European Sleeper experience

[Krokodil]

Once again, this is quite reliable and I can't see why anyone would be negative about this.

Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit.

 

[D6130]

Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit.

Sarcasm....or irony? There's a subtle difference!

 

[doc7austin]

Absolutely pathetic. ES still has not managed to sort the parking of its rake in Paris.
Where the heck is Mitry-Claye ?

 

[CC 72100]

Absolutely pathetic. ES still has not managed to sort the parking of its rake in Paris.
Where the heck is Mitry-Claye ?


View attachment 211519

A station in the northern Paris suburbs on the RER B. And if I'm honest, not the sort of area I'd want to be hanging around in as a potentially unfamiliar traveller with luggage...

 

[doc7austin]

I've read on some forum that yesterdays ES train no. 401 Brussels-Milan (departung on Sept 12) was completely cancelled.

 

[danshrimp]

That's not good at all. I hope to god they'll have someone stood at the station directing people to the RER (and perhaps delaying the train accordingly), otherwise they're going to be running a pretty empty train from a backwater RER station. I won't hold out hope...

 

[Coleridge]

This is not a company that I would ever risk booking with.

 

[Unstoppable]

I have known about ES 475 Paris - Berlin starting from Mitry-Claye since yesterday yet I have just received an email 5hrs before departure stating they have only just found out. May I add this was in response to multiple emails I sent on different platforms! This mob are making the UK look like pros at running trains

 

[D6130]

That's not good at all. I hope to god they'll have someone stood at the station directing people to the RER (and perhaps delaying the train accordingly), otherwise they're going to be running a pretty empty train from a backwater RER station. I won't hold out hope...

It's not only an RER station on the periphery of the Paris urban area, but also a station served by TER services on the secondary main line to Soissons and Laon. I'm wondering whether the train will be routed that way tonight due to engineering works?

I hope that Thibault has better organisation for his NOX service when it starts.

 

[AlterEgo]

I'm glad we now seem to have come to a consensus this is not a particularly solid operation. They really are suffering from issues on multiple fronts, but what can they do about them?

 

[mad_rich]

I'm glad we now seem to have come to a consensus this is not a particularly solid operation. They really are suffering from issues on multiple fronts, but what can they do about them?

I've no idea operationally, but one easy fix that gets halfway there is good communication.

I've been on a service that departed late, with no communication or apology, just hanging around on the platform wondering if it would be 10 minutes or 2 hours.

And no announcement or SMS when we terminated early. Not even an acknowledgment that we had in fact terminated! Again, passengers had to work it out for themselves.

I have a lot of sympathy for ES running into problems with rolling stock, and unhelpful infrastructure operators. But I have zero sympathy for poor communication and ignoring passenger rights.

 

[rvdborgt]

And how is that calculated?

By subtraction? Seriously, I don't know how they handle the availability of different price levels in the different comfort categories.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: Today at 12:35 ==

Absolutely pathetic. ES still has not managed to sort the parking of its rake in Paris.
Where the heck is Mitry-Claye ?

I didn't know that either, but Openrailwaymap is quite useful.
In the same thread, someone writes:

European Sleeper frequently does this when they have an issue with their locomotive. It avoids them needing to shunt an extra loco around when hauling the train from Le Bourget (where it's parked) to Gare du Nord.

So it sounds like they do have their parking sorted but they're probably having another problem.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I'm glad we now seem to have come to a consensus this is not a particularly solid operation. They really are suffering from issues on multiple fronts, but what can they do about them?

Not expand further until they have sorted these issues out on their core service?

 

[AdamWW]

I've just been looking at their pricing structure. There's a base price + add-ones to increase flexibility.
It's a bit disappointing that they seem to let you pay extra for a flexible ticket that can be cancelled up to a month before departure....for a train departing the next day.

