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Bad day for Liverpool & Newcastle on TPE

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exile

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National Express and Megabus, no idea of the frequencies or prices though
I have used the coach a few times. Journey time Liverpool to Leeds 2 hours 30, every hour, cost £10 walk on, c £4 advance, each way. Timekeeping good except in rush hour. Never any trouble getting a seat. As for the people suggesting flying via Schiphhol etc - the fact you are meant to arrive at the airport 2 hours ahead of departure time, need to allow time to get to and from airports and to transfer between flights surely makes this a distinctly undesirable option.
 
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TeaLovingDave

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Even the TPE Twitter team don't seem to know what ticket acceptance is in place for sure: https://twitter.com/TPEassist/status/1210586001401372672?s=19

Similarly, contrary to this message stating that TPE has ticket acceptance in place with LNER today......

https://twitter.com/TPEassist/status/1210615856251785216
Hi Rio. We have ticket acceptance in place with LNER, I'd advise speaking to station staff who can advise further ^MO
....when I was travelling from Darlington to Newcastle this afternoon (about 4pm) the train information boards carried an explicit statement that there was no ticket acceptance between TPE and Northern, Crosscountry, LNER or Grand Central. I might not have even noticed had I not been slightly thrown by that last point, given Darlington isn't even served by Grand Central!
 
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E100

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From real-time trains I can see that only 1 Liverpool to Newcastle train ran today! I sincerely hope it’s better tomorrow for my journey but don’t have much hope.

In terms of ticket acceptance with LNER I believe this is in place where there is no TPE train for 1 hour as they may have been running NCL - Man Airport trains.

I note though that LNER trains were believed to be exceptionally busy today so that may have also played into this as they warned passengers without reserved seats they should expect to stand.
 

Matt_pool

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From real-time trains I can see that only 1 Liverpool to Newcastle train ran today! I sincerely hope it’s better tomorrow for my journey but don’t have much hope.

Did you manage to make it out of Liverpool today!

Another almighty cock up with TPE today!

11.24, 13.24, 14.24, 16.24 and 17.24 all cancelled; plus the 12.54 Scarborough service that I was planning to get to Stalybridge!

I'm going to try and get the 13.54, but it will be a 185 and I suspect it will be absolutely rammed!
 

E100

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I'm actually coming from Chester. Was booked on 16:24 from lime street but need to get back earlier so will get the 13:52 TfW to Oxford Road then hopefully pick up one of the airport services to York and then LNER from there as I don't think much is running to NCL. In 1st class on an advance so we'll see how it goes.

I believe they do have acceptance with Northern between Liv and Man so may be an idea to get across and then pick up what you can from there but I guess you wouldn't be likely to get a seat.
 

gimmea50anyday

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Its generally a bad time to be a member of TPE staff at the moment. The cancellations and short terminations of many of the services that are operating is quite frankly embarrassing as much as it is demoralising and we are getting it in the neck from the punters because of it. It’s not our fault, we are just as much stuck in it as the punters are. Front line staff aren’t willing to work overtime because of how bad things are which you can’t blame them, the company should not be relying on overtime to cover the work anyway, but ironically it’s the lack of staff willing to work that’s compounding the problem!
 

mpthomson

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While the Scarborough-York timetabled service in the 1970s was (in theory) thinner than today - 10 trains in each direction on a weekday and the last service out of Scarborough at 20.00 - I don't ever recall a service being cancelled on the route, and certainly I do not recall sustained reliability and punctuality issues stretching over more than a year and a half and counting.

What's more, the line was serviced by a variety of DMU types, plus on summer Saturdays a vast array of locomotive and stock classes. There was no massive hoo-ha and reasons not to run a different class down the route, as with the recent fuss over the proposed then dropped class 37s and Mk 3s. And again on summer Saturdays I don't recall services vanishing from the timetable despite the considerable demand for extra stock.

Oh, and DMUs were readily strengthened in the number of carriages, by doubling up units at busy times.

From the other routes that have used Class 37s and LHCS, if you think that they would have provided a reliable service then you’re sorely mistaken. The Cumbrian Coast service was at least as dismal as TPE current efforts while they were operating.
 

mike57

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From the other routes that have used Class 37s and LHCS, if you think that they would have provided a reliable service then you’re sorely mistaken. The Cumbrian Coast service was at least as dismal as TPE current efforts while they were operating.
I think that the reliability in the 70's is a totally different situation from the experience on the Cumbrian coast in 2017/8, after all the locomotives were 40 years newer back in the 70's, and there was more spare stock around the network in the 70's

And to reply to post #97 I can well understand the problem, I was a regular commuter between Seamer and points west, from the new year I am having to use bus and car for most journeys, only using train for a weekly journey to the NW. In general frontline TPE staff have always done their best, but as soon as you deal with management types the user experience plummets, and dont bother making a complaint, it takes 2-3 months to get a response. The senior management response to the current problems indicate that they have given up, which would lead one to the conclusion that they are either out of their depth, or have wind of changes which will result in TPE being dismantled.
 

