Irregular Train Passenger

frank

frank

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Just had a couple of days in London, went down on Virgin train from Edinburgh to London returning today. Jeez it was like riding a cart with wooden wheels and no suspension on cobbles (both journeys) the "quiet coach" was anything but, something was squeaking like hell eventually disappearing as the train hit top speed. The bumps were shocking, I assume the joints between tracks, at times trying to key something on the mobile was a hit and a miss, getting a cup of coffee on the tray was dicing with a vasectomy by the cup bouncing around or burning your nuts off.

I've not been on a train for years, is this the norm nowadays ?

London tube trains were smooth as a die, nothing link the overground rails. Next time will be a flight methinks. Having said all that The Kinks Sunny Afternoon musicial which was the purpose of my visit was awesome.
 
I've normally done it as Glasgow London - and it's been superb

I'll admit though last time was November before all the really nasty rain that made a mess of the Lamington Viaduct
 
If you're on the main line then the rails will be continuously welded, (virtually) no joints and super smooth. The wheels probably had flat spots, which is what happens if you skid a train.
 
Sounds like a normal typical journey to me I'm afraid.

Expensive, uncomfortable, noisy. Consider yourself lucky you didn't have a smelly person next to you.
 
Things must have changed. A few years ago I used to travel from London to Inverness via the East Coast Line every few months and it was fine. Wonder if it has anything to do with Virgin taking over the franchise in March last year. About a month ago I travelled from London to Inverness and all seem OK then, but it was on the sleeper so I wasn't aware of very much.

Dave
 
Tringa said:
Things must have changed. A few years ago I used to travel from London to Inverness via the East Coast Line every few months and it was fine. Wonder if it has anything to do with Virgin taking over the franchise in March last year. About a month ago I travelled from London to Inverness and all seem OK then, but it was on the sleeper so I wasn't aware of very much.

Dave
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Last year I took a Virgin on the East Cost line to New Castle, let's just say that it isn't the Virgin experience nor rolling stock that I was used to. It felt to me very antiquated and rubbish. Glad I had my noise cancelling head phones.
 
The standard trains on Southeastern are pretty rough and ready and seem to have lumpy suspension, but the High speed service (dark blue "Javelin" trains) seem a lot more civilised - smooth and quiet. I had a ride on Rebecca Adlington the other day (users of the Javelin trains will know what I mean:)), and she was very comfortable and well upholstered, nothing less than I expected to be honest.
 
I wouldn't mind a ride on Rebecca either :)
 
Trains are shockingly overcrowded. We are only a heartbeat away from sitting next to a goat or having to travel on the roof of the carriage. You're at risk of dehydration because the the corridors and vestibules are so overcrowded that the buffet trolley can't get through. Why is it that there needs to be a sign next to the cramped seats anyway? "230 Volts for phones and computers only" ??? - it's not as if passengers are going to bring an iron or a vacuum cleaner on board - but those carriages definitely need a good hovering !!
 
75 quid for a 30 minute journey. No, I didn't get a seat.

That's a regular thing BTW - the train is packed when it has 12 carriages but very often it turns up with 6 because why not.
 
I had to go to The Hague for work earlier this week. I arrived at Schiphol airport at 08:50. I took the train to The Hague from Amsterdam at 09:16 and was in The Hague at 09:45'ish. The cost was a whopping €8.30, I had a seat and the train was quiet and comfortable. I thought this was great.

I had the Dutch news channel on in the evening in my Hotel room and I couldn't believe how the people were complaining it was overcrowded and too expensive. Overcrowded meant that they had to walk to another carriage to find a seat ;)

I think the important point in the story is not that they should be quiet and see how good they have it compared to England, but no, that we should stand up and demand better service and quality for less cost. We are way too understanding and accepting of conditions that are frankly not good enough. Yet we are happy to jump down the throat of someone who may possibly offend someone else....

Its all madness...and we get what we deserve...
 
Dutch railway company Abellio run some British rail passenger franchises........go figure!
 
shreds said:
Dutch railway company Abellio run some British rail passenger franchises........go figure!
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LOL Rather clever. Can run a 'loss leader' in their home country by using subsidies from abroad where people are ready willing to pay for bad service and quality.
 
