Northern Spirit

Advantages: good punctuality, cheap fares
Disadvantages: old trains

Northern Spirit hold the train franchise, believe it or not from the name, up north. They offer services as far south as Sheffield and travel to places like Wakefield, Leeds, Barnsley, Pontefract etc... I often use a Northern Spirit service or range of services approximately 4 times a month. It is normally on the 20 minute journey between Wakefield and Pontefract, however I have travelled between Sheffield and Pontefract on a Northern Spirit service, ...
...I have very rarely seen Northern Spirit trains late. They, in my experiance, are incredibly punctual very rarely arriving more than 2 minutes late than expected. The staff are very friendly and there fares are very respectable as well, allowing travel in Yorkshire very cheap. There is also the oppurtunity to purchase a Metro Card, which will see a cut in fares. I however don't possess one of these as I use a Railcard for more wide spread use. The ... Read review

Advantages: Frequent service, much better than the bus
Disadvantages: Trains could be dirty but staff do clean often

...right. The standard of Northern Spirit trains is not very high but the service does have good points which I think need pointing out. Over the two years I used the service on a daily basis I noticed the staff were very good with disabled travellers and most of them stop to ask the many mothers who use the service need a hand with pushchairs, etc. I mention it because this is a point that has been picked up in the criticisms of the national rail ...
...the 'reasonable' part of the Northern Spirit route. I found the service reliable, frequent and with the use of the teen travel monthly ticket I used, relatively cheap. On the occasions when I am in the region I have no quarms about the service as it eases the parental taxi burden and is quicker than getting them to drive! It's still cheap for a day out. I think for a regional rail service in an area where the Newcastle metro is being given high priority ... Read review

Advantages: I can get my fare back on expenses
Disadvantages: smelly train, broken down train, late train

...service is one run by Northern Spirit - I implore you to go a bit earlier and find an alternative bus service. Today I had the audacity to expect the train to run to time out of Leeds. It did not, in fact it was 40 minutes late after the first train that turned up supposedly "broke down" at the station. However, this same train seemed to have no trouble pulling into the station laden with passengers and similarly had little trouble in pulling out ...
...I shall be writing to Northern Spirit in an attempt to get back my £4.50 train fare. Luckily, as I am only working away from my office for today and tomorrow, I will only have to endure this hellish experience one more time. Really best avoided! ... Read review

Advantages:
Disadvantages: expensive, uncomfortable, moves about., not clean

...believe that they just use these trains because it is shorter distances, because when I lived in Scotland, and used to do the same length of journey, we had fantastic trains. So c'mon Northern Spirit, let the passengers travel in comfort, or they may just take to the buses. ... Read review

Advantages: pretty punctual, serve a good area
Disadvantages: trains are old

...I travel on loads of Northern Spirit trains because im in Yorkshire a lot. I find myself using Northern Spirit between Sheffield sometimes and onto Wakefield and Pontefract. For starters what can I say about punctuality? Well on the whole apart from the once when it was 15 mins late, I find them to always leave the station within 3 or 4 minutes of the time they should do although most of the time they are pretty punctual. Right now for the staff, ...
...a slight failing point for Northern Spirit. My local operator, Central Trains have invested a fair amount in new trains and now have a decent amount of new trains operating. I havent seen any new Northern Spirit trains, in fact they are pretty old from what I have travelled on and seen. Although they are always clean inside I cant help but think they are a bit rickety. I dont know if it is just the Wakefield - Pontefract route that I travel on most, ... Read review

Advantages: Improving steadily
Disadvantages: Prone to employee problems, poor standard regional trains

...At 26 years old, I am one of the few people my age that can't drive. I rely heavily on public transport and have done ever since I went to university. That's when my experiences with Arriva Trains Northern started - all of 6 years ago this summer. Here is my competition entry opinion, starting with a bit of company background ---Background--- Arriva Trains Northern (ATN) secured their franchise from Northern Spirit in 1997 and run local and transpennine services across Yorkshire and the North of England. They claim to operate around 1,400 services every day, 1,000 of which pass through Leeds City Station. They claim to cover around 80,000 miles every day on a network which stretches from Hull and Scarborough on the East Coast across to Blackpool, Liverpool, and Manchester on the West Coast, and from Carlisle and Sunderland... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: A Train turning up
Disadvantages: A typical day

...Arriva Trains Northern claims that it has invested heavily on new trains but where? When Arrive took over from Northern Spirit the trains started getting cancelled due to "lack of rolling stock". Thyen we got told we don't have any drivers. When will they make there mind up! Every Saturday I have to travel from Doncaster to Keighley to pick up a 3 year old girl. On a day when everything is running ok or I use another train company I can do the journey in an hour and half. With Arriva that isn't possible. I usually get back home to DOncaster around 7.15pm after dropping my daughter off back in Keighley at 6pm. With arriva if they have a problem I won't get home till, the latest has been 12.15am Sunday morning! Hopefully Arriva will lose it's contract to run train services because a lot of people are not happy with them... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: more investement, new trains, doesnt require as much Government money
Disadvantages: Railtrack making a mess of things at the moment

...and hence I believe that we will begin to reap the rewards very soon. I am starting to see a lot of new trains arriving now. My local operator, Central Trains, have just unveiled their lovely new trains and they really are so comfortable and clean that I couldn't believe it when I first travelled on them. Back this up with my other main long distance operator, Virgin Trains, spate of new trains arriving between now and 2005, I believe we are in an increasingly better situation. Overall I think there are safety concerns but I will continue to travel on Britains Railways and I will continue to sing the praises of the 3 operators I use, Central Trains, Virgin Trains and Northern Spirit. This is because i've had some decent service off all 3.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful