Mornin all, cheers for checking out my ciao page. check out my myspace www.myspace.com/willmcstay. C...
Mornin all, cheers for checking out my ciao page. check out my myspace www.myspace.com/willmcstay. Cheers=]
Member since:18.07.2005
Reviews:19
Members who trust:1
The short answer is yes. The company operates in and around the London to Southampton/weymouth and the London-Portsmouth lines. They run express and suburban services and have now almost phased out the old slam door trains. But don't think this means its all rosy at SWT now. The new white trains door's are too small, meaning at rush hour the train has to wait for around 5 minutes at the station while everyone gets on. But thats not a problem as they have built these in, meaning now, although it only takes 40 minutes from Guildford to London, the train times are the slowest in 50 years. The suburban services between Ascot and Guildford always run a couple of minutes late in my experience but are very rarely later than that. These trains(blue 450s) are much better suited to the job they do as the doors are wider. Also with the new timetables smaller stations get far fewer trains, i recently had to travel from Portsmouth to Godalming, a journey which used to be direct and easy. I however, had to change at Haslemere and wait there for 40mins before the next train to Godalming. SO just check times before you travel! However, despite all these problems, i do no want to seem harsh on South West trains. Until 2 years ago almost all their trains were slam doors and they have invested huge amounts in bringing their fleet up to date. The idiocy still remains of last minute platform changes, short notice cancellations and big delays when the slightest thing goes wrong, but it does provide me with the quickest way of getting to London i can think of from my home in Guildford. The seats are comfortable, the trains are quiet and relatively smooth. The refreshments from the trolley or on board shop are overpriced, at £1.30 for a 500ml bottle of diet coke, but you do have to expect this.
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The short answer might be "yes" but I fear that the long answer is a resounding "no". The trains are more comfortable but have fewer seats and the issues with the doors are not to be underestimated. By building longer wait times at stations into the timetable SWT have just made it easier to reach their punctuality targets. Trains at Woking tend to arrive early now and then wait. The upshit? Targets are met, season ticket holders pay more (no discount for bad service) and the journey takes as long, if not longer than the unreliable service. I was also lucky enough, the other night, to be on one of the trains that was running without air con because it was "too hot" - air con units that breakdown at 28 deg C have got to be a joke! Which fool ordered those units? So, SWT still get a thumbs down from me - changes are cosmetic.
LostWitness 20.07.2005 12:22
I hate trains with refreshment trolleys. They're over-priced and they always get in the way.
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Jul 20th, 2005
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