HOW BAD ARE THEY? Crosscounty trains 1st class review Aberdeen to Edinburgh. 1ST CLASS COMPARISON 

that's why they want everyone to pick mobile/etickets which are free, so paper tickets go obsolete and they can close Ticket Offices

@@DanFMDatabases I take your point Dan but these tickets are not from a ticket office but an Un manned machine -

@@robinjones6999 that's what I'm saying, they are pushing you to use the free mobile tickets option when ordering online rather than collecting from the station (from the Ticket Machine or Ticket Office)

You may wish to try EMR or GA (Greater Anglia), which uses the same UI as XC and Trainline (are they all related in some way?). They don't charge a booking fee and a ticket collection fee. Alternatively, just turn up at the machine or office. It feels odd booking thru EMR/GA for XC or another TOC, but remember that you can use one TOC for any UK train (except Eurostar).

@@DanFMDatabases Mobile tickets are not free to the passenger, we have to constatntly buy electricity to operate our phones. Well, those of us still mug enough to charge our phones at home!

I wont ruin the surprise, but of the five companies tested, only two had a decent service.

​@@PlanesTrainsEverythingI think you just did...😊

When is your next video Steve....tomorrow.?

That's just what I found. When I go up north I avoid them.

🤪 you so true. THis hell lol never pay more for 1 class. by cc and the food and drinking pffff... lol

I agree. I travelled from Taunton to Edinburgh on a Sunday 1st class - for most of the journey the overcrowding overspill extended into the 1st class carriage, making my journey most unpleasant. Even going to the toilet required you to step over bodies and push their luggage aside to allow entry to the toilet. Why the attendants did not eject the intruders is beyond me - that is surely a failure to provide a first class experience. I will never travel X-Country again. I subsequently found that travelling that same journey 1st class was £70 cheaper via London using GWR and LNER, and, 10 minutes quicker.

Even better now since they binned their 7 car HST fleet!

I agree with that overcrowding is an issue, the trains are too short. The two end units are marked A and F so there should be four carriages in between not the two or three they use. EMT can run proper six carriage trains so why not XC.

However bad it undoubtedly is, XC Voyager 1st class is better than Standard class....

So glad it's not just me that notices the noise and vibration. Sometimes I feel like I'm being overly picky not wanting to be carbonated on my journey. Awful trains - the 180 has the same engine and yet it glides (when it runs at all)

Had to use them once from York to Leeds, it was enough. Train was overcrowded, dirty and worn out. Actually the Northern Supersprinter from Leeds to Carlisle was better as it only had a few pasengers and had no pretentions like Cross Country and their glorified DMUs.

Once upon a time, most long- distance trains conveyed a Restaurant Car, available to ALL passengers, no matter what type of ticket they held. I would like to know whether starving passengers is a breach of the passengers' charter. Exceeding the seating capacity certainly is; it is also a breach of Health and Safety legislation.

​@@andrewtaylor5984Not exactly - every train type is tested and certified to an additional standee capacity when fully seated. If you've evidence of regulations being breached, you should probably take it up with the H&S authorities. And if passengers choose to starve themselves, I hope there's no "charter" that compromises their right to do this! Even in the days of restaurant cars, supplies could run out or equipment fail. Personally, I board any train with enough provisions to last me the journey time and then some. Planning and self sufficiency are skillsets that serve me well.

