THE restaurant service on regional train operator One's mainline route serving London, Colchester, Ipswich and Norwich has been rated the best on the UK rail network.
THE restaurant service on regional train operator One's mainline route serving London, Colchester, Ipswich and Norwich has been rated the best on the UK rail network.
An assessment by railway journalist Barry Doe, published in the current edition of Rail magazine, saw One's food offer awarded 8.6 marks out of a possible 10 - ahead of rivals such as GNER, First Great Western and Virgin.
One received particular praise for its value for money, staff attitude, on-train announcements and ensuring that the food available matched the choices described on the menu.
The scoring also took into account factors such as staff dress, menu choice, the number of scheduled services on which a restaurant service is offered and off-train marketing.
Barry Doe said: “The overall score shows One to be running an amazingly high quality service, yet it has the shortest routes, the lowest food prices and is open to standard class users at all times.”
Andrew Goodrum, mainline route director for One, said yesterday: “I'm delighted that One has been rated as offering the best on-train restaurant service on the UK rail network. We have worked consistently to deliver a high-quality, but good value service, always looking for ways to improve our standards.
“We have the best breakfast selection of any UK train operator, as well as offering excellent choices throughout the day, for lunch, afternoon tea and dinner. This review is worthy recognition of the service provided by catering manager Darren Fennah and his team.
“We hope more people will come and try out our restaurants. A meal on the train is a real treat, a great way to while away the journey and a good use of time.”
A restaurant service is available on 22 One trains a day, Monday to Friday, with breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner all on offer at the relevant times of day. The wine list has also recently been expanded.
Meals are served in the company's recently refurbished restaurant cars of which seven are now in traffic, with two more to follow by the end of May.
Children under five dine for free and those aged between 5 and 15 can dine for half price when accompanied by an adult.
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