CROSS COUNTRY'S INFAMOUS VOYAGERS! Birmingham - Oxford review
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 พ.ค. 2022
- Hello and welcome back to another trip report, today I’m travelling from Birmingham new street to Oxford with cross country
Date of travel: 06/04/22
TOC: Crosscountry
Rolling stock: class 220
Class of travel: standard
Origin: Birmingham New Street
Destination: Oxford
Length of journey: 1hr 9m
on time
www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk/...
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Another good video Daniel… as is a common problem with these trains, overcrowding and poor facilities, during Covid it was 8/9 car voyagers operating instead of 4/5 cars, now that they’ve gone back to normal times it’s gone back to 4/5 cars, it must be to do with more services coming back and needing to facilitate that but how the hell do you go from maximum carriages when no one was travelling, to cramped 4-5 cars when everyone starts travelling again, like what on earth is the logic in that… I connect through Stockport every day on my commute and while I wait for my train (a TFW) a Cross country voyager formed of 4-5 coaches every time arrives, operates Piccadilly-Bournemouth and every day it is rammed, vestibule areas are packed, people standing down the middle of the train, had a mate who got on that train today and was thankfully only going 1 stop down the line, messaged me later saying it’s the worst journey he’s ever been on… its unacceptable….. the onboard experience as well in one of the worst I’ve experienced in the country, old, dated interiors, i find it clean however it’s just dated, plugs barely work and the overhead lights never work…
Very nice video ☺️👍
Grettings from Poland
The trouble with these trains is overcrowding. Before the pandemic there was a half hour service between Birmingham and Oxford, but since then the trains have run every hour with two units. Of these hourly services, only every other service continues from Oxford to Southampton and Bournemouth, which effectively halves the capacity of the service and only provides a train every two hours, instead of every 30 minutes. There are alternative services, but these involve changes at Reading and Basingstoke. The Voyagers were built at a time when there were many fewer train passengers than there are today and capacity was OK for its time.
Great video as always Daniel
Great video Daniel 👍
I hate Birmingham New Street station with a passion. It's designed to look nice rather than be practical. The different lounges and requirement to go through multiple ticket barriers for some connections is awful design, particular for those with luggage, children or accessibility needs. It screams of being designed for shopping first and travel second.
The voyagers aren't too bad but they're really showing their age and it's always seemed abundantly clear to me that Arriva don't give a damn about the passenger experience. The service pattern has never returned to normal following COVID, the trains aren't anything like long enough for the routes they serve, the fares are largely extortionate and all in all it seems to me that Arriva break anything they touch in the UK rail market.
Great video-
Avanti West Coast Class 221 Voyagers are also noisy but have been refurbished but are to be replaced by the Class 805 Bi-Mode. And the East Midlands Railway Class 222 Meridian are also noisy but have been refurbished.
Cool video how did you reserve a seat and how tall are you 😀
Do Hereford To Weymouth Or Bath spa. I would love that
Going to do a freedom of the southwest rail rover soon so will definitely cover that route soon!
I went on it before never again way tooooooo busy
A very comfortable train but still far too short. Hopefully Avanti's voyagers will go to Cross Country. I stopped using Cross Country long distance services many years ago.
good video but you didn't seem to put the menu in the description
Think you're mistaken mate
@@danielstripreports oh i guess youtube is playing up for me
Is the Avanti West Coast lounge at Birmingham good?
It's pretty nice but rather small
@@danielstripreports Also, is it worth paying £30 extra for a Avanti first class upgrade for 1 hr 45 mins from Birmingham?
@@Daniel27600 Better ride in Standard. Not even Standard Premium
£30 extra is a bit tight, but honestly I'd say it is worth it, free breakfast/ meal, lounge access at both ends, a more comfortable seat and a guaranteed plug socket makes worth it. Standard premium is also an option, for £15 extra. I have a review on first-class as well as standard premium on the channel if you'd like some extra info on the products.
@@danielstripreports The access at the terminal lounge isnt permitted anymore!
Last time i checked it was now only 1 hour at the departure station
avanti are selling their voyagers sadly
Sadly?!
@@danielstripreports yes, avantis voyagers are amazing
@@danielstripreports Avanti West Coast are replacing the voyagers with class 805s and 807s