymoon and they had wanted to relax in the cabin with some snacks and drinks.
It all felt very British Rail. Which is fine, but the price is not a British Rail price and neither is the expectation set by the marketing.
In 24hr cities how difficult would it be find someone who can deliver a selection of snacks and sandwiches to the start point or one of the early stops!?! To advertise food and not have ANY on such a long journey is utterly unacceptable.
I agree. I wonder what (if anything) CS are doing to try and limit the reputational damage an event like this causes.
No doubt the option is there to get supplies from the Avanti supplier.
For that matter there are a number of sandwich take aways in Euston who would be delighted at the opportunity to supply.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
Or even "go buy your own" with some notice to do so. Lack of catering should certainly be put on the station displays in the notes field, it's just plain lazy not doing.
D6130
Established Member
It does make you wonder whether Serco are getting close to the point where they decide to hand back the franchise. All these problems must be costing them a small fortune, not to mention reputational damage.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
They seem to be getting out of the luxury rail business anyway - haven't they just flogged the Ghan and Overland off?
I'd imagine nationalisation (to Scotland) would be quite a popular move.
Serco divested Great Southern Rail in March 2015.
Journeyman
Established Member
- Joined
- 16 Apr 2014
- Messages
- 6,295
There was a major internal review within Serco just before the Caledonian Sleeper franchise commenced, that concluded anything bespoke like this was far too high a commercial risk for them, and in future they'd stick to stuff like very bog-standard local authority outsourcing.
By the time they'd concluded that, the CS contract was already signed.