A few weeks ago I ‘treated’ my daughter to her first big train trip – on the Overlander – in what proved to be a scenic experiment in illusion and culinary depravation.
The Overlander is an epic journey (by Kiwi standards) through the heart of the North Island, travelling between Wellington and Auckland.
Along the way you pass the Central North Island ski towns of National Park and Ohakune. You also see sweeping views of New Zealand farmland, corn fields, a wind farm, the volcanic plateau, Mount Ruapehu, the world famous Raurimu Spiral and plummeting river gorges – all from the trains panoramic windows or open air viewing deck (complete with diesel soot and, later, tinnitus).
Naively, perhaps, I leapt on expecting a three-star dining car serving delicious coffee and cakes in modern railway mugs with Nanas wearing teatowels. But instead I was greeted with bored looking kidults stuck behind a fortified pie cart complete with instant watery coffee in a flimsy paper cup and dangerously oversized date scones.
Really, I was in shock. I had gotten on the train without espresso coffee – I was a transitory prisoner!
Last year when they threatened to close-down the Overlander train (which has been running for 99 years) there were riots in Te Kuiti and the Green Party almost imploded – but fortunately for sake of the heartlands the owners they decided to keep the service running – subject to self-sacrifices and cold hard cash from tourists and the New Zealand public.
While the scenic views are all that they promise (well, between Porirua and Taumaranui anyway), the service leaves a lot to be desired.
While reeling from the shock of having my first instant coffee in years I kept reminding myself I still had the ‘leisurely’ stop-off for lunch to look forward to. The stop-off is about half way in National Park at the old railway station which has been converted into a pretty funky little cafe (by backwater standards).
Over the loudspeaker the Overlander staff hyped up customer expectations into a frenzy… “We’re sooo excited because we know you’ll lap-up the views while you lap-up a steaming hot volcanic latte, and relax over your al-fresco lunch – you’ll have plenty of time to stretch out, relax enjoy your meal with our leisurely 40-minute stopover”.
But, on arrival we were greeted with a massive queue of smug-looking people.
The Auckland train has arrived just a few minutes prior. My hungry daughter and I stood for nearly an hour in line while those at the front got seats, were served hot plates of cooked food, coffee and pink fairy cake.
Over the loudspeaker the Overlander staff promised “You will all be served! Don’t worry – we know you’ll enjoy your lunch because we’re enjoying ours right now!”.
The cafe counter was only just in sight when the train staff were ushering people back onto the train which was already an hour late when we arrived. With about 30 people left in the queue they waited an extra 10 minutes and tried to rush us through – but we only had time to grab some pre-cooked soggy chips.
Some of the cafe staff were stressed out beyond belief (one was sneaking after-dinner mints but was spotted by my daughter so gave her one to keep her quiet – this was the most nutritious thing she had all day).
All around me in the queue people were complaining under their breath – if this is normal no wonder the train service was/is under threat!
The queue worked out a masterplan to stop this from happening again… This involved a simple idea of stopping the Wellington train in Ohakune (just 20 minutes down the line) and giving us lunch there – while stopping the Auckland train at National Park as it usually does – that way never the twains shall meet.
3 Things Tranz Scenic Should Do
Get Real!
Were the staff pre-recorded? They reminded me of apprentice hairdressers reading from an auto-cue. They kept over-promising and under-delivering and didn’t blink. While they did try to ease the massive lunchtime stuff-up by reassuring us it would “all be OK” – it was obviously a hopeless case for the last 30 people in the queue (which included staggering elderly and flailing young children).You should have given these people some sort of compensation – or at least a muffin.
Cater to the Coffee Snobs and Bring Back the Mugs
The coffee on budget airlines is better, and flying is cheaper. Why would your customers want to spend over 12 hours drinking over-priced rubbish? Good coffee is something New Zealand has going for it – 150 trapped people will consume a fair bit of deluxe coffee over a 12-hour period! And bring back the mugs! And while we’re at it – bring back the dining car!
Enter the 21st Century
A week prior to my journey I had decided to cancel my return trip (I decided I was buying a car in Auckland and driving home). Could I get a refund over the internet or phone? No – don’t be silly. I had to traipse to a ticketing office in person. Then I had to wait while the officer found a paper form – which I then had to fill out in detail. I was then told I would have to wait up to two weeks to get the refund. What’s going on here – am I in 2007 or 1907? Did you know other businesses simply reverse the charge in just a few seconds using an EFTPOS terminal?
Did I mention I quite like trains? Really, I do! But Tranz Scenic need to do a whole lot better if they’re going to woo people back to rail – it’s simple…
- Run on time.
- Serve satisfying food and drinks.
- Don’t treat customers like cattle.
I wonder if Gordon Ramsay also fixes trains? They need him…
Travelling on the Overlander is an exercise in preparation. We took the trip a couple of years ago and, anticipating shitty food, dutifully packed a bag full of fruit, sandwiches, thermos coffee, chips and biscuits. Sure it was heavy, but the sheer delight of not having to get up to get more, more, more food was bliss. It was slob heaven!
Anyway, you call yourself a vegan yet expect to be able to travel so light and carefree? Even if you’d been at the front of the National Park queue, you’d still be complaining about the lettuce salad and soggy chips dipped in tallow… the problem isn’t Toll’s, IT’S SOCIETY THAT IS TO BLAME.
"Kidults" hehe. That’s my favourite word of the day! It’s a real shame that our train service is so crappy – we usually encourage our overseas friends to make the trip once (just to see the scenery, after that there are better ways to travel!), but maybe now we won’t even do that!
You’d think they’d have improved the service given their appalling track record in the past. Disappointing.
Brent – as I said, I was naive – a tofu burger to the slaughter. The last big train trip I went was on the Silverfern in the 70s. They had bunkbeds and a dining car. Back then people were taller and wore paisley.
Yes, I agree with much of your comments and am absolutely amazed with the likes of the Silver Star Sleeper train not the Silver Fern that was allowed to lanquish in sidings when even if the carriages where disconnected and a service provided with possibly half of the carriage to cater to the weak excuse that less people were travellng by train.Instead we had world class train eventually hocked off and is just another in a long line of bad decisions. Others have been the cutting of services which would have resulted in surplus carriages nevertheless Toll Holding were running 2 services between Auckland and Wellington per day totalling 4 trips on 3 train sets!!This resulted in Southbound Northerner passengers having to wait in the likes of BRitomart which is far from passenger friendly for often up to 3 hours at a time to start their southbound journey. In addition to that while the Overlander was running on average about 45 minutes late per day due to speed restrictions, the Northerner was the sacrifical lamb when it run on average only about 10-15 minutes late for the simple reason speed restrictins dont need to be enforced at night!! We now have the situation where the public is basicaly told, use it or lose as far as the Overlander is concerned, but interestingly the pricing structure is based a zonal system rather than a progressively one applicable for both the Trans Coastal and the Trans Alpine services and we have the situation that based on last time I looked there is a minimum fare of $37 which would apply when travelling from one station to the next like from Marton to Feilding yet you can travel from Marton to Wellington for the same fare!! Words fail me. My understanding of the National Park situation while the public are convinced it is for their benefit to either eat or look at a mountain for 40 minutes, it is merely a logistical exercise in a crew changeover as they have reduced the number of drivers to engineer the train between Hamilton and Palmerston North.Finally, Toll Holding seem to think the public are gullible as to their advertising the steam engine Saturdays between FEilding and Ohakune, which shows the train passing over the viaduct NORTH of Ohakune, without overhead transmission lines on the viaduct, and pulling the Capital Connection train set not the Overlander Train set.