I read something about GNER's & Network Rails finances this week which if true, could well prove to be a warning to us all.

Apparently, GNER's turnover in 2006 was £478m off which they turned a 1.5% profit. This compares to FGW who made a 6.2% profit off £397m. First things first, I think you'll agree the profit margins GNER were making are appauling.

In other news, latest financial results have revealed Network Rail are making £6m profit ---- per fucking day. That's £1220m profit on revenue of £2984 for the first 6 months of 07/08, up £21m on the same period last year.

Clearly the TOC's are making not a lot whilst NR are milking us all dry. No wonder the TOC's are putting up prices and no wonder I'm convinced NXEC are going to reduce service in the ECML because who would stand for a pilfry £1.5% profit and how else are they going to increase margins. Whatever happens NR will take the vast majority of it.

Platform 3. Again.

Why?

This year will be my 20th Christmas commuting from Peterborough, so I feel I know a little bit about the service and what to expect over that period, and I know for a fact that Christmas eve is always very busy during the day as people head off to visit their friends and family before the service winds down early evening. So I am totally staggered that there is no direct service between Peterborough and King Cross on Christmas eve, in fact there is no direct service from the evening of Saturday 22nd December until after Christmas. Correct me if I am wrong but I thought this governments policy was to get people OFF the roads and ON to public transport???

The first NatEx train from Peterborough to Kings Cross leaves at 9.25 and arrives (after a nice ride on a bus) at 11.45, not much use for those of us that have to work!! FCC are providing a half hourly service, from early morning but again because of the bus ride involved these will also take 2hours 15 mins. Now I know engineering work has to be done sometime, but closing the line for 2-3 of the busiest days of the year is just unbelievable. I guess the A1 will be busy

...same as the old boss, to quote the wonderful Who.

Last night, I was aiming for the 1820, which I could probably have caught if I wanted to stand. Both it and the 1833 had the 'Reservations in coach X are in Y' note, which usually means it's a carriage short, and seats are at a premium. Not being in overmuch of a hurry, I caught the 1837 FCC instead.

Got the 0640 this morning, and... well...

It was a train. It left P'boro the usual minute or so late, got in around about 0733, there was a trolley, there were crew, no-one inspected my ticket, no-one stopped people leaving from the first-class end of the buffet car, I didn't have the leg/seat room to use the laptop, but the mobile phone picked up the WiFi just fine.

The Brave New NXEC World isn't that different, really.

(Relax, I'm not going to be blogging every single journey!)

(Edit: hah. well, not for long. The 1530 today? No reservations at all.)

Mixed. That's the best word to discribe my first experience with NXEC yesterday. The mornings trial and tribulations are well detailed in my last post but the trip home was much better. Not perfect, just better.

I caught the 16.10 to get home so I could watch my sons nativity play (Peter Kay would have been proud of that comic performance) and decided to see if the rumours were true that the Wifi was indeed free in Std. It was and for the first time ever, it worked for me throughout the journey. Everything else was pretty much the same as GNER - Warm beer, no trolley service, some tit fer brains trying to argue with the guard that his ticket was valid on that service when clearly it wasn't. You know the sort of thing? We did however leave and arrive on time which was the 2nd bonus.

This morning was no better of worse than yesterday PM. If the chit chat on the platform is anything to go by, word is getting round Std class the the Wifi is now free (which is going down a storm with the poor folk) but we're going to be paying for it through inflation busting increases to fares (which isn't going down too well). Nobody seems to like the proposed livary and most seem to be sceptical that NXEC are going to be able to deliver on their promises to improve punctuality and reliability. Time will tell.

For some reason this blog was one of the 'Featured Blogs' on blog.co.uk yesterday. I've no idea why or how but we were. You can also google both GNER and NXEC and we appear on page one of the returns. Again. Don't know why and how but we do. Visitors and page views on this site are also rising which I find odd since neither I, Platform6 or Penfold could be described as serial bloggers over the last 3 months. We've been lucky to put one post a week on here between us.

...to NXEC.

- 0610 was in the station when I got there at 0605 - bizarrely on platform 3, which I do hope /isn't/ going to become a habit.
- free wifi worked, but BBC site thinks its in Sweden (correctly, since that's who provides the service), so serves me banner ads. Have mailed BBC and advised them otherwise.
- the delivery of 'your new East Coast' brochures to my carriage seemed to have either been dropped in the rain, or caused unnatural excitement in NXEC staff, since several of the pages of several issues were stuck together.
- got in at about 0659.

I didn't know what to expect this morning but I certainly expected better than what we got.

