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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Trains are a fucking shitshow

86 replies

Amethystbluexo · 01/05/2022 15:33

Seriously, they are. Before 2022 they was half alright. They turned up on time, never cancelled, was reasonably priced and wasn’t overcrowded, that’s on my northern route anyway.

Now they’re fucking chaotic, disastrous even. I bought a railcard last year to save money, tickets have now increased in price to the point they’re now originally the same price as they would of been without one.

Constant cancellations. I used to travel regularly and they were fine, now in the past six months every single journey has had a disruption. Either cancelling last minute, cancelling the service halfway through, setting off late. I have been left to wait at Sheffield for over three hours on two occasions because they’re cancelling trains left right and centre. It’s a joke and entirely unreliable.

Overcrowding is now piss poor. I know Northern for a fact are now operating on reduced carriages even on the busier services and it shows. I’ve had seats booked and i’ve turned up to find people sat in them. I ask them politely to move and they either ignore me or tell me to fuck off. Even worse recently a train was so busy, nobody else could even get on because we was packed like sardines at the door. People swearing, getting pissed, there was a woman with a pushchair who burst into tears on one station because she couldn’t get on, not even the ticket man could make his way around.

Not to mention customer service is piss poor. They blame everything on staff shortages and covid but it’s been like this for atleast six months now. I tweet them or send an email and they just send a link for delay refund. However, twice i’ve tried to reclaim on my journey and twice it was rejected.

Honestly, the thought of getting on trains now makes me sick. It’s so so stressful. I would travel on trains each month to my parents house but i’ve reduced this heavily as trains are just so shit. The stress and expenses just doesn’t feel worth it. Even the behaviour of people on stations are shit as i’ve had one man smack me with his bike, and then had an another old lady pull my hair.

Opinions please?

OP posts:
YouHaveYourFathersBreasts · 01/05/2022 19:05

Transport for Wales was struggling before covid but it’s fair to say it has got worse and I imagine staff shortages, possibly still due to covid at times, are an issue. But fuck me, the cost of using the train is way too high for the service that is provided and sometimes the carriages are so full it’s downright dangerous. I’ve been crammed into a rush hour train that links one city to another that consists of 2 carriages. 2 ffs.

Sallycinnamum · 01/05/2022 19:06

The rail network has been effectively nationalised now. I'm old enough to remember the bad old days of British Rail so don't think discarding the the franchise model is going to improve the railway.

MadisonAvenue · 01/05/2022 19:08

Allywill · 01/05/2022 16:31

But it is in part. My sister is air crew.she deals with drunken rude inappropriate behaviour frequently. But she deals with it - she doesn’t ignore it or expect other passengers to either put up with it or confront the problem themselves.

Show quote history

Agreed.
I was on a train from Manchester to the Midlands the Christmas before the pandemic and it was rammed. There was a group in our carriage, with a table full of cans and they being abusive to anyone who was within earshot. I went to find the train manager, we were in the last carriage and his hideout was next to it and he was in there with two British Transport Police officers. They actually refused to come and deal with the situation, just saying that they were aware of what was going on.

CeeJay81 · 01/05/2022 19:10

Totally agree, as someone who relies on public transport. One of my pet hates with the trains is the pricing structure. Going from Wales to Scotland next week. If I buy one ticket from here to my dad's its £40 more expensive than buying 4 separate tickets for different parts of the journey(what a faff). I have a family rail card and it's also much cheaper to take the kids than go on my own. I'd love a railcard for people that aren't under 30 or over 60.

TheWeeDonkeyFella · 01/05/2022 19:20

PronounssheRa · 01/05/2022 18:34

Before 2022 they was half alright. They turned up on time, never cancelled, was reasonably priced and wasn’t overcrowded, that’s on my northern route anyway.

Northern rail have been a nightmare for years. Dirty trains, often late or cancelled. You are lucky you have avoided this until now.

twitter.com/NorthernFaiI this twitter account dedicated to the failings of NR has been operating since 2015

I was about to write the exact same thing!

Welcome to the Northern Fail experience OP.

DailyMaui · 01/05/2022 19:24

DomingoinLittleOakley · 01/05/2022 18:10

Hahaha! Try getting to/from London on Thameslink (if you can spare over £4,300) with any degree of punctuality, and you will be diabused of that notion fairly quickly.

Show quote history

I use Thameslink/Great Northern. I’ve barely been back in the office and every single time has been a shitshow. Fine on the way in and then a mess on the way home with cancelled trains, delays, heaving trains... I am probably going to drive in. And I hate driving in heavy traffic. But I went in with a mate last week and it was faster and cheaper.

Original poster
Amethystbluexo · 01/05/2022 19:29

SecretVictoria · 01/05/2022 18:38

Who was the operator you reserved seats with? Northern rail do not have seat reservations.

Transpennine Express

OP posts:
Original poster
Amethystbluexo · 01/05/2022 19:30

JaffavsCookie · 01/05/2022 18:14

So true about Northern
DC came home yesterday
should be a simple journey, one train major city to major city, then catch the local train out
They literally couldn’t fit on the first local train it was so rammed at 9pm the conductor told them to wait for the next one ( an hour later) when that one came they took an extra ten minutes trying to squeeze all the passengers on to it, at the first stop out of the city apparently more folk were trying to get on but literally no space at all and they ended up being 30 mins late on that part of the journey which should only be a 20 min trip.
They have basically halved the number of trains, and reduced the number of carriages on those that run. Utter shit show.

I’m sorry that really does sound shit. No idea why they’re reducing carriages though?? Overcrowding is so dangerous i’m surprised they’re letting this happen!

