The UK's impressive rail network...

Okay I've blatently lied about the topic, but the current status of the rail network, in particular when doing repairs is farcical. There is no communication at all and half the stations have no information signs or even staff that can assist!

I'm trying to get home at the moment and we've checked the train times and found that due to ongoing work in the Tipton area I had to get to the station at 03 mins past to get a coach to Wolves, then swap coaches at Wolves to Stafford and then train it back to Manchester.

So... We got to the tipton station for 55 mins past 5, just in time for the 6.03 coach to find no real information signs stating where to wait etc so we waited.

10 mins later - no coach
20 mins later - no coach

Then after this some random guy who was waiting for the Birmingham coach turned round and said it had left about 4 mins before we arrived.

Whats the point of them displaying times for coaches IF they cannot be bothered to adhere to them?

So now, it's either a trip to Birmingham or to Stafford in order to get to Manchester for 21.45-22.00 hours tonight and then another 29 minute (approx) to get home.

Feel for you mate....I used to HATE travelling by train...Especially around the Wolves area, they used to have some crazy diversions when the repair works were on. Nothing worse than a weekend away and then having to deal with all the cr@p the rail networks can throw at you.

It's became so bad for myself, it became one of the main reasons I got a car!

Count yourself lucky, just back from France, no trains and no replacement bus service. The only way to travel was by the normal bus service, 1 every 3 hours between Boulogne and Calais.

I love swiss public transport, it's not just some stereotypical thing, it's actually all true! In the whole fortnight spent travelling round on it we only had one minor hiccup, the train was 2 mins late and the driver actually made an announcement apologising!

Our rail network is a complete farce and a waste of time to ever use it. Its held to ransom by near communist trade unions and run by complete pillocks. Its excessively expensive and ridicuously slow. When I used to commute to Docklands from colchester, I could save over 1/2 hour each day and halved my costs by driving to work!

South-west trains are actually incredibly good compared to other companies, although they are late there isn't many cancellations and the buses are amazing (we always get on them when we aren't planning to get the train as the contractors aren't asked to ask for your ticket :p).

Ill stick to my megabus and national express coach any day as trying to get a train from Portsmouth harbour is near impossible as the new signals they put in ages ago wont work.

It is better than driving when I go to Leeds to see my wife. Its cheaper and faster than driving even with travel to and from the station.

The last time I had to use the train, some 3 years ago now, it was 2 hours late, and when I did get on it, it was so full I had to stand all the way from Plymouth to Redruth, grrr.

Public transport down here in Cornwall is a joke.

Well.. I finally got home in 1 piece :mrgreen:

What a cock-up that was as the trainline website said trains were running from Wolverhampton to Stafford and then on towards Manchester.

We gets to Wolves to find theres nothing running and the coaches were all waiting.

Ended up grinning like a loony rocketing towards Stafford station and then getting on the train to Manchester.

I need a drink or three now after this episode.

Personally I dislike having to take the train because there's never enough space on them. Typically on a day when Arsenal are playing at home they'll be packed and yet they'll STILL run 4 carriage trains instead of a far more sensible 8 carriage job that they run later in the day when no one's travelling...

it is a shocking network and one of the biggest things I love to complain about :)

Its much better on the continent too - but one of the reasons why is because of WW2 - most of continental europes train lines were blown up one way or anyother during the war, and as such they have been replaced over the past 60 years. Because the majority of the english lines and rolling stock survives the war, the tracks have simply not been replaced/upgraded, and the rolling stock wasn't updated until much later. All this means we are now massivly behind the times, with much slower trains due to the old track which cannot take the speeds that the newest trains can go.

Add that with the disastrous privatisation and the fact that Virgin Trains are totally uselsss and you have a realy poor rail network that costs the earth to travel on and is rarely anywhere close to on time. It's actually cheaper to drive most places than to take the train if your car does over 40mpg - eg a round trip from Manchester to Stafford (40 miles) costs around £10 of fuel, or £13 of train tickets with a railcard (+ £3 on the met to get to the station), or £18 without a rail card.

Even adding on road tax, tyre wear etc the car is cheaper for the journey...

But i'll stop rambling about the trains now and finish on a good point - south west trains are actually pretty good (if still slow), whenever i've used them i've found the staff friendly and that the trains run on time..its like how a train company *should* be run :)

I had to get a train from Peterborough to Wolverhampton on Saturday. It was supposed to be 2 changes, on at Leicester and then at B'ham New Street. Got on train to Leicester no problem but then from there to B'ham there were no trains, had to get a coach to Nuneaton, then a train to New Street (had to wait 40 minutes for the train though).

Once I got to New Street I went to ask what platform the train to wolves was and was told 9b, got to 9b to find it had changed to 7 then again got to 7 to find it was on 5b. Got to 5b to see it pulling away! Grrrrrr

Left at 10.30, got to Wolves at 3.30, could have gone home with parents (to Kent) and driven back up faster.

