Midland Main Line > Reviews > Midland Mainline - Top Dog

Author's product rating:   

Frequency of trains	Good
Reliability of trains	Mostly on time
Comfort of trains	Very comfortable
On-board facilities	Good

Advantages:	Free Tea and coffee, cheap 1st Class upgrades
Disadvantages:	Mucky trains  :  - (

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I have been a user of Midland Mainline trains for a few years now and have seen them go from strength to strength. Recently, I have been taking advantage of cheap 1st Class tickets and have been thoroughly impressed.

Standard Class is nothing special really. It is much the same as other operators who use HST 125 units (Virgin, First Great Western, GNER...) except that the outside is green (and most times, pretty mucky at that).

1st Class is slightly different in layout. Passengers have wider seats, as well as ones that recline. Instead of a 2+2 layout on either side of the carriage, it is 1+2 which makes the aisle a lot wider. It is more comfortable, but ride quality is still as bumpy as Standard Class!!

There is at-seat service in 1st and Premier 1st, where you can be served complimentary tea or coffee, as well as sometimes complimentary orange juice. On a recent southbound service, I got a pot of tea to myself rather than having to rely on the on-board staff to bring the tea to me. Standard class also get complimentary tea/coffee too, but in plastic cups.

Most of the time I travel from Nottingham I make sure I travel by HST trains but I have used Turbostars which stop at intermediate stations along the route. These are not as comfortable as HST's but still offer good journey times.

Nottingham is at fastest about 1 hour 35 minutes away from London. Many trains I use are quite punctual, but as many people may not know, services are not late unless they arrive at their destination more than 3-4 minutes late.

A highly commendable company, who I would like to see retain their franchise for along time to come.