To be disgusted by our trains?

[sandybeaches74]

I've just got back from 2 weeks in Japan where their train network is absolutely amazing. Efficient, clean and something they obviously take huge pride in.

In contrast I'm just on the way home back from work where the West Midlands railway train I'm on is disgustingly filthy, to the point where you don't want to touch anything and there is sick all over the bathroom.

Not sure really what my point is but why is it all so disgusting, I'm normally quite strong of stomach but I actually want to vomit.

It’s not really the trains it’s the people that go on them. I was taught to leave a place no worse than you found it and that person left their sick everywhere. Gross. Same with litterers.

YANBU.
Whenever I come back from holidays I am amazed (in a bad way) at how disgusting the UK is cleanliness wise. Motorways and hedges filled with rubbish, disgusting public toilets, filthy public transport. I live in a tourist area and I always wonder what people must think when they visit from abroad and see the mess. We've got such a bad fly tipping problem around here at the moment. I cycle a lot and there is shit dumped everywhere. The last few weeks I've seen a toilet cistern and taps dumped in a graveyard on an old grave, loads of insulation chucked down a footpath and about 20 tyres flung into the bluebell woods. It's really sad.

The issue with the sick - had it been reported by anyone?
The train won't be cleaned until it's ended it's service for the day (litter is collected at beginning and end of the line - but not cleaned).
They don't have cleaners on board.
The only option would be the toilet is locked and out of service for the journey or the train is held at a station while a cleaner comes on to clean (which would have a major knock on effect to the schedule).
But neither of that will happen unless someone actually reports it.

You need to find someone to report it to. Our trains here don't have guards unless you catch an intercity. The stations are largely unmanned.

You could report it via text to the BTP and ask them to pass it on.

I'm not sure what train conditions you experienced but I caught a train from Glasgow Central to Euston today. It was clean, comfortable, on time, not crowded and the on-board service was good.

Transferring across London on the tube was disgusting. It was filthy.

Then out of London again on Great Western. A bit late but still clean and with helpful staff.

I didn't have a problem with our trains. The London tube is a different matter

@BigFatLiar that is a very valid point.
My local trains don't have guards but all the stations have staff.
A lot of trains it's literally just the driver (this was/is one of the reasons why train companies go on strike).

Everything is rubbish, shabby and gross in this country because we, the inhabitants are like this. Our culture is the cult of self, no one can tell us what to do and there are few social consequences, such as public shaming.

Japanese culture may create tidy public spaces and polite people who don't drop litter or graffiti, but they are expected to conform to the "rules" of a very strict traditional society and fit in, where being too different is frowned upon.

I loved all the random vending machines in Japan, walking back at night and getting a can of hot sweetcorn soup down some residential back street. In the UK that vending machine would've been ransacked and trashed in the first week it was installed.

We can't have nice things here cos we are rough.

The trains are quite nice in our region. I guess it depends which company runs them in your area.

I did report the sick when I got off, it was honestly disgusting, I've felt slightly revolted all night!

Take your point about Japan and the rules but I had the best 2 weeks over there, it was such a lovely place.

Paraphrasing OP: I had a lovely time in Japan. The trains were noticeably clean and well presented because they were protected and enhanced by the culture of the people who use them.

That's the nub of the matter - not the other dreary nonsense that gets endlessly spouted on the issue.