Drop the ‘Great’ from GBR

Saturday 24th May 2025

Expect an overdose of hype as the first train – the 06:14 to Shepperton – leaves Waterloo’s platform 1 complete with a tease of a new Great British Railways logo on the side of the train and a pledge of better services to come.

But it’s not the first train owned by DFTO to run on the network. Far from it. LNER, Northern, Southeastern and TransPennine Express (all in Government ownership for years) have been running hundreds of trains every day carrying thousands of passengers outwith the private sector and, of course, Network Rail has been Government controlled and run since it was established in 2002 and we all know the extent to which the DfT has been micro managing all railway matters for years, especially since Covid.

So expect precious little change tomorrow. At a media event at SWR’s Bournemouth depot on Thursday (goodness knows why Bournemouth), Heidi Alexander said “operators will have to earn the right to be called Great British Railways” meeting “rigorous, bespoke performance targets” with GBR symbolising “a complete reset that will mark the high standard of service and delivery the public should expect to receive”.

That’s not going to be easy. Depending on what performance standards are set, it could well be the only operators that’ll qualify will be the Open Access ones – and they’re very happy as they are!

I would strongly recommend doing away with the word ‘Great’. It was one of those stupid Johnsonian gags and will very quickly be a hostage to fortune with operational problems on the tracks never far away as infrastructure issues regularly arise. On top of that the underlying shortage of drivers is endemic, causing far too many cancellations.

Take my experience last Wednesday for example. It wasn’t a good day for passengers travelling on the West Coast Main Line. And was far from what I’d describe as ‘Great’.

After a few days in Scotland I was returning home on Avanti West Coast’s 07:36 from Glasgow Central to London Euston. It’s the second journey of the day, taking four hours and 37 minutes.

I had a feeling all was not well when it got to 07:30 and, with the Caledonian Sleeper still occupying platform 1, no train had appeared for the scheduled departure from platform 2.

As usual the queue to pass through the ‘manual’ ticket barrier (there are no gates to/from 1 and 2) was already well formed extending right back passed W H Smith and as usual, annoyingly, some passengers who can’t be bothered to join a queue were forming a gaggle near the front pretending not to notice the queue to their left.

There was also a gaggle of Avanti West Coast staff at the barrier.

But there was a noticeable lack of any information as the minutes ticked by, with online information proclaiming ‘delayed’ and the station departure sign showing no platform allocated.

A train finally arrived into platform 2 at 07:39 but there was still no movement for the queue.

After a few more minutes of inaction I went up to the barrier to enquire what was happening with Avanti staff showing a noticeable lack of interest in letting passengers know anything and the station tannoy spewing out the usual rubbish about ‘cctv recording’, ‘see it, say it, sorted’ and other prerecorded rubbish.

I was told “there’s a problem with the set” and another one is being sent for and so passed this on to others looking quizzical as I made my way back to the spot I’d left in the queue.

However, as another queue formed alongside us with passengers arriving for the 08:00 to Euston via Birmingham…

… the barrier was suddenly removed and we all surged forward watched by Avanti gate line staff who, sensibly, thought better of doing a ticket check.

Unhelpfully platform 2’s departure signs were blank and the screens by the doors of the train declared it was the 08:00 to Euston via Birmingham leading to mass confusion among everyone but a train was better than nothing and everyone seemed intent on boarding so I did too making my way to Standard Premium guessing it would be declassified in the event of disruption.

As I continued along the platform towards the front of the train reassuringly platform 2’s departure signs came to life to confirm the train was indeed the 07:36 and not, as the train thought, the 08:00.

The ‘set’ had indeed been stepped up. I don’t know whether passengers bound for Birmingham realised that and still boarded.

At 07:54 the train’s interior electronic signs confirmed this was now indeed the 07:36 departure and Trumpian style claimed we were “on time” at Glasgow which patently we weren’t.

It was also declaring “Next stop Carlisle” which it wasn’t, It was Motherwell as shown on the other display.

And the App was optimistically showing we’d make up all but three minutes of the lateness by Warrington Bank Quay. Some hope.

With no movement, finally at 08:01 the first on board announcement came. It was from the member of staff in the shop to let us know he was in coach C and that “this train was now ready to depart” but crucially no confirmation for those with sight difficulties, or just hadn’t noticed, that we were the 07:36 and not the 08:00.

