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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

#21

Post by bloqs »

jotm wrote: post #7
michaelt wrote: post #4

> British people love to complain about the state of their railways I find people have a very different experience with UK rail on whether they're travelling for business or pleasure. People who commute have to take trains at peak time, at the absolute highest ticket prices, take hundreds of trains a year giving lots of opportunities to get delayed, might get yelled at for being late, and at the end of their journey…

When I lived in the UK, I thought 30 minute delays two days per week were the worst thing ever. After living in Germany... British railways seem like an enterprise level SLA. Tickets with a short expiration time (2 hours... why?), hour(s) long delays, sudden last minute platform changes (you need to use the underground passage full of people), trains just disappearing off the screen with no notice after being delayed…

This literally describes my british rail experience. My local trains are operated by DB.....

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

#22

Post by imnotlost »

traceroute66 wrote: post #14
michaelt wrote: post #4

> British people love to complain about the state of their railways I find people have a very different experience with UK rail on whether they're travelling for business or pleasure. People who commute have to take trains at peak time, at the absolute highest ticket prices, take hundreds of trains a year giving lots of opportunities to get delayed, might get yelled at for being late, and at the end of their journey…

> British people love to complain about the state of their railways When British people go to Switzerland or Japan its like they've died and woken up in heaven. Japanese rail in particular is pure heaven compared to the UK. Trains are always punctual. Trains are always clean. Trains are always frequent. And that's before we start talking about the amazing food stores that are attached to main Japanese stations. In th…

The Tokyo subway during rush hour is anything but heaven.

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

#23

Post by Symbiote »

gw99 wrote: post #11
petesergeant wrote: post #2

> the Caledonian Sleeper has to be one of the railway highlights of the UK ahh, I've really wanted to like it, but I've found it exceptionally uncomfortable each time I've used it, and also very expensive. I much prefer the sleeper trains in Thailand > Train travel in the UK can be highly scenic The UK really is very pretty. It's easy to forget when in countries with blockbuster scenery, but British countryside reall…

The Caledonian sleeper is hell on earth. I did it once. The only worse experience I had was a rotten old YHA hostel in the 90s where I stayed in a bunk room with three people with bowel disorders. And it wasn’t much worse.

What was wrong?

I only used it twice, and it was fine. Only fine -- it's a train, not a 5 star hotel. But the bed was comfy enough, I slept OK, and the scenery in the morning was really nice.

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

#24

Post by edent »

blibble wrote: post #16
notahacker wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And travelling around with the sort of budget that can consider first class and a willingness to book tickets at suitable times (and comparing prices with international sleeper trains in the rest of Europe!) completely misses why British commuters paying 20%+ of their after tax income for an annual rail pass into London consider it expensive.

I doubt many people are paying 20%+ of net income to commute in you'd have to be on minimum wage and a reasonable distance out (in which case you might as well just work locally) 10% however I can believe

Have a play with https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/Season-Calculator...

My old commute into London was £3,660 per year - standard class. Pretty close to 20% of my net at the time. Plenty of people do it because big cities are where the opportunities are.

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

#25

Post by traceroute66 »

case0x00 wrote: post #8

Having both traveled across the country and throughout Greater London on trains, it is actually really convenient. London is its own kind of beast with the tube/overground, but throughout the rest of the country its definitely pleasant. Going through London during peak hours, dealing with trains randomly stopping midway through a journey with a packed carriage, dealing with anti-social teens, or traveling in the midd…

> London is its own kind of beast with the tube/overground

To do well in London you really have to know the city (or at least the areas around your start/end points).

Especially as you get towards the centre of London, there are lots of opportunities for "cheating" (i.e. getting out and walking is much more efficient than going to your actual destination station, or, worse, changing trains).

If you want to go that extra step, memorising the tube map (or at least the central areas) also helps because then you can consider your re-routing options based on the actual live status of the tube (I say "actual status" because London Underground ALWAYS lie about the actual status .... i.e. they will always declare "good service" until they really can't avoid admitting the truth, by which time the service is truly up the spout)

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

#26

Post by renewiltord »

The first time I visited the UK, a train was slightly late and at the far end after I'd disembarked I noticed a man in a bowler hat, absolutely red in the face. "The train was TEN MINUTES LATE", he exclaimed at the station master. "We're still recovering from the storm", said the station master. "The storm was TWO WEEKS AGO. I can't believe you've still got trouble".

I was very impressed by this bowler hatted Thompson&Thomson character's high standards. Of course, eventually I moved to the UK to live in London, and found that he must have been disappointed very often indeed.

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

#27

Post by renewiltord »

petesergeant wrote: post #2

> the Caledonian Sleeper has to be one of the railway highlights of the UK ahh, I've really wanted to like it, but I've found it exceptionally uncomfortable each time I've used it, and also very expensive. I much prefer the sleeper trains in Thailand > Train travel in the UK can be highly scenic The UK really is very pretty. It's easy to forget when in countries with blockbuster scenery, but British countryside reall…

Thank you very much! I've always disliked it. Uncomfortable, bedding is spare, and overall not that much fun. And people often tell me I'm wrong. I've only ever been twice on it and disliked it both times. I take the day trains now instead.

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

#28

Post by Symbiote »

scmbradley wrote: post #3

From the looks of it, this chap was travelling around in first class. Which would probably give a slightly different impression of train travel... I suspect he also wasn't travelling at peak times when trains are at their busiest and most unpleasant. To some extent, I agree that trains get a lot of criticism, and only some of it is deserved. But some of that criticism is very deserved...

He mentions one first class journey.

That's easily affordable by booking well in advance, I sometimes even did this as a student if it was £5 more or so on a £50 ticket.

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

#29

Post by ljf »

blibble wrote: post #16
notahacker wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And travelling around with the sort of budget that can consider first class and a willingness to book tickets at suitable times (and comparing prices with international sleeper trains in the rest of Europe!) completely misses why British commuters paying 20%+ of their after tax income for an annual rail pass into London consider it expensive.

I doubt many people are paying 20%+ of net income to commute in you'd have to be on minimum wage and a reasonable distance out (in which case you might as well just work locally) 10% however I can believe

Season ticket from not that far from Brighton is the best part of £5k a year. My good friend who commutes from there earns £40k before tax from his job in London. So I reckon some people pay 20 percent or more if they have a job they can only do in London, and for various reasons cannot living in London.

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

#30

Post by sanitycheck »

imnotlost wrote: post #22
traceroute66 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> British people love to complain about the state of their railways When British people go to Switzerland or Japan its like they've died and woken up in heaven. Japanese rail in particular is pure heaven compared to the UK. Trains are always punctual. Trains are always clean. Trains are always frequent. And that's before we start talking about the amazing food stores that are attached to main Japanese stations. In th…

The Tokyo subway during rush hour is anything but heaven.

It's like London, but the overly-compressed people are more polite and the air doesn't get quite so.. thick because the carriages are much bigger.

Also, the trains are on time, so there's no waiting on an overflowing platform for 10 mins of no trains then 30 minutes of trains too full to get onto.

Having experienced both, I'd take Tokyo anytime.

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