I travel regularly around the Greater Manchester area and have used First North Western extensively. The route that i am most familiar with is the Glossop to Manchester line. The distance is 12 miles and the journey takes 35 minutes which works out at 20 miles per hour. I'm not sure if George ... Read review
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...Manchester area and have used First North Western extensively. The route that i am most familiar with is the Glossop to Manchester line. The distance is 12 miles and the journey takes 35 minutes which works out at 20 miles per hour. I'm not sure if George Stephenson's Rocket is still running but if it is it will be on this line. In other words it's SLOOOWWWWWW. And pricey. And dirty.
A peak rate single ticket from Glossop to Manchester ... ...clean the train other than first thing in the morning/ last thing at night. This is totally unacceptable public-service.
None of the trains en-route to Manchester have ticket barriers. This means that ticket evasion is widespread. The conductor has to check every single ticket on-board and at least half the people travelling purchase their ticket in this way. As conductos are not present on every train then
many people simply ... more
I travel regularly around the Greater Manchester area and have used First North Western extensively. The route that i am most familiar with is the Glossop to Manchester line. The distance is 12 miles and the journey takes 35 minutes which works out at 20 miles per hour. I'm not sure if George Stephenson's Rocket is still running but if it is it will be on this line. In other words it's SLOOOWWWWWW. And pricey. And dirty.
A peak rate single ticket from Glossop to Manchester is £2.80 which in my opinion is extortionate. The thing that sticks in my throat though is that if you want to buy a return you have to come back the same day! WHY? I think i know. Let me explain. An off-peak return to Manchester (again from Glossop) is £2.40. A single is £2.35. What kind of message are these companies trying to send out. It seems to me like "Why don't you just use your car instead? Because if you want to travel at times that suit you, we'll rip you off."
I used to catch the late evening train back from Manchester and found it strewn with newspapers and Burger King wrappers and (if i was lucky) cold french-fries and spilt Coke on the seats. No attempt seems to be made to clean the train other than first thing in the morning/ last thing at night. This is totally unacceptable public-service.
None of the trains en-route to Manchester have ticket barriers. This means that ticket evasion is widespread. The conductor has to check every single ticket on-board and at least half the people travelling purchase their ticket in this way. As conductos are not present on every train then many people simply do not pay for their journey. Hence everyone else has to pay more for their tickets.
To their credit the staff that face the public are generally very nice and do their job efficiently. It's just that the management of this particular company are lacklustre and unwilling to invest in the company. How much of this is their fault or that of Railtrack's is hard for me to say with respect to the ticket barrier issue but some effort could be made to clean the trains.
The trains themselves are fairly modern and new rolling-stock has been evident. Many of the existing trains have seats that are far too narrow with inadequate cushioning. On a 30 minute journey this can result in what i, in my medical opinion, would describe as 'bum-numb'. A brisk 15 minute walk to my office, however, quickly the gets the blood flowing.
Advantages: Good price fares, reliable service, punctual Disadvantages: can be busy in the peak
First North Western operate train services as the title suggests, accross the North West of England. They operate a number of routes with Manchester being where they are based although they operate routes as far south as Birmingham, as far east as Sheffield, as far west as Wales, Liverpool and Blackpool and as far north as Carlisle.
I have had plenty of experiences of travelling with First North Western, all very good I am pleased to say. I have ... ...I have always found First to be a reasonably punctual operator. I cannot ever recall being heavily delayed on one of there services. As for staff well like all companies they have some good and some bad although i've never had any bad experiences. I have experienced some good though one in particular was when we were lost in the middle of Oldham after going to a football match! The only station we could find was one called Hollinwood which is somewhere ...
CyrixDes 24.07.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of First North Western
Advantages: Easier & Quicker than the bus or walking Disadvantages: Endless
...my weary body onto a First North Western train. At that time of the day all I want to do is be back in my warm and cosy bed, so I keep my fingers crossed until the train finally arrives and guess what….. surprise, surprise, it’s LATE!!! My fingers are crossed in the anticipation that I may get lucky and actually get a seat, an actual seat, just the one, all to my self. But no, this is not the case and never has been, First North Western like to operate ... ...to chug into the station with just the two carriages, there are enough people to fill four. All these people just waiting to dive on and enjoy their pleasant journey to work. Yeah Right!
So now that I have established that there is a seating problem and all commuters are jammed in like little sardines in a can/carriage that’s far too small for all of them.
I’ll talk about the trains themselves. They are an actual disgrace, I don’t even think animals ...
stacieish 16.10.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of First North Western
Advantages: Gets you from A to B Disadvantages: Packed carriages, delays at times
...nightmare to live with at first especially as I'm little and for some reason people like to knock and batter me alot. I don't mind if it's accidentla and the person apologises but trains and train seats seem to make people forget their manners - All very annoying!
North western trains are pretty reliable (if you forget the big low time all trains had) and are sometimes slightly early! (Shock...swoon!). you'll find that alot of stations around the ... ...if you intend running for a train thats already on the platform then you may as well not bother as the guards WILL NOT let you onto the actual platform until you have purchased a ticket. This can be slightly frustrating because it means that your family cannot simply wave you off.
Although, the staff on the trains are pretty nice people considering what they put up with from some customers. Train fares are reasonable but if you're a commuter like ...
Miss-D 09.05.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of First North Western
Advantages: quick journeys - good prices Disadvantages: vandalism, dirty stations
On the First north western route I regularly travel on the trains are usually late - but only about 5 - 10 minutes. Their trains on their Cumbrian coast are mainly quite comfortable but could be cleaner. On some occasions when i have visited the toilet on-train the toilet would not flush. The stations on the Cumbrian line to Carlisle are falling into dis-repair and many are vandalized and desperately in need of a lick of paint.
But the train service ... ...the bus any day as the trains have short journey times.
---UPDATE 4/8/01--- The above was wrote a while ago and now most of the stations on the Cumbria line are being improved, the station in my town is currently being refurbished and the last time I travelled on one of their trains it was quite modern, and with lots of seats free - there has been a noticeable improvement in their services recently. Also when I have travelled recently on their trains ...
mmclcukie 13.09.2000 (04.08.2001)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of First North Western
Advantages: quicker and easier transport Disadvantages: dirty and over-crowding
...travel on the train service first north western and have had many experiences many good many bad....
i'll start with the bad...
the trains are quite dirty and have no bins for litter.
on one occasion on a busy saturday there was quite alot of people waiting for the train to come and when it arrived there was only one carriage!
another occasion was after being on the train for a while and still with half an hour to my journey i decided i could ... ...an hour longer than expected, first the train was late then it had to wait for the tracks to be free from use.
so you'll want to know the good points of travelling by train hopefully not put off to much by my experience...
the fares are quite reasonable, some times more than one or two carriages come, they do usually come on time, and the heating is usually on when the weathers quite cold. there quicker, less hassle than driving, and more relaxing ...
TINA197 23.03.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of First North Western
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