For 6 years recently I travelled every 3 weeks from Cornwall to Edinburgh and back on CrossCountry rail. Train actually runs between Penzance and Aberdeen non-stop ! Enjoyed the journey except for the midlands where the 5 car train was always packed and that after 10 hours there might be only one toilet left working !
 
The easy cure would be to become regular, it's all that irregularity that makes the ride rough.
 
Extra roughage would make the ride more regular... ;)
 
It's been a while since I took a virgin electric train and I mainly have positive things to say apart from the bit at the ticket office parting with all that cash.... they were the very best, I mean every other train and particularly the underground just feel horrible in comparison. Honestly, just drive next time if you have a decent car. It's only 6-7 hours.
 
Agree about the overcrowding. Some, particularly on intercity trains, is caused by inconsiderate people who travel with a case large enough to contain a small person, leave it right next to their seat and look really put out when the guard tells them the case has to be moved. Perhaps we need to go back to having a luggage carriage.

The other problem is, I think, the population which has increased very quickly in the last ten years or so and the railways have not responded. Being fair to the railways sometimes a response is impossible. Trains cannot be made longer because they would not fit the platforms and there is very little, if any, spare capacity to fit more trains on the existing lines.

I too have travelled by train in the Netherlands (Apeldoorn to Amsterdam). This was fairly early morning and the train was comfortable and there was plenty of space, even after changing at Amersfoort there was plenty of room, but at least one of the trains was a double decker, something else that is not an option here.

Dave
 
I think half the problem is they don't put enough carriages on, they should defiantly re-introduce the luggage coach and also the buffet car.
 
There is a major difference between west coast and east coast mainline services. Always travel west coast do you can until Virgin bring new trains to the east coast in a few years time. The west coast mainline are running the same trains as they have been for 25 or so years
 
Dale_tem said:
There is a major difference between west coast and east coast mainline services. Always travel west coast do you can until Virgin bring new trains to the east coast in a few years time. The west coast mainline are running the same trains as they have been for 25 or so years
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I think you meant the EAST coast main line run the old rolling stock. The WCML has the Pendolino stock.
 
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frank said:
Having said all that The Kinks Sunny Afternoon musicial which was the purpose of my visit was awesome.
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I saw it last night and have got to agree with you, I went from 70 to 17 years old in no time at all.:clap:
 
Tringa said:
Agree about the overcrowding. Some, particularly on intercity trains, is caused by inconsiderate people who travel with a case large enough to contain a small person, leave it right next to their seat and look really put out when the guard tells them the case has to be moved. Perhaps we need to go back to having a luggage carriage.

The other problem is, I think, the population which has increased very quickly in the last ten years or so and the railways have not responded. Being fair to the railways sometimes a response is impossible. Trains cannot be made longer because they would not fit the platforms and there is very little, if any, spare capacity to fit more trains on the existing lines.

I too have travelled by train in the Netherlands (Apeldoorn to Amsterdam). This was fairly early morning and the train was comfortable and there was plenty of space, even after changing at Amersfoort there was plenty of room, but at least one of the trains was a double decker, something else that is not an option here.

Dave
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Luggage is not the issue in my experience around London. People and too few carriages are. On my line every station can handle 12 carriages. Very few trains have them though.

Why isn't double deckers an option here I the U.K.?
 
We're generally taller than our continental cousins! ;) :P

Or our antiquated rail infrastructure (namely the tunnels) can't handle the height of the double decker carriages.
 
Nod said:
We're generally taller than our continental cousins! ;) :p

Or our antiquated rail infrastructure (namely the tunnels) can't handle the height of the double decker carriages.
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Lol no chance the Brits are taller. They are very short compared to other north European countries.

I didn't think a double decker was taller nor wider, but happily stand corrected.
 
Nod said:
We're generally taller than our continental cousins! ;) :P

Or our antiquated rail infrastructure (namely the tunnels) can't handle the height of the double decker carriages.
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Nod

Have you caught the latest UK railway farce? The electrification of the Great Western.

