Your Operator of the Year 2023

[Class15]

Best: C2C - I use both them and Greater Anglia fairly regularly however just find C2C to end up with less disruption in my experience overall.

C2C is brilliant. I don’t use them much but if I did, they would be at the top.

Honourable mention to Scotrail - When I travelled on their Highland 156 fleet, it was very well maintained!

Big fan of ScotRail, but haven’t used them in 2023.

Most Improved: Avanti - although their delay and cancellation rates are still above what they should be, they have improved leaps and bounds with (in my opinion) slightly improved disruption (as in experiencing less of it) but a great refurb of the Pendos.

Disagree on that - my only Avanti “experience” was true Avanti, a heavily delayed and overcrowded North Wales - London Voyager !!! I now have a policy of finding other routes, often using LNWR to Crewe, which, while slower, is a much more pleasant experience.

Most Worsened: SWR - They are still withdrawing their metro fleets (seeing 707’s (No Choice I know) and 458’s (beginning to for now) leave us this year) and the 701’s are still nowhere in sight.

The 701s are in sight, just in sidings and no-one can travel on them! SWR has become a joke among some of my friends.

Worst: TPE - Although they are getting better, they still have a long way to go.

It’s about to get worse again when the Mk5s go.

 

[fusionblue]

Southeastern has to win Most Average, if there was such a thing. Especially in Metro land, the 10+ year streak of "that'll do" has continued uninterrupted. Adding some 707s (realistically 15x 10 car units?) is just tinkering around the edges. No staff, ticket offices rarely open, and Delay Repay was near weekly - up until they declined me and I switched to walking and using TFL services from a cheaper zone instead, out of sheer irritation. I'm spending less money and getting substantially more exercise by using Southeastern less - that's a win for me.

The Thameslink Programme was the right opportunity to fix some things but instead NR double tracked a fly down to introduce a second potential conflict to the Fast Up, allow Rainham services to conflict with all Cannon Street tracks and called it complete.

A lot of recent things are down to DFT decree but "that'll do" stretches back to the Olympics.

 

[wimbledonpete]

Southeastern are the only company I use regularly, and I find them pretty good, but that's probably because I commute on HS1 and use main line services around Kent, which are generally pretty reliable. I understand that the suburban operation isn't as good. HS1 services are definitely getting busier, especially the first off-peak services to London which can be standing room only from Folkestone, and definitely from Ashford.

What I always find really impressive, though, is the turnround at St Pancras when things are running late - have experienced several times a train arriving at around its departure time, tipping out, all of us getting on and it leaving again within 2-3 minutes. More serious delays are pretty rare and if they do occur Delay Repay is very easy to claim.

 

[mangyiscute]

Worst - GWR. The staff are invariably lovely, Pullman dining is ace but a 50% delay repay record really grates, especially when it extends a 3h15 min journey to well over 5 on a Friday night when you just want to get home

Interesting - I must have submitted at least 20 delay repay claims to gwr over the past year and every single one has been accepted with only one where I had to email them to clarify something, which was fairly quickly resolved

 

[JamieL]

Interesting - I must have submitted at least 20 delay repay claims to gwr over the past year and every single one has been accepted with only one where I had to email them to clarify something, which was fairly quickly resolved

I read his post as meaning 50% of journeys qualified for a delay repay - that certainly tallies with my experience on Avanti. I have never had a delay repay claim rejected.

 

[MKJai]

Southeastern has to win Most Average, if there was such a thing. Especially in Metro land, the 10+ year streak of "that'll do" has continued uninterrupted. Adding some 707s (realistically 15x 10 car units?) is just tinkering around the edges. No staff, ticket offices rarely open, and Delay Repay was near weekly - up until they declined me and I switched to walking and using TFL services from a cheaper zone instead, out of sheer irritation. I'm spending less money and getting substantially more exercise by using Southeastern less - that's a win for me.

The Thameslink Programme was the right opportunity to fix some things but instead NR double tracked a fly down to introduce a second potential conflict to the Fast Up, allow Rainham services to conflict with all Cannon Street tracks and called it complete.

A lot of recent things are down to DFT decree but "that'll do" stretches back to the Olympics.

TL should go to Maidstone East instead, not Dartford & Rainham.

The SE Metro area is already too congested and couldn't accommodate TL well.

