I am loving the new high speed service from Ramsgate to St Pancras International. The trains are spacious, have decent air-con and are very, very quick. Not Japanese bullet train quick but fast never the less. I sip my coffee, relax and arrive at my destination refreshed and ready to do business (which it is great but unfortunately I have currently nothing to do at work). Tomorrow I am being packed off to Canary Wharf to sort a couple of things out. It will be nice to be doing something for a change.
I tried one last week, and have a few observations.
ReplyDeleteThey suffer from the usual Southeastern Trains habit of overannouncing. The recorded messages are fine (except for unnecessary rising intonation with some station names) but the conductor droned on and on, complete with "good afternoon" each time he spoke. A friend of mine had to suffer hearing the driver's name on one of his trips.
Suspension problems led to occasional shuddering on the HSL.
Timekeeping excellent, but it was clearly running at 125, not 140, so not difficult.
I'll probably use it, but the announcements might drive me away.
Roger Gale hates it. Another good reason for everyone else to give it the thumbs up, if you ask me!
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