Azuma is a Japanese word for East, but it is not usually the direction. It is an older name for the Kanto region of Japan. That region is classed as Eastern Japan, so I think Azuma in the case of the train means eastern. The directional word for east in Japanese is Higashi.
Interesting. Seems no less apposite, since the E in LNER likewise referred to the specific region of the (North) East of England - certainly so if we are going back to the historic NER.
LNER is such a great alternative to EMR if you want to travel from Sheffield to London. Trains are quieter, cleaner and the whole experience feels more classy I feel. Tickets are pricier though, but you get what you pay for. On a side note from a Japanese speaker - Azuma does mean east, but is an archaism.
I live in Sheffield and almost always go via Doncaster if heading to London. I find it tends to be cheaper, the service is much better, the trains are better looked after and Kings Cross is a much better station than St Pancras. LNER and Hull trains are both perfectly good options and I've always managed to get my preferred seats unless booking very last minute. Grand central I find okay but I don't think I've ever once managed to get my preference of an airline seat so I tend to avoid them if possible. I really hope EMR gets better when they have the new trains, but then I'd still rather not brave traveling from St Pancras if I can avoid it. The mad crowd and rush of people caused by the inadequate number of platforms/provision of waiting room and only letting people through the ticket gates ten minutes before departure makes for a horrible experience. It's also not helped by the station being horribly disjointed and feeling like it was designed as a shopping centre first and transport interchange second.
@@EuroDC1990 Agreed, St Pancras can be a daunting experience especially for someone like me who uses this station at least once a week during peak hours. Let's hope new EMR trains will improve the customer experience. Current class 222 trains already feel obsolete and not fit for purpose with often mucky seats and carpet, let alone the exterior. Not a pleasant experience for people going to London for work and wanting to catch up on stuff onboard the train as the mobile signal quality is frequently poor, so is the Wi-Fi.
When you say Azuma’s an archaism how archaic do you mean? Just infrequently or pretty much never ever but it’s a literal translation or something else?
I live in Sheffield and almost always go via Doncaster if heading to London. I find it tends to be cheaper, the service is much better, the trains are better looked after and Kings Cross is a much better station than St Pancras. LNER and Hull trains are both perfectly good options and I've always managed to get my preferred seats unless booking very last minute. Grand central I find okay but I don't think I've ever once managed to get my preference of an airline seat so I tend to avoid them if possible. I really hope EMR gets better when they have the new trains, but then I'd still rather not brave traveling from St Pancras if I can avoid it. The mad crowd and rush of people caused by the inadequate number of platforms/provision of waiting room and only letting people through the ticket gates ten minutes before departure makes for a horrible experience. It's also not helped by the station being horribly disjointed and feeling like it was designed as a shopping centre first and transport interchange second.
Interesting opinion about St. Pancras. It's been my favourite UK station ever since it was refurbished, but then I've only ever used it for the Eurostar and I mainly appreciate it for it's amazing architecture. Maybe I'd have a different opinion if I was commuting through there on domestic services.
I used to travel regularly between London and Sheffield, used EMT when they were going, EMR, LNER, Hull class 802's, Grand Central 180's and even LNWR 350's + Cross Country voyagers (via tamworth). EMR's issue is a lack of train length, personally I think EMR should extend to Leeds, and offer 3 if not 4 trains per hour of a longer length. The new 5 car class 810's are too short in my eyes, they should be 7 or 8 cars but only operate as single units.
I recon avanti is better, miles better seats, food and train interiors in general. Plus the first class is so much better on avanti even though it’s a lot more expensive than LNER. If LNER got rid of the ironing board seats and made the menu better I’d agree though. 👌
@@Fenovax Agree on the seat comfort, but disagree on food offering and Avanti's reliability record is not good. Virgin I believe made better use of the Pendo fleet.
You can find LNER’s intercity Carriages on TFW loco Hauled services on the Holyhead - Cardiff and Manchester - Cardiff routes for anyone who dosent know. Would be nice to get a review on that train sometime in the future!
I would love a Dylan review of that as well. I travelled on it last week. Let's just say that TFW do not have LNER's experience in catering; The supposedly fine dining in First Class was turned into "collect snacks and cold drinks only from the buffet" on my 4 hour joinery
Great comparison video My wife and I have made 2 return journeys each, to London and Edinburgh in the past few months and every time travelled with LNER, starting in Newcastle. Every journey has been perfect, so i agree 100% with your scores. The LNER booking system is certainly a 10 out of 10 .. look at a plan of the train, showing the available seats .. note direction of travel, positions of tables etc. and select your seats. I know from experience on TPE, like the other operators here, the seat reservation system is poor .. maybe OK if travelling alone, but a couple .. no chance. I eventually gave up trying to get two table seats together, for a Liverpool to Newcastle journey in November. After phoning TPE, I was told just to book any two seats, then contact them again, so they could then change them. This they did, but it took two phone calls and a bit of effort on their part .. with a LNER type system, all that would have been avoided. Our daughter has used Lumo a couple of times recently (NCL - KGX) and found the service to be pretty good too Regards from Whitley Bay
I sometimes travel from Sheffield to Kings Cross via Doncaster but use a different provider to book online and the same goes when using a direct service from Sheffield to St Pancras
Coming from the US in 3 weeks. Booking through LNER was easy. I also had to cancel my west coast mainline travels to a more direct route and they were on it ASAP. On AMTRAK, except for sleepers, I would barely call their food "Catering." Can't wait
Yep, would pick LNER too based on my own ECML experiences. They really, really do need to turn down the lighting a bit (as you point out) as it is absolutely migraine-inducing.
LNER is great when it comes to refunds as well. My train Leeds to London was cancelled in June due to strike action: they contacted me via email and it took literally 2 minutes to enact the cancellation and organise the refund into my account. Top marks.
I agree with LNER. I like the seats on Lumo but they're too many airline and the carriage feels quite claustrophobic to me. I particularly like that cheap first class ugrades are often available via Seatfrog and you get discounts and credit back with their perks offer. Of course, they've been running under OLR for quite a while now, and they've certainly improved on what used to be 😊 P.S.....I don't work for LNER! 😊
I travelled on Lumo from London to Newcastle and back this weekend. The journey to Newcastle was fine but on the way back I was allocated seat D89, which turned out to be quite a bad seat. Not only did it have half a window, the elbow room was considerably reduced due to the wall jutting inward, possibly to allow the door to retract. I did notice there was no middle armrest, which I suspect was due to the reduced seat width. I guess this is an issue with all class 8xx family trains if you are in a high or low numbered window seat. LNER’s seat selection tool is therefore quite a big definite plus as it does allow you to avoid the bad seats. I did not have any issues with luggage as I only had a rucksack, but on both journeys the luggage racks were quite full. So I assume this could be an issue for some, particularly for those boarding travelling from Newcastle to London who may find the luggage racks already full from passengers from Edinburgh. On the plus side, the catering choice was quite a bit better than I expected as I was only expecting there to be a choice of water, hot drinks and few snacks, in fact there was quite a large selection of snacks plus hot, soft and alcoholic drinks.
Excellent video, Dylan! I especially appreciated the comparison table. I’ll be visiting the UK in October and traveling with a BritRail pass (1st stop York), then Edinburgh, finally Inverness. I usually use LNER, but thought I might try a different TOC for a trip leg this time (LNER from York, transfer at Newcastle). However, after reading your reviews, I’ll likely stay with LNER. The only other thing I’d like to have seen would’ve been a service frequency comparison. Keep up the good work!
It would be interesting to see "value for money" in the table as well. Not having any form of catering in Standard on HT is unacceptable. Journeys from Hull to London are over 2½ hours! Even if it was just a trolley that came through with drinks and snacks, that would be OK. They used to have a decent catering offer pre-Covid, it really isn't good enough that it has been dropped completely. One feature I do like on LNER is that if you have an open ticket, you can then reserve a seat at a later time, including for only part of the journey - that's something I haven't seen with other operators. I would guess that the reason for putting seat reservations together is that it leaves them more flexibility if a large group then wants to book a block of seats together, which they are less likely to be able to accommodate if they've distributed everyone else evenly across the train.