Southeastern are the only company I use regularly, and I find them pretty good, but that's probably because I commute on HS1 and use main line services around Kent, which are generally pretty reliable. I understand that the suburban operation isn't as good. HS1 services are definitely getting busier, especially the first off-peak services to London which can be standing room only from Folkestone, and definitely from Ashford.

What I always find really impressive, though, is the turnround at St Pancras when things are running late - have experienced several times a train arriving at around its departure time, tipping out, all of us getting on and it leaving again within 2-3 minutes. More serious delays are pretty rare and if they do occur Delay Repay is very easy to claim.

SE Mainline & HS1 services are not bad at all as they don't really need to share tracks with other operators. I can think of those Channel Tunnel freights only. (Should I also mention Eurostar? Also Southern at Hastings & Ashford only?)

But in the London suburb... there are Thameslink, London Overground, freights from Grain & Tonbridge... those areas are too congested.

 

[Trainguy34]

TL should go to Maidstone East instead, not Dartford & Rainham.

The SE Metro area is already too congested and couldn't accommodate TL well.


SE Mainline & HS1 services are not bad at all as they don't really need to share tracks with other operators. I can think of those Channel Tunnel freights only. (Should I also mention Eurostar?)

But in the London suburb... there are Thameslink, London Overground, freights from Grain & Tonbridge... those areas are too congested.

And Dollands Moor / Chunnel that goes via Tonbridge mainly.

 

[MKJai]

I'm only going to comment on TOCs I have used more than a few times this year.

Best: LNER and Chiltern. Chiltern have been 100% for me, and on the occasions when my LNER trains have had issues it has almost always been due to infrastructure issues. LNER First Class is excellent value.

Worst: EMR. Used them six times with a 50% farce ratio. Though kudos to the one conductor who was more than helpful when I ended up with a ticket which wasn't for the one I was one, due to my own incompetence.
A quick shout out to LNR, however, for providing a last train from Birmingham to Rugby, Northampton and points south, on a Saturday night, when the Brum German Market was on ... with 4 coaches. At least I know what those Japanese train stuffing operations feel like now, except with drunks instead of commuters.

Most improved: Avanti. Whilst I'd still trust LNER over them for our Anglo-Scottish journeys, and their FC isn't as good, at least they have managed to not screw up nearly every time I've used them this year, which definitely wasn't the case in 2022.

I sent a complaint to LM for their short form services, they apologised and claimed that the problem was due to the lack of depot spaces to accommodate the orange livery 730s.

LM service in this year is really frustrating. If someone asks me the operator of the years 2021 & 2022 I would definitely choose LM for their punctuality and comfort of the 350s (2+2 seating only).

If you also say that EMR is the worst, is there something going wrong in Abellio?

And Dollands Moor / Chunnel that goes via Tonbridge mainly.

Dollands Moor services via Tonbridge don't create too much trouble at all as they don't need to shunt & propell there, but the freights coming into/out of the Tonbridge Yard.

 

[Amos]

I don’t really use a great variety of operators,so won’t give a best/worst vote just some observations.
Like others,on the few occasions I have used Greater Anglia I have found them to be extremely good.Clean,modern trains,friendly and helpful staff, and I have always been able to find a seat.
Avanti have come on in leaps and bounds,though they still seem to be incredibly expensive.
LNWR seem to be going rapidly downhill.Whilst I appreciate that the Marston Vale issues were not entirely their fault there looks to be little effort to improve matters.Services on the WCML are frequently packed to the rafters, and their customer service is none existent.
I have only used TPE once or twice, but admit that I was actually quite impressed with them.I liked their modern trains and found them good value for money, though if I were using them more regularly suspect that my opinion might change.

 

[MKJai]

I don’t really use a great variety of operators,so won’t give a best/worst vote just some observations.
Like others,on the few occasions I have used Greater Anglia I have found them to be extremely good.Clean,modern trains,friendly and helpful staff, and I have always been able to find a seat.
Avanti have come on in leaps and bounds,though they still seem to be incredibly expensive.
LNWR seem to be going rapidly downhill.Whilst I appreciate that the Marston Vale issues were not entirely their fault there looks to be little effort to improve matters.Services on the WCML are frequently packed to the rafters, and their customer service is none existent.
I have only used TPE once or twice, but admit that I was actually quite impressed with them.I liked their modern trains and found them good value for money, though if I were using them more regularly suspect that my opinion might change.

I used TPE several times this year including their 185, 397 & 802, and I would say the seat in their 802 is the least hard by comparing with other operators using the same.

