What aspects of the railways does the UK railway industry do well at?

[philosopher]

What things does the UK railway industry do well in, particularly when compared to other similar developed countries in Europe and Asia where rail is a common means of passenger transport?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Frequency is probably the biggest one. 3tph Euston-Manchester would be unheard of in most countries (true IC services* are typically hourly or at best 2tph), while French rural users would give their eye teeth for hourly clockface on something like the Cumbrian Coast - that'd get a train or two a day in France if you're lucky, plus maybe a lunchtime bus.

Cleanliness.

Lack of vandalism.

* I don't count anything with the category IC in Belgium or the Netherlands, neither country is big enough to have domestic long distance services, an IC there is just a commuter train with fewer stops like a fast Euston-Northampton.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

It's easier to think of things we do badly! Like electrification and high speed.
But I think our stations come off better than many in Europe, and passenger facilities are better generally (seating, PIS etc).
Delay repay we do well.

I've just got back from a few days in Alto Adige, Italy, where the quite rural network is entirely electrified and served by 6-car Flirts at 2tph.
Being a summer and winter tourist area it serves hikers and bikers well - bike rental is a huge industry and the trains support that.
We have nothing like that in our tourist areas.

Chambery station in France is a new 3-level affair.
Ground level is tickets/info/seating/shop/cafe, mezzanine is a relaxing area with children's play equipment and an SNCF piano for public use (well used).
The third level is a quiet lounge area with views to the mountains; all seating areas with power points/usb sockets.
The third level is at the same level as the station overbridge, which is wide enough to also be the station bike park.
For a town smaller than the size of Chester or Exeter, I've not seen anything like that in the UK.

Both major stations in Turin are spectacular affairs from the passenger point of view.
Porta Susa, where the trains are underground, has a long domed glass roof made of solar panels, and there is a real-time display of its performance.
It was pushing out 176.1 kW on this hot sunny June mid-day, which must have been near the maximum possible - as much as a small power station.
We are unlikely to get anything close to that in the UK.

But I thought Bologna station, with a new underground high speed section grafted onto the classic station, was a complete dump.

 

[Iskra]

The ready availability of walk-up travel on virtually all trains.

In many other countries trains can sell out due to being reservation only, which can be incredibly inconvenient.

 

[Watershed]

The fact that, 28 years after privatisation began, and despite there being around 20 different TOCs - there is interavailable ticketing and timetabling for virtually all journeys.

The level of open data that's been made available, allowing "pro"sumer sites like RTT, Traksy, OpenTrainTimes etc. to exist.

Safety - there wasn't a single passenger fatality between Grayrigg (2007) and Carmont (2020). That's tens of billions of safe journeys.

Delay compensation being available for delays as "little" as 15 minutes. Though subject to caveats and not always easy to claim.

Unfortunately, it's rather hard to think of many other good points!

 

[philosopher]

But I think our stations come off better than many in Europe, and passenger facilities are better generally (seating, PIS etc).
Delay repay we do well.

I agree about stations. A lot of major continental stations seem to have a least one fairly major flaw, such as being in an inconvenient location such Vienna Hauptbahnhof, being dingy and uninviting such as Brussels Midi or trying to be a shopping mall, such as Krakow Glowny. U.K. stations generally are quite spacious, well located and are easy to enter and exit.

Amsterdam Central station I do remember being a pretty decent station though.

 

[Trainbike46]

The coverage of the railway network in the UK is really good as well: small villages that in many other countries wouldn't get any service can have stations here, and the slightly larger places get much better/more frequent service than similar villages in other countries

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Turn up and go availability

 

[Bletchleyite]

The ready availability of walk-up travel on virtually all trains.

In many other countries trains can sell out due to being reservation only, which can be incredibly inconvenient.

Of course we have trains that claim to have sold out that haven't, and the industry seems to love it.

I agree about stations. A lot of major continental stations seem to have a least one fairly major flaw, such as being in an inconvenient location such Vienna Hauptbahnhof, being dingy and uninviting such as Brussels Midi or trying to be a shopping mall, such as Krakow Glowny. U.K. stations generally are quite spacious, well located and are easy to enter and exit.

Amsterdam Central station I do remember being a pretty decent station though.

