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Train Travel in the UK: A Foreigner’s Perspective

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Re: Train Travel in the UK: A Foreigner’s Perspective

#181

Post by NoboruWataya »

alias_neo wrote: post #151
claxo wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait, wait- Any rule you can spell in a few words or a link?

Stand on the right on escalators, let people off of the carriages before you barge on, don't stop suddenly without checking who's about to walk into you, don't run into tube trains as the doors are closing only to get stuck and hold up the train, DON'T HOLD THE DOORS OPEN, go up and down stairs on the left, corridors etc, stay on the left and don't fuck around at the barriers. Have your card ready, your contactless r…

Another one that really gets me - when you get on a half-crowded train, MOVE IN, don't just park yourself by the door blocking everyone behind you.

Of course, these are all rules that should be followed by everyone on all public transport. Nothing really specific to the tube.

Re: Train Travel in the UK: A Foreigner’s Perspective

#182

Post by wst_ »

alias_neo wrote: post #151
claxo wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait, wait- Any rule you can spell in a few words or a link?

Stand on the right on escalators, let people off of the carriages before you barge on, don't stop suddenly without checking who's about to walk into you, don't run into tube trains as the doors are closing only to get stuck and hold up the train, DON'T HOLD THE DOORS OPEN, go up and down stairs on the left, corridors etc, stay on the left and don't fuck around at the barriers. Have your card ready, your contactless r…

Adding to this: Don't jump aboard wearing your dirty working jumpsuit smeared with paint, cement, oil. Also stop loudly arguing with your partner over phone. Get your shoes off the chairs.

Re: Train Travel in the UK: A Foreigner’s Perspective

#183

Post by rrwo »

alias_neo wrote: post #74
imnotlost wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Tokyo subway during rush hour is anything but heaven.

Having spent the past ~10 years living in London, I disagree. Rush hour Tokyo trains were a dream, people are polite and queue, but they queue so that they're not in the way, the carriages are surprisingly head-roomy for 6'4 me, unlike the shit show of the central line, they're cooled properly, like the circle/district and the stations were almost universally clean and spacious unlike our tube platforms which are oft…

> It may be controversial to say but tourists (local or from afar) are generally the worst part about central London commuting, due to the ignorance of the etiquette, especially when tourist numbers can be overwhelming in some parts.

This goes for any city that is popular with tourists, who seem to forget that most of the people in a city live and work there, and have their own lives that do not revolve around hospitality or entertainment for tourists.

Re: Train Travel in the UK: A Foreigner’s Perspective

#184

Post by switch007 »

arcen wrote: post #141
switch007 wrote: post #119

Just to counter the “mainland Europe has superior trains” kind of argument. I find the IC in the Netherlands to be old, crowded, dirty and uncomfortable. Compare https://www.seat61.com/images/Netherlands-ic-2nd-large.jpg and https://mobile.twitter.com/TPExpressTrains/status/9869664169... . The Dutch ones are refurbished original stock from decades ago I believe. I believe the latter seats a lot more people too. But I…

I for one like them. They are fast and on-time. The crowd to my destinations is usually during rush hours (before 9) which is now exacerbated due to the lack of NS staff recently.

They are fast, for sure.

Re: Train Travel in the UK: A Foreigner’s Perspective

#185

Post by bobthepanda »

dustedcodes wrote: post #122
dagw wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that still a thing? I never saw any oshiya when I was there 5 years ago.

It was a thing before COVID in Tokyo. Don’t know about now. The point I’m trying to make is that this thing NEVER happens in London. Train pushers don’t exist, so even if it’s not an everyday thing in Tokyo anymore I can hardly believe that anyone would say “I prefer the rush hour in Tokyo”, to which my previous post was the response to :)

I mean, TfL just closes stations to people entering if crowding gets too high, which is arguably worse from a functionality perspective at least.

Re: Train Travel in the UK: A Foreigner’s Perspective

#186

Post by jasondozell »

Stevvo wrote: post #86
alias_neo wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having spent the past ~10 years living in London, I disagree. Rush hour Tokyo trains were a dream, people are polite and queue, but they queue so that they're not in the way, the carriages are surprisingly head-roomy for 6'4 me, unlike the shit show of the central line, they're cooled properly, like the circle/district and the stations were almost universally clean and spacious unlike our tube platforms which are oft…

The tube is pretty bad. Many lines have grime floating in the air that deposits on skin & clothing and turns your snot black. Often a very long walk pavement to platform. Frequent delays from suicide attempts because its old so no track doors and the designs of stations are depressing. Overworked and underpaid staff.

Gonna dispute pretty much all of that but in particular there are not frequent delays due to suicides.

Re: Train Travel in the UK: A Foreigner’s Perspective

#187

Post by vincent-manis »

My UK rail experience is about 15 years out of date, and mostly focused on commuter trains (with some LondonManchester travel). I rapidly discovered that timetables were artful fictions, but that if there were supposed to be 4 trains per hour on a certain run, there typically would be 4 trains...just not the ones in the timetable.

I craved a job in the Excuses Department of South-West Trains, who were responsible for announcements such as “The 19:41 train to London Waterloo will now arrive at 20:23, because of a crew member joining the train late in Portsmouth.” The creativity of these announcements was amazing.

That said, I relied on the train service while I was in the UK. I can only think of one time that it ground to a halt, during a snowstorm that paralyzed the country.

Re: Train Travel in the UK: A Foreigner’s Perspective

#188

Post by Stevvo »

jasondozell wrote: post #186
Stevvo wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The tube is pretty bad. Many lines have grime floating in the air that deposits on skin & clothing and turns your snot black. Often a very long walk pavement to platform. Frequent delays from suicide attempts because its old so no track doors and the designs of stations are depressing. Overworked and underpaid staff.

Gonna dispute pretty much all of that but in particular there are not frequent delays due to suicides.

So, did some research. TFL have not released hard figures in recent years, but it appears the delays due to jumpers are significantly down from their past near-daily occurance because of the installation of "suicide pits" to catch jumpers under many platforms and training staff to intervene when they spot a distressed person on the platform.

Re: Train Travel in the UK: A Foreigner’s Perspective

#189

Post by cobaltoxide »

Mordisquitos wrote: post #33

As someone with significant experience of using the rail networks in both the UK and Spain, I strongly agree with the last point regarding the hybrid reservation model. In addition, there's one further point which I don't think he mentions: the fact that in the UK you can buy a ticket at any station to go to any arbitrary station A from any arbitrary station B (notwithstanding the complexity of determining the best p…

Deutsche Bahn's trip planner at https://www.bahn.com/en is fun to play with. I just tried asking for a journey from London to Sofia (Bulgaria) and it finds one instantly. Although it appears DB can't sell a ticket for the route.

Re: Train Travel in the UK: A Foreigner’s Perspective

#190

Post by kochikame »

masklinn wrote: post #160
kochikame wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, the existence of the JR pass exactly proves their point. It only works on JR lines, so in Tokyo you still need to buy tickets for all the private train lines and metro lines (city run and private run). Try getting around Tokyo on the daily using only JR lines; it won't be too much fun for you. JR pass is only really useful for long-haul, intercity type journeys, primarily by shinkansen

If you’re in Tokyo you get a suica. It works on all lines, and can also be used as a payment card at various vending machines and shops (including I think all the big combini brands and many marts).

This is the way to travel, for sure.

Person above was talking about the JR Pass, which as you know is pretty useless for general "getting around Tokyo" purposes

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