You've forgotten LNERs daily London King's Cross to Middlesbrough service, the morning service departs Middlesbrough at 07:08 & the evening service departs King's Cross at 15:25
The Middlesbrough service will be more frequent as soon as the remodelling and rebuilding of Middlesbrough station is complete - but don't hold your breath, the work has been going nearly as long as it took to build the pyramids.
Surprised there was no mention of the Lumo on-board entertainment system? Connect to the on-board WiFi on your device and you can stream a selection movies and TV shows during the travel, straight from their on-board system, so no need for a subscription or an external internet connection. All very premium airline experience.
Nice one Think you could review the Cambrian coast line? I really want to see your review on the TFW 158s before they go They are honestly the best 158s on the network
@7:32 the LNER first class seats (note I would only sit in standard if it was a short journey) are really good and this is coming from a 6 foot 2 inch 350 man Bear! They are very comfortable especally going from Edinbrough to Peterbrough and up to Aberdeen! Leg space is good and the lifting tables also are good. I have no issues with the lighting or the plug sockets. Never been on the other trains so I cant give my opinion on them. I love LNER food service in First class never been disapointed.
I would love to see a comparison between SWR and GWR, between London and Exeter. Avanti Vs LNER would be awesome, but also Chiltern Vs Avanti Vs LNWR between London and Birmingham would be fun!
SWR's 159's are way more comfortable than GWR's 80X's. The only down side is the route is slower, so you have to choose between fast and uncomfortable or comfortable and slow.
Thanks Dylan, would like more competition for Avanti West Coast on the West Coast Main Line. Grand Central were going to run a service between Blackpool and London Euston, but the pandemic prevented them from launching. However, there are the London Northwestern Railway and West Midland Trains running stopping trains from Liverpool, Crewe and West Midlands to London Euston and are a lot cheaper. Need more competition for Avanti WC over the longer distances like Glasgow and Manchester to London Euston.
I will always travel LNER when along ECML. There 1st class offering is excellent. Very resonable priced tickets if booking in advance. Really enjoyed this style of video. Would like to see more maybe in Europe. Cheers Dylan.
Another upside I've found with LNER is when booking a wheelchair space it can be done all in the same ticket! No having to request the wheelchair spaces on the Passenger Assistance app which I think makes life so much easier for someone who is in a wheelchair.
Great summary of the operators Dylan and agree with your conclusions. It did however highlight something I'd never realised, and the disparity between East Coast Mainline and West Coast Mainline (where I'm on). We've got Avanti which goes to London and that's it! there really needs to be more competition on the WCML as some of Avanti's prices are shockingly expensive and, whilst I could probably travel through other places, it's not the point as you pointed out there's 4 to choose from, going from 'most' places, so it should be repeated over on WCML by someone. Even Manchester the only option is Avant to get to London that I know of
If you buy from ticket offices, which a lot of people still do, then you pay way more for your ticket. I've seen examples of significant savings made by booking online and in advance.
@@s125ish agreed. I prefer to travel first class with gwr. You book far enough in advance you can do so on certain routes. Being disabled often I'm seated in first due to lack of space in standard but I don't take the perks despite staff having no issue.
Very interesting to see the comparisons. As an Aussie that travelled five years ago on a First Class Seniors Britrail Pass, I didn't have to worry about reservations except in two cases where the booking office staff took great care. I certainly agree with your assessment of LNER, but I was slightly disappointed by Lumo's clunky booking system and the fact you could not choose your seat.