Along those lines major British stations generally feel very safe compared to European ones. The level of petty crime etc seems to be rather lower. Part of this is location, as you say. I've seen someone run out of a train (which was about to depart) with a needle hanging out of their arm in Hamburg Hbf, for instance, whereas I've never seen anything like that in the UK, and that's even though Hamburg Hbf is quite well located. Indeed, it's not just stations, I don't feel like I'm about to be pickpocketed or have my bag nicked on e.g. the Tube, whereas plenty of European underground systems have much more of an issue with this sort of petty theft, most notably Barcelona where it's so bad I think the Police must be in on it.

On the other hand, the bogs at Charing Cross feel unsafe, and Victoria isn't much better. They need to put the charge back on, I'm afraid, it's a haven for undesirables as it is.

 

[Peregrine 4903]

The fact that, 28 years after privatisation began, and despite there being around 20 different TOCs - there is interavailable ticketing and timetabling for virtually all journeys.

The level of open data that's been made available, allowing "pro"sumer sites like RTT, Traksy, OpenTrainTimes etc. to exist.

Safety - there wasn't a single passenger fatality between Grayrigg (2007) and Carmont (2020). That's tens of billions of safe journeys.

Delay compensation being available for delays as "little" as 15 minutes. Though subject to caveats and not always easy to claim.

Unfortunately, it's rather hard to think of many other good points!

I think your underselling the UK rail network there.

I think we have very good service frequencies in many places compared to our European counterparts.

 

[RPI]

We have basically a turn up and go railway

 

[mmh]

I've seen someone run out of a train (which was about to depart) with a needle hanging out of their arm in Hamburg Hbf, for instance, whereas I've never seen anything like that in the UK,

Sadly the UK isn't immune from that, which is why many stations here have had toilets with blue lighting. It's not for mood lighting as some airlines do, it's to make it hard to find a vein.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Along those lines major British stations generally feel very safe compared to European ones. The level of petty crime etc seems to be rather lower. Part of this is location, as you say. I've seen someone run out of a train (which was about to depart) with a needle hanging out of their arm in Hamburg Hbf, for instance, whereas I've never seen anything like that in the UK, and that's even though Hamburg Hbf is quite well located. Indeed, it's not just stations, I don't feel like I'm about to be pickpocketed or have my bag nicked on e.g. the Tube, whereas plenty of European underground systems have much more of an issue with this sort of petty theft, most notably Barcelona where it's so bad I think the Police must be in on it.

SNCF and FS police patrol stations with very obvious hand guns.
At major stations they are accompanied by military types with machine guns.
But then that's becoming common practice at UK airports as well.

Graffiti is much lower here.
I realised this week that all the environmentally-friendly sound/visual barriers on European new lines are just asking for the Banksy treatment - and getting it.
Even in Switzerland.

 

[Signal_Box]

Reorganisation, added unnecessary layers of cost and of course wasting money.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Sadly the UK isn't immune from that, which is why many stations here have had toilets with blue lighting. It's not for mood lighting as some airlines do, it's to make it hard to find a vein.

I do remember that but I've not seen it for a very long time indeed. Last place I saw that had it was the now-demolished MK Food Centre. Do any stations currently have it?

SNCF and FS police patrol stations with very obvious hand guns.
At major stations they are accompanied by military types with machine guns.
But then that's becoming common practice at UK airports as well.

BTP patrol UK major stations with automatic weapons, certainly Euston and Manchester Picc but I'm sure others too.

This has very little to do with the petty crime under discussion, and is more so they could shoot anyone about to mount a terrorist attack in order to prevent it.

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

Despite privatisation trying to split it up into a 100 pieces the DNA of the workforce kept it as a functioning entity

 

[coppercapped]

SNCF and FS police patrol stations with very obvious hand guns.
At major stations they are accompanied by military types with machine guns.

This is not unusual - police in many, if not most, continental countries carry handguns as normal equipment. The police forces in France are very local, the country-wide forces are the Gendarmerie which is a branch of the Ministry of Defence and the CRS riot police. The situation in Belgium and Italy is similar (without the CRS); Germany and Austria do not have an equivalent to the Gendarmerie.

But then that's becoming common practice at UK airports as well.

Graffiti is much lower here.

I've noticed this too and have often wondered 'why'? Could it be that there are more plain concrete walls and pillars than there are here? Or are we more sensitive, after all many local councils here have anti-graffiti hot lines and I'm not sure that these are so widely spread 'over there'.

