Central to a miserable day (Central Trains)

Member Name: tuftyclub

Product:	Central Trains
Date:	08/06/01 (90 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: cheaper than a car

Disadvantages: late, expensive, crowded

I am a daily user of central trains on the Shrewsbury to Telford route.

I find the service generally poor, and in truth I haven't seen any improvement
over the last two years since I have been using it.

The trains are, in theory relatively regular, there is a train around every 15 minutes
between 5pm and 6.30pm. There are also frequent trains in the morning. However the big problem is not the frequency, but the reliability. I find that I am often waiting
half an hour, most often at night but also in the morning for my train to arrive. Last week
the trains were so irregular that I spent longer waiting for late trains than I actually spend on the train.

There has been some new carriges added lately which makes the journey more pleasant,however
they are few and far between so that the chance of getting one of the new trains is maybe 10% Now, the trains aren't actually dirty in that they aren't cleaned, but some of them are so antiquated that, the stained seats and chewing gum on the seat backs are pretty offputting.

Season tickets are available, but the saving is minimal. My journey costs £4.30 per day as opposed to £19.60 per week, a saving ofabout £2. You can't use your young persons railcard or equivalent on a season ticket, so you only really gain if you are likely to do more than the daily work journeys.

they have updated the station at Telford recently,now we have one of these Terminals to tell you about the trains.Alas somebody needs to type something for it to give relevant information so often your train doesn't arrive and the information is wiped from the board.

The one good thing is that if you write and complain you will get some money back, free postage postcards are available from
the office window- if you are persistent you will get quite a bit back. Alas i'd rather just have a train service that I could rely on.

Summary: