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

I don't drive so I have used public transport all my adult life. The kids and I have had holidays all over the UK. This year, I have opted to take them somewhere an hour away by train because I just don't trust going anywhere further - the added stress of delays and cancelled trains is just rubbish before and/or after a holiday.

Even locally, trains and buses are just increasingly shit. I've commuted by public transport all my working life and never has it been so stressful as it is now. I've never felt the need to drive in the past (can't afford it, environmental factors, driving lessons made me ill with anxiety, many reasons I don't drive!) but more and more I am finding it frustrating that I didn't manage to get my licence when I was younger. That's 30 years of adult life travelling on public transport, with 3 kids, we've never missed out. The last year it has just got worse and worse. It's thoroughly depressing.

Ha, last year it felt like Greater Anglia were paying me an income from all the delay repays I had back into my account. I've since discovered that if you book on Trainline, you can just press a button to refund and it does it immediately. Almost worth the booking fee. (But would still rather the train turned up, obvs)

I don't think re-nationalising will help things
The Labour party have seen the profits and will want to use them for social causes (as they may have realised they can't pay for everything by abolishing non-Dom status) and not for improving sevice.

Serious question - is there anywhere in the western world with a worse (more unreliable and more expensive) train network? I doubt it.

I was recently in Japan. The shinkansen is unbelievable. Its like living in the future.

The State already bought back Network Rail and LNER.

I have used LNER( GNER as was and various other names) for years.
It has been under public control twice in that period, and yes, much better both times than when it was private. It was at its worst and most expensive under Virgin trains.
The staff at LNER both on the trains and on the phones are excellent too, not sure if it’s related though.

Nationalising won't help, it's one of the reasons they were privatised in the first place. And of course with nationalisation on the cards, all the current franchise holders are not going to invest any more, why would they? The railways have been a shit show forever, although there was a brief window of hope in the 1990s.

It is shockingly bad. It's been bad for over ten years now. I would get the train more often as I don't drive, but I do everything to avoid them now. I would rather get the bus or change my plans! I've got to get a train to london in a few weeks for something really important and I'm dreading it!

There are earlier options
Manchester to Crewe £4.40
Crewe to London £70 arrives in London at 8:05am 9:35am - almost £100 saving if you’re willing to go early enough!
OR
Crewe to London £129 arrives in London at 8:35am which is still cheaper!!

Alternatively, If you’re willing to pay £170 for an unreliable train for an important meeting, and if options allow, then you might as well catch a train the night before, where they run as cheap as £32 with a railcard in the evening, and use the rest of the money to book a hotel!

It shouldn’t have to be this way, services are shocking and extremely poor, prices are high but there would be no way I’d willingly pay £170 when there are cheaper options!

Last weekend I had a trip away with a friend - journey about 3 hours each way (well, that's what it's meant to be). The first leg was badly delayed and the return journey beset with the multiple cancellations. It was so bad they're giving me a full refund. I'd much rather have paid the money and not had my lovely weekend away ruined by a totally unreliable railway system.

I drive or get the coach now.

The coach is a a quarter of the price of the train. I'll happily save £90 by taking a longer journey, and it's only an hour or so more anyway.

Driving is about the same cost as the train in fuel so why on earth they think people will travel by rail instead I have no idea.

I use trains alot, whilst there are some fucked up journeys, most are great

the days of British Rail weren't exactly much better The days of British Rail were before the better communications that we have now. Old style British Rail with today's communications I don't think was as bad as today's railways. And it had one huge advantage - no matter where you were traveling, if they messed up, they'd make sure they got you to your destination, because it was one organisation covering the whole country

I can remember seeing one train company whose PI was that 95% of trains should be on time (ie not more than 5 mins late). That's one in 20 allowed to be noticeably late, or one a fortnight if you're commuting. That's a dreadful level of service. (And I can't remember BR being that bad).

They are utterly shit.

I recently took a Czech train from Prague to Vienna - a 4- hour trip on a beautiful, clean and comfortable train for €21. It was 5-10 minutes late arriving but overall it was a joy.

