Opinions on British Rail system?

[JonB]

After the news that RailTrack a subsidised company to look after our railways made a £727 million profit last year, I thought I would take the time to evaluate the situation of British Railways.

Story Here: - https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6186552.stm

I have only been on a train 3 times in my life, all in the past 3 months. Of the times I have been on I have been delayed twice. Once for 1 hour because of signal failure near Dundee, got a £5 train voucher for that from Virgin Trains (Cheers Richard - the Journey cost me £35 return with a Student Railcard ) The other time coming back to Coventry from Taunton where I was delayed by 11 minutes because some yob down Newton Abbot threw a rock at an oncoming train.

It is especially annoying when you have a connecting train in Reading to catch but hey ho.

There have been no major crashes in the past few years I believe, so for that RailTrack should be congratulated however the trains I have been on were severely overcrowded, the one coming back from Reading to Coventry was so busy I had to jump over luggage AND people to get off the train at Coventry. The Delays are silly even though apparantly 90% of trains are on time. Yeah right.

I have only been impressed once and that was on the newly refurbished Central Trains service from Coventry to Birmingham New Street.

Final thoughts - A very expensive service to be standing up next to a toilet where someone has just taken a smelly dump.

Here's a question for the people who have used the railways regularly for the past few years. Has the railways improved in your eyes since RailTrack came to power?
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[veeeffarr]

Got no problem with the train at all, used to be awful when I used to do London-Liverpool twice a week but now they're actually quite good.

T

[craigie b]

Prior to gettnig a car I used to use the trains quite often. I would say 90-95% of the time they were on time and as stated. Most of my journeys would be york to aberdeen, york to malton, middlesbrough or leeds.


The trains tend to be fairly reliable, however its always a pain in the arse when one is delayed, and the delays tend to stick to your mind more so than the ones that get it right.

I rate our system as 'could be better'. The ticket prices, if booked in advance are reasonable enough I find (£60 return from york to aberdeen this christmas.....would cost about £90 in petrol if I were to drive).

[Keir]

ha ha dont get me started on trains.....

I used to commute on the train now i use my bike. enough said.
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[Mister James]

[Annabella]

I've never had any real issues with the train service, other than it tends to work out a little too expensive for the journeys I would want to use it for.

I used trains a couple of times from Cardiff to London, which worked very well, as does Wolverhampton to London.
However, local trains around Solihull - Marston Green - Birmingham, were forever being cancelled to 'catch up' delays from further down the line leaving me stranded in Birmingham, or other less salubrious parts of the area.

The only 'real' delay I've suffered was seven hours sitting on an overheating train on the way back from Truro to Cardiff... The line was flooded, not a lot the train service could have done other than the free drinks they handed out.

It's not a reliable enough service for local journeys yet for me to want to use the train service.
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[Louise]

I dont have a problem with trains. Im so used to them being delayed its nothing new to me.
But, it can be a pain if you have a connecting train and you have a few mins to run to grab it.
Never really been on packed train.

[froggeh]

Not a big train user, but I occaisionaly get one into Manchester, from Newton-le-willows, and it's usuially on time, and pretty quick. The newer ones are nice and clean too.

Trains any distance cost too much though. They should be re-nationalised and subsidised, and then we may start to reduce congestion on the roads, that is slowly turning England into one great big car-park.

[mchaggis]

Central Trains are absolutely diabolical!

GNER and especially Scotrail and Virgin Trains are pretty damned good though. It just depends on how profitable their routes are I guess and how willing they are to put investment back into rolling stock and stations as opposed to paying dividends. Network Rail only own the tracks and some of the stations now.

When smaller rail companies decide to close down their own stations, there's nothing Network Rail can do, the private rail companies are only accountable to their shareholders; Network Rail is accountable to all sorts of people, but not shareholders - it's primary function is not to make a profit.

As an aside, the trains aren't that much expensive than driving. A return ticket from Aberdeen to Chesterfield (400 miles) would cost about £100 Saver Return. Petrol in my bike would cost about £80 return. Even then, I have to do the riding, rather than just lazing about eating, sleeping, reading or listening to music.

If you want expensive, you want rural buses! Even a day ticket in the city works out at more than twice as expensive as the petrol in my bike. The same distance out of town can cost four or five times as much as on my bike. Buses seem to take about 2-3 times as long as on a bike too, even with their bus lanes.
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[Ste]

Awww well, either use the trains or don't if you dislike them that much. Go try and go through London on the trains and tubes in rush hour, you'll be quite happy with trains near you after that. Or go find some of the nice areas where the ticket inspectors are accompanied by a couple of large security guards.

Trains aren't great, but most services do run, just slightly late and after using them once you're meant to realise about that and plan your journeys accordingly. There is a very easy way to not be bothered by expensive train tickets, see if you can guess it.

[Kickstart]

Hi

Barely used trains in years. In the UK probably less than 10 times in the past 2 decades.

Certainly do not expect them to be on time. But then the railways classify arriving within 10 minutes of the scheduled time as being on time.

Price wise they do seem to manage to produce reasonable fares, if you are prepared to spend ages searching and booking a good time in advance. Fail to do that, or have more than one person travelling, then cars seem to work out cheaper.

All the best

Keith
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[Louise]

[Robby]

On the subject of trains, does anyone know any way of getting cheaper season tickets?
Going to be commuting into Victoria from Redhill from the start of next year, ticket is going to cost £175 a month going from the southern rail webstie. If I can make that cheaper, its a good thing.

[Bella]

Well I think it is revolting that with all the delays and overcrowded services that the 4 big wigs at the top can justify the extortionate cost of annual tickets and then take bonuses of over £250,000 each.

I commute from Reading to Covent Garden each day and my annual ticket cost as much as my motorbike did - £3508. Now you probably think I should ride in being not too far away but after a long day at work I really dont have the energy so the only other option was the train.

They are alway running late, always overcrowded, I think I have sat in a seat about 8 times in the 320 journeys I have taken (based on 2 a working day for the last 8 months).

They should halve the cost and bring in more trains & more carriages on the peak rush hour trains (some are only 4 carriages long for peak travel - ridiculous!).

Sorry rant over.


B

[Louise]

It just been announce that Southern trains are increasing there fairs to improve the railways

[zaknafien]

https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6190810.stm

Yet another reason to stay off public transport. \o/
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[akaDAVE]

[Rookie]

I've used Virgin for 4 return journeys from Stoke on Trent to Highbridge since October, and to be honest I've been rather impressed. Aside from one journey which I decided to take on a sunday (which involved a train from Stoke, a bus from Birmingham New St, a train from Gloucester, and a train from Highbridge ) they've been very easy and much better than I was experiencing a few years ago. I'm loving the Fast Ticket machines as well.

Depending on when I book a return to Highbridge costs between £27 and £46, which is OK considering it would cost me about £20 in petrol on the bike.

Love the power outlets on all the Virgin trains these days, just pass the time watching a film on the laptop.

[thx1138]

I applied to be a trainee train driver last week, and my application was rejected, so, perhaps the rails are safer than they might have been.

[Marcg868]

Dont really mind them, i live in a area where i can either use the Train to get into Manchester or use the Metrolink ( The tram) and i find it cheaper and quicker to use the train. Bolton - Manchester only costs £2.75 return and takes 15 mins. Where as for the same Journey Radcliffe to Manchester Victoria its £3.50 return

Only niggle i have is during the peak hours its a bit too overcrowded on the Manchester - Bolton line, a mean would it really hurt to put extra carriges on at peak times, im NOT a sardine, so dont expect to be packed in with somebodys sweaty arm in my face

Other than that i find them cheap and reliable and mostly run on time.
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