The Anonymous Widower

Welcome To Huddersfield

In my trip to Huddersfield yesterday, I took the TransPennine Express from Manchester Piccadilly.

These pictures show the supremely inadequate three-car Class 185 train at Huddersfield and passengers tying to board to get to Leeds and York.

On return, I asked a Team Leader what was going on. He said trains had been cancelled because of driver shortages and that three-car trains were inadequate anyway and should be five-car. They certainly have overcowding issues and bad passenger feedback.

In some ways these trains are their own worst enemy. After Huddersfield, it was standing room only and the stop at Stalybridge took a lot longer than it should, as passengers fought to get on and off with suitcases and bicycles. So by the time we got to Manchester Piccadilly, where we called at the inadequate and very crowded Platform 14, we were nearly fifteen minutes late. There were several passengers who missed their booked seats on the 1815 to London.

I never book return seats on a journey back from football, especially if TransPennine or Manchester Piccadilly is involved.

The Team Leader at Huddersfield didn’t seem pleased, but he did indicate something would be happening soon.

It certainly needs to.

I think TransPennine’s only problem of their own making is the driver shortage. Nearly everything else can be put down to inadequate investment by various Governments over the last fifty years.

I suppose you could blame passengers for creating the increased demand across the Pennines, but as the Class 185 trains seem to have been ordered without an ability to lengthen, the trains have been unable to grow with the demand.

Compare this situation with that of the Class 390 trains on the West Coast Main Line and the Class 378 trains on the London Overground. Both these trains have been lengthened, by the simpler expedient of adding new carriages in the middle.

We should make sure that all the Ministers and the Civil Servants, who conspired to give the North some of the most crowded trains in Europe, should ride these trains at least once a week, so they can at least understand their crap legacy to the travelling public.

But then no self-respecting Government Minister or Civil Servant, would be seen taking a train between Manchester and Huddersfield, when a perfectly serviceable chauffeur-driven limousine is available.

February 28, 2016 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Huddersfield, Manchester Piccadilly Station, Politics, Trains