What's the most grim rail service available in the UK?

[NoMorePacers]

Reminds me of a book about c**p towns, Kingston upon Hull and Alresford were mentioned, but people loved the towns they claimed to hate, I guess that does not apply here

The passenger lines out of Hull don't go through the "proper" grim parts (which are mostly east of the railway) so the view out of the window isn't too bad.

 

[Ianno87]

Sittingbourne to Sheerness (even though quite a frequent service) has always struck me as pretty grim. Individual highlights like the steelworks have gone but the overall picture is just so uninspiring unless you catch a glimpse of a Thames Sailing Barge on The Swale. And when you arrive in Sheerness the area's two claims to fame are being the first to abandon electric trams (over 100 years ago) and a sunken shipload of high explosives that could detonate and flood the entire place with a tsunami at any moment.

Beat me to it.

 

[Western Sunset]

Teignmouth to Dawlish - just a boring view of some sandstone cliffs and netting to stop rock falls. Better on the other side though...

 

[8J]

Birkenhead Central - Spital I find grim.

 

[philosopher]

Moorgate to Highbury and Islington, view consists of nothing but a black wall and until recently the trains were pretty grim too.

 

[David Goddard]

The approaches to some of the London terminals are pretty grim, Liverpool Street a case in point, and similar could be said for some other major stations like Liverpool Lime Street, which once there is a great contrast to the last mile in.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

None of this compares to the Central line at rush hour, where the trains are so physically full that you can't actually board the first 10 trains.

That's true. And when it comes to the view out the windows - I'm not sure anything can be worse than the constant blackness of tunnel for a good half hour. Perhaps Northern line Morden-Highgate should win there for the sheer length of time in tunnel. And add a bit of grimness for those bits of the line where the train always makes deafening screeching noises. Add in longitudinal seating and no luggage space. The only thing where it fails the grimness test is that the trains are very frequent - and usually reliable.

 

[Megafuss]

Newcastle to Middlesbrough via the Durham Coast

Travels through Sunderland ✓

Multi coloured water pools and a Mad Max landscape between Seaton Carew and Billingham✓

One train an hour when the far superior bus service operates twice an hour and is cheaper✓

Saturday overcrowding✓

It's Northern✓

 

[DB]

Newcastle to Middlesbrough via the Durham Coast

Travels through Sunderland ✓

Multi coloured water pools and a Mad Max landscape between Seaton Carew and Billingham✓

One train an hour when the far superior bus service operates twice an hour and is cheaper✓

Saturday overcrowding✓

It's Northern✓

I quite like that line - interesting, it's interesting, in a bleak way.

Sunderland may not be the greatest place, but there are a lot worse!

 

[xotGD]

Newcastle to Middlesbrough via the Durham Coast

Travels through Sunderland ✓

Multi coloured water pools and a Mad Max landscape between Seaton Carew and Billingham✓

One train an hour when the far superior bus service operates twice an hour and is cheaper✓

Saturday overcrowding✓

It's Northern✓

And worst of all, takes you to Middlesbrough!

 

[TXMISTA]

I actually quite like that, just as I do the approaches to the south London termini - it's more interesting than grim, with huge amounts of stuff going on. I suppose it's the UK's Ruhrgebiet.

The approach to Paddington, on the other hand, is just unpleasant. There's something about west London, it's just swathe after swathe of grimness.

You’ve obviously never been to East London if you think West London is that “grim”.

 

[55002]

You’ve obviously never been to East London if you think West London is that “grim”.

haha that’s what I thought...no redeeming features there

 

[DorkingMain]

I quite like that line - interesting, it's interesting, in a bleak way.

Sunderland may not be the greatest place, but there are a lot worse!

I like Sunderland just because of the bizarre layout, and the shared track north of the station. Also feels very odd to be "underground" there, even more so when it had HSTs

Moorgate to Highbury and Islington, view consists of nothing but a black wall and until recently the trains were pretty grim too.

Essex Road station has to be one of the most rubbish stations in London. You enter through a side entrance in a building that looks closed, go down in a lift, along a corridor, and up some stairs to come to a small platform in a tunnel. Feels rather like entering a secret base.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Sheffield to Doncaster on Northern locals. A service which seems to mostly be used by David Firth characters.

