This is one of Britain’s most HATED high-speed trains!

trains in the UK often get a bad reputation whether for the terrible reliability or the extremely high fairs but today I'm going to be taking a look inside one of the UK's most hated trains the Avante West Coast super Voyager to find out just what makes this train so bad running from hollyhead On the Sunny coast of North Wales will be traveling on this high-speed train down to the English Capital London so join me for this 3-hour trip as we find out just what's wrong with one of the UK's most hated trains well good afternoon from the port town of hollyhead in North Wales where it looks like I've been blessed with some typical weather hollyhead station is surprisingly large when you consider this town has just 13,000 residents however this scale is all down to its history which we'll get to soon the station has three platforms with a fourth one previously being located next to platform 2 here only two platforms are actually located here though with the one my train will be departing from a few minutes walk away as for facilities the station has a small shop and little else to be honest however the station building also serves as a ferry port with frequent departures to Dublin of course before the Advent of budget Airlines this train and Ferry combination was the only affordable way to reach Ireland whilst those days are far behind us now some Great Value sale rail fairs between UK cities and Dublin still exist today anyway my train today will be the 1358 service to London Houston departing from platform 1 so let's head back out of the station building for the long walk to Platform One this platform is easy to miss and in fact I even had to ask other people to find out where the train actually departed from and here's my class 221 super Voyager train operated by Avanti West Coast these high-speed tilting diesel units have earned themselves quite the reputation over their 20 years of service some of the most common complaints are the unpleasant smell and intense overcrowding due to their short length the units are just five carriages long but thankfully my train is formed of two units coupled together resulting in a much nicer 10 carriages a fleet of 44 super Voyager units was ordered by virgin trains in the late 1990s as part of a flashy modernization of the West Coast and cross country routes nowadays some of these trains are operated by Avanti West Coast while about half of them ended up with cross country who run them on journeys of up to 13 hours between Scotland and the south of England time to get on board no seat reservation today so I'll be taking any available seat standard class is in a 2 plus2 layout with mostly Airline style seats though there are also a limited number of table seats available throughout the train my seat today will be coach J seat 56 a forward-facing window seat today's route will see us heading along the scenic North Wales Coast to crew before running at full speed down the West Coast Mainline into London Houston Journey time is scheduled to be 3 hours and 34 minutes covering 263 M or about 423 km we end up to passing hollyhead on time at 1358 if you look closely Beyond All The Raindrops on the window you can catch a glimpse of hollyhead signal box dating back to 1938 and just beyond this some of the classic semi 4 signals controlled by it so let's have a look around the interior of standard class as I mentioned earlier seating is in a 2+2 layout which can feel cramped at times thanks to the particularly narrow body shell of these trains though I'll explain the reason for this design a little bit later the seating looks really smart having been refurbished just a few years ago there's a decent amount of padding which actually made this seat really comfortable it also has good ergonomic support and up top a nicely curved headrest between seats there's a folding armrest though this was quite narrow and unusually curved Lum is pretty tight as far as longdistance trains go which leads to longer Journeys feeling like a little bit of a squeeze the seat in front has a folding table this was pretty small but did feature a Groove to hold a drink and up here there's an adjustable blind which could effectively block out the sun however there wasn't anything to block lastly there were some coat hooks located here above the seats looking outside we are currently passing by the Royal Air Force Base in Valley this used to serve the only domestic flight in Wales with a daily commuter service to Cardiff and not long later we pass through a town that claims to have the longest name in Europe displayed on screen now though for the station's official name this is shortened to just Clen P our time on the aisle of Angley is coming to an end as we begin to cross the Britannia bridge this double deck Bridge carries a single rail track with a two-lane road on the upper level it serves as a vital link from the aisle of angal SE to Mainland Wales and by extension the rest of the UK also be sure to look out for one of the four lion statues at at either end of the bridge two on each side our first station is Banger now on the mainland of Wales this is the busiest station in North Wales by passenger count with over half a million passengers using the station every year at this point we meet the North Wales Coastline which we will be running alongside for the next hour or so this part of the route provides some amazing views and as the sun has surprisingly come out there's even a rainbow in the distance though at coni we briefly head Inland affording an incredible view of conwi Castle which dates back to the mid 13th century nowadays it serves as a major tourist attraction in the area and is even considered a UNESCO world heritage site to the left is the line from the seaside resort town of clundor visible as we arrive into one of the only places in the UK named after a train station clid no Junction is a village previously known as tryal though with the opening of the station and the now closed maintenance Depot The Village's name was changed to match that of the station let me know in the comments if you're aware of any other places named after stations this is real a very popular tourist destination here in North Wales in the peak summer season these platforms would be swarming with passengers both beginning and ending their holidays in the area but in winter it's a bit less Lively for a train serving a route with a lot of seasonal Leisure traffic you might expect these trains to be well appointed for carrying luggage but instead there were just one or two fairly small luggage