Poll: Which railway company is your favourite at the moment?

[island]

Please note, the poll feature has a limit of twenty-five options, so I couldn't include every company running on the network, so heritage train companies like North Yorkshire Moors Railway, international limited stop train companies like Eurostar, Lumo, Caledonian Sleeper, and also DLR, TFL Rail, are absent from this list, so please vote for your second choice if your favourite is missing from the list.

I get that, but leaving out one of the main intercity operators (Avanti) whilst including the likes of Supertram and Metrolink is a bit of a curious priority

 

[Iskra]

LNER used to be my favourite but they lost the plot during the pandemic and their new trains are less interesting than the old ones. So, I voted TPE on the basis of their massive improvement in rolling stock and capacity, plus the fact they operate 68's and will be doing on my doorstep soon. The TPE offering has been revolutionised in the last few years.

 

[fgwrich]

I get that, but leaving out one of the main intercity operators (Avanti) whilst including the likes of Supertram and Metrolink is a bit of a curious priority

They are there, just listed as West Coast and not the ridiculously named Avanti.

 

[wimbledonpete]

I would go for Southeastern - takes me to work and back generally bang on time, and if you've been out in the evening knowing you can turn up at St Pancras and have a bright, clean, quick train waiting is all you can ask for, really. The local services within Kent are pretty good, although the Covid timetables have messed up the previously great connections Folkestone - Dover - Canterbury. Hopefully they'll be back.

 

[Huntergreed]

I think it’s hard to judge a “favourite” when, functionally, different TOC’s provide very different services:

For intercity TOC’s, LNER would have been my top choice if it weren’t for their shockingly poor customer service and attitude towards COVID messaging.

VTWC would have also been up there, but Avanti have totally ruined what used to be a good franchise, and I can only hope they will redeem themselves with the 390 refurbishment due out soon.

GWR are relatively good, but their first class offering is far inferior to LNER’s and Avanti’s. I also find the lack of a buffet car on the IET’s hugely disappointing.

TPE have very nice new stock, and their reliability has certainly improved recently, but again their first class offering doesn’t come close to LNER or Avanti (although, given their use of nicer stock and plug sockets, I would choose them over Avanti for any WCML journeys in standard at the minute)

Scotrail have the potential to be really good, but are completely screwing this up by:

Refusing to sell any advances

Maintaining a blanket alcohol ban far longer than needed

Their very aggressive covid messaging

Their pathetic “emergency” timetable (last services, particularly on Cathcart circle, are ridiculous!)

NO catering offer on any services. The HST’s have perfectly good buffet cars, which should be open.

 

[Lampshade]

I'm not going to vote, because I think there are enormous faults with each one at present and therefore I have no favourite. I was a fan of Virgin Trains and then Avanti West Coast prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, due to an appreciation for the rolling stock, high frequencies and first class service. Sadly, Avanti have replaced first in most carriages with standard premium, run down the remaining first class service, reduced the frequency of trains beyond belief and I have had several foul experiences with them recently.

Plus the all but abolition of Advances.

 

[island]

They are there, just listed as West Coast and not the ridiculously named Avanti.

West Coast Railway is the operator of the Jacobite. Avanti is Avanti.

 

[GrimsbyPacer]

I get that, but leaving out one of the main intercity operators (Avanti) whilst including the likes of Supertram and Metrolink is a bit of a curious priority

I dropped most corporate brands from the listed options to avoid advertising company names, for example Govia Thameslink, First Trans-Pennine Express, and Avanti West Coast, are all treated as Thameslink, Trans-Pennine Express, and West Coast, this is to keep the list consistent without have to list Abellio Northern or Department for Transport London North Eastern Railway.
Tour operators and heritage operators are rather small, so I assumed West Coast would be taken as the mainline service rather than the luxury charter service.
Sorry for any confusion.

I would just like to add that so far, more people have voted for Metrolink than 6 National Rail operators.

 

[Uk125]

Voted TPE

 

[Class800]

Voted West Coast - but for Jacobite

 

[A S Leib]

Plus the all but abolition of Advances.

It might just be that I've been looking for Avanti advance tickets slightly more than for others, but I've found them to be far easier to find than for EMR or GWR over the past year or so (apart from the Cotswolds line).

 

[F Great Eastern]

Decent fleet of trains; generally helpful and smartly dressed staff; a website with timetables (pretty basic, but rare!); some reasonable fares; consistent First Class offering; a general feeling that they want to attract customers rather than drive them away; good provision of information during disruption; smart stations; Devon is glorious.

