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Things UK railways get right compared to other countries
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In Britain our fellow passengers tend to prefer leaving rubbish on the floor or on the table rather than looking for the few bins on the train. Whether that is better than having at seat bins is open to debate. Virgin is so good at cleaning that they may as well remove bins.
I'd rather have the bloke come though with a bin bag occasionally - which, given the size of some of the train bins is the only effective alternative.
Spoorslag '70
Member
One thing that always impresses me in the UK is how clean, decorated and staffed even smaller stations are. If I then look at my local stations (even large ones (e.g. Duisburg Hbf/Düsseldorf Hbf/Düsseldorf Flughafen) they do appear slightly neglected.
I also think that there is more staff, which most of the time tries hard to be helpful. The trains - on my subjective trials - have been on time more often, had adequate capacity (except for CrossCountry journies) and also were in a quite a decent state.
The one thing I do miss when visiting the UK might be the lack of a clear clockface structure on many routes in the North, especially with weird stopping paterns on different trains. A Dutch/Swiss (or even German) style timetable with British stock, staff and infrastructure might be a pretty ideal service.
I also think that there is more staff, which most of the time tries hard to be helpful. The trains - on my subjective trials - have been on time more often, had adequate capacity (except for CrossCountry journies) and also were in a quite a decent state.
The one thing I do miss when visiting the UK might be the lack of a clear clockface structure on many routes in the North, especially with weird stopping paterns on different trains. A Dutch/Swiss (or even German) style timetable with British stock, staff and infrastructure might be a pretty ideal service.
HantsExile
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Portugal! Recently InterRail'ed there - getting on and off inter-city trains with a (modest-sized) suitcase and 70-year-old knees was a nightmare. Vestibule to platform a long way out and a long way down, narrow metal steps lethal in rain. Saving grace was helpfulness of other passengers.
Struner
Member
Being 70+ myself I wouldnt go there then. But I know of quite a few stations in the UK where it's the same. & the footbridges of course.
Portugal Algarve, parts of France
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
Actually, we are getting very much behind these days on platform to train steps. Train floors seem to be getting higher, not lower (e.g. 80x), while European railways are tending towards low-floor stock that has no step at all from even their low platforms. Only Merseyrail and GA are implementing this approach in the UK, which to me is really very poor - level boarding with "gap bridgers" is a proper "killer app" - there is nobody it doesn't make things better and safer for.
Really, I'd support making it mandatory for all new stock orders (and feel it is a shame this wasn't done before the recent large 80x and Aventra orders).
Struner
Member
I'm quite content with the level entry to our Stadler GTWs here (an Arriva concession). Good for wheelchairs too. AND platforms themselves are wheelchair friendly. I myself am still taking the bike along at times 
. (but that could well be an ebike at some time in the future 
)
. (but that could well be an ebike at some time in the future )I am surprised - I thought you were in favour of the Swiss system of lengthy trains rather than the UK idea of more frequent but short trains.
One thing definitely better in GB (but not Northern Ireland) is the ability to break one's journey multiple times and over multiple days.
AlexNL
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A few things which the UK does really well: impartial retailing, care for passengers, and Delay Repay.
On the European mainland there have been plenty of cases where the incumbent has refused to sell tickets for an open access competitor (HKX in Germany, MTR Express in Sweden), or even for a 'friendly' neighbouring country TOC. In the UK, any operator will sell you any ticket at the same price.
Care for passengers is another thing the UK does better: if you're on a delayed service and you miss a subsequent connection for which you have an advance ticket, in the UK people will help you to complete your journey without any costs to you. On the continent, you're likely to be left to your own. "Sorry mate, you've got to buy a new ticket for that TGV."
If you're making a journey and you end up with a delay, mainland operators often tend to only look at the delay they caused, and not at the impact it has on your journey. Take a journey in the Netherlands for example: a journey from Dieren to Ruurlo. This journey involves a 5 minute change at Zutphen, and a change of operator (NS to Arriva). If the NS train is 10 minutes late, you'll miss the train to Ruurlo. As this train runs once an hour, you're immediately delayed by an hour. However, NS will reject a Delay Repay claim as their responsibility stops at Zutphen - and your arrival there was only 10 minutes late.
