Don't you just love the trains

[clapham_gull]

Went up to Liverpool on Sunday on the National Express from Victoria to meet my girlfriend who had travelled up a few days earlier.

It cost a whole EIGHT pounds (booked a week in advance) and got me to Liverpool half an hour earlier than the train would have done due to the engineering works.

Yep exactly 4 hours (although advertised as 5) and no stops. Victoria to Liverpool direct. It would have taken 2 changes on the train.

The coach was remarkable comfortable and my DAB radio worked throughout. It won't work on the train.

Came back from Liverpool with my girlfriend on Tuesday and paid over £50 for a SINGLE fair, booked a week in advance.

Didn't buy a standard class ticket, because there were MORE expensive that a first class single.

Didn't sit in first class, because I wanted to sit next to my girlfriend in standard class.

I could easily sit in standard class because there were LOADS of spare standard class seats available.

( that's loads of empty seats at very expensive prices )

Tourists coming to this country laugh at the pricing on our railways and I noted that the coach was full of European students.

 

[Robot Chicken]

It's pathetic. Hopeless. I'm glad the only time I travel by train is for day trips to London.

 

[Gully]

Yep, about time the whole pricing structure on the railways was revised to fill up trains during off peak hours and reduce congestion at other times, only problem is that there are now so many different rail companies that it is never going to happen.

Renationalise now!!!

 

[Brovion]

The railways, like all other essential goods and services, should be in public ownership. 'Market Forces' have had their chance to improve public transport and have failed miserably.

Vote Socialist Labour!

 

[Gwylan]

The railways, like all other essential goods and services, should be in public ownership. 'Market Forces' have had their chance to improve public transport and have failed miserably.

Vote Socialist Labour!

Yes, nice dream. But it's about as likely as Mark McGhee becoming the next manager of Chelsea.

 

[Cian]

Thats what privitisation gets you. Last bit of the UK with proper, state-owned trains is Northern Ireland - and they're cheap, the majority of services are in trains that are 1 to 2 years old, the staff are properly trained, etc...

It costs about 20 pounds to go from Dublin to Belfast, whether the train is Irish Rail or NIRailways operated - not that you can tell the difference except by the accents of the ticket inspector, cleaners, etc. Within NI it costs 9 pounds to go from one end of the, erm, country to the other.

 

[bailey]

Personally I think the train services are pretty good these days and that privatisation is actually starting work. On the whole you get a modern, clean train and they run to time pretty well.

But...the pricing is ridiculous. As clapham_gull says quite often you can get a 1st class saver ticket for less than a standard fare. I have to go up north quite frequently and often it's cheaper to fly Gatwick-Manchester than get the train.

If the Government is serious about getting people off the roads then they need to fix this. It's just about always cheaper for 1 person on their own in a car to drive the length of the country than get the train.

 

[withdeanwombat]

Yes, nice dream. But it's about as likely as Mark McGhee becoming the next manager of Chelsea.

Has Mourinho gone to Real Madrid already?

Good luck in your new job Mr. McGhee.

RENATIONALISE the railways now!

Bring the Labour Party back.Now.

 

[clapham_gull]

Personally I think the train services are pretty good these days and that privatisation is actually starting work. On the whole you get a modern, clean train and they run to time pretty well.

But...the pricing is ridiculous. As clapham_gull says quite often you can get a 1st class saver ticket for less than a standard fare. I have to go up north quite frequently and often it's cheaper to fly Gatwick-Manchester than get the train.

If the Government is serious about getting people off the roads then they need to fix this. It's just about always cheaper for 1 person on their own in a car to drive the length of the country than get the train.

However, according to the Office for National Statistics, bus fares have risen by 52.9 per cent over the past decade. While, the latest figures from the Office of Rail Regulation showed that train fares rose by 46.2 per cent between January 1998 and the start of this year.

According to AA, the driver of a small family car has seen their motoring bill rise from 41.52 pence a mile in 1997 to 56.15 pence in 2005 - or 26 per cent.

Further evidence showing that passengers have fared badly compared with motorists was provided by Gillian Merron, a junior transport minister, who showed how the comparative costs of travel had changed in "real terms".