Stacks per carry and the overhead luggage racks were tiny compared to most other trains though luckily the seats were specially designed to allow for storing luggage beneath them there's even an airline Style Bar to prevent the bags from Sliding Away on takeoff I mean on departure one of the last things we see in Wales is the TSS duuk of Lancaster a passenger ship built for British Rail in 1955 which was often used between the UK and Ireland this beached ship was used as a tourist attraction for children for many years however since 2004 this has ceased and its future is unknown after crossing the border into England we call at the major interchange Station in Chester this beautiful station sees a frequent service from Northern and transport for Wales offering Regional Services there are also electric commuter trains operated by Mery rail which run into Liverpool every 15 minutes as the engines gently Pur away under the floor We Begin the short ride from here over to crew on the west coast Mainline which we will be running on for the remainder of the trip on the way we also pass another Avan West Coast service running to Chester crew is home to the crew Heritage Center where a collection of older Diesel and electric locomotives are parked up in preservation we can even catch a glimpse of the advanced passenger train the British built tilting high-speed unit that unfortunately never made it into full service crew is by far one of the largest interchanges on the UK Railway network with an incredible seven train companies serving the station let me know in the comments if you can name them all on the opposite platform is a pendolino the other train in aanti West Coast's Fleet these tilting electric trains run the majority of long-distance trains on the route with the diesel voyages only serving routs that aren't fully electrified for a few years these pendolino units were actually dragged to hollyhead by a diesel Loco though this practice did not last very long from crew we now run non-stop for the hourlong ride to Milton keing Central as well as the seven train companies that serve the station it's common to see those of other operators parked up in the sheds to the South for testing the West Coast Mainline is one of the UK's most prestigious mainlines and as such we can run at up to 125 mph for much of the remaining Journey the fleet of super Voyager units is also capable of tilting which allows them to take curves at a higher speed than usual as you can sort of see here though this does mean the carriages are narrower than average to cater for this feature oh and I nearly forgot to mention these trains are fitted with free Wi-Fi which was easy to connect to this offered reasonable speeds for surfing the internet and sending messages there is also a three pin socket provided for each pair of seats and above the seat there's a pair of very bright individual reading lights necessary as these trains have a dim and relaxed atmosphere here we pass through the station of rugby which is where the sport of the same name was invented it's also a major Junction with the busy line from Birmingham joining up to the West Coast Mainline here now let's go and have a look around the rest of the train one of the other standard class carriages features a special seating area with all seats situated around a large table this used to be sold as first class during times of high demand but nowadays you can sit here with a standard class ticket actual first class features a two plus one seating layout with comfortable reclining leather seats there's also a buffet counter located in one Carriage however this was closed on the service I took four toilets are provided on this train and strangely they are all wheelchair access toilet despite some carriages not even having wheelchair spaces a lot of people complain about these toilets saying they always smell really bad but that's not the case on this train or indeed most of my other experiences on voyages either toilet door locked This Modern and Clean vacuum toilet was in very good condition the soap was working fine as was the water though frustratingly I couldn't get the hand dryer to work our last stop before London is Milton ke Central a relatively new city being founded in 1967 this is where the train finally gets busy with the rush of commuters traveling back down to London after all it's just gone 5:00 p.m. as we are now on the last Dash down to the capital let's talk about how much this journey costs for a flexible one-way ticket with my 16 to 25 rail Card discount of a third it costs £ 5580 this price is not valid for the early morning Peak services but can be used on any other trains along the Route which I think is actually fairly reasonable for the level of comfort and speed though of course most people won't be able to take advantage of this discount so we'll pay £ 8870 one way which which is quite expensive as for the future of these trains well they are being replaced by aanti West Coast imminently with a large Fleet of Hitachi class 805 B mode units currently being tested these can run on electricity as well as diesel which will help to reduce the amount of diesel trains running on electrified tracks the next operator is not yet known with some having already gone to Grand Central and numerous operators reportedly taking an interest in the fleet as we draw closer to London you can see the London overground commuter trains a clear sign this journey is nearly over and sure enough just 5 minutes later we are gliding into London Houston one of London's many terminal stations arrival is about 3 minutes late at 1740 which isn't too bad overall I enjoyed my ride on the Voyager when not over crowded I find these trains really Pleasant to travel on with a comfortable seat and a smooth ride but as always let me know what you think of the voyagers in the comments and for a look at an even more hated train in the UK then click up here now to watch my video on the old Northern rail Pacer

Channel: Superalbs Travels

Views: 134,956

Keywords: hated train, holyhead train, holyhead to london train, voyager train, class 221, super voyager, holyhead, north wales train, class 221 ride, london to dublin rail sail, bullet train uk, worst train, high speed rail, avanti voyager, scenic train rides, london to dublin train, west coast mainline, high speed train, class 221 voyager, tilting train, virgin trains, pendolino, avanti standard class, london euston, north wales, avanti west coast train, avanti west coast

Id: w2UDrNr5wX8

Length: 15min 24sec (924 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 27 2024