X country half train locked

[Straus]

On the 0725 from man pic to Birmingham NS this morning and half of the unit is locked out because of staff availability.

The train manager made an announcement stating it will be busy and that you should give up your seat to those with a reservation.

Surely the protocol should be for cancellation of all reservations because half the train is unavailable?

 

[zwk500]

Is that instruction for people without reservations to give up their seats to people reserved in the back set, or for people with reservations in the back set to give up their seat if the person with the reservation turns up?

The former is a lot more understandable than the latter. Of course the better answer would be for XC to resolve their issues with the staffing levels and permitted roles to allow their trains to actually be used.

 

[DarloRich]

The XC seat availability roulette..........

 

[Bantamzen]

On the 0725 from man pic to Birmingham NS this morning and half of the unit is locked out because of staff availability.

The train manager made an announcement stating it will be busy and that you should give up your seat to those with a reservation.

Surely the protocol should be for cancellation of all reservations because half the train is unavailable?

That would be the common sense thing to do. However this is the railways circa 2026, and common sense doesn't always apply. I can foresee fun and games before the end of that service....

 

[Straus]

Is that instruction for people without reservations to give up their seats to people reserved in the back set, or for people with reservations in the back set to give up their seat if the person with the reservation turns up?

The former is a lot more understandable than the latter. Of course the better answer would be for XC to resolve their issues with the staffing levels and permitted roles to allow their trains to actually be used.

If someone comes with the specific seat reservation. So anyone booked into the locked four carriages can go whistle!

I sat in F as I thought it was unreserved l, but have just been kicked out of my seat by a rather rude woman.

 

[Rail Ranger]

Coach B is unreserved if it is a 5-car. Otherwise there are some unreservable seats at the high numbered end of coach D.

 

[Straus]

Unfortunately all screens have been set to 'This seat is reserved' so it's impossible to tell which seats actually have reservations against them.

Coach B is unreserved if it is a 5-car. Otherwise there are some unreservable seats at the high numbered end of coach D

 

[Rail Ranger]

The seats at the high numbered end of D don't have screens.

 

[louis97]

Unfortunately all screens have been set to 'This seat is reserved' so it's impossible to tell which seats actually have reservations against them.

Coach D Seats 57 to 70 are unreserved plus the four seats without screens in the same area.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 16 Apr 2026 ==

The seats at the high numbered end of D don't have screens.

Only the four seats which replaced a luggage rack don't have a screen.

 

[Straus]

Good to know for next time - would have been nice info from the train manager when I asked if any of the carriages were unreserved!

The seats at the high numbered end of D don't have screens.

 

[louis97]

If someone comes with the specific seat reservation. So anyone booked into the locked four carriages can go whistle!

On this particular trains there isn't any reservations in the back set, the majority of trains XC run as a double don't have reservations in the rear set. There are however a small number of trains which do, typically on a weekday, this even catches out staff who announce it as completely unreserved when there are a few reservations.

 

[transportphoto]

Good to know for next time - would have been nice info from the train manager when I asked if any of the carriages were unreserved!

There’s probably little point in telling you there are unreserved seats if there are already people sat in them

 

[Straus]

There’s probably little point in telling you there are unreserved seats if there are already people sat in them

I got on at Manchester Piccadilly where the service starts so no one was sat in them at that point.

Would have been nice information to offer considering my reservation is for a carriage I can't access.

I actively try to arrange meetings in alternative offices to reduce the number of times I use X country because it's rarely a good experience

 

[Mike395]

CrossCountry put all reservations in one set until they are basically 100% sure the train will run as a double set. So it'll be asking people who would have otherwise been in the (locked out of use) set to give up seats if someone has reserved.

 

[Straus]

CrossCountry put all reservations in one set until they are basically 100% sure the train will run as a double set. So it'll be asking people who would have otherwise been in the (locked out of use) set to give up seats if someone has reserved.

Ah my mistake, none of the outside screens were showing which carriage was which so I wrongly assumed C was in the closed section.

A rather frustrating experience

 

[voyagerdude220]

Ah my mistake, none of the outside screens were showing which carriage was which so I wrongly assumed C was in the closed section.

A rather frustrating experience

If the formation shown on Realtime Trains is accurate, your train had F-D-C-A with F being at the very front out of Manchester and C third from the front, next door to First Class which was at the very rear of the accessible portion of your train.

 

[Grecian 1998]

Realtime Trains will normally show how many carriages each XC service has. XC's website's 'Updates' page will usually tell you under 'Formation Updates' whether any trains with 8/9 coaches will have the back set locked out of use. Neither of these are guaranteed, but they're usually pretty accurate.

If you have any flexibility you can avoid these services. If you don't, you can at least aim for the section of coach D nearest the shop or coach B if it's a 5 coach train. Not great but that's about all that you can do in the circumstances.

For all that XC insist on reservations being valid when the electronic system fails and will not declassify First Class under pretty much any circumstances, I'm not aware that XC have ever tried to argue that if set A-F is locked out, passengers in unreserved G-L should give up their seats to anyone with a reservation in A - F. I could see that getting... interesting.

 

[Belperpete]

Coach B is unreserved if it is a 5-car. Otherwise there are some unreservable seats at the high numbered end of coach D.

With Avanti, you know that it is coach C that is unreserved, and coach U if there is one on the train. This is made clear on platform displays, and by announcements on board. With XC, you really have to do some research to find out which seats are unreserved on a particular train. And even if you do, they are probably already taken anyway. They almost intentionally make it difficult for people without reservations.

 

[ChilliSauce]

CrossCountry put all reservations in one set until they are basically 100% sure the train will run as a double set. So it'll be asking people who would have otherwise been in the (locked out of use) set to give up seats if someone has reserved.

I suggest if XC were smart they would only ever put reservations in 1 set, & when all seats reserved that's it ...no more reservations issued.. Then if the service ended up as running as a single unit (with or without any being locked out of use) then just a case of Numbering the carriages (by their letter) that are running to reflect the carriages with the reservations.

All reservations honoured and those without a reservation have to take their chance ...which is always the case on XC !

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 18 Apr 2026 ==

For all that XC insist on reservations being valid when the electronic system fails and will not declassify First Class under pretty much any circumstances.

I would suggest that is actually correct ..as in why should a 1st class ticket holder find themselves standing because 1st class seats are occupied by Std Class ticket holders ..?

I seem to recall in the dim and distant past when National Express operated the MML (,with some class 170 units - 1st class in the middle car) that in the event of disruption they would allow Std class ticket holders to sit in 1st on the clear understanding that if the seat was required by a 1st class ticket holder then they would "get up" ...which seemed a fair way of doing things..

 

[Swedenorer]

I suggest if XC were smart they would only ever put reservations in 1 set, & when all seats reserved that's it ...no more reservations issued...

Maybe they should stop dragging empty stock round the network making themselves look what they are - badly managed and largely useless.

 

[mmh]

With Avanti, you know that it is coach C that is unreserved, and coach U if there is one on the train.

On Avanti it's C (all trains), and U and G on trains that have them (11 coach Pendolinos), and N on trains that have one (double Evero 805s)

 

[Belperpete]

On Avanti it's C (all trains), and U and G on trains that have them (11 coach Pendolinos), and N on trains that have one (double Evero 805s)

Yes, but my point is, if you are looking for an unreserved coach on an Avanti train, you know where to look. Whereas with XC, the ordinary passenger won't have a clue, as there is no such standardisation, nor is the information displayed on departure boards.

 

[ChilliSauce]

Maybe they should stop dragging empty stock round the network making themselves look what they are - badly managed and largely useless.

I can only assume they XC drag locked out rolling stock around because for it's next working the pair of units might actually be fully staffed ..

 

[800002]

I can only assume they XC drag locked out rolling stock around because for it's next working the pair of units might actually be fully staffed ..

Not necessarily so.
The next / back working could end up short staffed, too, but the unit still needs to end up in the right place for the next day / later workings.

 

[Belperpete]

For all that XC insist on reservations being valid when the electronic system fails

XC can try insisting on whatever they want, it's what's in the NRCOT that's important. If the seat isn't shown to be reserved, you are doing nothing wrong by sitting in it.

 

[GordonT]

I can only assume they XC drag locked out rolling stock around because for it's next working the pair of units might actually be fully staffed ..

Unfortunately the average passenger with no interest in the machinations of XC crew deployment or allocation of fleet to diagrams will simply see a coupled but locked unit as an integral part of XC's apparent mission to condemn their customers to travel with as little comfort as can be facilitated.

 

[bramling]

I can only assume they XC drag locked out rolling stock around because for it's next working the pair of units might actually be fully staffed ..

There’s isn’t really the resource to go uncoupling units in that way. It would also potentially upset stock balance. Whole thing is a farce though.

 

[scosutsut]

to condemn their customers to travel with as little comfort as can be facilitated.

I feel obligated to point out that their internal mission statement was always intended to stay out of the public domain.

 

[Grecian 1998]

A particularly grim looking state of affairs at Bristol Temple Meads on Sunday. The 1127 5 coach 221 rolled in an hour late from Plymouth due to an emergency services incident near Dawlish, and terminated due to the delay caused. There had been multiple other delays, meaning that I'd estimate around 200 people were waiting for the 1227, running around 15 minutes late. This was announced as an 8 coach service with First Class in coaches 1 and 5. Inevitably, the rear 4 coaches were locked out of use, whilst the front 4 already had plenty of passengers from Exeter.

At least 50 people didn't board, probably nearer 70-80. I'm not sure whether this was because they couldn't, or because they decided they didn't fancy trying to wedge into standard class. I'd been heading for the Wales Coast Path around Llanelli - XC were diverting via Newport where I planned to change onto an 80x. I abruptly changed my plans and got the 12:56 to Cardiff formed of 2 X 158, accepting I'd have to do a shorter walk. An odd state of affairs when Cardiff - Portsmouth with its similar history of persistent recent overcrowding is now the sensible option.

I did see a few passengers talking to station staff after it became clear on arrival that the back 4 coaches were locked out of use. The body language was not positive. I don't envy the poor staff in these situations.

 

[Mainline421]

I can only assume they XC drag locked out rolling stock around because for it's next working the pair of units might actually be fully staffed ..

That doesn’t explain or justify locking out half the train, there is absolutely no law requiring this.