you're very lucky to have such a reliable train line. i used to take the train from Reading to Culham for about ~2years. infrequent service for Culham Station, frequent delays. even had times where the train just didn't stop at culham, so you'd have to wait another hour for the next one.
really wish we had the swiss or german train network here![]()
i used to live near zurich in my younger years and never really appreciated their network until i moved to the uk.Yes indeed. The reliability, consistent journey times and frequency (every 15 minutes in rush hour) together with the comfort make a huge difference to quality of life (well the commuting part of it at least). From Woking and West Dulwich I used to be stood up with elbows digging in all around me and needed to plan for it always being held up for some reason or another. I'm Swiss and HS1 is the closest to a modern Swiss or German train network I know. Not only does it run on its own dedicated track but at St Pancras it has its own dedicated platforms so it really is isolated off from the rest of the network.
The only real downside is that it is not great for getting to the M3/M4 corridor where a lot of my industry is based and also lousy for Heathrow. But that will change when the Elizabeth line opens in 2019 since every HS1 train stops at Stratford where you'll be able to change to go West.