British Trains.

Paddy O'Dors said:
Last time I was at Heathrow there was a pop up just outside the arrivals hall with two people on trying to get gullible tourists who'd just landed to part with £25 to get on the Heathrow express to Paddington. If you were clued up you'd know that the Elizabeth line is £5.60 for the same single journey.
Click to expand...
Scandal the cost of the Heathrow express
 


monkeytassle said:
Scandal the cost of the Heathrow express
Click to expand...

£15 I think if you book in advance, but I doubt loads of foreign tourists are aware of that.

Over £20 on the Gatwick Express anarl now. A few years ago I bought a Southern £5 Victoria-Brighton ticket and a £1.50 Three Bridges to Gatwick ticket online, picked them both up from the machine at LV and used one to get on the train and one to get off. A ticket on that same Southern LV-Brighton train as far as Gatwick was exactly the same as the Express, £16.
 
Paddy O'Dors said:
£15 I think if you book in advance, but I doubt loads of foreign tourists are aware of that.

Over £20 on the Gatwick Express anarl now. A few years ago I bought a Southern £5 Victoria-Brighton ticket and a £1.50 Three Bridges to Gatwick ticket online, picked them both up from the machine at LV and used one to get on the train and one to get off. A ticket on that same Southern LV-Brighton train as far as Gatwick was exactly the same as the Express, £16.
Click to expand...
They ought to be obligated to automatically show the cheapest option.

Same as energy companies. British gas have a scheme at the moment offering incentives to use lower cost energy on a Sunday. Why? Do it automatically. It shouldn't be opt in.
 
Unreliable and walk up tickets eye-wateringly expensive for even modest distances - over £50 for a return york to newcastle or sunderland man....
 
Lambchops said:
Im in Germany for work in a fortnight and its not that cheap for one off journeys - takes 4 trains to get between 2 sites and has cost 112 euro
Click to expand...
Rail travel in Germany is in a poor state at the moment. It still does a lot of things better than the UK though. The DB overarching branding makes it easy to navigate, the app is outstanding, everyone can get a railcard (not just the daft age bands here). The monthly 50 euro ticket works seamlessly. It's wick with delays and cancellations though, and 5 euro to reserve a seat is a pisstake as well.
Pete said:
Unreliable and walk up tickets eye-wateringly expensive for even modest distances - over £50 for a return york to newcastle or sunderland man....
Click to expand...
Anytime return Sunderland to York is 28 quid with Grand Central.
 
It doesn't help that rail operators don't own the trains they run, but lease them from the rolling stock companies. And neither own the rails the trains run on or the signalling used. Add on to that a slight delay to one train on a crowded route (around York for example) can snowball into longer delays for lots of trains throughout the day and cause delays for services that go nowhere near that place. Slight delay to a train serving local stations on single track areas? Express train has to keep stopping in random places to stay behind until getting to a possible passing point. (Get stuck behind one between Dundee and Aberdeen? You're not getting past them.)

Then there's the lack of drivers. Has to be as as soon as they stop working overtime about a third of trains on some operators are cancelled. Though some of that might not be lack of drivers but unable to get the right staff in the right place for services.
 
PJH said:
It doesn't help that rail operators don't own the trains they run, but lease them from the rolling stock companies. And neither own the rails the trains run on or the signalling used. Add on to that a slight delay to one train on a crowded route (around York for example) can snowball into longer delays for lots of trains throughout the day and cause delays for services that go nowhere near that place. Slight delay to a train serving local stations on single track areas? Express train has to keep stopping in random places to stay behind until getting to a possible passing point. (Get stuck behind one between Dundee and Aberdeen? You're not getting past them.)

Then there's the lack of drivers. Has to be as as soon as they stop working overtime about a third of trains on some operators are cancelled. Though some of that might not be lack of drivers but unable to get the right staff in the right place for services.
Click to expand...
While what you say is true. The main problem is the billions being took out of the railway into shareholders pockets.

