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West Midland Trains (LNR) London -> Crewe post May

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mrmartin

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Hi,

I sometimes go to places near Crewe from Euston and the (super) off peak return is ridiculously good value and not much slower than VT Mon-Saturday.

The problem has always been coming back on Sunday - it stops everywhere and takes nearly 4 hours which is a real drag especially after a weekend.

It seems that post May timetable Mon-Sat there are two services per hour, one 'semi fast' and one 'stopping'. The sunday train from Crewe to Euston seems to be much much quicker - around 2h30.

Am I right in thinking this? It'll be really excellent if that is the case.
 
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mrmartin

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Excellent. Virgin really has some real competition on its hands here - basically 1/3rd of the price and about 30 mins slower. The Class 350 get way better 4G reception than the Class 390 also which means even if I was travelling for work I'd prefer it. I'd rather do 2h30 with solid 4G rather than 2h with no connectivity...
 
ForTheLoveOf

ForTheLoveOf

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mrmartin said:
Excellent. Virgin really has some real competition on its hands here - basically 1/3rd of the price and about 30 mins slower. The Class 350 get way better 4G reception than the Class 390 also which means even if I was travelling for work I'd prefer it. I'd rather do 2h30 with solid 4G rather than 2h with no connectivity...
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Agreed on all those points! Back when I used to regularly travel on the WCML to and from London, the time difference was greater still in favour of Virgin, and yet even their relatively reasonably priced Off-Peak Returns fell far short of the value proposition given by WMT! Crewe has to have seen some of the biggest improvements ever in terms of connectivity and competition in the last couple of years.
 
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ag51ruk

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And I think they are due to be mostly 8 coach trains from the new timetable as well? (which would help with the overcrowding that happens on Sunday afternoons at the moment)
 
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Bletchleyite

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ag51ruk said:
And I think they are due to be mostly 8 coach trains from the new timetable as well? (which would help with the overcrowding that happens on Sunday afternoons at the moment)
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Yes. Not all of them, but you can tell which ones by referring to the Euston-Northampton pocket timetable on the LNR site (why it's not on all the timetables I have no idea).
 
Jamesrob637

Jamesrob637

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The 09:01 off Crewe via Birmingham which is the 11:50 off Milton Keynes will be 8-car if I've understood correctly.
But the 09:33 off Crewe via the Trent Valley which is the 11:15 off Milton Keynes will be 4-car
That'll help me a little next Wed!
 
Puffing Devil

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Didn't work out well for me this weekend (19/5) cancellations abounded out of Euston and the Crewe bound passengers ended up dumped at MKC with an option of paying to get on a passing Virgin, or waiting ca. 2 hours for a WMT that may, or may not, show.

[edit right date]
 
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Bletchleyite

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Puffing Devil said:
Didn't work out well for me this weekend (18/5) cancellations abounded out of Euston and the Crewe bound passengers ended up dumped at MKC with an option of paying to get on a passing Virgin, or waiting ca. 2 hours for a WMT that may, or may not, show.
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As predicted, due to overcomplexity, performance on the new timetable has been appalling.

If you do get stuck like that again, though, all of the stations except Atherstone can be reached travelling via Birmingham or Coventry. Surprised that was not suggested as it would certainly be quicker than waiting 2 hours.
 
Puffing Devil

Puffing Devil

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Bletchleyite said:
As predicted, due to overcomplexity, performance on the new timetable has been appalling.

If you do get stuck like that again, though, all of the stations except Atherstone can be reached travelling via Birmingham or Coventry. Surprised that was not suggested as it would certainly be quicker than waiting 2 hours.
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The promise was, when we left Euston, that the Crewe-Euston train that had been terminated at MKC would be waiting for us at MKC to run back to Crewe. That didn't happen.

I had a 15-minute window to make a decision and was travelling back with a tired boy; I needed to get home on time to meet family for a meal so I jumped on the next Virgin and bought a child ticket for my son - I had my MKC-Crewe season ticket with me, luckily.

It's certainly put me off taking the cheaper alternative until I'm sure it's bedded in. We'll be down about £20 after the delay repay from WM, which is the money we saved by booking them in the first place.
 
causton

causton

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Bletchleyite said:
As predicted, due to overcomplexity, performance on the new timetable has been appalling.

If you do get stuck like that again, though, all of the stations except Atherstone can be reached travelling via Birmingham or Coventry. Surprised that was not suggested as it would certainly be quicker than waiting 2 hours.
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Except 18/5 was the old timetable ;)
 
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mrmartin

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Not great today either - last one cancelled and believe there were severe cancellations all weekend.

Only tickets being accepted on cross country. They put on rail replacement buses, which seems crazy instead of allowing tickets on VT?

Luckily I ended up getting any permitted instead of LNR for this weekends trip, but I think I'm going to wait until the timetable stabilises.
 
185143

185143

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mrmartin said:
Not great today either - last one cancelled and believe there were severe cancellations all weekend.

Only tickets being accepted on cross country. They put on rail replacement buses, which seems crazy instead of allowing tickets on VT?

Luckily I ended up getting any permitted instead of LNR for this weekends trip, but I think I'm going to wait until the timetable stabilises.
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If VT are as uncooperative with WMT as they can be with TPE, the buses will be because VT have refused ticket acceptance.
 
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