Third world UK train service!

PasturesNew

You're lucky you had a train!

Voyager2002

'Third World' includes China, which has a more extensive high-speed rail network than anywhere else on the planet.

pleasedelete

was the toilet a pooh stained hole directly onto the track that you had to crouch over? No? Not at all developing nation then

Stigy

knightstyle wrote: »

So I wanted to go from York to Gainsborough in Lincolnshire, 60 miles, 1hr 15mins by car, over 2 hours by train.
Took the train, change at Doncaster, 3 mins to find correct train, some people didn't make it!
Then the train we were on was the oldest noisiest train I have seen for a long time. Smokey diesel with worn out seats,like sitting on a bag of cement, too noisy to hear the announcements all open through 3 compartments so draughty. What a disgrace, even the Graffiti was 20 years old!
There were some German tourists on the train, York to Lincoln, and they couldn't believe a train connecting two county towns could be so bad. Spoke to a couple of regular travellers who said it was always like this and last month a group were complaining as they had first class tickets but there are no first class seats on this route!
I'll use the car and Yorks excellent park and ride next time.

3-minutes wouldn't have been an advertised connection. Was it a longer connection, reduced due to a delay?

If there's no first class available on this particular route there shouldn't have been a 1st class fare, although I appreciate this depends on the length of the journey if more than one train was caught.

Unfortunately trains tend to be like that in some parts of the country, usually in connecting towns on a semi-suburban route or on rural lines loop north or in the West Country.

Not sure I'd agree on the third world service statement, as I've seen documentaries whereby you're lucky if you get a 3-day connection, let alone a 3-minute one! Also, with the UK train service, you know at least to the nearest hour, that you will have a train arriving.

saver78

Oh God Northern Rail....I used to travel on their trains to work every day - thankfully only 20 minutes each way. The trains really are an embarrassment. Tired, ancient, smelly. Seats that were either like rocks or which gave way under you when you sat down. Old heaters blowing out smoky hot air. My train used to go through the Standedge Tunnel in the Pennines each day and half the time you were nearly gassed by the fumes as you went through. Dreadful.

knightstyle

Thanks for the comments, and yes the toilet did empty straight onto the track! Hence the "do not flush whilst the train is standing in the station" notices. I thought all these were banned years ago!

martindow

knightstyle wrote: »

Thanks for the comments, and yes the toilet did empty straight onto the track! Hence the "do not flush whilst the train is standing in the station" notices. I thought all these were banned years ago!

Much nicer high speed trains have these too. It was the standard system until more modern trains in the last twenty or thirty years.

Stigy

martindow wrote: »

Much nicer high speed trains have these too. It was the standard system until more modern trains in the last twenty or thirty years.

Something I find quite strange in this day and age, especially since most if not all High Speed Trains have been heavily refurbished since their launch in the 1970s...Why not upgrade to a more hygienic 'tank' system when considering these projects? Seems stupid not to spend the money doing this when thousands are being spent elsewhere on the same train to install wi-fi and comfy seats!

photome

pleasedelete wrote: »

was the toilet a pooh stained hole directly onto the track that you had to crouch over? No? Not at all developing nation then

Had one like that in Poland a few weeks ago

daveyjp

Northern Rail franchise does not have any allowance for replacing rolling stock. Any 'new' stuff is hand me downs. Lots of diesels from Merseyside and Arriva Wales and electrics from the south east.

Bradford to Manchester Victoria on the old Leyland sets is an endurance test. They also use these on the Leeds to Heysham route, which takes hours and must be hell.