First Transpennine Express

First Transpennine Express (FTPE) are part of the First Group, a large transport corporation that does other train companies, buses & metro/light rail services across the UK and abroad. FTPE is a joint venture between First Group & Keolis who are the larest bus operator in France & the largest foreign operator in the UK, running many trains & buses across Europe. FTPE run trains across three routes in Northern England over the pennines linking Liverpool & Manchester (inc. Manchester Airport) with Leeds & York then onto Hull/Scarborough or onto Middlesbrough or onto Newcastle, several times an hour (most routes operate hourly) all day ...  Read the complete review

There is not enough space on this review - nor is it entirely relevant - to express the multitiude of failings that privatisation has brought to British railways, but they are so keenly felt when travelling by First Trans Pennine Express trains. First of all the carridges are almost always clean. The access to the trains are wide and spacious. The train service itself, on its restricted route, is usually fairly punctual. Thus far they seem to have succeeded when British Rail most infamously did not. However, there is always a perplexing and frustrating lack of space within the trains, as they only ever have three carridges running each journey. ...  Read the complete review

Well as you will know if you read my last review, I travelled from Newcastle to Manchester earlier today. I wrote my National Express East Coast review from the comfort of my train seat, and I know you can do the same for free on Virgin trains. So perhaps this is why I presumed I would be able to do the same on the second leg of my journey, which was with First Transpennine from York to Manchester. Sadly, I was wrong. Unlike so many places nowadays (even McDonalds for heavens' sake!), the First trains do not offer WiFi which was really irritating as I had planned to catch up on emails on the way. What frustrates me most of that the Newcastle to Manchester ...  Read the complete review

What sensory overload the privatised railway has brought the long suffering travellers of Britain. Back in the day, you could have any train you wanted, as long as it was painted in some generally dull variant of the British Rail colours. Now we have discordant symphonies of hideous colours across the country: multi-coloured tin cans filled with commuting sardines trundling from A to B (provided there aren't any leaves or collapsed electricity wires on the line). Right across the north of England and the central belt of Scotland, the colours of the railway are livened up with a particularly hideous combo: the purple and pink Barbie style of First TransPennine ...  Read the complete review