London Banter - View Single Post - Stansted Express Train

Ken Wheatley · February 25th 04, 08:35 AM posted to uk.transport.london

On 24 Feb 2004 19:13:21 -0800, (Mike Delorme)
wrote:

Was visiting UK in late January, and took a side trip to Rome on
EasyJet (leaving from Stansted airport)

(Long tale of woe snipped)

A word of advice: If you must be at Stansted for an early morning
flight, do yourself a favor and take one of the bus services that are
available, or if you can afford it, a taxi cab. (FYI - cab fare from
London to Stansted can cost more then the airline ticket)

And what if the M11 is blocked because of a crash? Would you then
recommend that people never use that way of getting to the airport
ever again?

First and last time with this express service. Better luck to
everyone else if you decide to risk using them.

It always seems odd to me that people are prepared to make such strong
recommendations based on a single incident. The OP didn't say what the
problem actually was so it is not possible to guess how likely it is
to happen again. But my experience with this line is that the teething
problems caused by the modernisation are beginning to be sorted out.
Short delays are common, but major ones much less so.

But to suggest that using road services is a more reliable way of
getting to Stansted is dubious advice.

I am concerned about the lack of information given to the delayed
passengers, though. This still happens and is inexcusable, although
the Stansted services are better in this respect than other WAGN
services into Liverpool Street. One possible problem seems to be how
the trains are staffed. Talking to the hosts there seems to be some
system whereby the hosts can select what services they work on. I get
the impression that it is not just a simple employment of contract. I
may be wrong in this - just the impression I was given, mostly during
a bitter complaint (from the hostess) about the overcrowding of the
1600 ex-LS service.

On a related note - very profuse apologies from the host the other day
when two unrefurbished 317s were provided on the 2100 ex-LS. I had
never seen this before but the host said it's become common. As he
said' "(Stansted Express) is supposed to be WAGN's premier service -
and they don't even provide a Cambridge unit". (By which he meant a
refurbed 317 6xx)