On the European mainland there have been plenty of cases where the incumbent has refused to sell tickets for an open access competitor (HKX in Germany, MTR Express in Sweden), or even for a 'friendly' neighbouring country TOC. In the UK, any operator will sell you any ticket at the same price.
Care for passengers is another thing the UK does better: if you're on a delayed service and you miss a subsequent connection for which you have an advance ticket, in the UK people will help you to complete your journey without any costs to you. On the continent, you're likely to be left to your own. "Sorry mate, you've got to buy a new ticket for that TGV."
If you're making a journey and you end up with a delay, mainland operators often tend to only look at the delay they caused, and not at the impact it has on your journey. Take a journey in the Netherlands for example: a journey from Dieren to Ruurlo. This journey involves a 5 minute change at Zutphen, and a change of operator (NS to Arriva). If the NS train is 10 minutes late, you'll miss the train to Ruurlo. As this train runs once an hour, you're immediately delayed by an hour. However, NS will reject a Delay Repay claim as their responsibility stops at Zutphen - and your arrival there was only 10 minutes late.
That comes at a severe penalty - the requirement to buy a return ticket or a very expensive Anytime ticket if you need multiple day validity on the outward portion. Needing to buy a return ticket to make rail travel affordable is one of the worst things about GB.
But to be fair, the patchwork of TOCs in Britain is quite different to most other places, meaning that impartial retailing is almost essential for the rail network to function. The selling TOC receives a commission for ticket sales so there is little incentive to refuse sales. There are some offers and other functionality such as automatic delay repay and online seat selection that require you to purchase from the operating TOC.
Yes and no. If the Advance ticket mentions in the route that you need to use a particular TOC, then you are not allowed to use trains from other TOCs unless there is a disruption where the TOCs agree to ticket inter-availability.
Being able to use other trains in the event of a delay at no further cost is not unique to the UK. Even where there is no absolute right to use another train, in practice you are normally allowed to do that, even on a complicated international journey.
F Great Eastern
Established Member
It's an even bigger problem when the main operator and the infrastructure operator and station operators are all pretty much owned by the same parent group. The many fun and games that Przewozy Regionalne had with PKP when the former released their new RegioExpress services to go head to head with PKP is a case in point.
Everything from station timetables being printed without the trains showing, with the so called neutral PKP staff who were supposed to sell tickets for all operators, refusing to sell tickets for the train because it's 'cancelled' it doesn't exist or has broken down or some other such excuse.
PKP then barred PR having ticket machines in Warszawa Centralna and installed their own machines that obviously didn't acknowledge the existence of anyone but their services.
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Shinkansenfan
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I appreciate the publication and posting of the all lines electronic UK timetable at Network Rail's website, which allows one to see the service and stopping patterns of all trains on that branch at a glance. By comparison, DB does not post this information on line in this format; you have to use their journey planner (which is not bad).
The UK timetable used to be accompanied by an excellent (mostly) geographical UK map. Fortunately, another member on this forum not too long ago updated this map, picking up where the older map left of. (I am not a fan of the cartographic style used by Project Mapping.)
Oddly, while DB does print paper network rail maps for purchase, they do not upload this map in a PDF format on their website; instead they break up their excellent rail map into awkward segments that are posted on line and viewable only one segment at a time.
I've not found similar all line electronic timetables for SNCF or for South Korea--which makes trip planning more of a chore.
The UK timetable used to be accompanied by an excellent (mostly) geographical UK map. Fortunately, another member on this forum not too long ago updated this map, picking up where the older map left of. (I am not a fan of the cartographic style used by Project Mapping.)
