Northern trains to Nottingham should be longer

[ashworth]

It's not a bad little service and usually a 158. It's good that we do have a regional service between Leeds and Nottingham.

It's a good and extremely useful service. It wasn't very busy in its early days but is gaining more and more passengers each year. The 158's may be a bit shabby but they are comfortable. I would much rather stay on the 158 and have a pleasant through journey than change onto an overcrowded uncomfortable voyager at Sheffield. Sometimes I do the whole journey from Nottingham to Leeds but even when just travelling from Chesterfield to Leeds I choose this service rather than the voyager. It's a pity that the journey planners do not always direct people into this service.

As for going via Barnsley. I think it provides some good journey opportunities without changing at Sheffied. Barnsley is a fairly sizeable place and many people do travel form Barnsley to/from Nottingham and Chesterfield.

Apart form a few peak time services between Sheffield and Chesterfield a 2 car 158 is more than adequate for this service.

 

[PHILIPE]

What have some of the recent posts got to do with overcrowding on Leeds to Nottingham services

 

[yorksrob]

BUT most areas of the country don't have anything like such a figure. There are many hopelessly uneconomic lines in Northern's area and until the bullet is bitten and some of them shut (another elephant in the room!) investment will inevitably be constrained.

Expenditure on company profits is a frivolity compared to expenditure on public train services, therefore the profits should go before any service cuts.

 

[fowler9]

What have some of the recent posts got to do with overcrowding on Leeds to Nottingham services

In all honesty and no offense intended what response would you have liked? Yes it's overcrowded, buy more trains. That isn't going to happen. End of thread. It all comes down to politics which is what people have been discussing. I'll leave it down to the moderators to decide if it was too off topic but it will be a short thread if it is.

 

[yorksrob]

It's a good and extremely useful service. It wasn't very busy in its early days but is gaining more and more passengers each year. The 158's may be a bit shabby but they are comfortable. I would much rather stay on the 158 and have a pleasant through journey than change onto an overcrowded uncomfortable voyager at Sheffield. Sometimes I do the whole journey from Nottingham to Leeds but even when just travelling from Chesterfield to Leeds I choose this service rather than the voyager. It's a pity that the journey planners do not always direct people into this service.

As for going via Barnsley. I think it provides some good journey opportunities without changing at Sheffied. Barnsley is a fairly sizeable place and many people do travel form Barnsley to/from Nottingham and Chesterfield.

Apart form a few peak time services between Sheffield and Chesterfield a 2 car 158 is more than adequate for this service.

Indeed. I think it provides a fairly good relief service to Cross Country North of Sheffield.

 

[Starmill]

Your comment carefully ignores the number of passengers of course. LUL is jammed, parts of Northern could be operated with a Transit van!

Which means... what? London Underground probably costs an awful lot more to operate and maintain than a pacer going up and down 8 times a day.

 

[Starmill]

probably the cheapest journey I can make from my local station (Knutsford) in terms of pence per mile is to London Euston if I get the cheapest Advance tickets. I can buy an Advance single to London Euston (around 200 miles) for £14, if I want an Anytime Return to Chester (under 25 miles) I pay £14.30 with no Advances available.

It seems if you want to go somewhere from the North for a low price then you get the train to London!

Generally, that's where the bargains are to be had. Medium-distance journeys that lack advances, or in some cases even Day Returns, are often the most costly.

Look north too - that's often good

 

[deltic08]

It comes naturally, thanks for the interest!

Agree 100% with this!
Oh us doon Sarf are fed up with crush loaded trains as well, even at 1300 on a weekday people are having to squeeze onto trains because they are rammed, as short of rolling stock the North is the South West is just as desperate!

And this, what a complete waste of money, just dual the existing road!

Doon Sarf. Are you Scottish?

Overcrowding to that extent is unacceptable anywhere. 200 on a 2-car Pacer out of Leeds is common so that is not far short of your 1300 on a 12-car. At least something is being done to try and address the situation in the Southeast and London but little is being done in the Leeds City Region where passenger growth has outstripped the Southeast by 15% since 2004 and will continue to by 10% over the next five years according Network Rails forecast.