There's no doubt that LNER offer the best overall service, but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with Lumo, which wasn't even half-full when I travelled; and whose staff offered fantastic assistance, taking me and my luggage on and off the train as arranged and also, checking on me during the journey, to see whether I wanted any drinks etc when the trolley wasn't able to pass through the whole train - which I hadn't even asked for! I've never had any reason to use the other two open access operators. LNER's first class food and drink offerings have got increasingly stingy over the past few years - and the serving staff have become less friendly too, therefore I have to say I'd not have scored them as highly as you have. But hey, your appetite may not be as great as mine.
LUMO are essentially Ryanair of the ECML and offer a good service between Edinburgh & London and I would use them over LNER any day - the issue is there services fill up too quick and the seats - all be it comfier than LNER - are too close together so leave no leg room for anyone over 5”10’😂 I’ve used Azumas a lot but usually try get a seat in First Class on Seatfrog for a better seat and food.
I do the Doncaster to London regularly I always book on Hull Trains I find the Staff are friendly and I always enjoy every journey I do on Hull Trains. It would be better if brought back the trolley service. I have done LNER and Grand Central a few times but I always prefer Hull Trains. Some of my friends called me Mr Hull Trains
If I lived near the ECML, LNER for the 225. I have never been on an Adelante but recall seeing two at Bristol Parkway many moons ago so that is something to consider. The Hitachi sets are to me the new XC Voyagers, intercity trains that make a sprinter feel like a Rolls Royce. That is just me but then again, when my mum and I used Hull Trains, I half joked that a pacer would be more suited to such a run.
Nice video! Even though in France it’s a lot faster (I ´m French), in first class you have no service at all, no free food and you have to go to the wagon bar and pay to Have any. And most TGV are now double decker which gives a cramped feeling, which is why I ´m so happy with the arrival of Trenitalia ´s frecciarossa 1000 in France. Some Times, competition can be good! Thank you for your work !
Thank you for the comparison. One thing I've discovered is that you appear unable to reserve a seat on a specific service if you have already purchased a First Class All Lines Rover ticket. The best LNER could offer was to board coach "M" and hope for a free seat. I may be a little naive here, but I was expecting something more useful.
As a regular traveller from North Yorks I agree that LNER is by far the best, especially their 1st Class offer. Onward travel is usually into Europe and at present I would put LNER pretty near the top of the European operators. Frecciarossa is a clear winner but LNER has overtaken Eurostar (3rd) to grab 2nd place primarily because of price and the awful outbound overcrowding at Gare du Nord. As for the others, Thalys is dreadful (2nd hand TGVs, shabby and grubby trains really showing their age) and rarely punctual. TGV InOui is better but loses out on catering which is expensive and surprisingly poor and OuiGo is a complete non-starter - would you fancy 3:2 seating for 5 hours?. DB is OK provided you stick to ICEs, the rest very unreliable. SNCB and NS fail to score! I have not used Renfe for a long while so do not feel able to rate their service. Last trip (Hgt to Grenoble rtn in July) was via Rotterdam (Stena Line Dutch Flyer outwards, Eurostar inwards) and Paris and the only trains on time were the LNER services to and from Kings X!
What I can't understand with the booking is XC used to be like LNER where you could pick your seat but no longer it's now the dreadfull preference crap. I'm travelling to Bristol next week from Sheffield I input airline, window and quiet coach, it took 6 attempts to get it right, however I had to settle on 2 right for the return as when you cancelled out it removed both journeys and you are back to square 1. GWR are the worst in my opinion, I've yet to get what Iask for with them. I thought I had cracked last month but when I got on the train there wasn't a window it was the dreadfull seat inbetween 2 windows, luckily it wasn't busy so I moved.
XC were the only operator that allowed interactive booking of the wheelchair space. Incredibly useful. Then they dropped that functionality. Now LNER have started doing it. XC going backwards in bookings in more ways than one.