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/04/12/nrail12.xml

 

[Les Biehn]

I always get the coach when going up north. Got the national express back from Sheffield to London recently for £1 with the funfare option. Trains are f***ing ridiculous.

 

[TSB]

Yep exactly 4 hours (although advertised as 5) and no stops. Victoria to Liverpool direct. It would have taken 2 changes on the train.

Hate to be pedantic, but what?! Since when?!

 

[Uncle Buck]

The issue with the trains is that the on the day fares are pricey.

However if you do book well in advance it can be fairly cheap, such as £16 return last month from London to Crewe and the 4 for the £20 to Watford as part of our fare to get to Northampton 2 weeks ago.

 

[clapham_gull]

Re: Re: Don't you just love the trains

Hate to be pedantic, but what?! Since when?!

Easter Bank Holiday - everything going out of Marylebone and then all over the place.

You were looking at 4:30 hours to Liverpool on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday, up to 5 hours on some trains going out. Depended on the connection.

My point was that even with that all going on - you still get charged through the roof.

£50 (booking a week in advance) for a single. I think a train leaving at 8pm on a Sunday morning is pretty much off peak isn't it.

That argument about encouraging people to travel off peak is complete bollocks. They are just screwing people knowing that in most circumstances you aren't able to book months in advance to get a cheap deal. There are just very few cheaper tickets available and they get snapped up.


The National Express is supposed to take 5 hours and only cost 8 quid.

They subbed out the trip to another coach operator and I got out the coach exactly 4 hours after I got on.

 

[British Bulldog]

Personally I think the train services are pretty good these days and that privatisation is actually starting work.

The way the railway was privatised will never work and if anything it holds back progress, It's time to get the whole lot back under one company again.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

The issue with the trains is that the on the day fares are pricey.

No.

This issue on the trains is that if you want to pay for a one-off off-peak journey on the day, you can get a discounted ticket and a seat on any train that takes your fancy - provided you confine your travel to the South East of England.

If you want to travel beyond the South East, or outside the South East, and pay on the day, you can't get a discount and you have to specify the train you want to travel on (and reserve your seat) in advance.

This is ridiculous. We need a NATIONAL railway system, not a series of different railways, each with their own rules.

 

[Arthur]

Coach travel :safeway

 

[British Bulldog]

This is ridiculous. We need a NATIONAL railway system, not a series of different railways, each with their own rules.

Absolutly spot on LB.

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

i also get the coach whenever i go up to newcastle(i did yesterday infact)

yes, its less uncomfortable, yes it takes longer, but for £8 from london to newcastle(about £3 on megabus) you can't really argue


the trains here are an overpriced joke

 

[clapham_gull]

If you want to travel beyond the South East, or outside the South East, and pay on the day, you can't get a discount and you have to specify the train you want to travel on (and reserve your seat) in advance.

You'd think so wouldn't you. Except more often than not if you are travelling to Liverpool during rush hour on a Friday, you suddenly get told that all the seats on the train are "unreserved" including first class.

Maybe someone can enlighten me about that ? Is it when the booking systems goes down, it it when they have to change a train at the last minute.

This happens all the time (last two times I've gone up) and last Thursday when my girlfiend went.

It goes absolutely mental when everyone runs for the train and a pre-booked £65 return DOES NOT guarentee you a seat.

 

[Uncle Buck]

No.

This issue on the trains is that if you want to pay for a one-off off-peak journey on the day, you can get a discounted ticket and a seat on any train that takes your fancy - provided you confine your travel to the South East of England.

If you want to travel beyond the South East, or outside the South East, and pay on the day, you can't get a discount and you have to specify the train you want to travel on (and reserve your seat) in advance.

This is ridiculous. We need a NATIONAL railway system, not a series of different railways, each with their own rules.

But the chances are if you are going outside the South East network it is something that will have been planned for a while and if you book a decent time in advance (not one week) it will be fairly cheap. Book in advance and a return from London to Nottingham is only £12.

During the World Cup there were huge differences on fares on Deutchesbahn (sp) between buying them at a station and booking in advance. An on the day fare from Munich to Nuremberg was about 45 Euros for a 165 kilometre journey.

A similar distanced journey in the UK is probably London to Birmingham (about 120 miles), the cost of an on the day fare for that journey is £37.70.

There is not that much difference between the prices and yet the German railways are state run.