Who have been the best TOCs so far?

[Carlisle]

GNER were good

Were they? On cleanliness and service standards yes but they promised things like Tilting trains and the electric horseshoe which they never came remotely close to actually delivering on

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

I concur. Merseyrail have started the ball rolling on smartness for rail staff. A good start had been made on by-law enforcement, and the trains are fresh and comfortable. It's always nice transferring from a northern train to a Merseyrail one. The contrast is especially stark in winter. I do like some of the northern routes and the pacers have a charm about them.

I think opinions about Merseyrail will take a dive in 2017 with the 6-month closure of the Loop (and two closures of the river tunnel).
It's not the TOC's fault, but the tunnels system must be in poor shape to need all these closures.
It's not that long since the resignalling led to frequent problems. The station PIS is a bit limited too.
But I agree we are in a "good" period at the moment, and the trains are surprisingly nice given their age.
Again not the TOC's fault, but I gather the council car park at Hooton is going automatic, which will make usage less friendly.

Just a word for the much maligned ATW.
I like the staff more than most TOCs. Friendly and not officious (up north anyway).
I also like VTWC, except on days of WCML meltdown, which are still too frequent.
Many other TOCs seem to be full of customer-hostile jobsworths.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Were they? On cleanliness and service standards yes but they promised things like Tilting trains and the electric horseshoe which they never came remotely close to actually delivering on

I thought they were pretty dross, to be honest. They inherited a reasonably up to date set of trains and lines, painted the outside of them, then offered terrible customer services to anyone who wasn't travelling First Class.

I think VTEC are probably the best privatised operator the ECML has had.

 

[Tio Terry]

I use SWT most working days and find them pretty good. They have decided to keep Guards and not go DOO which I think suits most members of the public, and most of the delays to their services are more to do with NR than themselves.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Just a word for the much maligned ATW.

Wouldn't agree. I know they are run on a shoestring, but even given that they give a big "can't be bothered" impression to me - except the "pet" LHCS.

I also like VTWC, except on days of WCML meltdown, which are still too frequent.

Mostly caused by the line being over-used and running at capacity, not really VT's fault.

 

[class387]

Chiltern. C2C are decent too.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The other issue is cleanliness. I'd say they are amongst the worst TOCs I have used for exterior cleanliness and average at best internally. Having litter bins on trains since last year's refresh has helped somewhat, but the floors and seats aren't as clean as they should be. Other, more maligned TOCs are much, much better in this department, including the former First Capital Connect.

They appear to do a lot of cleaning - so it's the locals making a mess of things.

 

[whoosh]

It's interesting that C2C, Chiltern, and GNER never to my knowledge had any industrial action - at least not amongst traincrew. GNER even avoided a National dispute over the rôle of the Guard by coming to an agreement with staff.


It's just funny how they come up as the best for passengers isn't it?!

 

[cf111]

First ScotRail.

 

[frodshamfella]

I think Merseyrail provide a good service and tidy trains.

 

[gimmea50anyday]

VXC as a company wasnt all that bad. Granted operation princess was a disaster and the voyagers could have been far better trains, but as someone put elsewhere on this forum Chris Green "meant well" At least they made an effort unlike the current incumbent.

 

[prod_pep]

They appear to do a lot of cleaning - so it's the locals making a mess of things.

I disagree. They might do a lot of 'cleaning' in the sense of collecting litter, but not nearly enough scrubbing of the floors and cleaning of the seats. Compared with the similar Class 313s formerly operated by FCC whose floors and seats were spotless whenever I used them to the point where you could smell the cleaning products used, Merseyrail's overall interior cleanliness is a distant second.

 

[Carlisle]

It's interesting that C2C, Chiltern, and GNER never to my knowledge had any industrial action - at least not amongst traincrew. GNER even avoided a National dispute over the rôle of the Guard by coming to an agreement with staff.
!

C2C did have a few strikes and overtime bans against the proposed DOO around 2003 ish I think

 

[Philip Elliott]

Midland Mainline - ordered two new fleets, took a punt on the 9 car 222s without which neither FGW or EC could run expanded timetables. Very reliable and a free cup of tea for everyone.

 

[Clarence Yard]

I nominate Anglia Railways.

Loved by their travellers and local population alike. Introduced a load of service improvements, new services and customer benefits like the innovative Commuter Club on the inter city service, which also introduced automatic delay repay onto the railway.

Won bucket loads of railway and regional awards before they were replaced as part of the NX 'One' franchise.

 

[AlterEgo]

c2c are a good, solid operator. Obviously they benefit from a relatively self contained network but they've kept their noses clean and run a decent service.

 

[cactustwirly]

This is a tricky one, SWT are good but their fares are very expensive.
I haven't had much experience with the WoE services, but FGWs thames valley and high speed services are good because they are reasonably priced and clean and tidy. Most of the punctuality issues are because of congestion at Paddington or signal problems.
They run doubled up sets at weekends, which other operators don't
Northern are on but a bit dirty and overpriced.
Mersey rail are cheap, but full of litter and unpunctual.
Chilterns seem OK, but I haven't really travelled enough with them

 

[fowler9]

Of the ones I regularly use Merseyrail are really pretty good. Virgin WC are sound (With the plastic coffins they have). Northern do what they can and have great staff. Love the East Midlands 158's ad 156's. The London Midland and Trans Pennine Desiros are nice when they turn up and the toilets aren't locked out of use.