 

[occone]

Best: Greater Anglia. Hands down. Fast, reliable, and an excellent fleet of new trains. Always a pleasure to travel with them.

Hear hear! My exact thoughts, plus:

On the 745/755s at least, level boarding - a true rarity on our network. No weightlifting luggage up to the train or giant leaps for mankind getting onto the platform. It benefits everyone not least people in wheelchairs can go about their day without requiring someone else to do something.

Plus the 745s have a really nice buffet counter, a good range of snacks and very friendly staff every time.

GA should be a model for other TOCs.

Last has to be XC. Consistently poor service, old trains that are very rattly and noisy for an inter city offering, dated interiors, still packed regularly; it's the absolute runt of the litter. Sadly hilarious that they bounce 4 and 5 coaches between Penzance and Edinburgh. And it seems like every Voyager has a busted window somewhere on it, steamed up or growing a tropical ecosystem between the double glazing.

 

[SteveHFC]

I've only been back as a regular train user since August when I changed jobs. Only used Thameslink, so don't have anything to compare it against, but I've had very few problems, and those that have occurred (ignoring strikes & overtime ban weeks) have mostly been down to infrastructure issues - which aren't GTR's fault.

 

[GatwickDepress]

Southeastern has to win Most Average, if there was such a thing. Especially in Metro land, the 10+ year streak of "that'll do" has continued uninterrupted. Adding some 707s (realistically 15x 10 car units?) is just tinkering around the edges. No staff, ticket offices rarely open, and Delay Repay was near weekly - up until they declined me and I switched to walking and using TFL services from a cheaper zone instead, out of sheer irritation. I'm spending less money and getting substantially more exercise by using Southeastern less - that's a win for me.

The Thameslink Programme was the right opportunity to fix some things but instead NR double tracked a fly down to introduce a second potential conflict to the Fast Up, allow Rainham services to conflict with all Cannon Street tracks and called it complete.

A lot of recent things are down to DFT decree but "that'll do" stretches back to the Olympics.

Even out in the wild and untamed lands of the Hastings line, they've been nothing beyond 'okay' on every conceivable metric. If railway companies were meat substitutes, Southeastern would be Quorn.

 

[MikeWM]

One more vote for GA here. The number of times they have to pick up the pieces around here when GN's service collapses is admirable - and they do so with apparent ease. Unlike GN, they're good at service recovery when things go wrong, too. They have good staff and well-looked after stations (at least on the WAML side, with which I'm obviously more familiar). Shame the 720s aren't better fitted-out internally, but I suppose you can't have everything.

Worst will have to be GTR I guess. When things work, they're fine, but things don't work far too often, and they are very poor at service recovery once anything at all does go wrong. And that's before we get to their performance on strike/not-quite-strike days, when they've been very rubbish indeed.

 

[WelshBluebird]

Out of the ones I've used regularly this year (GWR, XC and TfW), I'll be honest I am struggling to come out with a "best". If anything it feels like everything has gone downhill a bit!

GWR have added some extra services which are useful, but at the expense of the short formation of other services (not helped by the forced removal of some of their rolling stock).

XC have reinstated most of their pre-covid services (at least down my way), but again at the expense of the short formation of other services (again not helped by the forced removal of some of their rolling stock).

TfW are continuing the process of improving their infrastructure with the goal of improving services, but the reality of that has been incredibly painful with poor replacement bus operations, significant strain on their existing rolling stock and generally just being in a worse place than before (though granted this will start to change pretty quickly next year hopefully).

 

[43066]

SE the best for me, whose metro operation is consistently reliable, despite the ageing stock and complex network.

TL the worst, based on unreliability and lack of resilience of the core. Drivers also seem to be fairly unwilling to make announcements in contrast to other DOO operators (again SE do well here). Perhaps it’s because of the reliance on automatic on-train displays on the 700s.

 

[sh24]

I read his post as meaning 50% of journeys qualified for a delay repay - that certainly tallies with my experience on Avanti. I have never had a delay repay claim rejected.

yes that's what I meant...no issues in GWR paying out. Just that I seem to getting a lot of payouts and would rather be on time!

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

An operator that often gets overlooked. They seem to do a pretty good job on the whole.

They get overlooked because if you don’t live on their patch they’re almost completely useless unless you fancy a weekend trip to Southend, (which can also be dealt with by GA.)