LNER for me was an absolute disaster! Seats were blocky like most IETs and ride quality was so poor the drinks were heavily shaking. I’d never ride them again. Also staff weren’t bothered about food in First Class either. Grand Central though I don’t care about how the trains are, they have to coast and power up to full speed over a over to stop the 180 overheating. This is why they take longer to do York-Kings Cross non-stop. And with the engines, the rattle wasn’t that bad, it didn’t effect drinks or food like the IET. So Grand Central is easily best for me just for the fact it’s cheaper and not poor
It's almost like a rail operator which doesn't siphon revenue off to its shareholders gets to reinvest all its income into actually providing a good service. Wild.
Interesting comparison. I would say it's a little bit simplistic because you didn't consider punctuality, reliability, crowding or customer service. I also think weighting each category the same meant it was a bit too heavily weighted towards website experience and catering. For me, the seats would probably need to be weighted higher than everything else on such long routes, which would bump Lumo up higher. Regarding websites, it looks like all 3 open access operators are using the same booking system, with different "skins" on top. LNER is the only one that looks actually different (and I agree, better).
Hi Dylan! Thank you for the stunning video review. This will be very helpful on my next trip. One feels much safer, when you see a duck-taped train. I think I would have waited for another one. Did you?
I took the LNER coach from King's Cross, London to Waverly Edinburgh; it was a relatively quiet and comfortable ride, the only stop was in Newcastle, yet it took four hours forty minutes, and catering was negligible to say the least. Thankfully I had previously purchased some pastries while still in King's Cross. I've observed this about all the trains that operate in the U.K: regardless of the destination, be it Edinburgh, Oxford, London, Inverness, etc, the track for embarkation is usually not known, even by the staff, until FIFTEEN minutes prior to departure. Still, apart from hiking throughout the countryside, going from one small town/village/hamlet to the next, riding the trains in the U.K. is one of the best ways to see the country as it really is. Hmmmm, where should I go next year, Cornwall, Wales or the Shetlands? (Mind the gap!)
Great format Dylan. I agree with you about Azuma and HT lighting it's terrible - creates no ambiance at all - all white and clinical. It's the same on the GWR which, with the almost black seating in 1st, makes the internal of the carriage an almost monochromatic experience😂. I guess we have to blame the DfT for the choice of lighting temperature. I use LNER and HT extensively and agree the HT catering is poor. It used (before pandemic) to be somewhat better but I guess costs have had to be cut. Like you I have a soft spot for the IC225 sets and if I have a choice always try to use one. I been riding them since they first appeared on the ECML - when they had a terrible ride until some work was done on fine tuning the suspension and adding some extra dampers I think.. One thing that is annoying about the seat reservation system is the number of seats 'reserved' but never occupied - as I often travel on an open ticket I want to get on the train and find a seat - it seems that 90% of seats are often showing some reserved status so the number of seats with the green light is very low. However if you watch during the journey many seat (in 1st. at least) are not taken up.
I really like your video. Great job. All the IETs and the Adelantes have no windows next to the wheelchair space. Adelantes are particularly bad for window views. IETs have no luggage storage overhead or at carriage ends in wheelchair carriages, which encourages abuse, and also a silly, over-involved fold-out threshold and ramp system. Which is a great shame, because in other ways I really like them. Particularly LNER 1st Class. 225s are better, though. Agree with you entirely that LNER are the best - also have the best livery!
I believe LNER were going to start a service that started and finished in Huddersfield in 2020 but the pandemic came and put the mockers on it. It would have been the town’s first direct service to London for many years.
@@DylansTravelReports The nearest thing at the moment is Grand Central which I believe stops in Mirfield. I'm sure there was talk years ago of extending a London-Sheffield service to Huddersfield via the Penistone Line but of course that came to nothing.
The Moral of the East Coast Operators can be put like this. Yes LNER is the best compared to their Open Access counterparts, but its the presence of the Open Access Operators that has forced LNER to be the best it can be (and probably forced the DFT to give LNER more freedom than normal when VTEC was terminated). You only have to look across to the WCML or down to the GWML to see how much of a difference competition can make in terms of fairs and onboard experience. I think we can all agree LNER is lightyears ahead compared to AWC and GWR, but that only thanks to competition. It will be interesting to see how the Renfe backed Grand Union compares to GWR and if their interior concepts are anything to go by, they'll probably beat LNER as the best intercity operator.