 

[WestCoast]

I'm asking out of interest, but what by-laws do Merseyrail enforce, apart from the feet on seats rule?

Anti-social behaviour.

Old Northern were terrible for cleanliness and presentation, anyone who disagrees never had to commute with them on the West side. New Northern is a vast improvement, love the ability to text them about issues in each carriage. Don't agree about old Northern being customer focused either, the amount of times they fobbed me off with day passes instead of proper compensation was not insignificant.

 

[birchesgreen]

Chiltern for me are the best TOC

Honourable mentions also for Merseyrail, London Midland (Snow Hill anyway) and South West Trains

 

[infobleep]

Obviously open access operators are in a completely different situation so can't be compared on an even field with franchises, but Grand Central are probably offering the best normal service travelling experience of any operator, at least on their HSTs.

Chiltern are a name you're going to keep hearing in this thread, but the use of 2-car 165s on the Amersham line is a bugbear for me. But their Evergreen investments and their decision to bring back the comfort of locomotive haulage score highly. Also their good reliability is probably down to the fact they have most of their network to themselves. Similar applies to c2c.

As a regular London Midland customer, their timekeeping and presentation are generally good, although boarding trains at Euston that still have the previous journey's trash throughout them is a bit annoying. They're a bit cancel-happy, especially where staff unavailability is concerned (is that a GoVia thing, SouthEastern users?) and the procedure of leaving trains locked at Euston until about two minutes before departure and having everybody crowd onto the platform and wait is also a "black mark" for me.

Virgin West Coast I'd say are all-round excellent for service. Reliability is good on the whole, if you accept their idea of on time as being roughly in the same quadrant of the clock as what the timetable says.

Don't know if things have improved but I found their time keeping at Harrow and Wealdstone to be very poor. Rarely on time. If there was a problem then all Tring services would be cancelled but expect Transport for London staff to have been told that or if they were, for passengers to be told.

All cancellations would be listed on London Midlands Web Site but they wouldn't put a simple line in the disruption notice to say they had all been cancelled. It's like they didn't wish to admit to what they had done.

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[WestCoast]

"Chiltern for me are the best TOC"

Chiltern is no stereotype really, it's a lovely operator I always enjoy travelling with. Birmingham Moor Street and London Marylebone are immaculate and cared for with much love. Sure, I bet their commuters have their grumbles but they are still one of the best.

 

[infobleep]

I use SWT most working days and find them pretty good. They have decided to keep Guards and not go DOO which I think suits most members of the public, and most of the delays to their services are more to do with NR than themselves.

I can't disagree. Yes there are minor delays most days but I feel they could only avoid those by not carrying any passengers!

The only really issue has been their upgrade to Darwin, which meant platform numbers couldn't be displayed online. Meant to be in place by last September but hit a lot of issues and delays. For a time they mentioned it on the Journey Check page. After a while they stopped doing so though.

It is now working again. I don't know if they will have further technical issues relating to the update, as has happened more than once in recent times but it's working for now.

One another issue was that I once pointed out a mistake o their journey check page regarding timetable changes but they never corrected it. Not sure why. It was wrong for some weeks I believe.

But those aside, they are good. I hope they are able to carry on.

A lot of changes I'd like to see relate to infrastructure changes. Can't blame South West Trains for infrastructure limitations.

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[ChiefPlanner]

I nominate Anglia Railways.

Loved by their travellers and local population alike. Introduced a load of service improvements, new services and customer benefits like the innovative Commuter Club on the inter city service, which also introduced automatic delay repay onto the railway.

Won bucket loads of railway and regional awards before they were replaced as part of the NX 'One' franchise.

Anglia in their short life - did a huge amount of good development stuff - not least their use of the SRA's RPP funds for service development - their championing of Cambridge - Norwich was a huge success from day one - but the overall financial basis was not strong enough to be sustainable...

 

[aylesbury]

Chiltern long may they continue.

 

[sheff1]

Midland Mainline & GNER.

Subsequent TOCs on both South Yorks to London routes have not come close to matching them.

 

[Muzer]

I love SWT's actual operations — amazingly punctual, well-maintained fleet and seemingly good staff relations — but I've not been a fan of their website — and it has not really been improved by the recent modernisation.

It always seems really difficult and awkward to find info on what a disruption actually is — the TfL-style line status sheet is really useful for at-a-glance info, but in most cases you can't just click it and find out exactly what's wrong — you have to dig through JourneyCheck which is always painful. Grah.


SWT will still be missed, though, if Stagecoach don't win the new franchise.

 

[J-2739]

"Chiltern for me are the best TOC"

Chiltern is no stereotype really, it's a lovely operator I always enjoy travelling with. Birmingham Moor Street and London Marylebone are immaculate and cared for with much love. Sure, I bet their commuters have their grumbles but they are still one of the best.

That's probably one of the nicest comments anyone could write about a TOC! You should expand it and send it off the them, sure they'll appreciate it!!

 

[Class 319]

Chiltern & SWT

 

[northernchris]

Northern and Grand Central tend to be very good from experience, especially when compared to the awful TPE.