The lack of drivers thing is a funny one. A few years we were told at my place we had surplus drivers. Now all of a sudden there’s a shortage. I’ve been sat on a platform waiting for my train only to hear over tannoy it’s been cancelled due to lack of drivers. I was there waiting to drive it.
 
James said:
Rail travel in Germany is in a poor state at the moment. It still does a lot of things better than the UK though. The DB overarching branding makes it easy to navigate, the app is outstanding, everyone can get a railcard (not just the daft age bands here). The monthly 50 euro ticket works seamlessly. It's wick with delays and cancellations though, and 5 euro to reserve a seat is a pisstake as well.

Anytime return Sunderland to York is 28 quid with Grand Central.
Click to expand...
Just come up fm York on GC, £17.80 for 1st Class return going back tomorrow morning. Booked a while back mind. Plus Railcard
 
Last edited:
Paddy O'Dors said:
Last time I was at Heathrow there was a pop up just outside the arrivals hall with two people on trying to get gullible tourists who'd just landed to part with £25 to get on the Heathrow express to Paddington. If you were clued up you'd know that the Elizabeth line is £5.60 for the same single journey.
Click to expand...
They're still there now. Disgraceful really.
 
Just got one up from Peterborugh to Newcastle. First class. Booked two singles in advance and it was pretty reasonable. You can get good prices if you book two separate singles in advance and if you're flexible on times. Got an extra (second) bacon roll. Comfy seat. View of the best cathedral in the country and got loads of work done on the way up.

Trouble is now the fecking hotel isn't checking people in yet. So... all is not lost.... sat in the hotel bar and getting more work done (plus reading messages on here) with some refreshments while I wait. Need to be at the match by 5pm so I hope they let me in the room to get changed soon.
 
MackneyHackem said:
Sounds like London’s got it sussed. Maybe you should live there?
Click to expand...
I’m quite happy where I live, thank you. I only work about 90 days a year, transport is good but live there, nah. Maybe when I was younger. Train from York at least every 30 mins and only a couple of hours.
 
James said:
Rail travel in Germany is in a poor state at the moment. It still does a lot of things better than the UK though. The DB overarching branding makes it easy to navigate, the app is outstanding, everyone can get a railcard (not just the daft age bands here). The monthly 50 euro ticket works seamlessly. It's wick with delays and cancellations though, and 5 euro to reserve a seat is a pisstake as well.
Click to expand...

In my experience of train travel in Germany and France (and to an extent Poland) a few years ago...

Intercity travel on major trunk routes is far better than in the UK. Cleaner, quicker, cheaper and more affordable.

But the state of some of the regional services makes Northern Rail look competent. It was a very poor service on decrepit trains, and very poor communication. French secondary routes in particular were terrible
 
diggers22 said:
While what you say is true. The main problem is the billions being took out of the railway into shareholders pockets.

The lack of drivers thing is a funny one. A few years we were told at my place we had surplus drivers. Now all of a sudden there’s a shortage. I’ve been sat on a platform waiting for my train only to hear over tannoy it’s been cancelled due to lack of drivers. I was there waiting to drive it.
Click to expand...
Yeah that is the number 1 problem.

As for your waiting for a train to drive, was the train coming from elsewhere and you were part of a crew change? Or was it due to start from that station - but possibly from a train due to terminate there? It just seemed when a sort of strike was happening where drivers just worked to time and no overtime that a lot of services were cancelled showing operators were running on constant driver overtime rather than sufficient driver numbers.
 
Redandwhitedust said:
In my experience of train travel in Germany and France (and to an extent Poland) a few years ago...

Intercity travel on major trunk routes is far better than in the UK. Cleaner, quicker, cheaper and more affordable.

But the state of some of the regional services makes Northern Rail look competent. It was a very poor service on decrepit trains, and very poor communication. French secondary routes in particular were terrible
Click to expand...
Agree with you about France. The TGVs are really good; very fast, comfortable and efficient but the regional trains are crap and regularly late. It's probably why you can claim delay compensation for TGV but not for regional trains. Had over an hour delay last month on regional train to Grenoble that resulted in missing TGV connection to Paris. No compo at all.
 

Back
Top