On 29th September I sent Jamie Burles another e-mail in relation to the one he originally sent me in response to my first e-mail I sent him. Here was my e-mail:
Dear Mr Burles,
Thank you for getting back to me after my previous e-mail from 26th July.
My first point will be in regard to your cleaning of your trains. You promised me, in your e-mail dated 19th August, that 360116 will be checked and cleaned ASAP, however, I have travelled on 360116 a few times since I received your e-mail, the most recent of which was Friday 26th September, and the orange stain is still there. You may find it unsurprising that whenever 360116 pulls in and is operating a service I use, I specifically go to carriage 74566 to see if it's still there and despite your promise and the continued promises of your Twitter team, it has never been cleaned, given the fact I first pointed it out on 14th February! That's over 7 months now Mr Burles.
Going on to other trains in your fleet, the carpets and seats on your Class 360 trains are generally dirty from where they've not been cleaned for a long time, whether it be from stains, crumbs, dust or even mould. In your e-mail you also promised me that you were in the process of increasing the deep clean to every month, clearly, this hasn't happened yet. It's been a month and 10 days since you e-mailed me, 2 months since I e-mailed you and nearly 3 months since the meeting at Westminster, yet we're still no further forward than we were prior to the meeting.
With regard to Chelmsford Railway Station, there has been no further visible work done to the station since you e-mailed me. I occasionally see contractors from Spence walking around, but not actually doing any work. While I appreciate they may not be true, I have heard rumours than when Abellio budgeted for the work being done on the station, you didn't budget for labour costs, which is why a lot of work has started but not been completed, such as the new stairwell tower connected to the main station building and the small extension opposite M&S Simply Food. As you can appreciate, commuters and even station staff are now getting frustrated with the works being dragged out without any noticeable signs of continuation of works and no signs of the work being completed any time soon. Jackie Gibbs herself went through the station on Wednesday or Thursday this past week as she came into M&S, where I work and looked shocked to see me.
Another possibly untrue rumour I'd like you to address is about the Class 360 trains being cascaded to First Transpennine Express along with the Class 360s used by Heathrow Express. While your 360s are often dirty and have extremely threadbare seats, given the fact that with the exception of the Class 379 trains, the Class 360 trains are your newest trains. So if true, this would be extremely short sighted, especially Abellio haven't ordered any new trains and don't look as though they're going to any time soon. And if true, you'll either have 21 less train sets, including 44 carriages, or you have plans to replace them with other trains, maybe the 20 Class 321's from Govia Thameslink/First Capital Connect (who are cascading Class 377 trains from Southern) and from London Midland (who have just ordered 10 new Class 350 trains). Could you please clarify if this is true and if so, if you are replacing them and what with?
Thank you for taking the time to read my e-mail and I look forward to your response.
Reagrds,
Daniel Collins.
And here is Mr Burles' response:
Dear Mr Collins,
Thank you for your email of 29 September 2014 regarding your regular journey between Shenfield & Chelmsford.
I have spoken with our fleet manager who has advised that the stain on carriage 74566 which you refer to is permanent and has in fact caused damage to the carpet, which is why the stain has remained for longer than anyone would wish. As a result, a new carpet was ordered a few weeks ago and was fitted over the weekend of 10-13 October 2014. I have also been assured that the unit has been subject to a deep clean over the past few weeks.
With regards to seat covers, I hope to be able to announce progress in that area in a short time from now. I said I would look into these things and I have done. Things don’t happen overnight, especially when we are talking about hundreds of thousands of pounds of unbudgeted expenditure. We are not funded to replace these seat covers this franchise (I am sure you remember the fact that we tried to include this in our recent contract negotiations with DfT and in the end it couldn’t be included). Therefore, I have had to think of different ways to achieve this and I hope to be able to communicate the solution shortly.
We also try to keep our trains in an acceptable condition by cleaning and servicing them at the end of the day. Unfortunately, on busy routes it is not always possible to maintain the standard of cleanliness we would like throughout the day. However, we are about to invest in a significant number of additional cleaners (again unbudgeted), which will certainly make a difference. Some of these brand new, additional cleaners will be mobile, which will help keep the trains clean throughout the day.
With regards to Chelmsford station, once work had commenced and during the enabling works, some unforeseen and significant problems emerged with the existing structure and this meant the original building work proposals had to be fundamentally redesigned to include more substantial steelwork on larger foundations. Please bear in mind that this is a structure we inherited from Network Rail in 2012 and this is the first time that we have actually engaged in significantly intrusive structural work at the station.
As a result of this, we re-planned the work into phases, commencing with the new tower entrance and prioritised this to be completed as programmed. The next phrase sees WH Smith refitted.
We are currently finalising the redesign of the building structure with the contractors, taking into account the fundamental alternations needed. As things stand, we currently plan to recommence the main building works in November. As you might imagine, we are desperate to deliver this positive project as soon as possible - a fundamentally upgraded station is better for everyone. Needless to say, the rumour you have heard and mentioned in your letter is untrue.
Sticking with the rumours, needless to say the rumour you heard regarding the Class 360 fleet is also not true. The lease for the 360s is secure until at least the end of the current franchise.
Once again thank you for taking the time to contact me.
Yours sincerely
Jamie Burles
Managing Director
Abellio Greater Anglia
So there you go, another load of spin and lies as usual? We'll see.