On the other hand I very much appreciate that the Interrail reservation charges are non dynamic (not even varying with time of year).
These are also available if you by a European Sleeper Pass, whereby a glutton for punishment can have unlimited travel over a fixed period, just paying the reservation fees. Something that is probably more useful as the network expands but The Man in Seat 61 points out that when prices get particularly high it can be cheaper to buy a pass + reservation just for one journey.

Not expand further until they have sorted these issues out on their core service?

I believe they've said that they need to expand routes in order to become profitable, in which case it's damned if you do, damned if you don't.
But I don't suppose the two are entirely exclusive - maybe the answer is an expanded management team to work on improving quality as well as expansion.

 

[Warrior2852]

A station in the northern Paris suburbs on the RER B. And if I'm honest, not the sort of area I'd want to be hanging around in as a potentially unfamiliar traveller with luggage...

I wonder how many RER commuters would have been confused about what a Sleeper train was doing in their station!

 

[BRX]

I've no idea operationally, but one easy fix that gets halfway there is good communication.

I've been on a service that departed late, with no communication or apology, just hanging around on the platform wondering if it would be 10 minutes or 2 hours.

And no announcement or SMS when we terminated early. Not even an acknowledgment that we had in fact terminated! Again, passengers had to work it out for themselves.

I have a lot of sympathy for ES running into problems with rolling stock, and unhelpful infrastructure operators. But I have zero sympathy for poor communication and ignoring passenger rights.

Yes, this - their approach to communication is bizarre.

 

[popeter45]

I believe they've said that they need to expand routes in order to become profitable, in which case it's damned if you do, damned if you don't.
But I don't suppose the two are entirely exclusive - maybe the answer is an expanded management team to work on improving quality as well as expansion.

if/when they have the capital one thing i would suggest is getting their own wagons they can customise too their needs rather than the mix they currently have that leads to a half dozen ticket options (e.g. 5/6 berth couchette, couchette as a sleeper vs a real sleeper etc)
at the moment if a wagon goes bad its chaos with needing to downgrade people as they only have a handful of each wagon type

Ideally what would work best for ES ( i would even say same for NJ rather than NJ2) would be a uniform set of mixed class wagons (e.g. one wagon may have 3 sleeper cabins, 4 Couchette cabins and 2 seated cabins) such that adding/removing wagons doesn’t mess with the distribution of Cabin types and makes it easier to redistribute pax in the case of a wagon going bad even mid trip

 

[AdamWW]

if/when they have the capital one thing i would suggest is getting their own wagons they can customise too their needs rather than the mix they currently have that leads to a half dozen ticket options (e.g. 5/6 berth couchette, couchette as a sleeper vs a real sleeper etc)
at the moment if a wagon goes bad its chaos with needing to downgrade people as they only have a handful of each wagon type

So far as I can see they only have a few sleeper coaches and the rest are couchettes. The "couchettes as sleeper" are just regular couchettes configured specifically, and the seated coach seems to usually be also a couchette coach.

 

[bahnause]

I'm glad we now seem to have come to a consensus this is not a particularly solid operation. They really are suffering from issues on multiple fronts, but what can they do about them?

From an operational standpoint, it would be helpful if a robust TOC was used to manage train operations in the respective countries. That would also provide the flexibility and the personnel and material resources needed to have alternatives in case of disruptions.

In Switzerland, the partner is TCS. According to a job posting, they’re looking for train crew (drivers), who are willing to work two to three shifts per month. That doesn’t sound like they’d be able to reschedule staff on short notice in the event of disruptions or delays. I still need to dig out my Italian A1+ language certificate from a drawer, and then I’ll apply out of curiosity. Who knows—two shifts a month might just be enough to stay within legal working hour limits with my other full time job.

 

[Gag Halfrunt]

Simply Railway has posted a video of the inaugural train from Milan to Brussels. Since Thibault is busy with his own train company now, this one was filmed by Fitia.

 

[AdamWW]

Overall, while it's clear from this thread that there is - to put it politely - considerable scope for improvement, I think what has been achieved so far is actually quite remarkable.

Time will tell if it's remarkable enough to stay afloat, I suppose.