| How would YOU solve CrossCountry ? Posted by lbraine at 16:10, 15th June 2026 |     |
I have had the misfortune of having to use/rely on CrossCountry trains 5 times in the last month.
I managed to secure my pre-booked seat on just one of those trains.
Every single train was late departing - from as little as 15 minutes to 50 minutes.
Every single train was ‘full and standing’ - actually overflowing with people standing in the toilets on one mid-morning Reading to Birmingham New Street service (we actually bailed at Birmingham International as we worked out out TfW connection commenced there - and we just wanted off the Class 221 tubular hell hole.
Given passenger levels the need from some kind of non-London routing to get around the country is definitely needed and desired. But - given recent experiences (and previous) I wonder how GBR should look at revisit the whole cross country design.
Better trains (and longer) trains - 4 or 5 car 221s just don’t seem to cut it ?
Faster trains, better acceleration )- less station stops, moving to a major centre to centre service ?
Consider an alternative hub than Birmingham New Street (trains just seem routinely to sit for 5 mins outside waiting for a platform - and a discussion on Wolverhampton station with a staff member indicated the development of the West Midlands Metro is only going to make things worse) ?
Mandate pre-booking only - no turn up and go tickets for sale (radical I know) ?
What ideas have YOU had to solve the Cross Country issue(s)?
I fully admit that my experience has been limited to the south and west routes of CC - is it equally as bad elsewhere on their network ?
| Re: How would YOU solve CrossCountry ? Posted by MVR S&T at 17:24, 15th June 2026 | |
10 car 800 series trains, as most of cross country is under the wires anyway, capacity, toilets in one go...
| Re: How would YOU solve CrossCountry ? Posted by CyclingSid at 17:37, 15th June 2026 | |
I think it probably depends which part of their network you use. I find the service that covers Reading to Bournemouth is generally acceptable. One improvement could be if the looked at the number of cruise ships/passengers scheduled at Southampton. It is published a year in advance I believe, putting a 4-car train on when there five cruise ships scheduled is a likely recipe for disgruntlement.
| Re: How would YOU solve CrossCountry ? Posted by ChrisB at 20:09, 15th June 2026 | |
10 car 800 series trains, as most of cross country is under the wires anyway, capacity, toilets in one go...
That'd be the end of Coventry - Bournemouth then. And University - South West.
No, longer trains, more limited stop, I reckon. Run the 221s as doubles & get 8xx stock for one side of the 'X' or the other as a step-change replacement. But the local stops need service spec in place of the removed stops.