E100

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Its generally a bad time to be a member of TPE staff at the moment. The cancellations and short terminations of many of the services that are operating is quite frankly embarrassing as much as it is demoralising and we are getting it in the neck from the punters because of it. It’s not our fault, we are just as much stuck in it as the punters are. Front line staff aren’t willing to work overtime because of how bad things are which you can’t blame them, the company should not be relying on overtime to cover the work anyway, but ironically it’s the lack of staff willing to work that’s compounding the problem!
Yeah it’s entirely understandable that no one would want to do overtime currently and as you say will certainly compound the problems. Do you know what level of overtime they are assuming with the timetable long term eg 10%?

Both TPE services I was on the guard didn’t come through for tickets (normally a bugbear of mine if stations aren’t gatelined - though understand that isn’t their only task) and being honest I really don’t blame them. I do feel for them and also the staff of other companies dealing with the fallout e.g. LNER staff at Newcastle and their guards with ticket acceptance.

Just as an update for those interested I caught the Redcar service from Oxford Road to York at 15:00 yesterday. It was a 3 coach 185 and actually wasn’t ridiculously busy with pretty much everyone having a seat after a Station. Having said that though I did plan it so this would be at the end of a string of services crossing the Pennines before there was a large gap to up my chances of getting a seat. LNER were also honouring the ticket acceptance too between York and Newcastle.
 

Matt_pool

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Well, I went for the 13.54 from Lime Street yesterday. It was a 185 but it wasn't packed like I thought it would be and I even got a seat.

Got the 18.37 back from Stalybridge and it was a few minutes late. But it was a Nova 3 with 68023 Achilles pushing it, and it was relatively empty!
 

Horizon22

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It's early but at 05:30 here's TPE cancelling 90% of services booked to run by this point.

Edit: Image didn't work but it was 18/20 in the red.

http://trains.im/ppm/TP
 

E100

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I've been keeping somewhat of an eye on TPE so far this year via Journey check. By and large they do appear to be making the temporary timetable work with many Nova's in service on Edinburgh to Liverpool via Newcastle. Whether this will get them to the point where they can run the full timetable in a week or so remains to be seen but credit where credit is due.
 

Eccles1983

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I hate to say I told you so but I was saying that they were as bad or if not worse than Northern 12-18mths ago.

At least Northern have the excuse of always being prioritised behind this rag tag excuse of an operator.

TPE ALWAYS gets priority through central Manchester, causing delays for everyone else, and despite this are woeful.

It's compounded by the signallers not being allowed to regulate traffic better by risk of death of they dare overide ars.

I've given up trying to keep to time coming to or off chat moss. You just know your getting held for a tpe to come trundling past 5-10 late.

It's time they were broken up. Given back to Northern and northern split again into FnW/ATN.
 

SteveP29

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I posted this in Aug last year, maybe just as well it didn’t happen but nice to see some XC trains have been speeded up from Derby

Have seen quite a few comments about Newcastle terminating trains being curtailed at York as TPE are running more services, people need to to careful what they wish for as there have been so many of their trains cancelled or terminated short at York, Northallerton or Darlington in the last few months at least most of the time XC do make it to Newcastle. XC trains suffer due to poor timetables, at Doncaster most arrive outside early only to be held for late running LNER trains, then they can be delayed by late running TPE trains from York. With the Derby work finished running times should be improved and would be interesting to see what the performance figure would be if XC train left Doncaster before the LNER and York in front of the TPE

You can guarantee EVERY Sunday evening, from about half 5, at Newcastle that every Edinburgh bound train regardless of TOC, will have been held up by either a late running TPE or XC.
It happens to me every time I'm heading back up to Edinburgh after a weekend at the match and seeing my parents.
 

Allwinter_Kit

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The 07:45 service from Leeds to Manchester Airport via Victoria (c.08:39) is (thanks to the planned cancellations) the first TPE train to depart since the 07:15 and the next isn't until 08:00.

As the only fast train West for 45 minutes between 2 of the UK's largest cities at rush hour it is therefore incredibly rammed, and it has so far this week just been a 3-car 185 that is leaving people standing on the platform at all stations en-route.

I obviously understand that it is more complicated than at first glance, but if you've opened up that kind of hole in your timetable surely you could at least make sure that 6 cars turn up to try and cater for the load?

