XC cancellations.

[MarkyT]

I must get to Birmingham tonight and have outward off-peak return tickets from Torquay, split at Cheltenham. Three hourly XC trains from Devon in a row are now shown cancelled on RTT. I don't fancy my chances of physically fitting into the 18:04, the next one shown actually running (for now?). Any suggestions?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 7 Sep 2025 ==

Just noticed there's a Paignton - Birmingham a little after that one. I should be able to get a seat on that from Torquay, assuming it runs.

 

[pokemonsuper9]

Throwing Torquay-Birmingham New Street via Cheltenham, not using XC (there doesn't appear to be any way to ignore cancelled trains) in fast JP shows me
15:00 to Exeter (15:33), 15:48 to Bristol Temple Meads (17:12), 17:39 to Worcester Shrub Hill (19:07), 19:56 to Birmingham (20:37).

 

[pokemonsuper9]

Looked more thoughroughly including XC,
The 15:37 off Penzance is due to become a 9 car from Plymouth, so I think it's probably reasonable to be able to fit on at Newton Abbot (unless there are 600 people at Plymouth), 17:32 Torquay to Newton Abbot (17:42), then 18:06 to Birmingham (20:49)

 

[MarkyT]

Thanks for your assistance. Too late now to use the suggested Worcester itinerary, and the next iteration of that has a cancelled WMT service snookering it. I'm going to try 1M77 Paignton - Birmingham, but I'll get to Torquay station early enough to catch the previous Exmouth local 2F22 so if the XC is cancelled, I'll be able to use the local or even a bus if that's cancelled as well to catch 1E75 Plymouth - Derby at Newton Abbot, which is the last of the evening and is shown running. I'd not tried Fast JP before. It's a nice interface and very fast, but I agree it really needs another option to filter out itineraries that include trains already known to be cancelled.

 

[MarkyT]

I caught the local to Newton Abbot and pulled in simultaneously with the 18:06 9 car to Leeds, running a few minutes late. Proceeded purposefully over the bridge and boarded. Found a window seat in the front car to be greeted by a buffet announcement featuring half price sandwiches, and I'd boarded the correct unit!

 

[Snow1964]

The mayor of WECA (Bristol area) has really laid into the poor service by XC

Perhaps this should be separate thread, on voyager experience, but will leave mods to decide.

The mayor of the West of England region has complained about having a miserable experience catching CrossCountry trains. The operator runs services from Bristol Temple Meads up to Birmingham and Manchester and down to Devon and Cornwall.

Helen Godwin said the customer experience is 'incredibly poor' on CrossCountry services. Passengers will be all too familiar with delays, overcrowding and cancellations, while people travelling for work can struggle to get any work done without connecting to the internet.

She told councillors on the overview and scrutiny committee that she drafted an angry email to the managing director of CrossCountry, but has not yet sent it. The company was owned by Deutsche Bahn, but was recently bought out by a private equity firm.

She said: “I had to travel on the CrossCounty line five times last month and every single time I was either delayed or it was cancelled. You can’t make a phone call, you can’t send a text, let alone do any business on those trains. They are hot and it’s miserable. The customer experience is incredibly poor.

“Prior to this role I was travelling to Manchester and Leeds for work, I was losing six hours a day of work time because I wasn’t able to connect on those trains. I have an email drafted in my phone which was probably written in anger and it’s a good job I didn’t have the managing director’s email on me at the time.”

‘Miserable’ CrossCountry trains are 'incredibly poor experience'

The operator runs services through Temple Meads from Cornwall to Scotland

www.bristolpost.co.uk

 

[InTheEastMids]

The mayor of WECA (Bristol area) has really laid into the poor service by XC

Perhaps this should be separate thread, on voyager experience, but will leave mods to decide.

‘Miserable’ CrossCountry trains are 'incredibly poor experience'

The operator runs services through Temple Meads from Cornwall to Scotland

www.bristolpost.co.uk

There could probably have been a thread running since Day 1 of this Website that consisted solely of discussion around "<Stakeholder> lays into dreadful experience/performance of cross-country services". Question about whether the forum software can handle 20 year threads featuring thousands of pages and tens/hundreds of thousands of posts?

 

[Horizon22]

The mayor of WECA (Bristol area) has really laid into the poor service by XC

Perhaps this should be separate thread, on voyager experience, but will leave mods to decide.

‘Miserable’ CrossCountry trains are 'incredibly poor experience'

The operator runs services through Temple Meads from Cornwall to Scotland

www.bristolpost.co.uk

She told councillors on the overview and scrutiny committee that she drafted an angry email to the managing director of CrossCountry, but has not yet sent it.

That will tell 'em!