I wouldn’t have removed any marks for the 5 coach train on Hull Trains, they cant really help it because some of the station platforms that they serve are way too short for a 9 or 10 car train.
Nice comparison - I could probably tell from the offset who was going to win this one. I'd probably go with whoever is the cheapest, with the exception of Grand Central as (a) their 180s are awful in terms of reliability, and (b) if they get 221s, then good luck getting any sort of Wi-Fi or external RF signal. 220s/221s/222s all deserve the chop, or the shred, or whatever... even before the unreliable 180s get binned.
I think the ratings you gave are fair, great video. Would be cool to see a similar video regarding the popular LHR -> JFK airlines. I've said on videos of yours before that the Class 180s on Grand Central were a massive step back for what should be a very good rail operator. Hopefully the Class 221s improve them. It's a shame too. I always found Grand Central's customer service and offerings to be great. LumO are an interesting operator and could absolutely see them bring their model onto other lines, they're basic and their website isn't great (probably worth sticking with TrainPal or Trainline) but you get what little you pay for. A comfortable seat and a fast service between the 3 biggest population centres on the ECML (Edinburgh, Newcastle and London) Hull Trains are a weird mix of a regional rail service trying to be an intercity service. If they used longer sets and tried to properly compete with LNER's offerings, it would be best for everyone in the Hull area LNER are probably the best Intercity service in England right now. First class is a fantastic experience and the food is superb. I've always found the train staff friendly and I've been travelling to London frequently in recent months, not once did I ever have a major delay that was down to reliability. Also I will have a polite debate with anyone who dislikes the Azuma trains, they're perfectly acceptable, tho I wish they'd turn down the lights!
Definitely LNER is the best but, if you’re going first class, absolutely do try to take a 225 rather than the mobile hospital corridor (otherwise known as an Azuma).
i like LNER because they offer a great service. however when i travelled recently(may 2023) my train got delayed on the return service by around 30 minutes. other times i have travelled with them the service was good. i always used to sit in standard class not first class. don't know why i think i just prefer it. would you recommend first class. you should also do the same thing for the west cost main line. following operators include London north western railway, Avanti west coast trans Pennine express and Caledonian sleeper
Please do a comparative video between the four high-speed operators in Spain: AVE, AVLO, OUIGOAND IRYO. I'm from Spain. So, I'll rate the video a 9000/10 CONGRATS
I’d say the opposite about Grand Central, I find their 1st class more uncomfortable than standard, I also think they are far more comfortable than Lumo. IMO
@@DylansTravelReports Amtrak cars have upper and lower cove lights with separate switches. You can change the mood of the car by using one or the other or both which is very bright especially at night. I turn off the upper cove lights creating a cozy and relaxing atmosphere with indirect lighting coming from the lower cove panel of lights. The passengers and I loved it but most conductors and trains crews don’t give a damn. I hate harsh overhead direct lighting in my home and never use the ceiling lights unless I’m looking for something.
Not sure why it didn't work for you but Hull Trains do have a seat selector where it lets you choose whichever seat you like. I travel with them all the time and always use it. Grand Central should lose marks for always being cancelled recently as the 180s are extremely unreliable at the moment! I really like Hull Trains, I think they're excellent. Personally Lumo is my favourite because of the seat comfort, airline style seats and it has few stops. Booking with LNER is very easy and LNER Perks is a nice touch. I travel between London King's Cross and Hull a lot and use Hull Trains the most although I have used LNER on their 1 a day London King's Cross to Hull service twice now. Catering on LNER is fantastic on the Train. Worth noting that you can't pre-order if you're travelling from Newcastle/Stevenage on Lumo which is a bit annoying but still good that you can do it and you know that you're getting food on the Train.
I would have said booking should have been first on your list as its typically your first experience with the company involved. Any real pains in booking and you go elsewhere
