Are you satisfied with train services in the UK?

[Foot Long Hot Dog]

I use East Midlands Trains. My season ticket is a little short of £7000 but I have no complaints. Very rare that there are problems.

7 bags is the cost of your annual commute?

Ouch

 

[The Cowboy]

7 bags is the cost of your annual commute?

Ouch

Mine is around 3.3k, and that's really cheap compared to some other London commuter lines. The one from St Albans is about 5k and its only a 30 min run!

 

[quasi modo]

Prices are extremely expensive for a poor service.

I have flew quite a bit on internal flights in the UK which has been cheaper and a far better service than the rail network.

 

[summerisle]

Says it all really.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-new...al&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

New £4.5billion train service SLOWER than journey times in the 1970s

• 00:00, 7 OCT 2015
• UPDATED 07:53, 7 OCT 2015
• BY MIRROR.CO.UK

Great Western Railway boasted its upgraded electric Super Express trains would cut journey times by up to 17 minutes by 2018

Slower: Great Western service is slower than trains from the 1970s
New “faster” train times due to be reached in three years are slower than 40 years ago.

Great Western Railway boasted its upgraded electric Super Express trains would cut journey times by up to 17 minutes by 2018.

But the journeys they promise take longer than they did under state-owned British Rail in 1977.

GWR, rebranded from First Great Western to “return the railway to its former glory”, said the £4.5billion fleet would cut travel from London to Bristol to just 90 minutes.

That is nine minutes less than the fastest service on offer today.

Science & Society Picture Library
British Railways (BR) Inter-City services


But in 1977, British Rail InterCity was already advertising the same route at only 85 minutes.

And 113 minutes from London to Cardiff promised for 2018 shaves eight minutes off today’s time.

But it is still eight minutes longer than it took back when Jim Callaghan was Prime Minister.

Trains to Swansea from London will benefit most, saving 14 minutes – but still taking one minute longer than in the 1970s.

SSPL/Getty Images
UNITED KINGDOM - MARCH 09: Poster produced by British Railways (BR) to promote Inter-City services from Reading to Bath, Bristol Temple Meads, Cardiff and Swansea. Artwork by an unknown artist


Mick Cash – general secretary of the RMT union, which carried out the research – said: “This demonstrates once again that rail privatisation has been one of the biggest post-war failures.

"Privatised services are not only more overcrowded and expensive, but also slower.

“And as well as being publicly owned, BR trains were publicly manufactured for far less cost in the UK, as opposed to the new IEP trains manufactured in Japan and assembled in Britain.”

The union has been in dispute with GWR over plans to axe buffet cars and change staffing levels.

A GWR spokesman insisted: “The RMT comparisons are wrong.

“We run twice as many trains now, with many more station stops, allowing more journey choices for millions more customers.”

 

[evertoniandy]

They're actually not that bad; it's the people who use them that annoy me more.

This.

I'm a regular train user and apart from the occasional delay and busy trains, I don't have any issues. It's the general public who seem to be the tits.

I do feel that sometimes more carriages could be put on at busier times though.

 

[The Cowboy]

Says it all really.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-new...al&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

New £4.5billion train service SLOWER than journey times in the 1970s

• 00:00, 7 OCT 2015
• UPDATED 07:53, 7 OCT 2015
• BY MIRROR.CO.UK

Great Western Railway boasted its upgraded electric Super Express trains would cut journey times by up to 17 minutes by 2018

Slower: Great Western service is slower than trains from the 1970s
New “faster” train times due to be reached in three years are slower than 40 years ago.

Great Western Railway boasted its upgraded electric Super Express trains would cut journey times by up to 17 minutes by 2018.

But the journeys they promise take longer than they did under state-owned British Rail in 1977.

GWR, rebranded from First Great Western to “return the railway to its former glory”, said the £4.5billion fleet would cut travel from London to Bristol to just 90 minutes.

That is nine minutes less than the fastest service on offer today.

Science & Society Picture Library
British Railways (BR) Inter-City services


But in 1977, British Rail InterCity was already advertising the same route at only 85 minutes.

And 113 minutes from London to Cardiff promised for 2018 shaves eight minutes off today’s time.

But it is still eight minutes longer than it took back when Jim Callaghan was Prime Minister.

Trains to Swansea from London will benefit most, saving 14 minutes – but still taking one minute longer than in the 1970s.

SSPL/Getty Images
UNITED KINGDOM - MARCH 09: Poster produced by British Railways (BR) to promote Inter-City services from Reading to Bath, Bristol Temple Meads, Cardiff and Swansea. Artwork by an unknown artist


Mick Cash – general secretary of the RMT union, which carried out the research – said: “This demonstrates once again that rail privatisation has been one of the biggest post-war failures.

