Check you’re in Coach D

By Danny Weston on 8 September 2010

I was on my way to a client meeting a couple of weeks ago from London Paddington and just happened to be placed in coach D on a First Great Western train.

Nothing unusual about that I realise but once I got to my seat I saw that each of them had an integrated TV. You can see that this is much like the TV offered during air flights but I’d never seen this on a train before.

I got myself seated and immediately started playing with the thing. Sorry, I’m a bloke and it was a new gadget. I quickly found out the system was owned by Volo TV, “the world’s first fully integrated on-demand individual entertainment system designed for train travel.” (www.volo.tv – opens in new window)

It was nice and easy to use and within a minute I was watching comedy and ignoring my travel companion (who was doing the same thing to be fair). The first 5 minutes viewing was free only for me to discover that it costs £1.50 per hour which seems a lot to me, however it’s £3.50 for entire journeys so more cost effective the further you’re travelling. You get travel and journey updates via the system also which I thought was a nice touch.

My problem with the payment was that I felt I’d already ‘paid’ for the service when I bought my train ticket, but I obviously need to align watching TV on the train with extras such as buying a drink. This assumes that air travel hasn’t already set a precedent in people’s minds.

The service is currently available in Coach D on First Great Western services from London to Wales and the South West of England, but the website states full roll out is due by the end of 2010. In the meantime, when travelling from Paddington, ensure you look for coach D on your ticket!

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