I have come to detest UK rail companies - I cannot understand why operators such as Cross Country or Avanti are even allowed near the rail network, although West Midlands are good.

It was obvious from the outset that the logic behind privatisation was flawed - still no competition. We've also lost the domestic rail manufacturing industry.

Start renatiionalising as soon as the franchises expire, and be done with this national embarrassment.

Yes there are rules.

That is not a synonym for a ban. Subsidies existed, but had to be within the rules.

As we're outside EU, and as interoperability across countries (other than Eurostar) isn't an issue, then we now have an opportunity to rework the nature, extent and other conditions of subsidies going forwards

Clearly the people thinking Nationalisation is the answer weren't users of the trains previously. It was just as awful if not more so. Total waste of time.

There is no EU rule about subsidising rail. The UK used to subsidise rail travel to the tune of around 50% of the cost of every ticket. That was phased out by recent Conservative governments.

At the moment the government is subsidising bus travel - most bus journeys are only £2. They have also had to bring back subsidies for rail to some extent because passenger numbers fell during Covid and still have not recovered to previous levels.

@BoPeepsSheep I am using Avanti to travel from London - Liverpool for Taylor Swift. I was only able to book the homeward journey this week despite concert being mid June because they don't seem to release 12 weeks before for weekends. I have ended up getting two singles as I wanted to get the Friday ticket booked, we are travelling day before the concert so I'm just crossing fingers it works!

It is all a fiasco - we are supposed to be encouraging the use of public transport to get cars off the road!

Here's a little tale about the craziness of privatisation of the railways ...... we were once travelling back from France - whizzed through the channel tunnel with no problems, hopped on our train home and finished up trapped in the Severn tunnel, because an idiot drunken rugby fan had pulled the emergency cord which had put on the brakes, and then something had gone wrong which meant that they could not get the train going again. So there we were stuck in the tunnel waiting for another engine to shunt us out. But here's the rub .... in order to save money, it had to be an engine from the same company - so we waited for hours!! There was a lady next to me who was claustrophobic - and getting more hysterical by the minute, poor woman.

I get a train most weeks that has probably on time twice. God knows what they do on this journey for it to be a mess every week. It's always at least an hour.

The next train is always heaving, obviously.

Once I realised it was every week, I started booking a first class ticket so I could get a seat and claimed a refund every single time there was a delay. The ticket is £197 one way. I think I've paid around £200 in total this year, that's for the ones where there's only a partial refund as its less than an hour delayed.

It must cost the operators a fortune in refunds, if that doesn't focus their minds, I don't know what will.

Despite all the privatisation promises, it is much, much worse now.

And we've paid through the nose for really crap service and paying out huge dividends to shareholders. As with the water companies, they haven't invested in staffing, better services etc. it's all gone in profits for the largely overseas owned companies.

It's made us a real laughing stock, selling off our public services to pay more for a worse product.

The problem is that the operators get paid the same regardless of whether they’re running properly or not. There’s no financial incentive for them to improve.

Totally agree, I commute and have an annual card including underground pass. It's costs me over 5k a year and the first thing I do as I open my eyes is check my train is even running each day.
Last month I got £100 back in delay repay charges as there were so many issues. In the evening they use old stock and the carriages are dirty, falling apart and cramped.
I have no idea how they get away with it tbh

Very, very annoying. I had a similar experience with a bus today.. it just never turned the fuck up!!!! 😠

Rubbish. The staff are now entering the fifth year of pay freezes, they're justifiably pissed off.

The government have stirred up this industrial action, it's worth noting that every operator not controlled from Whitehall has settled their disputes. No strikes in Wales, Scotland, Merseyside, London...

it’s shit service all round. DD had to be at an interview at 9am yesterday- didn’t want to rely on the unreliable train service so pre booked a taxi for the 20 minute car journey with a 7.55am pick up time. Taxi turned up 30 mins late, they then hit traffic and she walked in at 2 mins after 9am, not making the best first impression. £30 for a crap service, she was fuming- she did ring ahead to her destination to tell them about the taxi collecting her late, but it’s still not great when it’s something fairly important.