I realised this week that all the environmentally-friendly sound/visual barriers on European new lines are just asking for the Banksy treatment - and getting it.
Even in Switzerland.

 

[ac6000cw]

Freight, especially given the constraints of operating on a predominantly passenger railway system and the relatively short distances between origins and destinations.

 

[danielcanning]

Turn up and go availability

We have basically a turn up and go railway

Only if you’re wealthy (or travelling on expenses) for longer journeys though…

 

[Bletchleyite]

Only if you’re wealthy (or travelling on expenses) for longer journeys though…

(Super) Off Peak Returns on most routes are better priced than DB's Flexpreis. It's Anytimes that are overpriced, but leisure travellers tend not to need them.

 

[Iskra]

(Super) Off Peak Returns on most routes are better priced than DB's Flexpreis. It's Anytimes that are overpriced, but leisure travellers tend not to need them.

Agreed, walk up off peak fares are reasonable. Of course one would prefer to avoid them and travel more cheaply on an advance, but that’s not always possible when you need flexibility, such as returning to the UK on a long-distance flight for example.

Last year, I even splashed out on an Anytime First Class single to Manchester Airport on the 03:XX train from Sheffield which I recall being around £35. The only other option at that time is a taxi, which is £70+ , so even that anytime First is not bad value I don’t think. Obviously, the economics depend on how many people are travelling and some flows are more expensive than others.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Generally long distance Anytimes involving London are overpriced, but those not involving London are typically better value, plus London commuter area ones which are regulated.

 

[ANorthernGuard]

Staff Visibility is great in the UK. Been told that many times from people abroad and I have had a few people amazed at the Guards multitasking lol. Seems its quite new to some people.

 

[ar10642]

Frequency is a major one
Cleanliness/lack of grafitti (hello Italy...)
Through tickets always available. Didn't seem to be possible for some journeys in Germany I tried.
Off peak prices usually OKish for turn up and go (Anytime is a different story and should be abolished IMO), European railways not always as cheap as people like to claim
Online services generally very good in comparison, easy to plan a journey, see your options and book a ticket

Hope it all stays that way in a post Covid world.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Through tickets always available. Didn't seem to be possible for some journeys in Germany I tried.

It should be possible to issue a through ticket for any journey in Germany, often including buses and the likes too. There's a single* national "Deutschlandtarif" that applies to any journey not wholly inside one Verkehrsverbund or Landestarif area. What journeys did you try?

The one exception is the small number of open access operations such as Flixtrain which exist outside the Deutschlandtarif.

* Stepped - so if the journey involves an ICE for a short part then regional trains splitting may be cheaper - but it should nonetheless be possible to do it.

 

[thenorthern]

Service levels they do very well at as in many countries trains at stations are limited to several services per day while here is normally at least hourly at most stations.

Also we make greater use of our tracks, sure it can mean some lines are congested but if you look at France the TGV network a lot of it is lightly used meaning it costs a lot to install for very few trains. That is probably why the subsidies in France are much higher.

 

[LYuen]

Seat plan and information when reserving a seat, at least for Avanti and LNER.
Description of whether the seat is forward or backward facing, availability of charging plugs and indicating when the windows view is restricted are nice touches.

 

[lyndhurst25]

Trackside fencing, keeping people off the tracks. Whether or not the UK needs to is open to debate. In many countries the railways are unfenced and people are expected to take responsibility for their own actions and not get run over.

 

[mike57]

Most recent experience is with SNCF in France, we do better in the following areas IMO

Turn up and go (but at a price for longer journeys)

Frequency on major routes and even on some minor routes

Availability of running info such as RTT, not sure if there is a similar app in France, or even if the info is available. SNCF app only gives basic info

 

[Western Lord]

Most recent experience is with SNCF in France, we do better in the following areas IMO

Turn up and go (but at a price for longer journeys)

Frequency on major routes and even on some minor routes

Availability of running info such as RTT, not sure if there is a similar app in France, or even if the info is available. SNCF app only gives basic info

The French railway network must be the most under utilised in Europe. It's not as if they are lacking in trains, you can see Google Earth views with sidings full of trains. There's a cab ride video on You Tube from Nantes to Le Croisic (population just over 4,000). This line mainly exists to serve St. Nazaire, the continuation to Le Croisic is, however, electrified and fully signalled and when the train arrives at the terminus we see several fully electrified sidings with not one, but two TGV sets parked doing nothing.