...
Right, enough news, on with the facts, or my impression of South West Trains. Well....... Eeerrrr....they have a web site, www.swtrains.co.uk, where you can go for details of all their routes and prices !!! Perhaps you might have needed to know that ??
South West Trains is a wholly ... Read review
NH Hotels, the hotel chain leader in Europe, with more than 300 hotels in 20 countries in Europe, Latin America and Africa. Enter into our web site and find the best available tariff at all times
Record Rent a Car is present in the main spanish airports and has a very wide fleet. We offer: exceptional discounts, free additional drivers,
unlimited mileage... subscribe to our Club Record and take advantage of special offers.
Advantages: Reasonable price with a seson ticket Disadvantages: Always stand at night for the first 50 minutes
...facts, or my impression of South West Trains. Well....... Eeerrrr....they have a web site, www.swtrains.co.uk, where you can go for details of all their routes and prices !!! Perhaps you might have needed to know that ??
South West Trains is a wholly owned subsidiary of Stagecoach Group. Now this in itself is interesting because I spent several years of my life commuting to London from Northants on a Stagecoach coach, and today I'm ... ...!!!
South West Trains run 1,690 trains every weekday, serving 217 stations and employing about 4,500 staff, fancy having to make up the pay packets for that many ... "£10 for you, and £5 for you".., you'd need a mountain of cash !!! Come to think of it, you'd need a lot of trains !!!
London Waterloo is the hub of the network, also housing London Underground as well as Waterloo International terminal for Eurostar ... more
Here I am again doing yet another serious op for you, full of information and overflowing with detail. But first I must tell you that my daughter, Violent J has joined Ciao so watch out for more of the same if she can be bothered!!! Also I went with mrsandrewsjk to the Cotswolds at the weekend, and what a jolly weekend it was. Also I am privileged to exclusively reveal that Tony Blair is no relation to Lionel Blair, even though the fancy footwork is similar.
Right, enough news, on with the facts, or my impression of South West Trains. Well....... Eeerrrr....they have a web site, www.swtrains.co.uk, where you can go for details of all their routes and prices !!! Perhaps you might have needed to know that ??
South West Trains is a wholly owned subsidiary of Stagecoach Group. Now this in itself is interesting because I spent several years of my life commuting to London from Northants on a Stagecoach coach, and today I'm commuting to London from Southampton on a Stagecoach train, wow !!!
South West Trains run 1,690 trains every weekday, serving 217 stations and employing about 4,500 staff, fancy having to make up the pay packets for that many ... "£10 for you, and £5 for you".., you'd need a mountain of cash !!! Come to think of it, you'd need a lot of trains !!!
London Waterloo is the hub of the network, also housing London Underground as well as Waterloo International terminal for Eurostar services to Paris and Brussels via the Channel Tunnel. The Eurostar Terminal is very fascinating to watch, as it Clapham Junction station, a massive area of rail and platforms, said to be the busiest station in Europe. However I diverge from the subject, very unusual for me....
South West Trains cover Hampshire, Surrey, Dorset, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Devon, Somerset, Cornwall, East and West Sussex and Greater London, in short a b... huge area !!! 132 million passenger journeys a year are made (I counted them, lol !!!). The franchise was taken on in 1996. And since then a total of 12,000 additional peak seats have been added. It would have been useful if they were in trains !!! (rofl !!!). I digress, the number of trains run by South West Trains has also increased by 155 trains each weekday, and 969 trains per week in total. What do you mean "Have I counted those as well ??" Of course, as it equates to a 20% rise since franchising, and my ops are always crammed with facts.
Island Line is also a wholly owned subsidiary of Stagecoach Group and operated train services on the Isle of Wight.
Why am I telling you all this, well as you know I've recently moved to Southampton, and although it was great fun taking the Bluesmobile to work on the M3, all the other drivers didn't think so !!! Also it is extremely dear, and would have required a new car every 2 years, covering 160 miles a day just for commuting. I looked at National Express Coaches, they are white !!! Oh, and also reasonably slow, and not particularly cheap. So I looked at South West Trains, they are red and orange. Well, I enquired about an annual season ticket, from Southampton to London, £3,284 per year, not bad all things considered.
The season ticket is in the form of a Gold Card, the benefits of which are :- 1. 1/3 discount on off peak travel for me and up to three other adults. 2. If I had that many, up to 4 children could travel with me off-peak for £1. 3. mrsandrewsjk has paid an additional £1, and has got a card offering similar benefits. 4. I can upgrade to First Class at weekends and Bank Holidays for £3. 5. I will be issued with 6 tickets during the year entitling me to free travel at weekends on any of South West Train services, Cornwall here we come !!! 6. I am anxiously awaiting my free quarterly newsletter, containing news, views and information. 7. There is a dedicated Gold Service helpline to answer my questions. Has anyone GOT a question, so I can make use of this service ??? 8. I can also renew my ticket by phone, post or fax .
Right, how am I finding the service, well I walk down my road, turn left for 50 metres then.... No really, my service runs from Poole, through Bournemouth and parts of the New Forest and I join it just outside Southampton, then there are stops at Southampton Central, Southampton Airport. Eastleigh and Winchester before going fast for the last 65 miles to London. The morning train is at 6.36 a.m, arriving at Waterloo at 8.01 a.m, and the evening train is at 5.15 p.m, arriving in Southampton at 6.40 p.m. There are ten carriages on the train including first class, two restaurant carriages, toilets and telephone booths.
The seating is comfortable, and there are tables available, but seats on the return journey are at a premium, often requiring one to stand which is a draw back. Also the evening train splits at Southampton, half the train going to Weymouth and the other half to Poole, so one must be in the right carriage !!! That's what I'll tell harmonyk when I've had one too many !!! So far the service has been 100% reliable, and if in the right carriage the other passengers are very friendly, though at the moment I'm catching up on some reading, in future I might need a lap top computer to work with !!
Another drawback, it's pretty dark at 6.30 a.m, so all the lighting needs to work on the platform, and one can't see all the cruise ships in port !! Art1954 would like it as some say there's.... oh, I'll tell you another day.
Advantages: None Disadvantages: The worst mode of transport on the face of the planet
...about the terrible state of South West Trains. I can hardly bring myself to pay for my train ticket nowadays when I know what type of journey I can expect.
I use SW Trains to get into work everyday (early morning and evening), and travel from Guildford to Waterloo. My gripe lies not with the staff at SW Trains, I think they make the best of what they have and are usually polite and happy to help, but with the state of the trains which are absolutely ... ...with fellow passengers to get a seat on the train. As Guildford is at the end of the line most seat are taken from passengers earlier in the journey. So usually one is forced to either stand in the corridor for the 40 minute journey or at worst sit in one of the smokers compartments.
I am not a smoker and I tend to just walk through the compartment, but it seems to me there are loads of smoking cars. WHY!!!! They are usually only half full of smokers ...
Royston1 28.09.2001
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of South West Trains
Advantages: Acceptable when the service is running properly, new trains soon, new information system soon, frequency Disadvantages: Delays, dated trains, peak hours, patronising, see stories section
South West Trains (SWT) operate services between London Waterloo and the South West of England; reaching places like Reading, Exeter, and Southampton etc, it also runs a suburban network through south west London… I’ve been travelling one the “Reading” line for almost 4 years now, and this is what I think of them, I can only speak on behalf of this line, there is a chance I could mislead you on the general picture…
... ...In one word, I think it has been awful, I have traveled on SWT for almost 4 years and the percentage of times I have been on time (i.e. no later than 3 minutes later than the advertised arrival time) about 75% of the time, is this acceptable? I think your opinion is as valid as mine. I have had my train cancelled 4 times, which isn’t bad, but when waiting on the platform at Waterloo, I have heard of far many more cancellations. The latest it ...
Modena 14.02.2002
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of South West Trains
Advantages: I can get to work Disadvantages: No choice over whether I use them and appalling customer service
...the board of management from South West Trains who will be passing down the carriages. If you have any questions please feel free to ask them." Ah-ha, so that is what they are up to.
Then again, at our first stop, West Byfleet, "Good Morning and welcome to those passengers who have joined the 0733 semi-fast service to London Waterloo calling at….." and then they again told us that there were South West Train managers on board.
Shortly after ... ...thanked us for travelling with South West Trains and wished us a pleasant day.