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Originally Posted by 99Flake

Once I got to New Street I went to ask what platform the train to wolves was and was told 9b, got to 9b to find it had changed to 7 then again got to 7 to find it was on 5b. Got to 5b to see it pulling away! Grrrrrr

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Ahh another of my pet hates - Pathetic information screens and hidden arrows and signs for platforms. Maybe I've got used to having a HUGE screen like at Manchester Piccadilly but some stations have hardly any signs and arrows at all. Then you have platforms and hidden sub-platforms.... grrrr

On friday - I got to Stafford and got off to change for the train to Tipton and had to use devine intervention alone to get my connecting train. If it wasn't for the fact that I had a few lovely cool stella's on the train alongside the banter I was having with some Liverpudlians I think I would have gone all postal on them and use the kitty silencer ;)

Anyway, trains might be a thing of the past for me as I soooo want a motorbike now :)

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Originally Posted by Lee @ SCAN

Ahh another of my pet hates - Pathetic information screens and hidden arrows and signs for platforms. Maybe I've got used to having a HUGE screen like at Manchester Piccadilly but some stations have hardly any signs and arrows at all. Then you have platforms and hidden sub-platforms.... grrrr

On friday - I got to Stafford and got off to change for the train to Tipton and had to use devine intervention alone to get my connecting train. If it wasn't for the fact that I had a few lovely cool stella's on the train alongside the banter I was having with some Liverpudlians I think I would have gone all postal on them and use the kitty silencer ;)

Anyway, trains might be a thing of the past for me as I soooo want a motorbike now :)

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Sub-platforms are a nightmare... Reading is easily the worst... I had a platform changed 3 times in the five minutes before the train came in, there were herds of us sprinting about trying to find the train, we only just made it and you could see several people who missed the train as a result when we pulled out!

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Originally Posted by RavenNight

I love swiss public transport, it's not just some stereotypical thing, it's actually all true! In the whole fortnight spent travelling round on it we only had one minor hiccup, the train was 2 mins late and the driver actually made an announcement apologising!

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I have had the odd problem in Zurich, some delays up to 10 minutes, but so rarely that they don't count. When I last was in Britain I took 4 trains and the tube and all of them were either cancelled or apallingly late. It's a sad state of affairs, but I actually prefer the trains in Iran.

all 3 of my trains were delayed this morning, only the one that starts at my station ran on time.

(i like that train though, it's a good sleeping train. I get a seat and nod off for 40 mins, I actually don't notice the carriage filling up :D)

A nightmare indeed mate :(

How the rail website can change the status of trains within an hour of a half to utter misinformation is shocking.
Long story short: Went and grabbed another helmet and took Lee up to Stafford where the trains were still running.

I have never heard someone giggle so much while on the back of a bike. I didn\'t even think it would be possible to hear it @60mph, both with helmets on. Lee proved me wrong :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RavenNight

I love swiss public transport, it's not just some stereotypical thing, it's actually all true! In the whole fortnight spent travelling round on it we only had one minor hiccup, the train was 2 mins late and the driver actually made an announcement apologising!

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When my dad was there a couple of years ago, an old man at a train station said to him, "If the train is late then it is not a swiss train or it is not a swiss watch". Very clean and well maintained apparently :)

I had a text from a mate earlier moaning about his train from Derby being knackered. I managed to get from my house to the office in Madrid quicker than he got from Derby to London.

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Originally Posted by steve threlfall

When my dad was there a couple of years ago, an old man at a train station said to him, "If the train is late then it is not a swiss train or it is not a swiss watch". Very clean and well maintained apparently :)

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I actually got to the point where I would set my alarm for 8:12, because I could get out of bed, shower, dress and walk to the station in time to catch the 8:43 as it pulled in. It was late maybe three of four times in a year, and never by more than 10 minutes. My Swiss colleagues started to refuse to travel with me, because of my bad luck.

I should also mention the Zurich Haupt bahnhof is home to the amazing Rail City, an underground shopping centre of over 200 shops and other businesses. It is open on Sundays too.

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Originally Posted by Agent

A nightmare indeed mate :(

How the rail website can change the status of trains within an hour of a half to utter misinformation is shocking.
Long story short: Went and grabbed another helmet and took Lee up to Stafford where the trains were still running.

I have never heard someone giggle so much while on the back of a bike. I didn't even think it would be possible to hear it @60mph, both with helmets on. Lee proved me wrong :D

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I'm still giggling mate and the smile is still spead wide across my face.

Anyway - just checked the distance and low and behold it's not exactly that far according to google ;

87.0 mi – about 1 hour 41 mins travelling time :)