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The stations on the Styal Line all received ASDO beacons in late 2017/early 2018 ready for the arrival of six coach 195s and 331s. However the Class 323 do not even have SDO - nevermind automatic SDO. Commuter patronage on the Styal line has been absolutely battered over the past 5 years or so...

This sounds interesting until you realise it's Northern/private sub-contractor staff manning these things. I once had a Northern sub-contractor try to issue me with a £20 penalty fare for asking to buy a £15 weekly season ticket at destination station that I could not purchase at the station of...

Since being introduced in the North West in 2015 on more than one occasion I have seen door faults on 319s. ~12 seem to have been clinging onto service here for a few years.

Not sure what your argument is. To their credit the government continued to run air on trains throughout the pandemic and kept railway staff in work. My main point is that these strikes are a mistake. Passengers numbers are only 75% pre-Covid which means it's only logical for some cutbacks to...

As a passenger it's difficult to have much sympathy when the taxpayer bailed out the rail industry through Covid. Even now passengers numbers are only 75% of what they were so it's understandable Network Rail want to trim operating costs as appropriate. On a separate point I honestly believe...

If this was a small business talking to a customer you'd rightly lose the client as this is no way to talk to paying customers and would potentially be brought up in a disciplinary hearing. It demonstrates a level of disrespect which is very regrettable. Complain to Northern. The only way bad...

Only some on here long for Pacers and Sprinters. They are not representative of the population. If you ask the ordinary punter in the street they would take 195/331s all day long. I accept the ride quality is not great but in terms of comfort, noise and grottiness there is no comparison.

I remember once arriving at my destination and trying to buy a weekly season ticket (as fare evaders would naturally do) due to the ticket machine at the departure station not accepting season ticket purchases. I was pulled aside to talk to a Northern revenue ticket goon who said I need to pay a...

I quite like the 195/331 front ends actually with panoramic windscreen. Looks like driver gets a plush cab as well which can't be said for a lot of rolling stock.

I recall a few years ago Northern staff at Manchester Piccadilly use to wait at the bottom of the lift to platforms 13/14 from Fairfield Street. They deliberately used to do it to try and snare passengers who had not paid. In reality though once you had left the lift you were on the public...

It's always been hourly for last 30 years since the Airport spur opened. Not sure before that. One to Manchester Airport and the other goes to Alderley Edge/Crewe.

Thank god I no longer travel with Northern Trains. They can't keep a timetable for a month at a time at the moment.

It is very unfortunate these sort of situations are allowed to happen. From what I gather you were verbally told to go to platform 7 to board that train by an authorised member of railway staff. The error is therefore on the railway industry. When you talked to this member of staff was there a...

Okay thanks. I must admit I was surprised back in 2018 when Northern started rolling out the cloth fabric covers on the older BR units. Within months they became dirty with mud, coffee etc. The cloth seating covers on 195/331s seem to get treated with a little more respect so surprised they are...

Good spot. Been expecting further 195 hybrid/bi-mode units for a year or two now. Hardly surprising. The 195s aren't the most popular units on here but their incomparable to Pacer and 150s.

They're changing the seat coverings on the 195/331s already?!?

I've always found the "Euston rush" to be quite comical. Not least if you check RTT you can normally figure out which platform most services will be departing from if you check arrival platforms.

I'm not going to sugar-coat this - there are a few problems here. The first problem is you didn't buy at Sheffield which is always manned with staff and ticket machine. If this was a one-off you would have been given a penalty fare or a fine - or at the very least a ticking off. In any response...

The 5 stations on the Styal Line have suffered since the May 2018 timetable debacle when the Crewe to Manchester service was extended to Liverpool and timetable frequencies completely lop-sided. The Gatley call on TPE is wholly justified even though many complain about the many intermediate...

I would have thought it is pretty obvious that is what I expressly meant in this context of what the OP's circumstances (i.e. if you respond they'll offer an out of court settlement). If you don't and offer no explanation then it will end up in court.