Monk Posted 24 August 2006 Posted 24 August 2006 Do any of you guys use Central Trains? Ah! I have been let down by them on so many occasions! I was at Peterborough last night after getting the train back from London and the damn thing was cancelled. Fine OK - so you put on a replacement bus? No such luck. So they have a member of staff to talk to? No such luck! I eventually got home an hour later. I had a chat with a GNER bloke and he said he wasnt surprised as everyone knows they are crap and they are apparently going to lose their franchise when it is up soon. I hope to god that they do as they are utterly hopeless. Its 2006 and Oakham, Melton and Stamford stations still do not have a ticket machine or a screen telling you if the train is on time. The trains are filthy & badly kept. First / One / Virgin PLEASE bid for the franchise as I cant take much more of this drivel! Or the stupid bright green colour they are all painted in!
Collymore Posted 24 August 2006 Posted 24 August 2006 I swear trains zap all the life out of you. I used to do a fairly regular 4 hour / 3 change journey which never went without incident. It always took me a couple of days to recover from the mental impact of having to sit next to a tramp for the duration.
Jay Posted 24 August 2006 Posted 24 August 2006 Do any of you guys use Central Trains? Ah! I have been let down by them on so many occasions! I was at Peterborough last night after getting the train back from London and the damn thing was cancelled. Fine OK - so you put on a replacement bus? No such luck. So they have a member of staff to talk to? No such luck! I eventually got home an hour later. I had a chat with a GNER bloke and he said he wasnt surprised as everyone knows they are crap and they are apparently going to lose their franchise when it is up soon. I hope to god that they do as they are utterly hopeless. Its 2006 and Oakham, Melton and Stamford stations still do not have a ticket machine or a screen telling you if the train is on time. The trains are filthy & badly kept. First / One / Virgin PLEASE bid for the franchise as I cant take much more of this drivel! Or the stupid bright green colour they are all painted in! Central Trains are a nightmare as well as always being late and as you say they are often filhty and badly maintained!! on routes from Grantham they are often also stupidly packed with standing room only at the busiest times when they only have 2 carriages yet if you get one at a non busy time they have about 5????
Shum Posted 24 August 2006 Posted 24 August 2006 Central Trains are shite! The Birmingham train from Leicester is always 1 or 2 carriages and blatantly over packed, sometimes you get the old ones that smell nad they are just generally bad with timing, cancellations etc.
Dr The Singh Posted 24 August 2006 Posted 24 August 2006 Central Trains are shite! The Birmingham train from Leicester is always 1 or 2 carriages and blatantly over packed, sometimes you get the old ones that smell nad they are just generally bad with timing, cancellations etc. Agreed Shum, there's been many a night when I have been stranded at New Street!!!
Monk Posted 24 August 2006 Author Posted 24 August 2006 Its not the cancellations that get to me its the sheer fact they do nothing about it. The customer service is non existent. Wel... in fact it is the cancellations that get to me! Argh!!
davieG Posted 24 August 2006 Posted 24 August 2006 I don't think the others will bring you much joy at least not virgin, my lad is regular user of them and nearly every journey something bad happens.
Shum Posted 24 August 2006 Posted 24 August 2006 I don't think the others will bring you much joy at least not virgin, my lad is regular user of them and nearly every journey something bad happens. I don't use trains that often anymore, but I did all the time when at uni. Midland Mainline were by far the best service, along with Virgin. I suppose it all depends on where you are travelling to and when!
Ricey Posted 24 August 2006 Posted 24 August 2006 I've used Central Trains for the past couple of years (going from Sleaford to Lincoln on weekdays then Sleaford to Skegness at weekends) and I agree they are poor, a conductor once told me "It's not our duty to get you there on time...just to get you there eventually" Brilliant company philosophy I used to have to the 4.55 train from Lincoln most days, it was only ever 1 carriage but the amount of people that used it could of filled 2 carriages. People complained for the whole 2 years but still it is the same.
Ultra Posted 24 August 2006 Posted 24 August 2006 I don't think the others will bring you much joy at least not virgin, my lad is regular user of them and nearly every journey something bad happens. Tell me about it. Their service is appalling. Midland Mainline are no better. You may see billboards saying it's only £6 to travel to London. But buried in the small print are notes stating that the fare only applies to journeys before 6 am and booked 3 months in advance (or similar conditions). The real fare is closer to £30. When the FOXES played at Luton a couple of weeks ago some of us were forced to make a detour to St Pancras because the fcukwit MM staff wouldn't let us get off the train while it was in Luton Station! Anyone who thinks that privatisation has made our railways better is in need of some VERY strong medication!
