To be really funking fed up of the shit train services in this country

Except the huge pothole problems.

I have had far more problems on roads than railway tracks in my travels over the years

The roads aren’t significantly worse than they were 5 years ago though whilst the trains have deteriorated dramatically.

You are v fortunate. This is no longer my experience of Chiltern.
Short carriage-trains during rush hour from Birmingham to London. So even if you can manage to get on the train (and forget about it if you have luggage), chances are you'll be standing up all the way to London if you try to get on past Warwick. The service is often no better at the weekends.

Turns out that Chiltern were fantastic when they were bidding for the franchise renewal. Once the Govt handed the franchise on a plate back to them, lo and behold - the service deteriorated.

Ticket prices have soared. An off-peak return to London from Banbury cost £16 return with a railcard in 2014. Now it costs £25.50.

Just read this out to DP. He's fuming for you and telling me about his last three train rides with vigour! I was with him so I already know but now you know some people feel strongly!

We've had some real shitty journeys also crammed in like sardines or missed our connection due to lateness and had to wait. Before all the recent strikes etc we once waited for a train which arrived but couldn't depart as there was no one to drive it. Driver hadn't turned up for his shift. They didn't know this until the train arrived. I don't know how they can be so disorganised.

As if the roads are any better, who hasn't sat for hours on a motorway

If you can find someone from the relevant train company.

@Notamum12345577 yes they are supposed to but who wants to wait 2/3 hours waiting for the taxi and in more than one occasion my DDs were told to get the 5am train instead 🤬

We've just returned from Norway - we did our whole trip by train. Oh what a breath of fresh air it was
The trains departed and arrived on time. We booked on the app and got update texts if the departure or arrival platform was changed! The trains were clean, every train ticket booked came with a reserved seat, we had reclining chairs, a table and free coffee. The windows were clean enough to take photos through 😂
The final leg of our trip from Bergen to Oslo was about 500km and took 7 hours and our tickets were about £60 each!

If the last train home is cancelled the train company will (has to) supply alternative transport. Usually rail replacement buses, if there is only a few passengers they will pay for taxis.

I don't understand how they make any money... I've had all of at my (massive) fares from London to the South West refunded by at least 50% every time I've used it in the past year because they're ALWAYS late.

Well I was about to post saying that everything I'd been on for the last couple of days has been on time. Then a pheasant got stuck in the points.

@InTheUpsideDownToday

Yeah not a MN rule but seems to be an etiquette one. I never knew about it until a couple of threads were started asking why some people quoted the OP since we're all replying to the OP anyway, and quoting creates a needlessly long thread.

So when I saw you'd done it I realized that's what everyone is talking about.

I wasn't aware that was a rule?
@JadeSheep

I live in a country with a nationalised rail service. Its not perfect but the trains are clean frequent and largely on time and CHEAP

Vote carefully

People sometimes do it without thinking as they're used to quoting people they're replying to.

Just curious, but why did you quote the OP? Usually the quote function is to quote other commenters other than the OP

I don't blame her. My mother ended up driving down to London one year (she may have been 78/79 at the time) as the trains were so unreliable. Luckily she was a very good and confident driver and has no problem going long distance. She finally gave up driving this week at 85. I doubt she'll be off to London ever again. She's missing her car already. I am now a taxi.

I'm currently waiting for a train. Delayed!

They even boasted that the money they nicked from Manchester's railway was to be used to fill London's potholes. The nerve of them to brand it "Network North", they wouldn't be able to name anywhere past Watford Junction, let alone the Watford Gap. Quite apart from the fact that they are using capital funds for what should be routine maintenance, a practice that would land other bodies in trouble.

The main reason why HS2 costs ballooned beyond what would be reasonable when considering the specific challenges of the route (higher population density than comparable European schemes etc.) is that the contracts were let on a "cost plus" basis, which meant that the contractors had no incentive to keep a lid on expenditure. Hopefully the attempt by Andy Burnham and Andy Street (refreshing to see cross-party cooperation) to resurrect it using private finance will be better managed.

Agree, owning and running is car is not cheap or necessarily cheaper overall

@RampantIvy sensible of your DD and honestly I think coach services now offer better coverage and value

That’s not unreasonable of your dd, transport is a necessity not a nice to have.
It’s not just annoying, it is fucking our economy. Every time a service worsens to the point where it becomes impossible to use it to get to work that’s a whole load of job opportunities that are taken away from people and a whole load of potential staff that businesses lose.
The government wants to get people off benefits and back to work- a functioning transport system is one of the necessities for this that they seem to have forgotten about.

You're lucky @jeaux90.
TBH the shocking train service might influence where DD goes for a post grad degree.

I struggle with this, I don't have the same experience on the Chiltern line. It's really reliable, I can always get a seat and not ridiculous pricing.

However I travel for work a lot and across Europe the trains are good and cheap. The Dutch are particularly good.