We're on the case
Around 20 years ago, I worked with the head of PR at Cross Country to defuse a big row over bikes on trains on local services around Bristol, and that morphed into their cycles policy, 2 reservable spaces, 1+ non-reservable on trains - with staff discretion - often 6-7 bikes on Sheffield-Leeds early morning commuter trains - (the 4 HST's that generally work diagrams Edinburgh-Leeds-Plymouth retain coach A (called coach F by Cross Country), with a van-space that managed to carry 24 bikes on the last train back from Glasgow to Edinburgh, after a big CTC Lothians Ride in the distant (BR) past.
My flickr album https://www.flickr.com/photos/h52/albums/72157666548592209 collates pictures of the Class 220/221 Coach D abomination (and some Virgin coach A's) The system is clearly not fit for purpose as the brackets bend and the bolts pull out of the ceiling, with the fap for 2 bikes = 55cm 1 bike = 63 cm (most straight 'bars now = 70-75cm hence all the paint worn off the interior panels!
We're on the Cross Country case, with CyclingUK, following from my arranging a meeting in York with LNER about the Azumas last month. The XC flare up was triggered by a freelance journalist who got a rather bad twitter response, which basically said "If you can't load your bike in the cupboard space don't bother travelling on our train" Naturally we need to get some of the heat out of this in order to resolve matters, and there needs to be some context for the current and future prospects.
1) The trains are owned, maintained and a set number are supplied on contract to operate by Beacon Rail, who own & maintain all the Voyagers from 3 Rivers Depot in Burton OT
2) They were modified with design input from the builder Bombardier in Derby, largely to a specification set by DfT - who wanted more seats, and more luggage space, on the 204/264-seat trains, which replaced the 352-seat trains (with a half-van) that were used on the route.
3) I did try to press for a much better layout in Coach D but no real engagement seemed to take place in delivering the end result.
4) As with so much rail stuff in England there us a stasis in making decisions. At present the Cross Country 'franchise' is getting short 'extensions' with no clear picture of what sort of trains will ultimately be agreed.
5) The Voyagers are due a major mid-life rebuild, and the fleet could be enhanced by transfer of Virgin or East Midlands units - all also due a mid-life refit. Here is the place to get in with the train owners, and the franchise specification.
Every December I join former BR Scotland engineers for our Christmas reunion - one of them used to be the Bombardier engineer at 3 Rivers. I hope that with some quiet work the sensational headlines can be turned into sensible progress.
I do have a couple of further observations.
1) Hilarity at the claim that 80 seats (a full 23 metre coach-worth) could be put in the space taken out to provide for cycles!
2) The need to catch up with the bike booking offer available. For Transpennine - soon to be running Edinburgh-Liverpool via Leeds there is in theory the ability to get on a train and immediately reserve an available space, and much the same with CrossCountry, using twitter or whatsapp. LNER discussions on loading protocols (with the locked cycle cupboards) need a bit more work.
3) for places like Dunbar & Berwick the models which work well for Oxford and Brockenhurst, where the station staff are in contact with the crew on an incoming train, and assemble the cyclists ready to board where the right doors and spaces are on the train. This works especially well for Brockenhurst's weekend bike riders heading back to London.
So that's about it I'd guess feedback welcomed - the good & the bad news! (Ig & perhaps a separate thread for Scotrail HST's and the Class 153 bike carriages
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