Trains are rubbish

[13m]

loafer123 said:

13m said:

Yep, we've got some stunners.

OK, admittedly it isn't beautiful, but they have at least done it up since your photo...

Trust me, that'll still look grim when it's not sunny.

[MarshPhantom]

Cliftonite said:

creampuff said:

I like train travel. But not British train travel. If I can fly, I'll fly. I even fly London-Manchester.

Yet London-Manchester is but two hours on the train!

Trouble with trains is how long it takes to get to the station and how far the station might be from where you actually want to go. And the cost.

ETA. Between 3.15 and 4.15hrs by train from where I live to Manchester. You could drive quicker.

Edited by MarshPhantom on Saturday 4th March 08:17

[Merry]

MarshPhantom said:

Trouble with trains is how long it takes to get to the station and how far the station might be from where you actually want to go. And the cost.

ETA. Between 3.15 and 4.15hrs by train from where I live to Manchester. You could drive quicker.

Edited by MarshPhantom onSaturday 4th March 08:17

Calling custard on that one. Usually takes me between 4.5 and 5.5 hours to get into central London from South of Wigan, if I left at 4:30am.

Never anything like 3 and a quarter..

Would still probably drive though. Not that I get a choice.

[MarshPhantom]

Merry said:

MarshPhantom said:

Trouble with trains is how long it takes to get to the station and how far the station might be from where you actually want to go. And the cost.

ETA. Between 3.15 and 4.15hrs by train from where I live to Manchester. You could drive quicker.

Edited by MarshPhantom onSaturday 4th March 08:17

Calling custard on that one. Usually takes me between 4.5 and 5.5 hours to get into central London from South of Wigan, if I left at 4:30am.

Never anything like 3 and a quarter..

Would still probably drive though. Not that I get a choice.

Where did I say you could drive it in less than 3.15? Also talking about traveling from where I live. Can be in Brum in a couple of hours, then an hour and a half to Manchester from there.

[Merry]

MarshPhantom said:

Where did I say you could drive it in less than 3.15? Also talking about traveling from where I live. Can be in Brum in a couple of hours, then an hour and a half to Manchester from there.

Last bit of your post. I was also implying it would probably take less time from where I am as I can jump straight onto the m6, assuming you're somewhere near or within m60 in Manchester.

It is a journey I do a lot, which is why I was surprised at that times you gave there.

Edited by Merry on Saturday 4th March 15:06

[Vocal Minority]

WestyCarl said:

creampuff said:

WestyCarl said:

Travelling on trans in most W. Europe countries and Japan is nicer, more convenient, more reliable, and cheaper than the UK.
Agree about the UK having more beautiful stations though.

British stations are crap. They started with Victorian roofs above a concourse (big stations) or a brick building with a platform and haven't changed much since.

Google up Beijing South Station if you want to see what a modern station can look like. Japanese stations, while usually not architecturally that interesting, have enough useful shops inside that you would go inside to buy stuff even if you aren't catching a train.

OK, just to clarify I grew up near the Severn Valley Railway and my reference was to these stations, yes obscure I know.

Some aren't so bad

[hyphen]

Major Fallout said:

...

You know that Sshhhh part at the end...

In the world today you can't be nice to people by bending the rules, as you can't trust them not to go on the internet and tell the world resulting in the risk of it getting back to your company and you facing consequences...

[Adam B]

Still haven't found out if the guard caught the junkies and kicked them off the train

[davepoth]

This one's not bad.

[creampuff]

Cliftonite said:

Yet London-Manchester is but two hours on the train!

I go from a London 'burb to an office in a Manchester 'burb on the tram line. It's marginally faster door to door by air although not by that much. But it is much more comfortable, it's more reliable and since I often travel in mornings which is peak for the train, flying is usually cheaper.

And I can get a RH window seat and with the prevailing westerly winds in London and Runways 27 active, I get a stunning view over Central London and Canary Wharf through clean windows, as opposed to the view of an embankment through a dirty train window.