Any EMR service using Meridian units, surely the most "unloved" trains on the network.

 

[thenorthern]

Crewe to Derby is pretty grim, it's one of the few lines that has a worse service compared to 20 years ago.

I don't know why but many of the local services around Doncaster and Teesside seem grim.

 

[Journeyman]

Grim in terms of the experience? Paddington (or wherever it connects now) to Greenford. Slow and through the nastiest, most run-down parts of West London imaginable.

Improving it would require demolishing most of the surrounding area and starting again.

Only goes from Greenford to West Ealing now. I did it recently and was surprised by how slowly it crawls along.

 

[johntea]

Leeds to Knottingley via Wakefield is a line I certainly wouldn't fancy too much after dark, starts off OK with a call at Wakefield Westgate but then Wakefield Kirkgate, Streethouse, Featherstone, Pontefract Tanshelf, Pontefract Monkhill and Knottingley, OK a slightly biased opinion with me living in the 'Five Towns' area and probably making it sound a lot worse than it actually is

 

[DorkingMain]

Only goes from Greenford to West Ealing now. I did it recently and was surprised by how slowly it crawls along.

I can't believe it survived tbh, especially as they had to reconstruct the up bay at West Ealing for it

 

[LowLevel]

None of this compares to the Central line at rush hour, where the trains are so physically full that you can't actually board the first 10 trains.
I don't get the moaning about castlefield, so you had to stand and were delayed for a few minutes? So what that's pretty normal for rush hour.
Plus it's nowhere as busy as London Bridge or East Croydon, to name a few.

Delayed by a few minutes pre COVID quite often turned into delayed by 20 minutes as train after train runs in front of you, losing your path to 3000 tonnes of Derbyshire at Chinley, waiting for it to grind through the Dore Curve or crew change at Sheffield and then being cancelled at Nottingham.

Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt far too many times.

 

[Jozhua]

Yes, true. You only have to look at DB IC/non-HS ICE for what XC could be (Germany's demand is very distributed and not single-city-centric like our other IC operations), and it doesn't even come close to muster.

They have good services between all their regional centres???

Can't comprehend.

The problem with Castlefield is less the individual services and more the fact that a problem on it (which there is most days in some form) knackers the punctuality of services most of the way across the North because so much goes through it.

I wouldn't say that most of the individual services that pass through it are all that grim.

Some are okay, the maligned EMR services and the stuff up to Southport can be pretty rubbish though.

None of this compares to the Central line at rush hour, where the trains are so physically full that you can't actually board the first 10 trains.
I don't get the moaning about castlefield, so you had to stand and were delayed for a few minutes? So what that's pretty normal for rush hour.
Plus it's nowhere as busy as London Bridge or East Croydon, to name a few.

Yeah, the trains on Castlefield are so physically full you can't fit on them (pre-covid), this is very standard in Manchester for rush hour, difference is, trains to where people are going are not a few minutes apart but often as infrequent as once per hour.

The fact it isn't as busy as the central line or London Bridge, yet people are left behind on platforms and delays are a given shows how shocking it really is. Remember, Oxford Road has the most delays of any mainline station in the county by a decent margin. Over 70% of services are delayed/cancelled.

Obviously London isn't perfect and I think the level of investment is justified. Crossrail IS needed to increase capacity on the tube. However, the rest of the country ALSO needs to see investment. The projects in London, especially junction realignments, etc, do really improve things, so doing that to the rest of the networks pinch points would help.

For a long, slow service you need lots of capacity, high comfort and good on-board facilities like catering as well as space to use laptops etc.

XC has none of those lol.

I guess it does have the advantage of doing 125mph sometimes.

Under normal circumstances it's safe to assume that everything between birmingham and the South Coast on XC is crammed (Not just that though)

In my experience, the Northern section is worse, but usually I head towards Bristol after Brum.

Crewe to Derby is pretty grim, it's one of the few lines that has a worse service compared to 20 years ago.

I don't know why but many of the local services around Doncaster and Teesside seem grim.

Oh yeah! How did I miss it. A rammed full class 153, through the noisest tunnel in the world near Stoke.

