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Your favourite and least favourite UK rail operators?

Matt.GC said:
Kudos to Hitachi for designing a versatile train around all the disasters the DfT threw at them. They were originally intended to be light in weight and to run up and down fully electrified Great Western and East Coast Mainlines as the 801. Then GWML electrication got cut back massively so they needed the bi-mode 800 with Diesel engines to be fired up after Newbury unless they were heading down the South Wales mainline. Then they didn't work on the steep gradients into Devon and Cornwall and had to be able to sustain lashings of salt water at Dawlish, so the 802 had to be created. Now they're expected to carry the back bone of commuter services in some parts of the country as well.
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Fun fact, on GWR there’s no actual difference between 800s and 802s beyond the fuel tanks being a bit smaller on the 800s. All of the engines on the 800s were remapped to match the 900hp per engine 802 power output for fleet versatility purposes (they were always intended to have the same engine so it was an easy job).

The 800s on LNER however maintain their original 750hp output as all their units spend the majority of their time on electric.
 
Leigh said:
Fun fact, on GWR there’s no actual difference between 800s and 802s beyond the fuel tanks being a bit smaller on the 800s. All of the engines on the 800s were remapped to match the 900hp per engine 802 power output for fleet versatility purposes (they were always intended to have the same engine so it was an easy job).

The 800s on LNER however maintain their original 750hp output as all their units spend the majority of their time on electric.
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Well I never knew that! I knew they made the fuel tanks bigger to go about their business with all the start-stops and gradients in the depths of Devon and Cornwall, but I always under the impression that the 802's had more powerful engines.

I guess it makes sense since they frequently split 2 five car sets from Paddington services at Temple Meads so that they can continue either westward or onto local commuter service duties.
 
Dave said:
Asking which rail company is the best is like asking which type of cancer you would prefer to have, sure some are better than others but they all involve pain and suffering….
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Tbh British Rail wasn't much better...actually since the war, all governments of all colours have really done the railway dirty over the years. Even the SNP here seem to have more interest in spending loads on roads instead of rail. Yes, there have been new rail projects compared to down south but only because the bar was set low that they have nothing to lose...still puny compared to efforts on the continent.
 
Ultimately the issue the UK has is we invented the railway so much of the infrastructure is Victorian and when anyone tries to build a new one the NIMBY’s insist on miles and miles of tunnel.

Add to that the privatisation and it’s always going to be a disaster.
 
We can’t even maintain and upgrade the infrastructure we’ve already got. Look at Bristol - one of the largest cities in the UK and not a single electrified line runs into its central station. Oxford, one of the biggest tourist destinations in the country, has no electrified services whatsoever. Even in England’s second city (Birmingham), one of its most important commuter corridors is still operated exclusively by diesel-only units in the form of the Snow Hill lines.

The last few successive governments have made such a big deal about decarbonisation and improving rail services, but even slinging up a few wires seems like the most monumental task ever. Bath and Bristol already had all the bridge and gauging work done to fit them in before it got cancelled!

And then you have the Voyagers that spend the majority of their time running diesel under the wires on the ECML/WCML, but have zero plans for fleet replacement with bi modes. It’s absurd.
 
Resurrecting this topic once again for a bit of a moan.

Since the HSTs have now fully gone on GWR (despite them begging to keep the trains around a bit longer - DfT were having none of it), the Plymouth to Penzance regional runs are now consistently rammed to an extent I’ve never seen before. Services that were previously run by a 4 coach HST are now expected to make do with a single 150, since their replacements (the 175s) aren’t ready yet, and are standing room only consistently as a result. Meanwhile the HSTs, which were working fine and could’ve hung around for another few months to smooth over the transition, are all gone.

I don’t understand why these decisions keep getting made. There’s no logic to it.
 