"Privatised services are not only more overcrowded and expensive, but also slower.

“And as well as being publicly owned, BR trains were publicly manufactured for far less cost in the UK, as opposed to the new IEP trains manufactured in Japan and assembled in Britain.”

The union has been in dispute with GWR over plans to axe buffet cars and change staffing levels.

A GWR spokesman insisted: “The RMT comparisons are wrong.

“We run twice as many trains now, with many more station stops, allowing more journey choices for millions more customers.”

I think the justification in the last paragraph is completely fair actually. If your line is chock full of trains stopping more frequently then you don't get long stretches where you can rattle along at top speed. Takes a fair distance to get to and slow down from top speed.

 

[PITA]

7 bags is the cost of your annual commute?

Ouch

I work 80(ish) miles from home. It adds up to over 35,000 miles a year. When I think about how much it would cost to drive to work (petrol, servicing, extra insurance, wear and tear) then it's OK. Plus I can read for a bit then catch up on some sleep.

 

[TomDixie]

Look at the usage of the railway system since privatisation in the mid 90s. It has gone from terminal decline to more than doubling in terms of the number of journeys.

The government is also investing huge amounts of money in to the system to try and stay on top of this demand, which is welcome.

I look forward to being able to shoot back to Liverpool on mostly dedicated high speed lines, from 2027 onwards.

 

[The Cowboy]

Look at the usage of the railway system since privatisation in the mid 90s. It has gone from terminal decline to more than doubling in terms of the number of journeys.

The government is also investing huge amounts of money in to the system to try and stay on top of this demand, which is welcome.

I look forward to being able to shoot back to Liverpool on mostly dedicated high speed lines, from 2027 onwards.

Ha, 2047 more like!

The high speed stuff is a serious con, they made HS1 a separate line rather than upgrading the existing line, and made it premium rate. Same is planned for HS2.

High speed lines ought to be the new norm, not a privilege for the well off.

 

[Foot Long Hot Dog]

I work 80(ish) miles from home. It adds up to over 35,000 miles a year. When I think about how much it would cost to drive to work (petrol, servicing, extra insurance, wear and tear) then it's OK. Plus I can read for a bit then catch up on some sleep.

Ever thought of moving closer to work mate?

 

[PITA]

Ever thought of moving closer to work mate?

Closer I move to London the higher the cost of housing and the closer I move to London the closer I am to actually living in London. So no, not really.

 

[TomDixie]

Ha, 2047 more like!

The high speed stuff is a serious con, they made HS1 a separate line rather than upgrading the existing line, and made it premium rate. Same is planned for HS2.

High speed lines ought to be the new norm, not a privilege for the well off.

HS2 will automatically improve the service offer on the existing network, in particular for the West Coast Main Line - which in places is nearing capacity despite a recent, very disruptive, multi billion pounds upgrade.

In terms of construction, it begins next year on Phase 1 (between London and Birmingham). So far it is meeting its timetable.

 

[The Cowboy]

HS2 will automatically improve the service offer on the existing network, in particular for the West Coast Main Line - which in places is nearing capacity despite a recent, very disruptive, multi billion pounds upgrade.

In terms of construction, it begins next year on Phase 1 (between London and Birmingham). So far it is meeting its timetable.

HS2 is a brand new line isn't it? Maybe I'm wrong, but my understanding was that it wasn't an upgrade of the existing line (hence all that bleating about the track running through the Chilterns).

 

[TomDixie]

HS2 is a brand new line isn't it? Maybe I'm wrong, but my understanding was that it wasn't an upgrade of the existing line (hence all that bleating about the track running through the Chilterns).

It is a new line yes. The biggest infrastructure project in Europe.

It will remove most of the long distance services from the existing lines, the service offer of which will then be retooled. Existing lines will thus have more stopping services, increased commuter services and more freight trains.

Performance and reliability should also improve as the current network won't be as mixed use as it currently is, e.g. a Virgin Pendolino getting stuck behind a slow moving London Midland train.

Performance and reliability on the HS2 line should also be high as they're all high speed trains going at the same speeds.

 

[The Cowboy]

It is a new line yes. The biggest infrastructure project in Europe.

It will remove most of the long distance services from the existing lines, the service offer of which will then be retooled. Existing lines will thus have more stopping services, increased commuter services and more freight trains.

Performance and reliability should also improve as the current network won't be as mixed use as it currently is, e.g. a Virgin Pendolino getting stuck behind a slow moving London Midland train.

Performance and reliability on the HS2 line should also be high as they're all high speed trains going at the same speeds.

Check out HS1. Have the Kent commuters on the non-HS line (ie cannot afford the extortionate HS prices) seen any benefit? Of course not. It just creates a two-tier set-up where the moneyed get a nice shiny system and the proles continue with the current rubbish service.