The Manchester tram is a disappointment given it isn't that old. If you go to Deansgate, trans just turn up on any platform with no notice on the departure board.

I also fly Heathrow-Edinburgh most weeks (i.e. usually an outbound and a return every week). I've never done that by train and don't plan to.

Edited by creampuff on Tuesday 7th March 23:32

[creampuff]

Tianjin (northern China) station ceiling, if you want to see what a real station looks like.

[Rostfritt]

WestyCarl said:

Travelling on trans in most W. Europe countries and Japan is nicer, more convenient, more reliable, and cheaper than the UK.
Agree about the UK having more beautiful stations though.

Some lovely ones on the continent too



Obviously Belgian ones are a bit grotty, but there are some amazing ones out there.

[C&C]

Kings Cross is pretty good:

Kings Cross Station by Adrian Chandler, on Flickr

[C&C]

Rostfritt said:

Obviously Belgian ones are a bit grotty, but there are some amazing ones out there.

Although not all Belgian ones are grotty:

Station Liegé by Ruud Pothuizen, on Flickr

Liège gare Guillemins by Ralf Westhues, on Flickr

Edited by C&C on Wednesday 8th March 12:48

[curlyks2]

I like trains from an engineering perspective. I dislike trains from a passenger perspective.

That said, there are still some journeys that just make more sense by train, for example going into central London or when ultimate destination is close to a station and journey time (end-to-end) is less than driving. Sadly, none of my regular three work destinations are either of those things, so driving wins most of the time.

Most recent train journey was not good: a broken down train caused delays and cancellations, so rather than waiting 5 minutes on the platform it was 65 minutes.

[Otispunkmeyer]

gregs656 said:

WestyCarl said:

Whats become clear to me is that we are far behind a lot of other countries when it comes to trains and the infrastructure.
My 1st choice in the UK is car. If I'm in Europe then usually it's trains

Agree with this. Don't find travelling by train in this country to be relaxing at all.

Every country I have been to, I have had a better train experience; better, quieter, more comfortable, more spacious trains with room to actually put bags and suitcases (if necessary, and in Germany, room for many people to bring their bicycles!).

Even in HK. Yes the underground is crowded, perhaps even more so than London. But the system is practically all automatic and they have really long trains and platforms. Have to go to the airport? check your bags at the train station and don't see them again till you land. Train is quiet, fast, spacious, free wifi, free power etc etc.

The over-arching thing about all the above.... vastly cheaper than what we pay in the UK.

HK subway is charging you about 40p to go the whole length of a line. In Germany we rocked up to the counter to purchase a ticket for the coast (from Berlin). Its a decent schlep, 4 hours. 17 Euros on the day it cost. Similar in Spain; train down the coast to Barcelona, only a few euro. You'd only get that kind of fare in the UK if you booked in advance of your next life time (if you believe in re-incarnation).

[sc0tt]

I had the misfortune of having to use the eurostar from Disney paris on Sunday.

Outbound from Kings cross was brilliant.

Return journey you pass through PP control and are dumped on a stairwell or the platform.

[Cotty]

I like using the train outside of commuter times. During the commute there are just too many people. Crammed in, small seats, people standing etc etc

[Rostfritt]

[quote=C&C]

Although not all Belgian ones are grotty:

Station Liegé by Ruud Pothuizen, on Flickr

Liège gare Guillemins by Ralf Westhues, on Flickr

Edited by C&C on Wednesday 8th March 12:48

[/quote]

Was going to post a picture of that actually. It is pretty impressive too, I passed through a few years ago and got a ticket to Maastricht for about €3, which was cheap for an international journey. I was mainly thinking of stations around Brussels, which are usually covered in graffiti and decay.

[Paul Dishman]

Trains make sense for some journeys for me- a day at Lords or Twickers or a trip to the NEC for the Autosport Show are easily done with a return from Exeter St Davids. I've got an over 60 railcard so its a third off, and no £12 parking at the NEC.