I assume people are voting LNER because they like cooked breakfasts.

Pretty much sums up why I have voted for GWR in this.

Greater Anglia do have excellent staff and I can't speak highly enough of them and I think the Flirts are a vast improvement on what they have replaced on the mainline and on the rural service and really are a step change. Also they've smartened many of the stations up after many years of decline before Abellio entered the fray. Recent changes in the last year has shown also that they may be stronger operationally than they used to be.

However despite doing the substance quite well, the company still (in my opinion) could be more transparent about disruption and the extent and cause of it, especially if it is something that isn't due to outside parties. Also in the last few months I've been on a few trains that there has been a decision to terminate it short and this has only been passed on to passengers on-board as we approach the (now) final stop, despite the fact I can see it's been announced a fair while earlier at stations and online etc. Also the whole style over substance nature of the new PIS at stations and the way they've handled short term timetable alterations means they still have room for improvement for me.

 

[AlastairFraser]

Well it's certainly not been a bed of roses, but the Hallam stopper seems to be reasonably reliable.

That's the Yorks side... I have had the misfortune of using the Buxton line regularly at weekends. Northern staff work so hard to make it right, I can see that, but when they run the ancient fleet they do, it's so difficult.

 

[Wynd]

LNER for me.

The customer service on board is always outstanding and makes the journey. The fares can now be had for very reasonable money when booked in advance, which is a marked change from the flagrant fixed price policy of Virgin Trains!! I have been using the ECML for a long time and Virgin were by far the worst on pricing.

I'll admit I have a limited sample set as realistically the only operators I ever regularly use now are Avanti WC, Cross Country and Scotrail.

Scotrail's insistence on no alcohol is irritating, clearly implemented to discourage a certain type of sports traveler to the determent of the professionals among us quietly enjoying a G&T after a long week. Then there is the unpredictability of what machine you are getting. 170s with no plugs for 3 hours from Glasgow or 2.20 from Edi, and the noise, the drone, its awful! The HST rollout should have encouraged me to use them more, but it hasn't gone well at all.

Cross country's machines (bar the HST's) are horrific environments to be for any length of time. Noise and smell. The service is good overall and very useful for getting to Derby. Timetables work well for catching EDI/ABZ services at York.

Avanti are good, service, noise, comfort etc but I'll be honest, I prefer the East Coast, but then I would given my geographic location.

 

[RailWonderer]

However despite doing the substance quite well, the company still (in my opinion) could be more transparent about disruption and the extent and cause of it, especially if it is something that isn't due to outside parties. Also in the last few months I've been on a few trains that there has been a decision to terminate it short and this has only been passed on to passengers on-board as we approach the (now) final stop, despite the fact I can see it's been announced a fair while earlier at stations and online etc. Also the whole style over substance nature of the new PIS at stations and the way they've handled short term timetable alterations means they still have room for improvement for me.

I can't help thinking that the reason behind GA being less transparent reguarding disruption than other operators is because their customers on social media are far less forgiving than GWRs and EMRs. Totally agree about the new PIS boards, they don't always show formations and all stations on one screen.

I still don't feel you can compare IC operators with the rest. Avanti, GWR and LNER are expected to offer hot food and a good first class offering and polite staff which other operators don't have to deal with (DOO services or lack of catering/revenue inspectors) and for that matter I would have voted LNER. Avanti have the better trains for ride quality and tilting (my personal favourite) but the LNER IETs and 91s have a less claustrophobic cabin and in my opinion has more polite and friendly staff and is looking to improve their catering offerings. Avanti mainly seem intereted in wanting to cram more seats in with the upcoming refurbishment.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Avanti mainly seem intereted in wanting to cram more seats in with the upcoming refurbishment.

I'm not sure where this comes from, because there is, in my understanding, no intention to change anything about the seating layout in either class (because moving the reservation kit was seen as too expensive), so the result will be increased legroom. Only the conversion of one coach of 1st to Standard in the 11-cars will change layout.

 

[RailWonderer]

I'm not sure where this comes from, because there is, in my understanding, no intention to change anything about the seating layout in either class (because moving the reservation kit was seen as too expensive), so the result will be increased legroom. Only the conversion of one coach of 1st to Standard in the 11-cars will change layout.

