Train notes....

[davidgillon]

Yesterday's trip home was trouble-free for once (just as well with mother in tow). We opted for first class seats on the main leg to give her the extra space and that was in one of LNER's shiny new Azuma's so very plush (they've only been running on the East Coast Main Line from Darlington since just before Christmas), but we were actually the only proper passengers in Coach K ('proper' as there were several LNER staff hopping a ride to work stuff, most of whom got of at Doncaster), which was a little strange. Coach K has the first class wheelchair spaces, but is also only a half-carriage as the front half is the kitchen and the driver's cabin, so even if full there would only have been 20 passengers in it. The wheelchair space wasn't quite as bad as I'd been led to expect from several online comments, there is a window view if you lean forward a little. You just can't look directly sideways (which would make me travel sick anyway). It might be worse for someone in a large powerchair, particularly a six-wheeler, who would be further back from the window. The reason for the lack of a window directly to the side is pretty obvious, they've created the wheelchair spaces by leaving out the floor to ceiling luggage racks in those coaches (there's a similar arrangement in Standard Class, and it gives a rather unfortunate message as to how we're seen). No standing luggage racks of course means if your case is too large for the overhead racks then there's no space for it anywhere. Except by boxing in the crips with it. And speaking of overhead racks, there aren't any for the wheelchair spaces, or the three passenger seats facing them. Clearly we aren't expected to bring luggage of our own.

My trip-up pre-Christmas was also in First (as it was cheap), though in one of the older 225s they're busy retiring. Service was much the same as the Azuma, being plied with free food and drink is nice, but I'm not sure it warrants the premium for First unless you can get it cheap. Interesting observation, you get one more round of hot and cold drinks travelling North to Darlington vs travelling South from Darlington (as southbound hits the end of the line at London and the staff have to prepare for the new passengers boarding). Still, two coffees, a coke and a glass of wine southbound was more than adequate.

Passenger Assistance on the way North was a fiasco, though. With three trains, that's six bits of assistance. Three of those can't go wrong, it's turn up and go on my first train, and there's always someone on the platform to get the ramp. The last train has the ramp aboard, so can't go wrong. All three other ramps failed to turn up where they were needed. Ironically I was just telling the guard on the train into St Pancras that the ramp had never failed to show up as we pulled in and it wasn't there. And I'd watched him phone St P 40 minutes earlier to say it was needed (and Chatham would have phoned as well). At Kings Cross and at Darlington, the ramp turned up, but at Standard Class, rather than First, which is exactly what I'd predicted given the way the Passenger Assistance had stuffed up the bookings and put it as Standard class in big bold letters, then added a note correcting themselves in the small print. I managed to intercept the ramp guy at Kings Cross (interesting that both he and the guard then demanded to examine my tickets, apparently convinced that I must be the one who got it wrong), but no way to do that at Darlington (and I'd warned the guard it would go wrong and she should phone ahead to tell them), which meant I had the guard standing next to me frantically blowing her whistle for a couple of minutes to try and attract the attention of the platform staff on a train that was already running late.

{Rolls eyes}

Comments

[hilarita]

Well, luggage doesn't usually care if it goes first class or not :/

I wish they'd bloody well take out a couple of seats in each carriage to put in more luggage space. That way, the disabled spot wouldn't become a luggage "rack", and people might be prepared to travel by train, because it might not be such a ridiculously stressful experience fighting for 0.02cm of luggage space that can get a suitcase in.

[davidgillon]

Absolutely! It was patently obvious the luggage space was inadequate on the 225s, yet the Azuma is no better. And I'll bet there's no overhead rack for the disabled spaces because no one thought about it.

[hilarita]

It's almost as if the people designing this stuff do it for routes where seats are always reserved, and then they travel in First anyway, so they never see the struggles for space in Standard. And I bet they assume that all wheelchair users are incapable of standing, because they never see wheelchair users out and about, in their bubble.

[davidgillon]

Yeah. Even the ramp facilities for the Azuma had me thinking "what were you thinking?"

Getting on at Darlington was no problem, they used their standard ramp kept on the platform.

Getting off at Kings Cross, they always use the onboard ramps for some reason (I wonder if LNER control Darlington, but not Kings Cross and are charged if they use the KGX platform ramps). On the Azumas, to use the onboard ramp, they have to:
1: Unlock a little flip-out panel on the step.
2: Ask the wheelie to move out of the way because the ramp is stored behind the obvious place to wait.
3: Unlock the top door the ramp is stowed behind.
4: Unlock the bottom door the ramp is stowed behind (which is about a foot high).

It's literally difficult to think of a worse way of doing it. They could have reduced it to one unlock just by coordinating the design of the step, ramp and door.