I arrived at the station in good time for the 07.20 and took my place on the platform as usual. 07.20 came and went as did 07.21, 22, 23 and it arrived at 07.24. Not only was it slightly late, it was also a 125 diesal (where as it's normally an electric 225) and it was 1 coach shorter than normal. To make matters worse there were no seat reservations. Well I say there were none but there were the odd few NXEC seat reservations but all of them were therefore the ad hoc traveller who no oubt booked via NXEC direct where as us commuters booked via GNER.

As usual when there are no seat reservations, there was a mad crush for the doors as people fought to get to the front so they stood half a chance of getting a seat. Persoanlyl I didn't have to rush as I noticed that becasue the train was shoprter than normal, the doors we not in the usual alignment with the platform. Consequently most people were pushing to get on coach C where as the doors for coach B (the quiet one) was relatively clear so I moved 6 feet to my right and got a seat with ease. There were many who weren't quite so lucky and it was standing room only for a good proportion of Peterboroughs morning commuters.

A few people moaned about the change of rolling stock and the lack of seat reservations and a few even threatened to waltz into the travel centre this evening to complain. I sat and listened but resisted temptation to point out that they were on a hiding to nothing and sat back with my book (Peter Kay's Autobiography The sound of laughter) thinking how glad I was that there was firstly a train to travel on and secondly that I had a seat and finally that the blokes next and opposite me didn't smell.

I had hoped to try and use one of my last remaining buffet vouchers when the trolly passed just to see if NXEC were accepting them as promised. Sadly I didn't get a chance becasue there was no trolly service (Staff shortages again so no change there). I then got my ticket out and laid it on the table but they never came to check it so even that little act was a wasted effort.

We finally arrived into Kings Cross 30 pages later and 10 mins late. All in all it has not been the best of starts to a relationship between my good self and NXEC. Of course things could get much much worse becasue this mornings irritations were only minor but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they will actually get better. It is only day 2 of NXEC's reign afterall.

One thing I did notice was the new logo on the outside of the rolling stock which as far as I can see, has been written with a marker pen. To say it looks cheap is an understatement but I guess it has been a bit of a rush job to get some form of NXEC branding to replace the GNER brand name. Anyway, I'll be travelling home mid afternoon today as it's my sons nativity play tonight and he's promised to give me a good kick in the nads if I fail to show. We will just have to see how that goes. The journey that is, not the nativity play.

And in the supreme irony, on the last day of weekday commuter service from GNER....

...the last ever 0615 (before it becomes the 0610 on Monday) is cancelled with no explanation.

For those wanting a lasting (till you drop it, chip it or otherwise break it) memorial for GNER, the folks at www.thebufferstopshop.co.uk
have "GNER Farewell" mugs in three different styles.

http://news.scotsman.com/opinion.cfm?id=1898672007

And before anybody suggest I go out and buy some crappy train drivers software for my home PC, forget it. I wanna go on the real thing like this bloke.

I note Tinsel Town MP Stewart Jackson has been having a bit of a go about the crappy Saturday timetable back from London.

Since I've had enough of London by 4pm on Friday, I can't say this bothers me much, but... if I go out for an evening with colleagues or friends, or even to the theatre, during the week, I'm starting to think the weekday evening timetable sucks, too. If I miss the 22:22 (stopping at every third telegraph pole on the way up), which given a lot of West End shows end around 22:00-22:15 is pretty much a given, that's IT for an hour. I'm definitely getting fed up of standing on KX station, knowing the 23.30 is in the platform with its doors open and not being let on it for 45 mins+.

I'm working late tonight so I opted for a lie in and a later train. First mistake. My second was volunteering to take the kids to school because that meant I couldn't get the 9ish train so went for the 9.30 ish which I just missed thanks to all the lovely Peterborough people heading into town for a bit of festive shopping. No worries though because the 09.50 will be along in a moment. Oh no it won't. It's running 25 mins late. I know, I'll get the 10.10. No I won't, it's cancelled. My last mistake this morning was catching the late running 09.50 instead of waiting for the 10.20. Why? No bloody heating in the coach. And there I was thinking GNER had to hand the fleet to NXEC in full working order.

Sorry I've been a bit short with posts over the last 2 months or so but work has got on top of me and this blog makes sod all money whilst I have mouths to feed and a mortgage to pay.

Has anyone else noticed the slow removal of the GNER logo and the replacement of the red stripe down the side with a grey/off white one? Apparently NXEC will now have a common grey/white livery across all NX group companies. I'm also told that repainting rolling stock will take up to 2 years but they still don't know if or how they can refurb the interiors.

