London Midland have a page on their website titled Improving our services where they describe the steps they are taking to address a number of problem areas. I figured that it might be interesting to pick one of the aspects that London Midland are working on each week or so, providing my own views on how they are doing.
London Midland have New Trains as their first subject, so I thought that I'd give that one a go too...
London Midland say that they have already delivered on this one, having invested £190 million in 37 four-carriage sets for the longer distance services. I assume that these are the 350/2 Desiros that we have seen arriving on the route into London Euston since 2008 (the earlier and arguably more comfortable 350/1s having been introduced by Silverlink from 2004).
An earlier posting (350 v 321) compared the Desiro 350s with the old 321 trains and there's little point in repeating the same detail here. There's no doubt that we are better off than we were, but I don't think that the 350s are perfect. In my view the problems are:
- London Midland themselves have admitted to reliability problems. On the Public Performance Measure stats poster for the period 27/6-24/7 they say "We also suffered a number of train faults both on our Euston route and around Birmingham, some of which were caused by the particularly warm weather". I don't recall the weather being unseasonally warm, but the key point here is that they are admitting that they have issues with rolling-stock.
- While we are better off overall having air-conditioning on the trains, there is a serious problem when the ventilation system doesn't work. The guys that fix these things do appear to have reduced the frequency, but there are still occasions when there is no 'air-con' working in individual carriages. When that happens in the summer, with no windows to open there are only two options - sit and swelter or move to another part of the train (where you will probably end up standing).
- The seating layout of the 350/2 trains (the ones with the green upholstery) is generally five across. The alleyways are narrow making it awkward to walk from one part of the train to another on a busy train, and three normal-sized adults will not fit onto a bench of three.
- There is insufficient provision for bikes and luggage.
What do you think?
(The next posting in this series will be regarding More Seats)
Posts
With regards the seating layout. This morning the 07:16 from MK had the older style layout (tables, four seats across the carriage with a wider alleyway). It was noticeably more crowded and felt busier. It is a little cramped with three adults on the newer trains, but I'd rather this increased seating capacity than having to stand.
ReplyDeleteThanks 'galvogalvo'. I know you aren't alone in preferring the 'green' Desiros as someone I regularly travel with has a similar view ('there's a bit more room on a bench of three for two people than for the same number on a pair of seats', etc).
ReplyDeleteI think my biggest gripe with the newer trains is the width of the corridor which leaves little room for standing or for walking through.
I despise the 350/2 layout. No tray tables means having to balance bag on lap. Not always comfortable when height of seat is slightly too high for someone 5'3" (not to mention seat back is too upright)! Lack of tray table is ridiculous, particularly when LM sell these as 'commuter/business' trains but cannot compete with Virgin in that respect.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, width of seats is far too slight and so with no armrests, often can be a battle to keep one's personal space their own... Not to mention that the window seats have a heater on the floor taking up roughly 1/3 of leg room, which means that legs cannot be placed flush in front of the passenger.
With the aforementioned narrow corridors these new style trains are a menace and others have pointed out, getting a 350/1 now feels like winning the lottery!
I have similar views Hans_So, and I like the "getting a 350/1 now feels like winning the lottery" thought.
ReplyDeleteThere has been a lot of trumpeting about the extra capacity that the 350/2s provide, but it's interesting that the exact figures never seem to be published. On the basis that the middle seat on a bench of three normally doesn't get used, I reckon that the extra is minimal (if not zero).
Interestingly, at least one rail user group has filed a complaint about the replacement of the older Desiros with the new version (Nuneaton, Bedworth & Hinckley - www.greennuneaton.org.uk/nbrug/?paged=2).