I do wonder

[victor]

how Foreigners cope on UK railways--


today in Southampton i asked at the ticket office if the ticket i had bought online for the 16.05 to Ports Harbour would be valid on the 15.44 ,Answer NO ! 16.05 on platform 1. Fair enough .

At platform 1 a railway chap enquired where i was going ,on looking at my ticket he said -15.44 platform 2 but you will have to change at FRATTON -so off i went to platform 2.

On the 15.44 i asked the ticket Insp, is this train going to Ports Harbour ? Reply absolutely !!

[Workingman]

Vic, I can buy a ticket from Horsforth to Leeds, change at Burley Park. Train pulls in to Burley..... then sets off for Leeds. Same train, one stop, but it's a change according to the timetable.

Madness!

[saundra]

Nobody knows how the railways work in the UK they just please themselves as long as they get paid the do what they like or decide to have a strike and disrupt services

[meriad]

It's quite horrendous Vic.... the staff in the information booth at Waterloo station can be the most surely mumbling unhelpful lot ever. And then when you move across to Waterloo East they've done away with the information booth that is at the top of the two ramps that head down to the platforms. So if you're unsure then you're stuck - they have a new fandangled electronic touch screen question board but what happens if you don't know how to use it - my mom would struggle

As Saundra says - it's all about money in their pockets vs customer service and trains on time. Does it really matter what ticket type you have; it it takes you to your destination the surely you should be able to jump on whatever train you want. I get not being allowed on rush hour trains when you've bought an off peak, but that's about it

[JoM]

I was moaning last night about trains.
I was booking for me and Joe to go to the football next weekend.
Stafford - Manchester return £46
Stoke - Manchester return £25

It's less than a 15 minute train journey between Stafford and Stoke. John was going to drop us off in Stafford anyway seeing as we now have no Sunday bus service so he said he'd take us to Stoke if it's going to save £21.

I then booked for the next game we're going to (a Sunday again and trains leaving around the same time) and that cost £33 for both of us, from Stafford to Manchester this time, and the return journey is in First Class.

[Workingman]

For my trip to Portugal I need to get to Manc Airport.

The ticket prices are all over the place - three trains within a one hour time slot are three different prices. I mentioned this to my bil who flies from Manc to Europe fairly often and he said not to bother. His advice: Buy the cheapest single ticket on the day, go to the platform, hop on a train and sod them.

The trains are so rammed that the chances of seeing an inspector if you 'accidentally' catch the wrong train are zero, or less.

[TheOstrich]

Vic, I guess the problem you've got down in the Southampton / Portsmouth area is that there's 3 railway companies involved, SWR, GWR and Southern. I know from recent experience that SWR staff haven't a clue if asked about GWR services, even though they both travel between Salisbury and Southampton ....

Luckily, Gillingham (Dorset) is classified as a "rural" station, so there aren't the draconian rules about which trains you can and cannot use for your return journey if travelling back from Waterloo.

I've never needed to get involved with "ticket-splitting" either, thank goodness .... although my Doncaster-based mate swears by something called a Derbyshire Wayfarer Day Rover; apparently he can travel from Sheffield to Burton-on-Trent for just £6.30, so regularly splits tickets there!

Train travel is still pretty expensive down here if you go in the London direction - £26.05 day return to Woking and that's with an Oldies Railcard. It must be not far off cheaper to drive. In the other direction, only £16.45 for a trip to Torquay!

[Kaz]

I would re-nationalise. British Rail had its faults, the sandwiches for one thing , but I don't remember having to take out a second mortgage to pay for my fairly frequent journeys down from York to see my parents, back in the early '80s

[AliasAggers]

I would re-nationalise.

So would I. I don't know why train fares have to be so damned complicated now.
They used to be simple and understandable once.

[victor]

as for Ossie's remarks ref train companies here -the ticket i bought said SWR but the coaches were actually GWR so obviously they use one another's rolling stock.
I dread to think what foreigners think of our rail system.

Another time in Birmingham New Street we were told Platform 9 for our train ,while on the platform everyone else made a run for the stairs-we looked puzzled until a guy said "the train is now on platform 11" .So where's that then ??

Agree with Kaz -re nationalize.