This made me laugh the other day too. I ften enjoy a pint on the way home but usually buy a can on the way to KX. This particular day I was in a rush, fogot and was forced to by a can from the trolly. 'I'll have a warm can of Stella please' Said I as the trolly passed. 'They're not warm' said the Dolly. 'We have to hand the rolling stock over to the new opperator in full working order so we've had all the fridges fixed which means the cans are actually cold now'. Result thought I but surprise, surprise. A few days later we were back to the old warm cans becasue the fidge had broken down again.

Only a few days left for GNER then it's in with new and out with the old. We already know prices are going up over inflation so NXEC are not off to a good start in my books but we will have to wait and see what happens.

With regards to this blog I've been thinking about what I'm going to do with it. Whilst I can change the name of the blog I can't change the web address. Consequently I'm going to give it a few months to see if traffic number remain stable before I decide if I should stick with waht we've got or just abandon it and start a new NXEC commuter blog.

Till the next time (which hopefully won't be as long as I've left it since my last post).

GNER have sent all us loyal passengers an E mail that says Natioanl Express will honour all GNER 365 benefits until our current season tickets expire. I guess that means I wont have to buy £20 of sweets from the trolley and Fentyke can stop sitting in First class every night

Nice start Nat Express, now if they would just drop the parking charges to a decent level they really would win a few friends (something GNER lost years ago)

Here is a copy of the E mail.

Dear Member,

Announcing the closure of GNER365

As you may be aware, from 09 December 2007, National Express will take over the franchise for services on the East Coast Main Line currently operated by GNER. We are writing to let you know that GNER’s Season Ticket loyalty scheme, GNER365, will therefore be closing on 08 December 2007 and no further applications for GNER365 will be accepted.

Your current benefits

Following discussions with National Express, they have kindly offered to honour existing members’ GNER365 benefits for up to 12 months. This means that you can continue to use your full range of benefits up to the expiry date printed on your membership card and vouchers.

You can continue to book your travel benefits as usual by calling 08457 225 225. Assistance for the scheme will remain available through season.tickets@gner.co.uk. All terms and conditions for the scheme and contact details will continue to be available at gner.co.uk/seasontickets.

Looking forward

We appreciate that you are a frequent traveller on the East Coast Main Line and National Express also aims to recognise your loyalty in the future. They will be in touch with you in December to tell you about a complimentary travel offer. They’ll also keep you up-to-date about future news and offers on the East Coast Main Line. If you’d prefer not to receive these communications, please send an e-mail to season.tickets@gner.co.uk with your GNER365 membership number and the words ‘GNER365 opt-out’.

Through GNER365 we have delivered exclusive rewards to our loyal Season Ticket holders, and we hope you have enjoyed benefiting from these.

Having just renewed my season ticket, I now have just 6 weeks (before GNER is no more) to spend my £20 worth of vouchers and use my 4 First class upgrades. I amagine many of my fellow commuters are also in the same situation, in which case First class could get a bit busy soon. Prehaps I might sit there in the morning and moan about all the plebs wondering through "My" carriage as we pull into Kings Cross.

Am I the only person who finds it annoying that the Departures board by the parking ticket machines on the way from the car park to the station hasn't got an indication of the time on it? There's plenty of room to squeeze in the necessary five characters (06:13) in the header, and it'd do wonders for my peace of mind when I'm hurrying (do I have time to hit the ATM? is there any point in hurrying?)

(Yes, I have a watch. No, I don't trust it to keep railway time).

Having had a call a couple of days ago to /finally/ confirm I've got a space, it looks as though the current waiting list is of the order of... hrm... six months, near as damnit.

http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/Special-Report-Fresh-calls-for.3416510.jp

Yet more talk in the local paper about what needs to be done to Peterborough station. As the great man once sang "A little less conversation, a little more action" please. The infastructure at the station is a joke.

This may be obvious to some, and not much use to those of us with season tickets, but.. (via View from the Spaghetti Factory)... GNER's 'online' discounts are NOT available via The Trainline.

From GNER:

"Train services between Doncaster and York are significantly disrupted due to a structural problem with a bridge.

"Trains between Doncaster and York will operate at approximately hourly intervals and journey times will be extended.

"It is not possible to operate the full GNER service and those trains that are running over their full route will be busier than normal.

"Network Rail's engineers are working to repair the bridge as soon as possible. However, the current estimate for a return to the normal service is 06:00 hrs Friday 28th September."