As it is dwell times are massive and everyone from staff to customers is bloody miserable. How the introduction of new rolling stock seems to have resulted in a cut in capacity is ridiculous, and they keep on pushing back the date for full reinstatement of services too.

[/grumble]
 

SuperNova

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The 07:45 service from Leeds to Manchester Airport via Victoria (c.08:39) is (thanks to the planned cancellations) the first TPE train to depart since the 07:15 and the next isn't until 08:00.

As the only fast train West for 45 minutes between 2 of the UK's largest cities at rush hour it is therefore incredibly rammed, and it has so far this week just been a 3-car 185 that is leaving people standing on the platform at all stations en-route.

I obviously understand that it is more complicated than at first glance, but if you've opened up that kind of hole in your timetable surely you could at least make sure that 6 cars turn up to try and cater for the load?

As it is dwell times are massive and everyone from staff to customers is bloody miserable. How the introduction of new rolling stock seems to have resulted in a cut in capacity is ridiculous, and they keep on pushing back the date for full reinstatement of services too.

[/grumble]

7am and 8am are both 5 car Nova 3s
 

matacaster

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Oh dear, will this service ever run?

Amended TransPennine Express service between Liverpool and Edinburgh until Friday 14 February
 

Bald Rick

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Oh dear, will this service ever run?

Amended TransPennine Express service between Liverpool and Edinburgh until Friday 14 February

RTT suggests about half the service reinstated from 3rd Feb, with the rest coming in at end Feb.
 

matacaster

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RTT suggests about half the service reinstated from 3rd Feb, with the rest coming in at end Feb.

Thanks Bald Rick,
I got my info from the National Rail website, but it has now been updated and it doesn't reflect RTT trains info, see below


"A delay to the introduction of new trains has meant that, from the timetable change on 15 December 2019, a number of TransPennine Express services between Liverpool Lime Street and Edinburgh have been temporarily withdrawn from the timetable.

This has affected some departures at the following stations – Liverpool Lime Street, Lea Green, Newton-le-Willows, Manchester Victoria, Stalybridge, Huddersfield, Dewsbury, Leeds, York, Thirsk, Northallerton, Darlington, Durham, Chester-le-Street, Newcastle, Morpeth and Edinburgh.

Over the last few weeks, TransPennine Express have worked hard to help bring in these new trains. As a result, a number of services will be reintroduced on this route on Monday 3 February, with the remaining services being reintroduced on Monday 17 February."

I am particularly interested in the reintroduction as my wife and I are travelling from Huddersfield to Thurso via TPE to Edinburgh, then Scotrail on 18th Feb. Even if everything works well, we don't arrive until around 22.15 and we have accommodation booked. I am unsure what my options are if the service does not in fact appear!
 

transmanche

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I am particularly interested in the reintroduction as my wife and I are travelling from Huddersfield to Thurso via TPE to Edinburgh, then Scotrail on 18th Feb. Even if everything works well, we don't arrive until around 22.15 and we have accommodation booked. I am unsure what my options are if the service does not in fact appear!
You haven't said which TPE train you're getting or what type of ticket you have. The TPE website says if your ticket is an Advance and/or TPE only, and there is no TPE train scheduled within an hour of your booked train, then you will be able to travel on an LNER train between York & Edinburgh. (You would have to use an alternative TPE service to reach York.)
 

AndrewE

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The NRE item now says
Full TransPennine Express service between Liverpool and Edinburgh to be reinstated by Monday 17 February
but we'll see... They only mention the "via York" stations as being affected.
I wonder when the WCML Liverpool to Scotland trains will emerge?
 

transmanche

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I wonder when the WCML Liverpool to Scotland trains will emerge?
Three daily services are already running between Liverpool and Glasgow. I'm not aware of any long-term planned cancellations on that route (as have happened on the TPE North route.)
 

matacaster

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You haven't said which TPE train you're getting or what type of ticket you have. The TPE website says if your ticket is an Advance and/or TPE only, and there is no TPE train scheduled within an hour of your booked train, then you will be able to travel on an LNER train between York & Edinburgh. (You would have to use an alternative TPE service to reach York.)

Thanks, that's useful as I guess the LNER train will likely catch up some of the lost time.
 

Djgr

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Three daily services are already running between Liverpool and Glasgow. I'm not aware of any long-term planned cancellations on that route (as have happened on the TPE North route.)
Only taken circa 25 years to get our trains back!
 

Kieran1990

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I suspect as they roll out more Class 802’s with a full timetable from 17th the WCML services might get re-enforced with Class 185’s displaced
 
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