I am a retired Health and Safety officer, though not on the railways. Basically, an employer has to provide a safe working environment for everyone, including trespassers. Entry to stations can be restricted by the British Transport Police, or possibly station managers as well, to avoid overcrowding. Exceeding the seating capacity in cars, coaches, and aeroplanes is considered a danger to safety, so why should the railways be any different? I would say that exceeding the seating capacity breaches Health and Safety legislation. Something else needs to be considered. If you have a first-class ticket on a train scheduled to have first-class accommodation, and there is none, the difference between the two fares is refunded on the train. I have witnessed this. Standing passengers should get a full refund. As regards catering, bringing your own food is not a realistic solution. You are still restricted to cold snacks and finger food. You cannot carry knives in public, so that rules out a decent meal. I also find it offensive to be sitting next to people eating certain types of food. Stations are no better, with just a few exceptions. Who remembers the ghastly food hall at Euston? By contrast, you can get a decent meal at the Gare du Nord. Eating on the train is a good way of passing the time. Having to eat before or after the trip means extended journey times, or departure and arrival times may not coincide with normal meal hours. Buffet cars only serve cold snacks, and do not provide cutlery and crockery. There are times when prison inmates probably do better. We repeatedly read that train catering makes a loss. This must be because the product is wrong, the price is wrong, or both. With first-class ticket holders now getting free meals, receipts can only be going down. This can only make things worse for the majority. Weekend catering is drastically reduced; we all have to eat, no matter what day of the week it is. As you must be aware, the railways are in competition with road transport. Motorway service areas have a contractual obligation to provide a service every day of the year, including Christmas Day, although I will concede that facilities may be reduced then. And you can use all the facilities, irrespective of whether you arrive by car, bus, lorry, motorcycle, etc. The advantage of train travel is that you should be able to eat on the move. I think that the biggest mistake the railways made was to have catering on trains and on stations run by different bodies. The original set-up was eight levels of catering, three of which banned second-class ticket holders from the Restaurant Car, one other was almost non-existent, and the bottom level was the trolley.

Catering is subject to availability so you should be more grateful you received anything.

@@harrygg8457 It used not to be like that. You could once get a decent meal on a long-distance train. The railways keep promising this, that, and the other, and never provide. Cold snacks off a trolley are not going to encourage people onto the railways.

More accurately, CrossCountry have to pay other train companies for ticket collection, but don't get any payments from other operators due to their lack of stations. They'd prefer you to use an e-ticket, which they offer free of charge because the cost is minimal.

Its called a toilet.

Really?? How smart you are !!

Correct.@@shirleythurston4213

@@derektaylor2941 I must say that the Voyager and Pendolino seating is supremely uncomfortable. Narrow, no legroom, minimal padding.

@@derektaylor2941 best seats I came across were in the 90s when we used to sneak into the separate first class cabins on old slam door trains! 😂 6 seats in their own little space.

I thought they were a backward step on the HST's. Give me a mark 3 coach any day with comfortable seats and no engine noise with its accompanying vibration and those high density airline style seating of the Voyagers! All this favoured the operator - not the passengers!

@@telmas7183 maybe it was because I was only 16 and didn't need such comfy seats. Or maybe it was just because they were shiny and new!

I suppose it's down to whatever 'floats ya boat' 😄@@awild10

One can blame Cross-Country. These trains used to be formed of (at least) ten coaches, hauled by a Peak or Class 47, and extras could be added at busy times, such as Summer Saturdays. The rot set in with fixed formations; the HST only had seven (passenger) coaches, and the loco-hauled trains were also reduced to this length. Why? In the eighties British Rail went one stage further and arranged its loco-hauled trains into fixed sets, meaning that strengtheners could no longer be added. Then came the van trailers, making it impossible to add extra coaches to those trains.

That can't be right. I'm sure it's a franchise infringement.

That's kind of scammy

Many UK train operators - e.g. South Western Railway - also provide no extra service or catering in First Class.

In the good old days, catering facilities on British Rail were available to all passengers, irrespective of whether they were travelling first or second class. ( I find the term "standard" offensive, and it is meaningless.) The two classes of travel on BR are really "standard" and "bog standard." The rot set in when BR was broken up into sectors. Catering on trains and on stations was run by different bodies. The former was run by a diktat on Paddington Station who decided what would be provided on trains, without passenger consultation, and it was the same menu everywhere. Half the menu was usually unavailable.

Yeah, the GWR catering offering is abysmal compared to every single long distance operator out there! Only Grand Central and South Western Railway do worse with their catering (or lack thereof), and at least both have much more comfortable seats for the journeys.