Despite being told that there were managers on the train (and seeing them at Woking station) they did not make it far enough up the train to get the chance to speak to them. South West Trains had actually managed to run a 12 carriage train (as per the timetable) rather than the usual 8 carriages that turn up most mornings.
Is it any wonder that the train companies will ...
CareBear 23.08.2001
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of South West Trains
I myself travel using South West Trains very frequently, and in writing this opinion I also draw on the comments of father who daily catches the 0752 from Guildford to Waterloo, using a season ticket which cost him many thousands of pounds. Trains are frequently delayed, cancelled or short in carriages, causing much disruption, which people who have spent a lot on their ticket do not deserve. Having finally managed to get on the train, they are overcrowded ... ...are always virtually empty, yet South West Trains still fill their trains with such carriages, as often longer trains are made up from three smaller ones, all containing a first class and smoking compartment, resulting in a longer train with six carriages that the general public cannot use. The buffet is a smoking area, and is taken over by smokers, who see it as another smoking compartment. So if you are sensitive to smoke, it is impossible to get ...
helendavis83 11.05.2001
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of South West Trains
Advantages: you get to your to where you want quickly if you havent got a car and you can save petrol Disadvantages: you dont know how relable they are
I've been a train traveller all my life and as neither of my parents drive I have got use to what our trains were like but recently i feel they have been getting worse. For example i went to Southampton recently and the toilets were a total mess. There was no loo role as it was all over the floor, the tap water didn't run/flow properly, and the hand towels were non-existent. Also the door didn't close, as the lock didn't reach its fixing on the wall. ... ...On a hot day you would like a drink if you were gonna be on a train for 2 hours. So you would think there might at least be a buffet service, well you'd be wrong. There was no buffet in any of the carriages; there wasn't even a trolley service. So are we meant to die of dehydration? … well I guess the train companies just might think that! There is also a lot of graffiti on the trains. You have windows with so many scratches in, that you cant ...
Cathy_Young 04.07.2001
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of South West Trains
Frequency of trains
Reliability of trains
Comfort of trains
On-board facilities
Similar reviews »
Reviews which might be of interest for "South West Trains"
Advantages: Same train, same journey, massive discount! Disadvantages: Limited journey options
-less basis in the same way as some budget airlines do. I was sent an email confirmation with Reservation codes - to print out and carry with us on the day.
We arrived at Exeter railway station and were advised which carriage of the train we should sit in. Megatrain is operated by SouthWestTrains in the south of England and the train was a normal one, with megatrain posters in the windows of one carriage. The seats were not reserved, but there was plenty of room. (In fact I can't remember the last time I got on a train that wasn't packed!) As we sped towards Waterloo, other non-megatrain passengers joined us. It felt strange to know that most had paid at least 3 times as much as we had.
After an uneventful journey we arrived on time, and the return journey passed in a similar way. The guard checked our reservation code in the same way as ...
silver-sarah 29.08.2008
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of megatrain.com
Advantages: The advantages are: smart trains, fast, reliable and comfortable. Disadvantages: The reliabillity.
Midland Mainline is one of the best train companies ever. Midland Mainline trains include Class 158 two and three cars, Turbostar class 170 two and three cars, class 221 which are four and five cars long cars and hst trains which have about nine cars long. They run from the east midlands down to London every hour and most days. The Midland Mainline are part of the National Express group and Midland Mainline have now changed to East Midland Trains which is the sister of SouthWestTrains they are both run by Stagecoach which operator in the transport sector. They frequency of trains from the East Midlands to London is very good because they run every hour from station right across Yorkshire and East Midlands. The trains are modern and very fast and are very clean and very comfortable. Also the on-board facilities are great to because ...
Megatrain.com is absolutely fantastic, I cannot sing it's praises enough!
The same concept as megabus.com, this company provide amazingly cheap transport around the UK. In this case, via train.
The main network of deals travel in and out of London connecting with different Cities.
Megatrain.com do not have their own trains, rather seats or carriages within trains that are already running. These are with companies such as Virgin and SouthWestTrains, so the environment on board is relatively plush and comfortable.
All bookings for Megatrain are taken online, where you can select your desired travel times and dates, and are presented with all available options. It is clearly presented and easy to operate, very user friendly. You are provided with a username and password allowing you to access your account and make any ...
PaulineLees 21.07.2007
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of megatrain.com
