Premier Classe

[John Ashworth]

Jane and I travelled in a group of 14 adults and two small children on Premier Classe on 1st November 2007. Overall it was an excellent experience, and superb value for money, although there were some hiccoughs.

The train consisted of a baggage van, five sleepers, lounge/dining car, kitchen/crew car, dining car, five more sleepers, lounge, conference car, power car, and two car carriers, giving a total of nineteen vehicles. We left Jo'burg with a pair of 6Es on the front, switched to a single 7E at Kimberley, and back to a pair of 6Es at Beaufort West.

We left Jo'burg two hours late and gradually picked up more delays on the way. By Beaufort West we were running about ten hours late, due mainly to signal failures following exceptionally heavy rains. We were scheduled to arrive in Cape Town at 1616 on 2nd November, so this delay put our ETA at around 0200 on 3rd. The onboard crew were excellent. We were told that we could sleep an extra night on the train and vacate our compartments at 0600 instead of having to get up at 0200 - it seems that virtually everybody on the train did so. As well as an extra night on the train we also got an extra meal and a free bar in the evening as compensation for the delay. I didn't hear anyone complaining.

We were told that this was the first time the train had run with so many passengers and there were definitely some teething problems. There were two and sometimes three sittings for meals, service was a little slow (especially making up the beds), and there was a crowded feel. The Premier Classe lounges at Jo'burg and Cape Town are too small for the increased number of people using them. There were some new staff who were still unfamiliar with procedures, although the old familiar faces of Train Manager William and stewards Amanda and Millie kept things moving, and all credit to them for keeping their cool. The original Premier Classe which was attached to the back of the Trans Karoo and carried only 28 passengers had a more intimate feel to it than the current incarnation with well over 100 pax, but I suppose that's progress, and Shosholoza Meyl must be congratulated on successful marketing of what is still an excellent product.

There are small things I would change. One and a half dining cars is not enough - they should put in at least two full dining cars if not two and a half. A few more staff may be needed, although perhaps when the new staff get to know the work better things will speed up a bit. A number of people commented on the waste of a beautiful lounge car near the rear of the train which was allocated to smokers and was totally uninhabitable by normal mortals without a gas mask, but was nearly empty most of the way while the normal lounge/diner was over-full. It would seem to be more efficient to allocate that lounge to non-smokers and provide smaller accommodation for smokers.

The general ambience of Premier Classe is as good as ever - the beds, the food, the service, the friendliness of the staff, the overall experience of travelling on a luxury train through the African countryside - and as far as value for money, at R980 per person one-way (I believe that was a special for November - normal price is a bit higher) it must rank as one of the best train journeys in the world.

[John Ashworth]

Friends travelling back from Cape Town on Premier Classe on 6th November report that it left Cape Town a little late, made up most of the time, and arrived in Jo'burg around 20 minutes late on 7th.

[John Ashworth]

Our return trip commenced on 10th November. This time there were only three of us travelling together, and the whole train was less crowded, with only about 85 passengers.

The train consisted of power car, lounge, 5 sleepers, diner, kitchen/crew car, diner, lounge/diner, 5 sleepers and 2 car carriers, giving a total of 18 vehicles. One of the sleepers was used by the crew, and a second appeared to be completely empty. I see they took my advice (!) and added an extra diner - with two and a half dining cars and a smaller number of passengers, meals were a very pleasant experience again. The forward lounge was locked for much of the trip.

Train Manager Gary welcomed all the passengers in the Permier Classe Lounge at Cape Town and, amongst other announcements, informed us that the train would be completely non-smoking, with no smoking areas at all. Apparently they had been allowing smoking in one of the lounges or the conference car (as on our earlier trip) but on the previous day's train some people had been smoking in other parts of the train and a passenger had complained at a very high level. Gary had just received instructions right from the top to enforce the no-smoking rule, and informed us in a very nice diplomatic manner that he would do so even if it involved stopping the train and having the police remove offenders. The vast majority of passengers welcomed this news with clapping and cheering, but later Gary had to face quite a heated onslaught from a small group of Afrikaans-speaking passengers. Generally I have been very impressed with the public relations skills of the onboard staff, especially the two Train Managers, William and Gary, even when having to deal with difficult situations.

The train departed 85 minutes late but had picked up 40 minutes by Beaufort West and was right time by Klerksdorp. We ran nicely until beyond Potchefstroom but then we faced serious signal delays due to cable theft and it was stop-start all the way to Randfontein. At some point (I think it was Randfontein) a pair of 34 class diesels were coupled onto the front of our two 6Es, so presumably there were problems with the overhead power supply too. From Randfontein we made better time and arrived in Johannesburg only 60 minutes late at around noon on 11th.

On the outward trip we encountered alarming noises due to freshly relaid ballast banging against the underside of the train. On the return trip there was none of this, so presumably the ballast has now settled.

There seemed to be a lot of teething problems with water pumps, air conditioning, etc on the newly-refurbished rolling stock and the onboard electrician was kept busy.

We crossed a lot of freight trains, and there was quite a bit of Shosholoza Meyl activity. One was certainly left with the impression that the railway is generally doing well.

[John Ashworth]

Photos can be found at http://www.friendsoftherail.com/phpBB2/ ... .php?f=144

[John Ashworth]

For overseas readers who may not be familiar with this train, here are a few extra details.

The route from Johannesburg to Cape Town is over 1,400 kms, or around 900 miles.

Premier Classe runs twice a week in each direction with the following timings:

Jo'burg d 1500; Kimberley a 2243 d 2303; De Aar a 0245 d 0305; Beaufort West a 0650 d 0720; Cape Town a 1616. Total 25 h 16 m.

Cape Town d 0905; Beaufort West a 1825 d 1845; De Aar a 2220 d 2235; Kimberley a 0240 d 0300; Jo'burg a 1103. Total 25 h 58 m.

Crews change at these stops, and the coaches are replenished with water and other supplies (on the late running train on 2nd November these included baby food and disposal nappies/diapers!). Motive power is changed at Kimberely and Beaufort West due to different overhead power systems.

[John Ashworth]

From sar-L 13/11/07

An illustrated article on the first test run of the latest Premier Classe revamp (with details eg generator car supplying the entire train's electrics), conference car etc appears in the latest issue of Railways Africa.

I can't find it on the internet version of Railways Africa so I assume he's referring to the hard copy version.

He mentions the power car - all on-train power is supplied from the diesel generator in this vehicle, not from the locomotives or overhead electric wires.