Serco for Sleeper

[Darandio]

I haven't been keeping up to date hear I understand class 87s making a come back but only on London area ECS moves according to wiki

They have 86's & 87's on hire for Wembley and Polmadie moves.

 

[captainbigun]

They have 86's & 87's on hire for Wembley and Polmadie moves.

86101 and 87002 for ECS moves WB to/from Euston, 86401 will join these two later in the month. No requirement at Polmadie.

There is only one working 87 in the UK....

 

[Essexman]

Do some of the crew still swap from the southbound sleeper to the northbound Scotrail service at Rannoch? I think this used to happen and effectively guaranteed the connection but is it the same now they are different companies?

Rather than hanging round Glasgow for the lowland sleeper I'm thinking of making the trip up to Rannoch and getting the Highland sleeper south from there, but I don't fancy missing it and am not so keen on changing at Bridge of Orchy with an hour to wait in the dark.

 

[gunn13]

Yes they do. But it's now only conductors that swap over.

 

[Furrball]

Something weird seems to be going on with their site - I cannot select Euston as a starting point!!!!

OK, some sort of odd caching issue - open an Incognito window and it appears - odd!!!

 

[33056]

Yes saw this through Bletchley this morning hauled by an FSR liveried 90

90021 IIRC, which is on 1S26 tonight

90018 was on the other end. 86101 brought the stock in as expected.

86101 was showing OOS on TOPS at the time!

 

[petegunstone]

Rather than hanging round Glasgow for the lowland sleeper I'm thinking of making the trip up to Rannoch and getting the Highland sleeper south from there, but I don't fancy missing it and am not so keen on changing at Bridge of Orchy with an hour to wait in the dark.

The Bridge of Orchy Hotel (less than 5 mins down the road) offers excellent hospitality to all comers.

 

[Altnabreac]

Do some of the crew still swap from the southbound sleeper to the northbound Scotrail service at Rannoch? I think this used to happen and effectively guaranteed the connection but is it the same now they are different companies?

Rather than hanging round Glasgow for the lowland sleeper I'm thinking of making the trip up to Rannoch and getting the Highland sleeper south from there, but I don't fancy missing it and am not so keen on changing at Bridge of Orchy with an hour to wait in the dark.

I think the crossing at Gorton is now only usable by Engineer's RRVs and not for passing full trains.

This ensures that you are safe to stay on until Rannoch if you so desire.

Bridge of Orchy hotel is very pleasant though.

 

[work-traveller]

not so keen on changing at Bridge of Orchy with an hour to wait in the dark.

You should try waiting for the southbound sleeper at Corrour in February - pitch black and no shelter from the bitter cold. As it's a request stop I was glad the driver had my booking on his sheet.

 

[Essexman]

I've often wondered, what happens to any passengers from Corrour if the southbound sleeper is cancelled, with there being no road access?

 

[petegunstone]

I've often wondered, what happens to any passengers from Corrour if the southbound sleeper is cancelled, with there being no road access?

In terms of what passengers would do if left to their own devices, I know that Corrour Station House Restaurant have kindly provided sustenance & shelter out of their season to some (this January, as well as helping Scotrail to dig their trains out of the snow), there is also the 'eco-hostel' a mile down the track at Loch Ossian, and many walkers in this remote area will be prepared to camp/bivvy out overnight in any case.

As far as what Scotrail/Caledonian Sleeper would do, I don't know, but it's not beyond the bounds of possibility that they would send some sort of vehicle (4x4 taxi) on the 70 mile round trip from Fort William to Corrour, via the the 17 or so mile long private track from Loch Laggan, which is what the inhabitants of Corrour have to do weekly, or more frequently, to bring their own supplies in owing to lack of routine cooperation from the modern railway operators, in comparison with days of yore.

(Incidentally, this cropped up in the Scottish press recently after Scotrail were not too friendly about sending supplies by train when the track was blocked. See http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/...gency-supplies-to-remote-restaurant.120620333 for further information).

 

[tsr]

Those connected with the Corrour restaurant are known to use the Sleeper and/or other local services to go and fetch supplies or arrange any business as needs arise. Seeing as they provide this traffic, plus footfall and custom for Corrour Station, it is I think only fair that they can have reciprocal arrangements for adequate but not elaborate assistance by the TOCs involved!

As for what happens if the Sleeper is cancelled, IIRC there is now a Help Point on the platforms, and a usable shelter.

 

[Rick1984]

How helpful is a helpoint in the middle of nowhere?

I suppose it would depend on the enquire mind you.