Anish Posted 24 August 2006 Posted 24 August 2006 Tell me about it. Their service is appalling. Midland Mainline are no better. You may see billboards saying it's only £6 to travel to London. But buried in the small print are notes stating that the fare only applies to journeys before 6 am and booked 3 months in advance (or similar conditions). The real fare is closer to £30. When the FOXES played at Luton a couple of weeks ago some of us were forced to make a detour to St Pancras because the fcukwit MM staff wouldn't let us get off the train while it was in Luton Station! Anyone who thinks that privatisation has made our railways better is in need of some VERY strong medication! Sorry but I have to disagree with you. Having used Midland Mainline twice daily (Leicester to Nottingham) from September 2005-June 2006 I have to applaud their service. Approximately 95% of the trains ran on time and they were always in good condition. I don't have a bad word to say about them. As for the Leicester to London for £6 offer - I did purchase 2 tickets recently (one for £8 from Leicester to London, and the other for £6 from London back to Leicester). This was only 3 weeks ago. All that you need to do is book a week in advance (I booked the Leicester-London journey 6 days in advance which is why it was £8 rather than £6) and select the train time. It's pretty simple if you do it online. There may be many gimmicks out there but the Midland Mainline offer is completely valid. I can vouch for that.
Monk Posted 24 August 2006 Author Posted 24 August 2006 All trains are wack espically on a Sunday. GNER are actually pretty good - expensive but relentlessly reliable and clean, and fast. I dont have a bad word to say about them. Midland Mainline are gits. Their new trains are very nice but they just dont have enough seats, or carriages. Also their peak time extends to 7pm, as my wallet recently found as my train fare was doubled... Plus it takes far too long to get to St Pancras. 45 Min from peterborough with GNER v 90 minutes with MM
Shum Posted 24 August 2006 Posted 24 August 2006 Sorry but I have to disagree with you. Having used Midland Mainline twice daily (Leicester to Nottingham) from September 2005-June 2006 I have to applaud their service. Approximately 95% of the trains ran on time and they were always in good condition. I don't have a bad word to say about them. As for the Leicester to London for £6 offer - I did purchase 2 tickets recently (one for £8 from Leicester to London, and the other for £6 from London back to Leicester). This was only 3 weeks ago. All that you need to do is book a week in advance (I booked the Leicester-London journey 6 days in advance which is why it was £8 rather than £6) and select the train time. It's pretty simple if you do it online. There may be many gimmicks out there but the Midland Mainline offer is completely valid. I can vouch for that. Yep, travelled to London many times on the cheap deals.... We used to do the deals when you have to travel in a group of 4, but they were always reliable.
davieG Posted 24 August 2006 Posted 24 August 2006 So I think the message is trains are like cars there generally ok or not, but they're all capable of serving up a lemon
Dr The Singh Posted 24 August 2006 Posted 24 August 2006 So I think the message is trains are like cars there generally ok or not, but they're all capable of serving up a lemon It's like any 'public service', there's good and there's very bad!!!!!!!!
Rincewind Posted 24 August 2006 Posted 24 August 2006 When I used them the other week they were OK. £6 to and £8 for London. Looking at the annouvement board before boarding I saw that the majority were on time. Apart from some jerk playing about with a laptop with some awful frog-like music the jouney was good going and coming back no complaints. I hope the person who said the service was crap was not from Midland Mainline public relations service.
Alexikokopops Posted 24 August 2006 Posted 24 August 2006 Growing up in Lincolnshire I thought that all trains were one carriage, dirty and cramped. It wasn't til I started Uni really that I realised that trains were actually cleaned, and came in more than one carriage, and ran more then about 6 times a day, and actually ran later than about 6pm, and could actually run without problems, and could arrive on time more than once a month, and many many more important life lessons. I blame Central Trains for this.
Shum Posted 24 August 2006 Posted 24 August 2006 ' date='Aug 24 2006, 04:34 PM' post='382240']Growing up in Lincolnshire I thought that all trains were one carriage, dirty and cramped. It wasn't til I started Uni really that I realised that trains were actually cleaned, and came in more than one carriage, and ran more then about 6 times a day, and actually ran later than about 6pm, and could actually run without problems, and could arrive on time more than once a month, and many many more important life lessons. I blame Central Trains for this. And so you should!
Alexikokopops Posted 24 August 2006 Posted 24 August 2006 And so you should! Bastards!! The only train company there is near me too.
cisono Posted 24 August 2006 Posted 24 August 2006 Didn't think Central were that bad. Other networks have let me down more often than not. I have noticed that , every time I go to Manchester, we miss the connection back (and I end up waiting one extra hour at the station. How can that be?!?! Perhaps English railways should handed over to German operators
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