Oddly, while DB does print paper network rail maps for purchase, they do not upload this map in a PDF format on their website; instead they break up their excellent rail map into awkward segments that are posted on line and viewable only one segment at a time.
I've not found similar all line electronic timetables for SNCF or for South Korea--which makes trip planning more of a chore.
cactustwirly
Established Member
DB (and ÖBB) have the Kursbuch which is a bit like the eNRT, but separated for each line, it shows you all services on a line including all of the Long Distance, Regional and S bahn trains, plus the private operators services
I think the term, meaning something like 'validation' in French, might be compostage? The machine is called a composteur. Tickets which require this will probably be printed with 'Billet a composter avant l'acces au tren' - ticket to be validated before boarding the train.
F Great Eastern
Established Member
We have JourneyCheck. Most other operators in Europe are nowhere near as transparent and would die pa rather than use something as transparent as JC
HantsExile
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I've travelled extensively on the UK rail system and have rarely found access as challenging as in Portugal. I InterRailed two years ago in Netherlands, Germany and France, and didn't encounter comparable issues there - though of course my knees were two years younger then! But I wouldn't want to deter anyone (including the 70+) from European train travel, as I said fellow-travellers were helpful and it's a great experience overall!
Yes, they could do with bringing back the map and having a copy prominently displayed at every station.
It looked far better than the angular version that's on the NRE website now.
AlexNL
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And websites such as Realtime Trains, OpenTrainTimes and Traksy. I'd love to have that much open data in the Netherlands.
Fireless
Member
The NS has at least quite decent data (right down to the unit numbers) available for passenger trains (used on sites like https://treinposities.nl/ and apps like "NL Train Navigator").
U-Bahnfreund
Member
Lol!
On a more serious note, I fully agree, staffing and station care is much better in the UK. Whenever I read comments on this forum complaining about conductors or other stuff, I can't imagine such a situation since we don't have so many people running around. Apart from selling tickets from every counter, I also like that the British ticket system is less complicated. Of course, one TOC only tickets and various smartcards do exist, but at least, it is tried to make it a sort-of uniform system. In Germany, there's a hard border between regional (S/RB/RE) and long-distance (IC/ICE) tickets, various regional associations sell intermodal tickets with interegrated bus & tram use, which basically is great, but the offer and details are different everywhere (Do I need to stamp or not? "Day ticket" = 24 hrs or until next day 3 am?). Realtimetrains and such websites are much better than what DB offers and the platform displays are also better.
Journeyman
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Absolutely - I live near Edinburgh, and if I wanted to go to London at the last minute, it would cost me an arm and a leg but I wouldn't even need to bother looking at the timetable - services run every half hour for most of the day. TGVs in France may be quick, but on routes of similar length to the ECML and WCML, you might only have four or five of them a day.
Stations.
That even smaller stations are manned and offer indoor waiting areas and other services is great.
Bi-modes.
Sure, it makes more sense to use them in countries with limited electrification. But they are a great way to use limited electrification as much as possible and I wish they would spread to other countries as well.
That even smaller stations are manned and offer indoor waiting areas and other services is great.
Bi-modes.
Sure, it makes more sense to use them in countries with limited electrification. But they are a great way to use limited electrification as much as possible and I wish they would spread to other countries as well.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
And they don't suppress platform numbers, the avoidance of which issue is my main use for RTT.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
We're way behind. In about 1999 I rode on a bi-mode 2-car MU (a bit like a souped up bogied Pacer) which ran on the AKN A1 line (a curious pseudo light rail thing which is sort of designed like a rural U-Bahn, a bit reminiscent of Metrolink's more rural bits but on lower frequencies) through to the S-Bahnhof at Hamburg Hbf on diesel to start with then third rail. Closest thing to it in the UK was probably a Class 230 with the shoes left on. It'd be a bit like having a 230 run through to Liverpool Central from Preston - or indeed if they ever find a way to run through from Wrexham to James St.
I don't think they run like that any more (they've swapped to FLIRTs or similar without third-rail shoes) but we were by no means first!
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