I feel exactly the same way but the Druids are upset by seeing the volume of traffic on the A303 and it must be a marginal seat.

 

[cjmillsnun]

What a ridiculous comment. Privatised railways as we all know costs the tax payer £4billion annually, twice as much at todays money than a nationalised railway would cost due to profits creamed off for TOC and ROSCO shareholders mostly in foreign countries. Money totally lost to the economy of this country. Even talking of small profits would be better being put back into rolling stock shortages than into foreign shareholder pockets.

Branson declared on television immediately after the franchise spat with First that he would operate Virgin trains without profit until a new franchise was awarded on West Coast. He certainly hasn't done what he promised. He personally takes £24m annually from Virgin trains just for use of that silly Virgin logo on each carriage. At 10% of the award, he will be doing exactly the same with the East Coast franchise. Ultimately that comes from us the fare payer. Fares are 30% higher under a privatised railway than would have been under British Rail.

ROSCOs are making £millions out of leasing Pacers. Use of Pacers under a nationalised railway would be putting all profit from these trains back into new trains or completely writing them down as they have paid for themselves many times over. They were probably at that stage in the ten years after introduction when sold to ROSCOs in 1995 for peanuts but money for them went straight to the Treasury and not the railways.

You lost the argument when you brought up the fare box. BR were well known for above inflation fare rises and in fact were encouraged to do so by the Thatcher government to stem passenger growth on routes where overcrowding was a problem.

A shame, because other aspects of your post were well founded, and the amount of subsidy spent on today's railways, given to BR would've made a hell of a difference. But then again BR would never have got it sadly
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Doon Sarf. Are you Scottish?

Overcrowding to that extent is unacceptable anywhere. 200 on a 2-car Pacer out of Leeds is common so that is not far short of your 1300 on a 12-car. At least something is being done to try and address the situation in the Southeast and London but little is being done in the Leeds City Region where passenger growth has outstripped the Southeast by 15% since 2004 and will continue to by 10% over the next five years according Network Rails forecast.

I feel exactly the same way but the Druids are upset by seeing the volume of traffic on the A303 and it must be a marginal seat.

1300 is the time of day (1pm), not how many pax are squeezing on the trains. And I don't think 455 driver drives 455s anymore. He works for FGW now.

 

[455driver]

Doon Sarf. Are you Scottish?

Overcrowding to that extent is unacceptable anywhere. 200 on a 2-car Pacer out of Leeds is common so that is not far short of your 1300 on a 12-car. At least something is being done to try and address the situation in the Southeast and London but little is being done in the Leeds City Region where passenger growth has outstripped the Southeast by 15% since 2004 and will continue to by 10% over the next five years according Network Rails forecast.

I feel exactly the same way but the Druids are upset by seeing the volume of traffic on the A303 and it must be a marginal seat.

Nope English through and through, it was an attempt at humour, google it if you dont know what it is.
Maybe I should have put 1pm!
Havent driven a 12 coach train for months and not likely to ever drive one again!

Edit-
CJ beat me to it!
I do miss my 455s. :cry:

 

[cjmillsnun]

Since when has Wiltshire been in the South West. Is Swindon Southwest? Stonehenge is no more southwest than Southampton or Bournemouth. Southwest of London yes but not in the Southwest. Devon and Cornwall are laughing their heads off.

It's not South east though is it? It is nearer SW than SE :roll:
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Nope English through and through, it was an attempt at humour, google it if you dont know what it is.
Maybe I should have put 1pm!
Havent driven a 12 coach train for months and not likely to ever drive one again!

Edit-
CJ beat me to it!
I do miss my 455s. :cry:

We'll sneakily stick a juice rail past Worting Junction and you can go get one

 

[northwichcat]

Generally, that's where the bargains are to be had. Medium-distance journeys that lack advances, or in some cases even Day Returns, are often the most costly.

Look north too - that's often good

Another VWC+Connections fare. The cheapest fares from Knutsford (and other stations in the area) always seem to be one of those. Which makes travel to parts of the country where you can't get a VWC+Connections fare proportionally expensive.

 

[Greenback]

As this thread didn't have much of a topic to begin with, it's now closed.