1. Purpose built 'construction train' is
a. Too heavy for some sections
b. The train is designed to move at a set speed overnight to auto dig the trenches fot the posts that will hold the 'cantenary' wires cannot deal with the sub strata so has to be done manually thus slowing the roll out down.
c. The delay has knock ons that have big sonsequences.

2. The delay means that planned transfer of current 125 HST stock is delayed thus -
a. The transfer to the Scotrail region is delayed until the GW electrification is complete. Which means -
b. The transfer of current Scotrail stock to Northern Rail is delayed till GW 125 stock goes to Scotland.
c. Norther Rail is creaking as itt's rolling stock is past it's sell by date.

3. Now the BIGGEST issue.

a. The new GW rolling stock was designed and being built/delivered to be longer than the current HST 125 Mk3 coaches.
b. Designed to carry more passengers for same overall train 'rake' length. So no platform issues. All good?
c. Bristol Temple Meads station is a major destination and part of the electrification process but train will be diesel to Exeter and Penzance.
d. Bristol Temple Meads is a Grade 1 listed site
e. It has 'curved' platforms.
f. The 'arc' of the platforms is such that the new rolling stock carriages are TOO LONG to use the platforms without scraping and leaving big gaps at certain parts of the plat form!

On a deeper note.

4. The backbone of British rail engineers are fully employed.... in demand in other parts of the world designing, building and delivering railway systems.

5. Political decisions were and are being made by politicians and civil servants but not with the use and advice of 'railway' experts who understand why Brunel (for example) used horse hair to firm up railway embankments placed on flood plains.

Things bode well for HS2 and the Northern Powerhouse?
 
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Wasn't there also some fun with the electrification with regard to Box hill tunnel? In that it wasn't tall enough inside to accommodate the overhead catenary wires? Apparently this caused unexpected delays (because it's only been there for 150 years so they didn't realise, or something).
 
onomatopoeia said:
Wasn't there also some fun with the electrification with regard to Box hill tunnel? In that it wasn't tall enough inside to accommodate the overhead catenary wires? Apparently this caused unexpected delays (because it's only been there for 150 years so they didn't realise, or something).
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Not just the height but also the 'wet' tunnel lining so the joining of the 'leccy' and H2O could be shocking. . I have been on services going very slowly through Box tunnel to allow the train to swim through. A good downpour was usually enough to slow things down.

There is now to be a shutdown of the Bath Spa to Bristol Temple Meads section which will be fun for anyone who uses the Salisbury to Temple Meads for commuting and the Cardiff to Portsmouth Harbour servives.

I actually despair with the fractured nature of 'British Rail'. I remember a discussion many years ago, whereby a Transport Minister proudy crowed that countries from all over the world sent their transport planner to look at our railway services. A guy from Singapore was in the audience and stood up and said that he was part of a group from Malaysia and had indeed been on such a visit. The minister's smile lasted until the visitor stated that the visit was to learn how NOT to make the same mistakes.
 
Hugh Jarse said:
I think you meant the EAST coast main line run the old rolling stock. The WCML has the Pendolino stock.
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You are completely right, i was too tired to type
 
I shall be travelling the west coast main line on Thursday and I am sure glad the Lamington Viaduct has been repaired
 
Bit late for this but a tip for future irregular travellers - you don't need tickets for the tube any longer. If you use a debit card you get the same rate as an Oyster card. (Swipe at entry and exit.) We recently bought four single tickets (two one way, two another) and saved something like £8!
 
Only if your card's a contactless one.
 
EdwardL said:
Bit late for this but a tip for future irregular travellers - you don't need tickets for the tube any longer. If you use a debit card you get the same rate as an Oyster card. (Swipe at entry and exit.) We recently bought four single tickets (two one way, two another) and saved something like £8!
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Or just use an iPhone with Apple Pay :)
 
Nod said:
Only if your card's a contactless one.
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Mine is, saves me having to remember my oyster when I visit London, so massively convenient. Had the bank not sent me a contactless last time I needed a new one, I would have complained.
 
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