 

[ENC Rail]

Best: LNER or Northern
Worst: Avanti (based on reliablilty)

 

[ScotGG]

Best: Greater Anglia

Runner up: Scotrail

Worst: Southeastern. The Metro network remains a shambles. Barely staffed, most trains in dismal state and cuts have greatly harmed obvious growth prospects such as connecting to Elizabeth line from Kent and southeast London. It's impressive how poor they are.

They well and truly put the "London gets the best" myth to bed. My days living in Northern land saw trains in generally better condition than the shambles of south eastern in the London area.

Apparently the hs and long distance are ok. No idea but they clearly don't care at all about the Metro and suburban routes.

SE the best for me, whose metro operation is consistently reliable, despite the ageing stock and complex network.

TL the worst, based on unreliability and lack of resilience of the core. Drivers also seem to be fairly unwilling to make announcements in contrast to other DOO operators (again SE do well here). Perhaps it’s because of the reliance on automatic on-train displays on the 700s.

You can hear the drivers on SE? Most of the time the speakers seem broken. Muffled noise.

It's easier to run a network when you cut services so much leaving a very thin service.

 

[D1537]

I sent a complaint to LM for their short form services, they apologised and claimed that the problem was due to the lack of depot spaces to accommodate the orange livery 730s.

See, that excuse doesn't ring true, because this isn't the first time this has happened to me recently, and there are 8-car formations happily swanning around all day full of fresh air - but then when it comes to services that anyone could have predicted would have been really busy (and with people who have been drinking all night to boot) ... just a 4.

 

[Oxfordblues]

GBRf. Under the inspired leadership of veteran CEO John Smith (who joined BR in 1977) the business has grown exponentially thanks to imaginative innovation, a can-do approach and a committed workforce.

 

[CyrusWuff]

Worst: Great Northern, specifically the Inner Suburban routes where they're still only running 2tph off-peak on weekdays (down from 4tph in Winter 2019.)

Biggest fall from grace: Chiltern, with their 1tph to Birmingham for much of the day at weekends, resulting in massive overcrowding, and significantly increased journey time to Oxford due to most services now being operated by 165s instead of 168s and having additional stops added.

 

[railfan99]

Northern would be the worst, can't think of anything they do well.

Perhaps I was lucky - there were other trains that were cancelled - but Northern got me (as a September 2023 foreign visitor) to a number of branch line destinations punctually and reliably.

Its conductor/guards by and large were diligent (checking heaps of tickets) and friendly.

 

[yorksrob]

As for Northern, on some lines its done well or even improved this year.

Sadly my local line's deteriorated significantly, so no chance from me.

 

[The Prisoner]

Worst - Avanti: yes I get they have improved, but anyone on the Chester and N Wales coast will tell you we are the first to be ex communicated if there is any issue on their network. Ah....but you have lots of options changing at Crewe I hear you cry.......no we really don't: the skipping of Crewe by the Glasgow via Trent Valley services reduces connectivity significantly and if the once hourly, but now far-less-frequent Avanti service from Chester is cancelled (and some days 50% of them are) you are left with 2 x 153s from TfW picking up the slack from a 5-10 car Voyager to get you to Crewe. Often that is the shuttle which started at Chester, so it is a bigger pair of swinging fingers to those further west on the coast.

Travelled down to London last week and the 1232 was cancelled from Chester on Wednesday. Travelling back on Monday night this week missed the 1902 direct (due to a plane being late) so joined the retimed 1907 Liverpool change at Crewe now timed to take the 1943 Liverpool slot - sat down only to be told it was now running fast and non-stop to Liverpool and to join the 2002 service to Crewe, which usually goes to Holyhead, but was terminating at Crewe due to staff shortages, so it was a bus from there (this was in the timetable, assumedly as one of the "we can't do December" Avanti changes). 25 late into Crewe and then the bus driver told to wait for other services (despite being half an hour after his booked departure time and having connected with the service it was suppose to). Got home at around midnight into Chester in the end.

Ironic thing is that the 1907 (retimed 1943) lost a further 10 minutes on the way to Liverpool, but would have connected with the 2136 TfW from Crewe to Bangor, so for the sake of some half baked decision (skip Crewe and also Runcorn, which seemed even more odd) several coach loads of people were forced onto a magical mystery coach trip along the North Wales coast into the wee small hours.

This unfortunately is typical of Avanti.

Best - shout to Merseyrail who just get on with it. It works and you don't notice them. Probably the benefits of a self contained network.