 

[38Cto15E]

Have no forum members been on the Caledonian sleeper since Serco took over the franchise, I was looking forward to finding out how things differ from First Scotrail, I hope to book mid June on the Fort William shortly.

 

[Blindtraveler]

Too bluddy expensive and hard to book! The chap at tellisales I spoke too the other day didnt teven know a DSB Railcard existed! Very customer friendly!

 

[cf111]

I should be on the Sleeper next Thursday all being well. Not expecting any drastic differences but the proof will be in the pudding (or cheese board).

 

[Sleepy]

Too bluddy expensive and hard to book! The chap at tellisales I spoke too the other day didnt teven know a DSB Railcard existed! Very customer friendly!

Disgraceful !! Serco training issues ???

 

[reb0118]

Too bloody expensive and hard to book! The chap at telesales I spoke too the other day didn't even know a DSB Railcard existed! Very customer friendly!

Maybe we should be a bit more generous? Whilst admitting that the situation does not seem ideal, the question that we have to ask ourselves is this:-

Once the OP pointed out that he held a railcard was the appropriate discount offered?

I would say that it is up to the customer to state that they hold a specific railcard, although that said it would be good customer service for the sales clerk to ask if the prospective passenger holds a national railcard at some time during the booking process.

Remember that although the sleeper, itself, is an old established service that the support staff, as opposed to the frontline staff who have TUPEd over, may well be new to the role as most of the former will have switched to Abellio as opposed to Serco.

It is a learning curve for all.

 

[rameses3]

I should be on the Sleeper next Thursday all being well. Not expecting any drastic differences but the proof will be in the pudding (or cheese board).

I am in the lounge car on the way to Fort William as I type this.
Although the menu has changed and the prices have gone up its still the same old sleeper

 

[38Cto15E]

Cheers rameses, you must now be approaching Rannoch, 53 late at Crianlarich according to realtimetrains, have a good trip.

 

[causton]

Just spent a couple of days in Scotland, very good experience on the sleeper! Our carriage host on the way north was a bit of an enthusiast, he asked us if we knew what number the loco was when we were looking out the window going along the North London Line on Sunday night which I found quite funny! Nice new sleep pack and cups of drink, except on the way north we were told they don't do orange juice for adults anymore, only kids, but on the way south we were told we could have orange or apple juice!

On the way north went Euston - Aberdeen via the ECML
On the way south went Glasgow - Euston via the WCML

Not much changed overall, didn't have time to have any of the food, they made less of an effort telling us about it this time compared to First's offering! Probably very busy anyway with people sampling the new menu.

On the way back we were a coach short, thankfully they found room for all of us, including a solo berth for the lucky gentleman in the next carriage so they could move an American family in there!

So a slightly nicer experience than First so far, but the berths are still tiny and a bit dated... can't wait to see what's in store

 

[rameses3]

Cheers rameses, you must now be approaching Rannoch, 53 late at Crianlarich according to realtimetrains, have a good trip.

Yep, just missed out on the Golden Hour by two minutes. Oh well, only half fare refund then....

 

[Blindtraveler]

Maybe we should be a bit more generous? Whilst admitting that the situation does not seem ideal, the question that we have to ask ourselves is this:-

Once the OP pointed out that he held a railcard was the appropriate discount offered?

I would say that it is up to the customer to state that they hold a specific railcard, although that said it would be good customer service for the sales clerk to ask if the prospective passenger holds a national railcard at some time during the booking process.

Remember that although the sleeper, itself, is an old established service that the support staff, as opposed to the frontline staff who have TUPEd over, may well be new to the role as most of the former will have switched to Abellio as opposed to Serco.

It is a learning curve for all.

Appologies I should have been a bit clearer - I started my call by stating Start and end points, number of Pax and that I held a railcard. This was where we ran into problems as the advisor stated he had not heard of a Disabled railcard and although I politely suggested he put it into his system and that is would show up as both existing and offering a discount on the price he plunged on insisting the only railcard hed heard of and that was accepted was the Senior. Not wanting an argument and as this was a work related booking anyway and therefor not my money, I went and booked BA Flights instead which were a few pounds cheeper than the out and back sleaper trip I had intended making.

Whilst Im very patient with new things like this and well aware that ther'll be teething issues this whole thing just made me cross - Normally It would be 1 way on the sleaper the other on a day service, generally on an Off Peek Return but as the question of Open Tickets and Supplements still does not seam propperly answered I decided to play safe and Sleaper only both ways. The advisors insistance that I was wrong and that he couldnt sell what I wanted was the breaking point for me as I dont think any booking agent should be like this and as I was getting inwardly cross, they lost the business as a result. My only feer is that this way of working i.e turning pax away with bad service will result in people leaving the sleaper behind as I did for the airlines as if your going to spend this kind of money theres not much in it.