Presumably because the seat will be thinner? Even still, Virgin set a standard that Avanti has not met and I am disappointed. I am skeptical that the market for their standard premium is large enough - either customers want the cheapest fare or they want all the bells and whistles, not having the seat but without the catering. I know there is another thread on this but unless you find the cabin claustrophobic or are tall I'm not sure why standard premium is worth it, improving the full first class offering is a better idea.

I probably am being harsh on Avanti - regarding fares, Virgin would have hiked first fares and Seatfrog upgrade prices anyway and the catering offering being poor I was told by staff was due to Covid supply shortages.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Presumably because the seat will be thinner?

Yes. It's a variant of the seat used by Lumo but with a different cushion, I believe.

Even still, Virgin set a standard that Avanti has not met and I am disappointed.

Agreed, it's a pretty dire TOC. Virgin wasn't everyone's cup of tea, but Avanti really is just the bad bits of it with few of the good bits.

I am skeptical that the market for their standard premium is large enough - either customers want the cheapest fare or they want all the bells and whistles, not having the seat but without the catering. I know there is another thread on this but unless you find the cabin claustrophobic or are tall I'm not sure why standard premium is worth it, improving the full first class offering is a better idea.

Personally it's exactly what I want at exactly the right price point (though I'd rather it was just what 1st was rather than faffing about with upgrades). I don't value the freebies at all bar tea/coffee/water.

 

[najaB]

Agreed, it's a pretty dire TOC. Virgin wasn't everyone's cup of tea, but Avanti really is just the bad bits of it with few of the good bits.

I seem to remember there were some cheers of approval when Virgin lost ICWC. I guess the old saying "be careful what you wish for" applies here.

 

[43096]

I seem to remember there were some cheers of approval when Virgin lost ICWC. I guess the old saying "be careful what you wish for" applies here.

Going from Stagecoach to WorstGroup control was only ever going to be a downgrade.

 

[F Great Eastern]

I can't help thinking that the reason behind GA being less transparent reguarding disruption than other operators is because their customers on social media are far less forgiving than GWRs and EMRs.

I think you will find that it's bit of a case of the chicken or the egg in relation to that.

Greater Anglia burnt their bridges with a lot of people in 2018 and 2019 with the dire reliability of some of the fleets and how they were attributing delays. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that for example the fact that wherever a certain 156 turned up for a while, it always lost a good amount of time no matter what line or service it run, and when another 156 ran the same diagram it didn't, was not primarily down to a fault with the signalling system. It was even possible to tell what diagram that unit was on by simply looking at JourneyCheck and seeing what DMU diagram was losing time on every service it operated on with the inevitable cancellation coming at some point in the day as the accumulated delays became too much! Also there were occasions when a train was delayed and then missed it's paths got stuck behind a freight train and then the delay attribution which may have been because of a train fault etc then became due to a freight train, despite the fact had the train not missed it's path, that wouldn't have been an issue.

We also went through a farcical time where GA were reporting 50+ short forms a day according to JourneyCheck and then posted stats on the performance section of their website for periods that simply were way below what could be picked up from collating that information yourself via JourneyCheck. This went on for a while and then was followed by a period where GA seemingly changed the booked train lengths on a number of diagrams to reflect the short forms they were, so they no longer showed up on JourneyCheck, which did nothing to actually solve the problem, other than window dressing to make the situation look better than it was. Also I remember train formation information on screens went through a period of not being reported too.

GA to be fair in the last 12 months or so in my eyes has been a bit less PR focused and I've seen good signs since Abellio have beefed up the operational teams as a group, but the problem is that many people have been burnt by what has happened in 2018/2019 and as such they are less forgiving now. Perhaps GA are given too much of a hard time these days, but there is a bit of reaping what they have sown in my book. Their frontline staff are excellent though and I've always found drivers and guards have almost exclusively given accurate and good information. They are a credit to the company.

 

[LiftFan]

Presumably because the seat will be thinner? Even still, Virgin set a standard that Avanti has not met and I am disappointed. I am skeptical that the market for their standard premium is large enough - either customers want the cheapest fare or they want all the bells and whistles, not having the seat but without the catering. I know there is another thread on this but unless you find the cabin claustrophobic or are tall I'm not sure why standard premium is worth it, improving the full first class offering is a better idea.

I probably am being harsh on Avanti - regarding fares, Virgin would have hiked first fares and Seatfrog upgrade prices anyway and the catering offering being poor I was told by staff was due to Covid supply shortages.

