To think there's something really broken about west coast/northern trains?

[MossyPillows]

I don't hear much about it online, but wonder if anyone has noticed this steady but thorough decline in services?
I travel by rail for work between Lancashire and South Cumbria, most Avanti trains are cancelled, very delayed or overly full. This is every day of the week, although much worse on Sundays.
Also issues with Northern Rail, which seemed to be functioning ok until this year. A rail worker at Windermere told us today that 'no one wanted to work Sundays' so the trains were all cancelled for today.
Apparently this had nothing to do with the coming strikes.

Does anyone know what the heck is happening or if there is any awareness countrywide of this issue? It is forcing people into car use even if they choose not to, and god help those who rely on the system to take children to school between towns, or getting to work on time.

It feels like a managed decline, but of course that makes no sense.

Northern were crap 25 years ago and they're still crap, just even more crap. Transpennine are also crap and hideously expensive (not that Northern aren't). It's why I'd never feel able to apply for a job in Manchester, just too high a risk I wouldn't get there, and I will be getting another car early next year.

What's an "Avanti"? ;)

Avanti trains are absolutely filthy as well. If you look down at the carpet by your seat it's grim from years of dirt. I complained once (with photos) of the most disgusting conditions and their response was basically "we couldn't care less".

We had to get a second car due to awful train service. I honestly think part of the problem is a bloated, lazy staff who think they should be paid 30k plus for stamping tickets and can’t understand that as technology advances, jobs like these become obsolete. I utterly despise the railway strikes and have no sympathy for any of them. They need sacking

Same here re jobs in Manchester. They pay better than the equivalent in Liverpool, but I'd never get there!

There's a joke in Die Hard 2 about British Rail's reliability! It was a running joke that you'd get there, at some point, using the train. I don't think it was as bad as it is now though.

It's sad that the railway companies are so poor, I'd love to use the trains to commute everyday but the service is just not reliable enough. Over the past 3 months, the service has deteriorated so much I drive everywhere - what happened to sustainable 'green' public transport? It's just not working.

Usually someone would but it’s the worry that it’s so busy that it’s standing in the aisles only, not being able to get through to seats / toilets to change him, having to breastfeed in a small
seat next to / opposite / very close proximity with a stranger (normally travel with DH but obviously if being given a seat…) it’s really not nice.

I’m sure there are other people with different situations in a similar boat.

I live in commutable distance to Manchester, but don’t work from a Manchester office as the trains are so awful, the M60 is a nightmare, and parking extortionate.
Luckily I can WFH .. it makes me laugh when people talk about “getting people back in the office” - I would love to go in the office, but it’s not feasible.
I think London politicians and journalist who make these proclamations should try commuting, using Public Transport, anywhere outside of the Capital. Shonky infrastructure, a bare bones timetable when it runs, expensive trains and buses

I would vote for anyone, ANYONE, who would fix the Leeds to Manchester train line.

No fucking missions or KPIs or their stupid droning speeches. Just someone who said, by 2026 you will get from Leeds to Manchester in 30 minutes. The train will leave every 10 minutes. It will cost you no more than £15. And the spades are going in the ground next month.

Any person, any party. I'll vote for them. But of course this is an easy promise for me to make because it will never, ever happen.

I can't do my job like this. The wasted time. The wasted opportunities. This country just doesn't function. It isn't a proper country.

Hard to work from home when in conservation!
I'm also a working artist and would feel grim tied to the house all day every day without fresh air, exploration, socialisation and some exercise. I worked from home for 15 years and it made me quite depressed, but I can see how it might fit into a different lifestyle - just not for me.

WFH is not the answer to a collapsing transport service. Hiding from ti won't fix the issue. And in terms of healthy air and so on, increasing car use is pretty backwards progress, at least until we can all access alternatively powered vehicles..

Access to a good transport system is the backbone of a country IMO. It offers choice and a sense of freedom. It needs fixing, and an injection of dignity back.

The trains work in Spain, Italy, France, Netherlands. They are late all the time in Germany but they are fast and cheap.

Proper countries can organise a train service. Italy doesn't just put 95% of all its trains between Rome and one suburb of Rome and leave the rest of the country stranded.

It is a political decision that they are this bad. The politicians of this country have utter contempt for its people.

It's even more sad for those of us where public transport is the only option.

TBH to costs for disabled people need to be reviewed. Its always been 1/3 off but nowadays most of the population can get some kind of 1/3 off depending on age or even just paying for a railcard. The prices have got so high that they need to offer everyone a discount and its become the standard fare.

Virgin had a ralicard waiver scheme where you could travel with an off peak ticket at peak times if you have a railcard. This was fantastic for helping working disabled people with their commutes, but was removed a few years before they lost the franchise. A peak time return ticket from Manchester to London is now £250 (I know that wouldn't be a typical commute but just using as an example as its the route I travel for work).

I’m on the Caldervale line in north Mcr and am frequently stranded at Salford Central on the way home. By the time I’ve walked to get the bus in central Mcr the service has changed to hourly - sometimes it takes me 3 hours to get home.

So I bought a bike. I take it easy but I’m still home in under 50 mins.

The other thing that pisses me off is the state of the trains on our line. But when I went to Saltaire a few weeks back (by car) I noticed that on the line that goes by Salts Mill was a beautiful new train! How come we don’t get ones like that? Ours are so old they are always breaking down.

I recall in the early 2000's a Virgin cancellation caused an issue for me attending an interview in Lancaster (I was travelling from Warrington at the time) . They actually booked me a taxi so that I could get there on time with my portfolio. Imagine that now.

The railways aren’t poor, it’s just that the bosses take massive bonuses and don’t invest back into the rail itself.

Northern rail is appalling. When 8 lived in London travel was cheap compared to up here. virgin was cheap to London and back now it’s so expensive.

Yes, all that generally matters are shareholders usually, so the health and wealth of a nation is sidelined for a small group of profiteers. Everyone seems ok with that for some reason.

It’s all lines, i’ve had a few 100% refunds lately on a few different routes. Very frustrating

The issue of Sunday working being on rest days and staff being able to say no with notice has existed for years, not just the train companies the OP refers to. Great Northern have had this for at least ten years, and Scotrail have this from time to time (often if a Rangers v Celtic game is on such as today).

We are here, routes out of town were ridiculous on the roads with people driving to the match and knock on effects of other road closures. The way to Stalybridge is the same road and Buxton is half an hour in the wrong direction, ridiculous service. I commute and am doing more WFH days due to not being able to get to work half the time. I'm lucky I have this option, many kids here have to go to college in Manchester due to there being very little post 16 provision here. The shocking service is affecting lives and livelihoods now.

Transport for Wales are the exact same, often cancelled with no replacement arranged. I once spent longer travelling london to wales than I had la to London 😭

I'd planned on a trip to Manchester yesterday and treating myself to a theatre trip. Soo glad I didn't pre book anything, the train was cancelled, the next one was fully booked, then the one after that was delayed. They are just so unreliable. You can't plan anything. And living in south lakes, we're out on a limb unless you want to drive to any of the cities.
How on earth in the travel industry does a weekend not form part of the working week and be an overtime option. Baffling!

In the south east they are...

Northern are absolutely shite. Have been for years. Frequently cancel trains, send a 2 carriage instead of a 4 carriage so people can't get on. They aren't reliable enough to use for the daily commute.

To those posters mentioning nationalisation, northern was nationalised in 2020 and it's got worse since.

Yes it's interesting isn't it. LNER is nationalised and that is the best train line in the UK. Northern is probably the worst. How can we make sense of this? (Except to note that LNER goes to London...)