Transpennine Express - Never Again

[87015]

if i claimed 'never again' after a farce on any TOC then don;t think i'd have any left to travel on?? If u have enough cash to waste on first class travel then shouldn't be moaning about a minor delay or 'treated poorly' .... welcome to the railways of Britain!

 

[The_Rail_WAy]

I am not a massive fan of Trans Pennine Express either. The thing that annoys me most about them is that the first class section takes up far too much space, there is simply not enough seating room for standard class passengers. I have travelled during peak times (Mon - Fri) and weekends when half the carriage is a sparsley a filled first class and the other half all seats are taken everybody else is crammed in like sardines (and some people sat in the toilet just to get a seat!)

Now don't get me wrong, they are great locos for intermodal/inter-urban but they are certainly not suitable for long range, cross-boder services running WCML routes to the likes of Edinburugh and Glasgow. And to think that 5 years or so ago hst's were running their routes.

For me, an ideal situation would be loco hauled services similar to the Wrexham and Shropshire Railway Co. for long haul, cross border routes.

 

[Mintona]

- Or order about 6 more 185s, and double some services up. The Leeds - Manchester corridor can be horrendous at the best of times.

 

[alex57601]

What she has done is put in Bolton (BON) to Manchester Central Zone (MCZ) which is the only way to get a standard class fare, so is probably what she is used to doing. That is also where the FDR £9 is for.

Putting in Bolton to Manchester Stations gives you the (TPE Only) FOR for £6.20. Its there on RJIS, and STAR so presumably can indeed be issued.

The Manchester Central Zone destination is issued on the local services within the GMPTE ticketing zone and allows the ticket holder to free Metrolink travel within the City Zone (G-Mex-Piccadilly-Victoria route to be precise). As this is the norm (well it is on Northern-issued tickets at least) then she is simply going by what she is used to doing, and she can argue that you weren't specific enough on your ticket selection.

Word of advice for the future is to be specific when buying tickets.
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- Or order about 6 more 185s, and double some services up. The Leeds - Manchester corridor can be horrendous at the best of times.

They have been allocated centre cars for the 185s. However I understand that this does not cover all 51 units, and whether they are trailers or powered cars is dependent on how many spare Cummins QSK19s exist that operate to 750hp, as all new QSKs are de-rated to 700hp in order to meet emissions regulations.

As a side note, the original order was for 56 185s.

 

[Ben]

Now don't get me wrong, they are great locos.

Locos? :-?:-?:-?:-?:-?:-?:-?:-?:-?:-?:-?:-?

 

[The_Rail_WAy]

Yeah I know.

I really should proof read my posts before sending them!:roll:

 

[1D53]

As a side note, the original order was for 56 185s.

The order was actually cut to 48 but Siemens said it would cost the same for 51 so thats what we've ended up with!
Speaking of upgrades I remember on the first day of Scottish operation that upgrades from Glasgow to Manchester were not in Advantix but Manchester to Glasgow was!

 

[bobslack1982]

I use the Transpennine service every week both the Scotland route and the York service and I've never enjoyed the experience in either direction. The trains are too uncomfortable and overcrowded no matter where you happen to board. TPE made a huge mistake in using the 185s on the Scotland route - they just aren't up to the job.

However, given a prior...encounter with Virgin I refuse to use their service either so I'm screwed really on the west coast!

Thankfully at York I catch a National Express train northwards where at least the appearance of a quiet coach saves my sanity.