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First Capital Connect 'FCC' is a railway company that runs trains on two routes. The first route formally known as the Great Northern route runs between London Kings Cross and Peterborough. It also runs between London and Cambridge and Kings Lynn. FCC also have weekday daytime trains that ... Read review
Advantages: Fast, Frequent Disadvantages: Not cheap, too many ticket types.
This is my first review for a while so please be generous! I am happy to re-write if needs be.
First Capital Connect 'FCC' is a railway company that runs trains on two routes. The first route formally known as the Great Northern route runs between London Kings Cross and Peterborough. It also runs between London and Cambridge and Kings Lynn. FCC also have weekday daytime trains that run into London Moorgate.
The other ... ...Brighton via Luton Airport, London Kings Cross Thameslink and Gatwick Airport.
FCC run a very good timetable when everything is working and it is 24hours on the Thameslink route between both the Airports.
The staff attitude can vary from day to day but I have met some really nice ticket inspectors on the trains and at stations. Of course there is always the opposite and I have met some really miserable staff on the trains. more
This is my first review for a while so please be generous! I am happy to re-write if needs be.
First Capital Connect 'FCC' is a railway company that runs trains on two routes. The first route formally known as the Great Northern route runs between London Kings Cross and Peterborough. It also runs between London and Cambridge and Kings Lynn. FCC also have weekday daytime trains that run into London Moorgate.
The other route again formally known as Thameslink runs between Bedford and Brighton via Luton Airport, London Kings Cross Thameslink and Gatwick Airport.
FCC run a very good timetable when everything is working and it is 24hours on the Thameslink route between both the Airports.
The staff attitude can vary from day to day but I have met some really nice ticket inspectors on the trains and at stations. Of course there is always the opposite and I have met some really miserable staff on the trains.
The trains on the Great Northern side tend to be clean and well looked after. They are putting all the trains through a refurbishment which is giving them new seat covers and new carpeted floors. Also they have been busy sticking new designs on the side of the trains. The older trains have CCTV on them but the newer ones do not yet have CCTV. FCC claim they are looking into installing CCTV on all of their trains but it comes down to who's going to pay for it. There are no facilities for food or drink on board the trains. You do have toilets on most of the trains. However on the Moorgate trains these do not have toilets on them so you will have to hold it in!
However on the Thameslink side, the trains tend not to be as clean and they also look very dirty inside. FCC are introducing new refurbished trains but I have yet to see one.
FCC are getting better for people with disabilities. If you phone customer services up at least 48hrs in advance (weekdays) they can help arrange your journey and then have a member of staff assist you onto the train. If needs be a ramp can also be put onto the train to help you up if you are in a wheelchair. FCC can only assist at manned stations and if you are wanting to go to a station where there is no staff they will book you a taxi to take you on your final journey.
Most of the FCC manned stations that I use are kept clean and well looked after. The ticket office staff seem to be happy most of the time except during the morning rush hour and are only interested in keeping the queue down. No chit chat! I actually got told off by one of them for holding up the queue on a Monday morning!
The platform staff seem happy except when there are delays and then they like to hide in their offices. Ask them a question when there are delays and you will get a sharp blunt answer as you have probably asked them the same question as the previous 16 people!
Information about delays can sometimes be hard to come by as previously stated above staff like to hide and the information screens often only update at the last minute as your train is arriving. Take for example the following: Its 14:50 and the information screens are still saying the 14:00 is "on time". At the last minute as the train is approaching the platform the screen updates to say the train will arrive at 14:52.
The Ticket prices are high and there are loads of different types of tickets. Off Peak, Peak, Travelcard, Off Peak Travelcard, GroupSave3/4 and that's just to name a few! A single ticket from Luton Airport to Gatwick Airport would cost 22.90. You however can get railcards which offer discounts and my other review some months ago at http://travel.ciao.co.uk/Discount_Railcards__Review_5356724 will explain more.
from London to Luton for my flight. I took the train from London Bridge (FirstCapitalConnect on the Brighton line) to Luton Airport Parkway which took just under an hour but there are faster trains. Then they have shuttle buses outside the train station that take you there for free if you have a valid train ticket. This takes about 5 minutes and then you are there at the airport.
My husband drove and parked the car at Luton Airport Parkway station. For Friday, Saturday and Sunday the total cost was £6, a complete bargain as it was not in peak time. The airport itself is situated just off junction 10 of the M1 which is very easy to get to also. There is parking available at the airport but I think it is more expensive than parking at the station.
Luton Airport is the fourth largest airport serving the London area and is the fifth ...
Spottydog11 16.10.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Luton (England)
Advantages: Fine if able bodied Disadvantages: Problem for people travelling with wheelchairs or babies which can't yet walk.
sit on in the spaces between the carridges, and both South West and South Eastern Intercity trains have special single seats in areas near the toilets for people with pushchairs.
I thought that having no provision for people travelling with babies but standing was quite dangerous, particularly at the speed the train was travelling.
So GNER if the UK is keen to get people off the roads and onto trains - you might like to cater for young families. Next time I go to Peterborough with the baby I shall take the slow train with FirstCapitalConnect which will be safer.
We travel a lot on the trains and are very adept at folding the pushchair which is small and manoverable but GNER defeated us. ...
Advantages: fast, frequent trains, affordable when booked in advance Disadvantages: trains getting a little tatty, legroom, limited stations
corridor and my local train company FirstCapitalConnect offers a quick and convenient way to get into London. Until 8 December you had to get off at Kings Cross Thameslink if you wanted to go to Kings Cross, St Pancras or Euston Station (or continue on the underground train system). Kings Cross Thameslink was a small station located in a side road a few minutes from the actual Kings Cross. It changed when at midnight a few minutes into 9 December, Kings Cross Thameslink closed and the brand new St Pancras International platforms for local services opened. Now you can stroll from the local trains straight through to the new Eurostar terminals without having to walk for more than a few minutes.
While Waterloo was convenient for people arriving from the south or south west of the country, moving the Eurostar service to the north of London ...
Tempus_Fugit 23.12.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Eurostar
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