And as usual, FCC have more information that GNER haven't mentioned:

"On the Thameslink route there are delays due to earlier over running engineering work at London Bridge. In addition, a tree has fallen on the overhead power lines near St Albans. As a result two out of four lines are currently closed.

"Services are currently delayed by up to 30 minutes."

My colleague reports his Picadilly Line train not stopping at KX this morning due to 'overcrowding' (around 8.45).

The number of people using a motorcycle to get between home and the station has risen dramatically this summer. Whilst I'm sure a few will be fair weather boys and girls intent on saving a few hundred pounds in parking fees while they can, I think the majority are here to stay.

Personally I think this is great as it should be giving GNER and the new owners the message that current parking charges are too expensive, unreasonable and unaffordable. However I would like to see a little more common sense when it comes to parking the damn things. Twice this week some tit fer brains has blocked my bike in just becasue they can park as close to the gate as possible. It's not a large area and everyone can see that when walking past but there is still plenty of space. So if you've recently started riding to the staion, please don't be a lazy, inconsiderate, selfish fuck wit. Use a bit of common, park where there is plenty of room and use your legs for which they were designed for.

Rant over.

(Just a few questions)

...spend god knows how much on revamping the P'boro station carpark? I'm /guessing/ the answer is 'so the payment machines can be upgraded to chip-and-PIN'. Whatever, the changeover was a shambles - the queue of folks waiting to get their new tickets /re-programmed/ on the 10th was long, and they actually lost my original old-style ticket. Also, sad at losing the plastic credit-card style tickets, but I hope that removes the rather glaring possibility for fraud I spotted a while back....

...are trains on Platforms 1-4 at KX stopping a whole carriage length shorter than usual from the buffers?

...were there NO announcements on this morning's 0615 at all, and no ticket inspection or trolley?

The GNER taxi bus between Hampton and the station has been running for over a year now but I wonder how much longer they can continue. Whenever I see the thing it NEVER has more than 3 passengers on board so surely it can't be profitable.

More worrying still is the speed at which the drivers are now pushing those vehicles. I've followed a few lately and whilst my scooter will cruise at 65mph, these guys have flown/are flying past me on a regular basis. Last night was the worst I've seen so far. I followed the bus out of the sation and down Thorpe Road where the speed limit is 30mpg. Last nights bus was doing 45mph. As the bus isn't exactly quick off the mark, I overtook it as we joined the Nene Parkway and was soon up to my max cruising speed. Halfway between the Thorpe Road and Moat Hse roundabouts the bus shot past me at what I estimate to be 75mph+. It got worse. I was by now a few cars back as we joined the Soke Parkway where there is currently a 40mph restriction. I could see the bus puulling away from me so decided to try and catch it up but even at 65mph I couldn't.

Now I'm no saint and can and do break the speed limits every now and again (Last night for instance) and I'm sure the passenegers don't mind getting home a bit quicker than normal and the driver is obviously prepared to risk his licence and possibly job, but a company like GNER has a duty of care over it's customers and to me they look like they are ignoring this duty by ignoring the speed limit. What would happen if they crashed and somebody was badly injured or killed even and the driver is found to be at fault becasue he was speeding? Can you imagine the compensation claims and PR damage such an event would have?

After a period of relative calm, things seem to be going tits up for GNER lately. There was a noticeable lack of seat reservations on one of last weeks evening trains and yesterdays 0.70 from Tinsel Town. This morning the departure board just said the 07.20 was delayed but unuually it didn't give an estimated arrival time or state what the problem was.

I'd also like to know what's happened to Sean and Mick Jaques lately as I've not seen or heard from either of them for months now? Are they still in the company of have they jumped ship befor SS GNER sinks and morphs into Natex.

As I write I'm trying to call GNER customer services. To get the number I visited the GNER web site. As mine is a season ticket enquiry the web site tells me to dial 0845 225 225 which is the same number as GNER customer relations. I haven't dialed this number of course because I didn't want to pay over the odds for the call so I used the say no to 0870 website http://www.saynoto0870.com/ to get the direct dial number (which incidentally is 0191 227 5959).

After 10 minutes I got through to an opperator. 'Sorry' she says. 'Season Tickets are handled by the business travel team' and proceeded to transfer me. Here I am 10 minutes later and I'm still holding for a member of the business travel team. That's 20 minutes now and counting and all this to ask a simple 30 second question and listen to the 30 second reply and all because the GNER web site displays the wrong number.

Tosspots.

http://www.youreastcoast.co.uk/?page_id=4

Interesting.