Covid supply shortages? The website makes it look like that’s their permanent menu, which after breakfast only seems to cater towards the vegetarians and vegans!

 

[iphone76]

I think you will find that it's bit of a case of the chicken or the egg in relation to that.

Greater Anglia burnt their bridges with a lot of people in 2018 and 2019 with the dire reliability of some of the fleets and how they were attributing delays. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that for example the fact that wherever a certain 156 turned up for a while, it always lost a good amount of time no matter what line or service it run, and when another 156 ran the same diagram it didn't, was not primarily down to a fault with the signalling system. It was even possible to tell what diagram that unit was on by simply looking at JourneyCheck and seeing what DMU diagram was losing time on every service it operated on with the inevitable cancellation coming at some point in the day as the accumulated delays became too much! Also there were occasions when a train was delayed and then missed it's paths got stuck behind a freight train and then the delay attribution which may have been because of a train fault etc then became due to a freight train, despite the fact had the train not missed it's path, that wouldn't have been an issue.

We also went through a farcical time where GA were reporting 50+ short forms a day according to JourneyCheck and then posted stats on the performance section of their website for periods that simply were way below what could be picked up from collating that information yourself via JourneyCheck. This went on for a while and then was followed by a period where GA seemingly changed the booked train lengths on a number of diagrams to reflect the short forms they were, so they no longer showed up on JourneyCheck, which did nothing to actually solve the problem, other than window dressing to make the situation look better than it was. Also I remember train formation information on screens went through a period of not being reported too.

GA to be fair in the last 12 months or so in my eyes has been a bit less PR focused and I've seen good signs since Abellio have beefed up the operational teams as a group, but the problem is that many people have been burnt by what has happened in 2018/2019 and as such they are less forgiving now. Perhaps GA are given too much of a hard time these days, but there is a bit of reaping what they have sown in my book. Their frontline staff are excellent though and I've always found drivers and guards have almost exclusively given accurate and good information. They are a credit to the company.

I would have totally agreed with this until recently on two points.

The first is where they have made a big song and dance about how great their performance has been during the pandemic, when the service was running a Sunday service on most lines and no one was travelling.

The second is recently from 7th February where they said they are running more trains. They failed to mention that the more trains are in a lot of cases half the length, so in some cases actually worse than before. Specifically on the Southend Line we were supposed to be getting a regular all day 20 minute service. Then on the 7th Feb (without announcement) during the day off peak this is now 30 minutes towards London and a 20/40 minute service towards Southend which is worse in my book than a regular 30 minute service.

I would agree that their staff are in the main great.

 

[F Great Eastern]

I would have totally agreed with this until recently on two points.

The first is where they have made a big song and dance about how great their performance has been during the pandemic, when the service was running a Sunday service on most lines and no one was travelling.

Yes - hence why whilst there have been improvements since 2018/2019, I still feel there is some way to go. They keep boasting about it and linking it to their new trains and that being the biggest factor, but the fact the tracks are far less busy and far less pax are using their services I would suspect has had a bigger impact. It's obvious that a railway with less trains on the line and less passengers will lead to less delays en-route and less delays at stations.

 

[endicomark69@g]

LUL. Now I'm retired they are the Company Car. Overground could have pinched it were it not for their annoying habit of shutting large sections down practically every weekend. The sections between Highbury/Clapham/New cross/Croydon must be the most heavily maintained in the Country just for the frequency of closure.

 

[1369]

GWR is my favourite. Probably because I live in Devon and see them all the time.

 

[Peterthegreat]

I honestly don't think I can. Most TOCs I have used in the last 12 months have, in my opinion, made some really bad choices.
LNER - stupid seat reservation policy
Cross Country - cuts and their silly reservation system
EMR - closure of first class lounges
Scotrail - lack of catering
Tfw - ludicrous one way systems
SWR - recent cuts
The others I have not used enough (or at all) to really comment.

And I am not talking about the first few months but often ongoing policies.

 

[AverageTD]

To those who voted SWR... who hurt you?

 

[fgwrich]

To those who voted SWR... who hurt you?

11 Votes for them - as my local TOC I have to say I'm shocked... to see as many as that for them!

 

[miklcct]

11 Votes for them - as my local TOC I have to say I'm shocked... to see as many as that for them!

At least it's better than CrossCountry.