Ever since the botched Modernisation plan of the 50s which would culminate in Beaching, every UK Government has always had problems with our rail system, not to mention the well documented story of how we seem to favour road over rail. Also felt that had the Modernisation plan worked as in just a rolling electrification program, major rebuild works works like Dawlish avoiding line, Morperth curve straighten out, early standardisation diesel program with steam limping on a little longer into the early 70s, its possible we might have have different rail system by then.

Maybe if Concorde was cancelled and instead those funds went to an early Channel tunnel project being approved in the mid 60s, its likely an early HS1 would have happened and the big one being that the Great Central railway would have easily been used for HS2 meaning that all going well, you could have high speed running to Scotland by the mid 90s. All quite plausible when you think about it and there would have been no need for the HS2 we are getting as we would have already have gotten it and who knows what project(s) might have been used with that money?
 
Leigh said:
Resurrecting this topic once again for a bit of a moan.

Since the HSTs have now fully gone on GWR (despite them begging to keep the trains around a bit longer - DfT were having none of it), the Plymouth to Penzance regional runs are now consistently rammed to an extent I’ve never seen before. Services that were previously run by a 4 coach HST are now expected to make do with a single 150, since their replacements (the 175s) aren’t ready yet, and are standing room only consistently as a result. Meanwhile the HSTs, which were working fine and could’ve hung around for another few months to smooth over the transition, are all gone.

I don’t understand why these decisions keep getting made. There’s no logic to it.
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When you compare it with how SWR have handled bringing in the 701s by still having the 455s on standby (which was a wise move, considering they have been running most days in 2026 so far) in case they break down is the way to ease in new trains

To answer Matt's original question. LNWR are probably my favourite TOC these days. Fairly cheap-ish (compared to Avanti at least), never crowded when I need to use them, and both their newer 730s and older 350s are nice to use

Least favourite is a contender between Southern (always short formed and never feel as welcoming), Thameslink (the trains are increasingly getting unpleasant to travel on), and Avanti (delays, delays and more delays)
 
New poster to this topic.

Living in Devon, we only have GWR or Cross Country. GWR are definitely the stronger of the two, but do suffer from overcrowding and meagre catering options after they switched from HSTs to the Hitachi IETs. I’ve upgraded via Seatfrog a few times and their first class offer is pretty poor with very limited food and drink options, but their first class carriages are passable albeit a downgrade from the big leather armchairs you used to get on the HSTs. Compared to LNER and the Avanti West Coast offering, GWR are a fair way behind on the customer experience.

Cross Country….where to start. Chronic overcrowding, their trains stink of excrement, and quite frankly I’d rather avoid them completely. They’re a disgrace of a train service in every way and treat every single customer as an inconvenience. They’ll go out of their way to think up any excuse to not offer a catering service.
 
I think my favourite operator is west midlands trains, they have recently got a brand new fleet for most (if not all their services) with new class 730 and class 196 fleet, I find the class 196 quite cramped feeling but I really like the internals of the class 730 as it feels quite nice, open and they are rarely that full you need to stand (at least when I travel)

the worst I think is cross country, always operating a 4 car voyager service on something which used to be like a 9+ car HST set, the amount of times I have had to stand in that door way, in between the toilets I hate it, the only good times I have had are at like 11pm when it was only me on the train, and the only time it wasn't seated. (also the essentially only run diesel under the wires, and have no way of getting any more trains to make up for their pitiful fleet, which some how streches across the entire country

as for electrification, I really wish they would stop pausing it and just do it, it allows for quicker trains, and could mean we can stop running diesel under the wires everywhere, especially in the cargo sector.

Hopefully GBR will allow for better fleet use, and can spread the trains they currently have better, but I have heard many opinions on it and I doubt much will change.
 
I think TOC wise, I've travelled on Northern Trains/Northern Rail, East Midlands Trains/Railway, South West Trains, GWR, C2C, West Midlands Trains, CrossCountry, Greater Anglia, London Overground, Avanti West Coast, Liz Line, Grand Central, LNER, Transpennine Express and WCRC.

Best units in full service use are the Class 139s.
 
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