RAILWAYS
GTR is embroiled in an ongoing dispute with the RMT union over the role of guards on trains. The franchise has suffered major disruption during strike action. The data shows South Western,
Southeastern, TfL Rail and Arriva Trains Wales join GTR to make up the five operators with the highest rates of failure to stop.
Nonstop trains leave passengers standing
TRAINS ACROSS THE UKmissed scheduled stops on average 160 times a day, according to data obtained by the BBC. The Network Rail data obtained under a Freedom of Information request shows more than 52,500 services out of a scheduled six million had one or more “failure to stop” events in the financial year to February 2018. At about 50 missed stops per day, Govia Thameslink (GTR) – which runs Southern, Great Northern and Thameslink – was the
SPACE HOTELS
Would you pay US$9.5 million to stay in space?
A COMPANY CALLED ORION SPAN plans to open a space hotel in 2022, with stays starting at US$9.5 million per person. Aurora Station is set to be complete in 2021 and will feature room for up to six guests at a time, including two crew members. The experience, including journey time, will last around 12 days, with Orion Span saying the stay will allow guests to live like astronauts. The company is taking reservations for a deposit of $80,000 – which Orion Span stipulates is refundable if the guest changes their mind. Deposits will be held with a “trusted third-party escrow service” and cannot be moved without guest approval. Orion Span says the station will have suites
that can fit two people for those lucky enough to be able to afford a couples’ retreat in space. Chief executive Frank Bunger told
Forbes that the US$9.5 million price tag for stays on Aurora Station are around half of what individuals have paid for trips to the International Space Station, which clocks in at a whopping US$20 million to US$40 million. Bunger also said prospective guests would
have to train for the experience, which includes a month-long online course and four to six weeks of training in Houston, Texas, before the journey to the station.
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM
worst offender. It accounted for 16,000 of the total. A GTR spokesman told the BBC that skipping stops is a measure it takes to avoid prolonged disruption. “We operate the country’s most congested rail network and with a train departing every 27 seconds on average, even a minor delay to one train can cause a widespread and long-lasting knock-on effect to many other services and passengers across many routes.”
The best performing franchises include Chiltern and Virgin Trains East Coast. Failure to stop rates have risen dramatically since the 2014-2015 financial year, with 10,000 more such incidents reported in 2017-2018. However, figures from the Office of
Road and Rail show Network Rail is responsible for six in ten delays, owing to infrastructure works, signalling problems or fatalities on the line. Network Rail announced in February that its next five-year plan would focus on improving the country’s rail infrastructure to make the network “more reliable”. l See Rail booking feature, p128
HOTELS
Belmond to reopen The Cadogan this year
HOSPITALITY COMPANY BELMOND has announced it will reopen Chelsea hotel The Cadogan later this year after an extensive refurbishment project.
The hotel closed in 2014 for a US$48 million (£34.4 million) revamp and was due to reopen in 2016. Located on Sloane Street, the building dates back to 1887. Belmond said the refurbishment project “preserves the unique
heritage” of The Cadogan and has reduced the number of rooms from 64 to 54. The Cadogan relaunch is one of several openings planned for this year by Belmond, including three new Grand suites onboard the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, a renovated Belmond Casa de Sierra Nevada in Mexico, and a new artistic suite inside the Belmond La Residencia in Mallorca.
BBT May/June 2018 19
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