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    Trainline to be investigated for not including fees in prices

    The worst one for me is the “get your money back” offer that often appears at the end of the booking/journey process (and others, including National Railcard). It’s far from immediately obvious that you’re leaving Trainline and dealing with a completely separate company, still less that by...
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    Heat Related Disruption - 13 Aug 2026

    Given that EMR send 4x158s ECS at dawn every weekday from Nottingham to Liverpool…! Sorry, couldn’t resist!
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    Trains all at a stand in the Manchester area... (Thursday afternoon 06AUG2026)

    I do remember Cheadle Hulme being used as a terminus for timetabled cross-Manchester passenger services (to the north) in the late 80s for a short time after the Windsor link opened, but it didn’t last for long from memory.
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    Avanti cancellations - is it always this bad?

    Have to say I was very impressed with the Avanti Train Managers, Avanti control/social media and even the Euston gatelines yesterday given the operational difficulties. We were on the 0932 from Chester to Euston, and the 1633 Euston to Piccadilly (as far as Crewe where it had to terminate) -...
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    Transport for Wales Class 230

    The 230s have been on all the diagrams the last few days giving that much-needed 197 back to the rest of the network. Have used the line a lot recently and it’s been reliable (except Tuesday afternoon when there was a track defect northbound after Hawarden Bridge, super crew escorted us back...
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    Adequate waiting room at Manchester Victoria

    It was an open return Neston-Manchester, issued by the guard on the Wrexham-Bidston - a journey that would have been issued from a ticket office as ‘Manchester stations’ so not sure why it said Piccadilly. At Victoria the gateline attendant sent me to the ticket office to confirm what he was...
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    Adequate waiting room at Manchester Victoria

    Generally it’s getting that ‘don’t care’ feel it used to have. I nearly missed a Liverpool-bound train twice there recently - one a few weeks ago when the usual unhelpful gateline attendant refused to let me through with a paper *open* return ticket (issued earlier that day on the Wrexham to...
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    If fitted with door locking mechanisms, could the class 310s/312s lasted much longer?

    Nothing beat the bounce of a Crewe-bound 304 with a via-Macclesfield express on its heels between Stockport and Cheadle Hulme!
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    Are SWR's on board announcements excessive?

    Just been on a 197 from Wrexham Central to Bidston whose PIS was stuck at Wrexham General. Pretty much the entire journey taken up with the full station listing in Welsh, then English, every 3 minutes!
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    WCML Disruption 03/09

    I actually saw 2 Avanti west coast customers having to leave the 1807 XC Edinburgh to Birmingham before departure, because there was no ticket acceptance for Avanti. Like me they’d transfered to Queen St and then to Edinburgh on the fast-ish 1700 train. The train manager on XC kept repeating...
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    WCML Disruption 03/09

    TPE were excellent - all the train crew of the cancelled 1611 were with the passengers giving advice. But then again, at least they had advice to give and had ticket acceptance to offer. Is the reason Avanti couldn‘t get acceptance because of the ownership, or because of the volumes? 1756928685...
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    WCML Disruption 03/09

    Arrived at Glasgow Central just as disruption breaking, booked on the 1611 to Liverpool. Very helpful TPE staff on the platform, quickly directed us across to Queen St with confirmed ticket acceptance on Scotrail, LNER and XC so will pick up TPE again at Newcastle if all goes well. Sounds like...
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    Rail & Sail ferry service to Belfast ‘set up to fail’

    On Irish ferries a couple of weeks ago there were only around a dozen foot passengers for the mid morning Saturday sailing Holyhead - Dublin and a couple of dozen returning a few days later. We had got to Holyhead by car. It did make me wonder what the point of the Holyhead connections was. The...
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    Mishandled Penalty Fare

    To the OP - do be aware that the discount clock starts ticking again once each appeal is rejected, and only stops again when you submit the next stage. If you’re taking advice, eg here, a few days between rejection and submission can quickly eat up the discount period. I nearly got caught out by...
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    New TPE first class menu

    I know the hot food etc is carefully described as ‘complimentary’ but there comes a point where the product advertising is simply misleading - as the delivery is so inconsistent.
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    New TPE first class menu

    Just sharing my more recent experiences of TPE first class catering. This week I seat-frogged a Liverpool to Leeds first class return on the Newcastle run (which has the kitchen) - early morning out, evening peak return. There was no hot food at all on the early morning outbound (0555) -...
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    Merseyrail Penalty Fare - is this valid?

    Thanks everyone for your advice so far - I’ve had a quick read through the regulations now and have drafted this - I’d be grateful for any feedback. ** I am appealing this penalty fare (second appeal) as the requirements set out in section 5 (2) of the Railways (Penalty Fares) Regulations have...
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    Merseyrail Penalty Fare - is this valid?

    Thanks very much - but how was the fare incorrect?
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    Merseyrail Penalty Fare - is this valid?

    Thanks, I think we may have broken the three sentences rule by focusing on the discretion. Given her ticket was from Manchester Airport to Heswall (via Shotton or Bidston) but not from Hamilton Sq to Spital, we‘d thought there wasn’t much we could do on the penalty fare technically, as she...
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    Merseyrail Penalty Fare - is this valid?

    Hi all - just an update and a plea for info - Penalty Services have rejected our first appeal. In the response the assessor says: ‘Similarly, because there is no onus on the train company to prove there was any intention to avoid payment of the correct fare before issuing a penalty fare, the...

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