UK trains are an utter joke

The Running Man said:
I catch the train every day into Manchester centre. It's 2 stops and £6.70 return for a 10 minute journey.

I haven't had a seat in 4 years as the train is already over crowded when it gets to my station.

50% of the time not everyone can get on at my stop as the carriages are already full. 25% of the time no one can get on.
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That lack of reliability strikes me as the worst thing. Standing for ten minutes I could handle, but not being unable to even board.
 
Conscript said:
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Apparently the union pressed them to start recruiting and retraining 12 months ago, thameslink started in March. If that turns out to be true it's shocking incompetence, especially since it means they pushed through the changes having known for months that they didn't have a suitably large or trained staff pool to implement effectively.
 
South Western which I use very frequently is total *****. The Hong Kong Government don’t care as they make money regardless.

12 coaches but about three stops in and you’ll be standing. A first class carriage is always empty but you can’t sit in that. We’re packed like sardines, it is boiling hot, very uncomfortable and to boot it is £22 a day for a return - that’s a 1 hour journey. I’ve never been on a South Western train that was on time, I’m not joking. Today’s delay was due to a trackside fire apparently.

I can honestly not imagine how BR could have been any worse. Again, at least the taxpayer was getting compensated rather than the Hong Kong Government.
 
MrRockliffe said:
I don't think there's anything wrong with privatisation - it helps with accountability.

Imagine how much harder it'd be to take the whole UK train company to court over lateness. Or if industrial action happened across the board.
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But there is no accountability. When it was BR your problems were with BR.

Now your problems could be with the TOC, Network Rail, the Government, the company that actually owns the train, another TOC...

And the majority of the time the TOC is a foreign Government so good luck with that.

Privatisation has failed.
 
Gigabit said:
South Western which I use very frequently is total *****. The Hong Kong Government don’t care as they make money regardless.

12 coaches but about three stops in and you’ll be standing. A first class carriage is always empty but you can’t sit in that. We’re packed like sardines, it is boiling hot, very uncomfortable and to boot it is £22 a day for a return - that’s a 1 hour journey. I’ve never been on a South Western train that was on time, I’m not joking. Today’s delay was due to a trackside fire apparently.

I can honestly not imagine how BR could have been any worse. Again, at least the taxpayer was getting compensated rather than the Hong Kong Government.
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To their credit, Southeastern will declassify the first-class sections when the train is crowded. Nearly every morning I've heard the driver or conductor announce that they are doing so, and inviting people who hold first-class tickets to apply for a refund. By the time I hear the announcement I'm usually settled on the floor so I don't bother to move, but do they not do the same for South Western?

But to be honest, I have no idea why you'd buy a first class ticket anyway. The seats are no different to standard class at all, apart from a thing on the head rest saying "1st Class". They're no wider, have no more legroom, and all the standard class seats have the same tables and armrests. Literally the only thing I can think of is being guaranteed a seat - but given that I rarely see a conductor enforcing tickets for first class passengers, and I doubt very much one passenger would challenge another, there's nothing to stop me just sitting in a first class seat on a normal ticket.
 
Conscript said:
To their credit, Southeastern will declassify the first-class sections when the train is crowded. Nearly every morning I've heard the driver or conductor announce that they are doing so, and inviting people who hold first-class tickets to apply for a refund. By the time I hear the announcement I'm usually settled on the floor so I don't bother to move, but do they not do the same for South Western?

But to be honest, I have no idea why you'd buy a first class ticket anyway. The seats are no different to standard class at all, apart from a thing on the head rest saying "1st Class". They're no wider, have no more legroom, and all the standard class seats have the same tables and armrests. Literally the only thing I can think of is being guaranteed a seat - but given that I rarely see a conductor enforcing tickets for first class passengers, and I doubt very much one passenger would challenge another, there's nothing to stop me just sitting in a first class seat on a normal ticket.
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They don’t sadly. First Class have tables second class doesn’t - I mean the tables between two opposite sets of seats. They also have plugs.
 
Well for me now with the new time tables its a bit of both worlds a little better one way a little worst the other.
So my train to work is now gone I have to get a earlier train so i'm a work about 20mins before I need to be and on my way home my train is less busy then it used to be but I get there 10mins later.

Not run in to any major issues to far touch wood
 
What do you expect when the entire ethos brought on by Thatcher that PROFIT > SERVICE.

For the youngsters we also designed our own trains under British rail....
 
Gigabit said:
For the country that invented the train, this is a national embarrassment. .
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Being FOAK isn't easy, everybody else learns from your mistakes. and gets to build the V2.0 V3.0, and so on, version while you are still stuck with V1.0.

Bit like Comet really... (Comet eventually became a very successful air-frame, but the time spent learning the lessons of the disaster and implimenting them allowed the US to achieve the edge in the jet age race)
 
Gigabit said:
I constantly hear people say "ah but you don't remember British Rail do you?". It can't be much worse than constantly late trains, expensive prices and standing for a lot of passengers.
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Well, it can because BR did have constantly late trains, expensive prices and standing for a lot of passengers plus less investment in trains and the network.
 
ubersonic said:
Well, it can because BR did have constantly late trains, expensive prices and standing for a lot of passengers plus less investment in trains and the network.
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I see no evidence of this investment on my line. And train tickets are now more expensive and people still don’t get a seat.

That investment is primarily the state by the way, not the TOCs.

Remind me what privatisation has done again? Investment has gone up because Government invested upon privatisation having underfunded for decades.
 
Gigabit said:
South Western which I use very frequently is total *****. The Hong Kong Government don’t care as they make money regardless.

12 coaches but about three stops in and you’ll be standing. A first class carriage is always empty but you can’t sit in that. We’re packed like sardines, it is boiling hot, very uncomfortable and to boot it is £22 a day for a return - that’s a 1 hour journey. I’ve never been on a South Western train that was on time, I’m not joking. Today’s delay was due to a trackside fire apparently.

I can honestly not imagine how BR could have been any worse. Again, at least the taxpayer was getting compensated rather than the Hong Kong Government.
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Wow, my experience is the total opposite with South Western. I use it frequently from Staines to Waterloo during rush hour and generally it runs very well. The train I get typically arrives on time at Waterloo in the morning. In the evenings I find my train arriving a few minutes late back at Staines. What is your journey, are you on the main line side of Waterloo?

However, when things do go wrong, they really do go wrong when there is some infrastructure issue. I do worry about the increased number of services that are supposed to be coming in December which is the first newly designed timetable that South Western will have made based on the new franchise rather than following the SWT timetable. I don't think the infrastructure will cope.
 
The Running Man said:
I catch the train every day into Manchester centre. It's 2 stops and £6.70 return for a 10 minute journey.

I haven't had a seat in 4 years as the train is already over crowded when it gets to my station.

50% of the time not everyone can get on at my stop as the carriages are already full. 25% of the time no one can get on.
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Just out of curiosity, where do you get on / off at?
 
FortuitousFluke said:
That was today, much better. Yesterday going from st neots to kings cross was just a raft of cancellations. Granted i still got in eventually but for 5k a year it's **** take.

Do feel for my northern brethren though.
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You pay £5000 a year for a train ticket? :eek:
 
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