Delayed by a few minutes pre COVID quite often turned into delayed by 20 minutes as train after train runs in front of you, losing your path to 3000 tonnes of Derbyshire at Chinley, waiting for it to grind through the Dore Curve or crew change at Sheffield and then being cancelled at Nottingham.

Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt far too many times.

I totally feel your pain, as I have been there too. I don't know why a relatively short distance between Manchester and Derby/Nottingham turns into some ridiculous saga.

 

[Whistler40145]

Around Motherwell is hardly scenic nor is Grimsby

 

[Iskra]

My nominations would be the Blackpool South line, Saltburn line or Grimsby-Cleethorpes.

Leeds to Knottingley via Wakefield is a line I certainly wouldn't fancy too much after dark, starts off OK with a call at Wakefield Westgate but then Wakefield Kirkgate, Streethouse, Featherstone, Pontefract Tanshelf, Pontefract Monkhill and Knottingley, OK a slightly biased opinion with me living in the 'Five Towns' area and probably making it sound a lot worse than it actually is

The expectation of waiting around at Wakefield Kirkgate after dark isn't great, but in reality I've had zero problems while doing it.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

The approaches to some of the London terminals are pretty grim, Liverpool Street a case in point, and similar could be said for some other major stations like Liverpool Lime Street, which once there is a great contrast to the last mile in.

There is pressure from DfT to NR to improve the railway public realm - especially graffiti removal. The approaches to Liverpool St are basically trashed - always some graffiti around but I suppose the proximity to Hoxton and Brick Lane (major graffiti "public galleries must be an impact) , what is particularly galling is that the "muniment" display of some of the architectural features / stonework from the old demolished Liverpool Street has been allowed to become a buddleia and tagged shambles. Not good enough and a terrible "welcome to the city" - (and I suspect before people start shouting about "no access" , some of this could be removed as easily as the vandals paint it on)

In rant mode - the Thameslink core can be pretty grim - especially around Farringdon where there is plenty of rubbish , debris , buddleia etc - not surprising there is the odd tripping out of the OLE. (and again - there are possession opportunities to tackle some of this)

 

[Sean Davidson]

London Liverpool Street to Edmonton Green is awful, drab environment all the way and obvious criminal, gang member types traveling looking threatening.

 

[PeterY]

The grimmest journey I've done, is a 2 car XC 170 , Birmingham New Street to Stansted. Rammed the whole way. Never again but I only rode it to bash the track. Scenery wasn't too bad.

 

[Meerkat]

St Pancras to Stratford and Ebbsfleet (HS1)

What’s wrong with that? It’s fast, on a decent train, and the bit before the Thames tunnel is like a roller coaster.
I walk across London to get HS1 rather than suffer the ugly mess of south east London and all the dubious characters they let on Southeastern trains.

 

[NoMorePacers]

Leeds-Bradford Interchange I find pretty grim to be honest.

 

[Iskra]

Leeds-Bradford Interchange I find pretty grim to be honest.

I agree with that one, nearly mentioned it myself.

 

[Jozhua]

The grimmest journey I've done, is a 2 car XC 170 , Birmingham New Street to Stansted. Rammed the whole way. Never again but I only rode it to bash the track. Scenery wasn't too bad.

Oh yeah, that sounds pretty rough. Those two car 170 formations are a crime against humanity on the routes they run them on...

Along with the rest of XC's fleet, well over capacity 10 years ago.

What’s wrong with that? It’s fast, on a decent train, and the bit before the Thames tunnel is like a roller coaster.
I walk across London to get HS1 rather than suffer the ugly mess of south east London and all the dubious characters they let on Southeastern trains.

Yeah HS1 definitely doesn't pass the grim test lol. Even if the outside looks gross, the trains are half decent and the journey fast!

 

[Chriso]

What’s wrong with that? It’s fast, on a decent train, and the bit before the Thames tunnel is like a roller coaster.
I walk across London to get HS1 rather than suffer the ugly mess of south east London and all the dubious characters they let on Southeastern trains.

Have to agree with this. Many a time pulling in to Ebbsfleet and seeing Northfleet station in the distance reminds me why the high speed supplement is worth paying . The Gravesend - London Bridge services are probably the grimmest on the network spesh past Dartford if going via Slade Green