OP posts:
RishiRich · 01/05/2022 19:31

That sounds awful. I rarely use the train now (cheaper, quicker and more convenient to commute by car) but I went on two Thameslink services yesterday with my family and they were ok. Luckily we got on early and got seats but a lot of people were standing.

LoveIsAGamer · 01/05/2022 19:32

GreenClock · 01/05/2022 17:50

The prices are absurd around here. It’s cheaper to drive and pay to park, even with increased fuel costs.

DP and I priced up train tickets for a weekend break in London. Extortionate! We’re not paying that.

I could have written this! It was something like £400 off peak return to London for the pair of us.

User135644 · 01/05/2022 19:37

Lonelycrab · 01/05/2022 18:31

If the hundreds of billions that was wasted on hs2 was instead spent on upgrading the existing network, things would be a lot better.

Hs2 will only benefit a few dozen people, the ones that saving ten minutes is important. The rest of the network rots, but hey ho…Hmm

HS2 is designed to get MPs to Westminster more quickly.

Momicrone · 01/05/2022 19:50

It's not cheaper if you cost in the car

User135644 · 01/05/2022 19:51

Sallycinnamum · 01/05/2022 19:06

The rail network has been effectively nationalised now. I'm old enough to remember the bad old days of British Rail so don't think discarding the the franchise model is going to improve the railway.

It's no good nationalising something if it's in the hands of the Tories who destroy everything they touch.

Badbadbunny · 01/05/2022 19:53

MadisonAvenue · 01/05/2022 19:08

Agreed.
I was on a train from Manchester to the Midlands the Christmas before the pandemic and it was rammed. There was a group in our carriage, with a table full of cans and they being abusive to anyone who was within earshot. I went to find the train manager, we were in the last carriage and his hideout was next to it and he was in there with two British Transport Police officers. They actually refused to come and deal with the situation, just saying that they were aware of what was going on.

Show quote history

I've experienced the same with the onboard train manager locking himself in the back cab when there was trouble.

User135644 · 01/05/2022 19:57

DomingoinLittleOakley · 01/05/2022 18:10

Hahaha! Try getting to/from London on Thameslink (if you can spare over £4,300) with any degree of punctuality, and you will be diabused of that notion fairly quickly.

Show quote history

I did add that London trains can be bad as well, just that the London services tend to be ones that have adequate carriages and more frequent journeys.

If a train isn't going to or from London the train is probably 2-4 carriages long, overcrowded and if you're really lucky the service runs twice an hour.

User135644 · 01/05/2022 20:01

I’m sorry that really does sound shit. No idea why they’re reducing carriages though??

Northern put all the pacer trains out of commission a couple of years ago. Those train carriages were shit but a lot of the capacity hasn't been replaced so there's fewer carriages on their services.

I'd rather be on a 4 carriage train sat on a pacer carriage, than stood in a 2 car train that's overcrowded.

Toastedbagels61 · 01/05/2022 20:03

Same here. I live in London and sometimes my bus doesn’t even turn up. 45 minutes standing waiting for a bus. Then my second mode of transportation is always delayed so sometimes it takes me 2 hours to get home. I usually take 1 bus and then 1 train. Every single day there’s an issue, and if they do come, they are never on any kind of schedule. It’s totally random. Im sick of it. In London there is no parking because where I work the parking is 2 hour maximum stay, so I’ve got no choice but to put up with it. I never even thought to try and claim money back to be honest.

Fairisleflora · 01/05/2022 20:15

I got a train from Manchester to London at Easter. There was a stag do in our carriage. The level of swearing in front of my young kids was utterly disgusting. All openly drinking spirits. It was such a grim experience, a really aggressive atmosphere. Can we just ban drinking on trains? Please? Who NEEDS to do it? And I won’t even start on the grimness of the loos

Fairisleflora · 01/05/2022 20:16

and I have lived in the north, south east and west and northern trains are without a doubt the worst.

EllaPaella · 01/05/2022 20:20

I have hated travelling by train for several years. In the NE you can guarantee that every journey from 9am onwards is full of pissed hen parties/stag parties who have no filter regardless of who they share a coach with.
People disregard seat bookings, swear, shout - it's embarrassing to be British at the moment tbh. I had to travel by train this weekend out of absolute necessity but I would usually pay twice the price to drive or travel by plane. In fact flying is usually half the price and a much better experience. It's basically pissed people who make it so miserable.

EleanorRavenclaw · 01/05/2022 20:34

I’ve just taken voluntary severance from part of the railway operator. It’s absolutely on its knees exacerbated by Covid and WFH. The railway has always been hugely subsidised and is even more so now but needs massive investment to continue to maintain and improve the infrastructure and don’t even get me started on accessibility! The revenue stream has just died off and I can’t see how it will ever get back to where it was. No one will want to travel while the service is so poor as PP have said but without the revenue I don’t see how it can survive without massive investment from public funds.

HYT · 01/05/2022 20:49

Trains are shit. I agree. Northern Rail who were utter crap until they lost their franchise were hideous.

Howmuchwood · 01/05/2022 20:50

Off topic slightly but @shunter350 I was recently on the Glasgow to Aberdeen service and it was on time, clean, busy but not crowded and generally a good journey. First time in a couple of years. Love the views at Montrose and along the coast around Stonehaven. Bet you get a great view driving that line.

HYT · 01/05/2022 20:51

And has anyone been on a train when football fans are travelling? My god. Openly snorting coke in front of anyone. Grim.

Shunter350 · 01/05/2022 21:05

Howmuchwood · 01/05/2022 20:50

Off topic slightly but @shunter350 I was recently on the Glasgow to Aberdeen service and it was on time, clean, busy but not crowded and generally a good journey. First time in a couple of years. Love the views at Montrose and along the coast around Stonehaven. Bet you get a great view driving that line.

My favourite route!