 

[Babybirdrobin]

Disagree on that - my only Avanti “experience” was true Avanti, a heavily delayed and overcrowded North Wales - London Voyager !!! I now have a policy of finding other routes, often using LNWR to Crewe, which, while slower, is a much more pleasant experience.

Fair enough, I haven’t used them much and to be honest I am thinking of travelling along the WCML and avoiding Avanti myself.

The 701s are in sight, just in sidings and no-one can travel on them!

That is very true, look great sitting in sidings but I bet they won‘t be so when they enter service!

It’s about to get worse again when the Mk5s go.

Yep, at least they should have enough 185s for when the MK5 sets go with the reduced timetable but with less sets and a training backlog with fixing First’s shenanigans, that may not end up actually being true as more sets does not equal ability for a better service with training requirements and the actual fleet availability on a day to day basis and maintenance and so on.

 

[moonarrow458]

From personal experience id likely say Thameslink is one of the Worst TOCs at least within the Southeast, extremely overcrowded trains especially on the Brighton Mainline at Weekends, frequent cancellations, big issues with antisocial behaviour on their "metro routes" Rainham, Sevenoaks, Sutton, not helped by being entirely DOO, units covered in graffiti, windows etched and toilets covered from floor to ceiling in graffiti. Not a pleasant user experience.

And as for being a 24/7 operator for Luton and Gatwick Airports, they are a disgrace, frequent cancellations of their overnight services, depended upon by airport workers and travellers alike, in some cases i have seen almost all the overnight Bedford to Three bridges services cancelled. Personally i now never rely on Thameslink for getting to Luton Aiport, whilst for early morning flights at Gatwick they are often the only option now, with national express being super infrequent. The axing of overnight services from Victoria with Southern and Gatwick Express is much lamented, as they could actually be relied upon to run, unlike Thameslink. And thats without mentioning the extortionate fares charged by Thameslink for journeys to Luton. And yes i am aware technically the TOC is GTR encompassing TL, SN, and GN, but i have little reason to complain about Southern and hardly use GN, hence me specifically picking out Thameslink

By contrast Greater Anglia with its modern fleet particularly the flirts which are a huge uplift from a singular 153 on the rural routes, and even the 745s being a suitable replacement for mk3s, are probably one of the best. Sure the 720s are rather poor quality and the aisles so narrow its practically a hazard. In my experience GA usually try to pull out all the stops to make sure early and late Stansted Express services run, even if said services have to be diverted or run significantly late.

Meanwhile Chiltern have had a huge fall from grace with their 2023 cuts being particularly severe. Oxford services relegated to 165s almost exclusively, Aylesbury via Wycombe services reduced to a shuttle to and from Princes Risborough. Birmingham services cut back in many cases to hourly with no more Kidderminster, and many services to and from Stourbridge depot running ECS vice passenger. Stratford Upon Avon being reduced to a Leamington Spa shuttle all day, excluding the last train to Banbury. And thats before we discuss their outer london stations who have long been in need of a metro service of at least 2tph which even when Chiltern had the 172s never materialised. But now the likes of South Ruislip (SB) and West Ruislip (NB) and Denham Golf Club have been reduced to 2 hourly off peak, with the removal of the Gerrards Cross stopper. Its quite frankly ridiculous and is a mockery of a timetable, a 2hourly service within greater london is essentially useless. Can only hope for electrificstion of the Chiltern route from Marylebone to at least Aylesbury via Amersham and Wycombe in the future to turn the tide of what seems to be a managed decline

 

[renegademaster]

Southern have coped really well with getting rid of the 455s tbf, reliability is still pretty good and 377s are genuinely very good trains

 

[moonarrow458]

Southern have coped really well with getting rid of the 455s tbf, reliability is still pretty good and 377s are genuinely very good trains

Aside from Slashing their Metro services, Milton keynes services cut back to Watford and occaisonally Hemel, Dorking/Horsham semi fasts scrapped and merged with the all stations Epsom stoppers and are frequently 4-5 cars vs 8-10 previously. Caterham down to 2tph from 4tph and no peak hour extras, off peak 2tph Victoria to Sutton via Selhurst scrapped, the annerley corridor East Croydon to London Bridge service scrapped entirely, causing severe crowding on LO. And then generally reduced formations on their other routes. Its just lucky that the 377s are as good and reliable as they are as it would be a whole lot worse for them.