 

[cf111]

I'm not one for complaining but if I were in your position Blindtraveler I would be sorely tempted to. Not against the person on the phone perhaps, but against the process (or lack of), they seem to have been trained on and work from. A disabled railcard is not an unusual thing to hold and shouldn't be causing issues after the time Serco have had to set up this franchise. I would worry about what less "well versed" travelers than yourself would think should they experience the same.

The experience I have had with Caledonian Sleeper customer services has been poor, but not on the level you have experienced. I eventually had to book my ticket through my local station as they didn't seem able to answer any of my questions. The people on the phone were perfectly pleasant, but they didn't seem to have been trained very well.

 

[DEE-DE]

Right, so I did my first trip with Serco today. Arrival into London was 25 mins late.
Due to boarding at Dundee I did not visit the lounge car in the evening.
The sleep kit is nice. You don't get to keep your towel anymore (at least that's what I think). Standard now has ear plugs as well and a sleeping mask. I don't really see the point of a sleeping mask as you can get your cabin reasonably dark if you know where to switch off the night light. Ear plugs is generally good, but don't know if there are ones that drown out the drain noises more. The ear plugs with Serco and First seem to be more effective when it comes to people talking.
I had the Gamekeeper's Highland Breakfast in the morning. This is a bit better than what Scotrail used to do as a cooked breakfast but the portions aren't very big (see attached photo). Meat and egg where of an alright consistency, I would have wished for the beans to come with a more generous amount of tomato sauce, they seemed slightly too dry. No complaints about preparation though. Now standard passengers get proper cutlery too when ordering a breakfast, e.g. a proper teapot. Very few passengers seem to order breakfasts nowadays, I saw loads of those cardboard coffee cups though. Breakfast wise I wish they'd kept a continental breakfast as that always seemed very good. Might try their bacon butty but that has to wait as next time I'll be connecting onto a First Great Western Pullman Brunch service, so might not be till Christmas.
I tried to find out more about the shower upgrades but did not manage to. Noone, neither Virgin or Serco staff seemed to have heard of them.
It seems as if communication within the new franchise is lacking and no one really knows what the plan is.
I did sit down in the lounge car this morning after breakfast, they seemed to have moved all the sofas to the far end and all tables nearer to the kitchen.
Also it seems policy to wait for two further stops for no shows. My cabin had one which I think was just me checking earlier whether I would be sharing. The name was unknown.

On their twitter account if you go to tweets and replies you'll find plenty of people complaining about the portion sizes.

If anyone wants to know anything I might have forgotten, feel free to ask.

Edit: Yeah, I also noticed them removing some valuable info from their brochures. I don't think I would have been able to find all the switches without knowing them through previous journeys.

 

[455refurb]

I have to say that breakfast looks pretty grim. Sleep kit sounds like an improvement though!

 

[Blindtraveler]

A theme appears to be developing here - poor communication at many levels and a general feeling of many being unsure what there doing - quite poor really.

In terms of a breakfast, one only has to read the multiple good reports of EMTs offering to see what can be done so maybe lessons again there?

 

[kermit]

It takes a lot to put me off a cooked breakfast, but the photo at #835 might just do the trick!

Meanwhile, reports of booking large numbers of foreign tourists onto non-existent coaches

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/...-tourists-reserved-non-existent-coa.122741393

Good to hear there's praise for the staff though, even if getting on a train at Carstairs in the early hours of the morning isn't my idea of a restful night!

 

[Essexman]

My experience with booking this week -

Booked Flexipass online very easily.

Phoned Tuesday evening to book berths and was told they can't do this over the phone yet (will be soon or online) but they would send me an email to which I needed to reply with details. Said they do Flexipass bookings between 8.30 & midnight and I'd get an email back that evening with confirmation.

No email. Tried to phone yesterday morning but hung on for ages & couldn't get through. Same early evening yesterday but got through about 8.30. Was told they'd been very busy but my request was third on list and would be done later that evening. It was and I received email last night.

Both members of staff I spoke to were helpful & friendly.

Thanks for those who advised on Rannoch & Bridge of Orchy. I chose the latter as it may be just light enough for a short walk, or as recommended the hotel sounds to be a suitable 'waiting room'.

 

[Iskra]

That breakfast doesn't look fit for human consumption. If that's an improvement I would hate to have seen the previous incarnation.