Noticing the signal at the end of platform 2 was still red and the doors were still open I thought that announcement somewhat premature, welcome though it was to hear the voice of an Avanti member of staff after such a long silence.

At 08:00 another update. The screen display showed we would be miraculously on time at all subsequent stations. This was going to be some journey.

The minutes continued to tick by and at 08:10 a member of staff briefly appeared at the end of the carriage telling the person at the other end of his mobile phone “there are plenty of seats in Standard Premium”.

A minute later came the encouraging sound of a whistle from the platform and we began a slow glide out of the station, 35 minutes behind schedule.

And a minute after that came the catering man on the PA again confirming the usual guff about ‘at seat catering in First Class’ and ‘coach C for the shop’ but no reference to our late departure nor an apology, nor confirmation what train it was, but there again that’s not really in his remit I suppose.

Finally at 08:13 came the Train Manager on the PA who confirmed, at last, this was “the delayed 07:36 departure” and that the train was “declassified except for coaches J and K” (which were First Class), with seat reservations no longer applicable – so I’d guessed right and enjoyed a comfortable journey in fairly empty Standard Premium coach H while the Standard class coaches were extremely busy as passengers travelling as far south as Warrington were on board from two trains, the 07:36 and 08:00, the former of which was supposed to be 11 coaches, now crammed into a 9 coach version with just six Standard coaches.

As we headed south and having stopped at Motherwell, at 08:33 we came to a halt at Lanark Junction for 10 minutes which the Train Manager explained was due to a late running freight train ahead which we need to pass – and which we did at 08:54 at Carstairs, now being 49 minutes late.

As we continued south through picturesque Lanarkshire and Dumfries and Galloway I noticed the display screens were putting the lateness of the train down to “a broken rail” which seemed odd as that hadn’t been mentioned before.

And then I noticed the online information was showing an additional call at Crewe with the scheduled call at Warrington Bank Quay “cancelled”…

…which was annoying as I’d intended to stop off there at the invitation of Ben Wakerley, managing director of Warringtons Own Buses, to take a look at their new electric buses. Never mind, I thought, I can get off at Wigan and catch the train behind (the 08:40 ex Glasgow Central), except I noticed that was also “delayed by a late running freight train”, presumably the same one we got caught behind between Lanark and Carstairs.

I let Ben know I’d be late.

Then I noticed the next Glasgow to Euston train (09:36 from Glasgow0 was showing as “Delayed”…

… and then I noticed the next train after that (10:38) was “cancelled because of a fault on this train”.

And then the Train Manager appeared to check tickets so I asked about the Warrington Bank Quay cancelled call and he explained there’s a broken rail between Wigan and Warrington and he was waiting to hear from ‘Control’ what to advise passengers wanting to alight at Warrington but he thought it might mean going via Manchester from Wigan.

I also asked why this train was so late leaving Glasgow. It turned out when the driver checked the train in the ‘depot’ he found Coach G full of water and it was thought something must have broken and leaked, hence the delayed departures and stepping up of trains and the eventual cancellation of a later departure.

By the time we’d reached Oxenholme we were 53 minutes late and I then noticed online information showed we were terminating at Preston…

… and soon after that the on board screens confirmed this news.

However, the automated onboard announcements welcoming passengers joining at Oxenholme and Lancaster continued playing out “this train is for London Euston and we will be calling at Preston, Wigan North Western and Warrington Bank Quay”. Even the catering member of staff dishing out ‘at seat refreshments in First Class’, as I walked by to the toilet, had no knowledge of a premature termination.

But, sure enough, as we approached Preston the Train Manager finally imparted the bad news we’d be terminating at Preston, where we arrived at 10:52, and then unhelpfully added the following train to Euston would arrive at 11:18 and encouraged everyone to board that – failing to say it was going via Birmingham.

I decided that was a diversion too far and seeing the number of people crammed on to Preston’s platform 4 wanting to head south decided to head off into town for some refreshments and let Ben know I’d have to postpone my visit for another day.

Returning to the station it was still a scene of chaos, a lack of information and even a lack of someone manning the information desk when I went to ask for some advice.

Avanti had cancelled all the direct hourly trains between Preston and Euston with only the hourly service via Birmingham running. I jumped on one sitting on platform 5 only to hear the Train Manager announce it would be delayed for around 30 minutes as Network Rail were in the process of increasing the speed limit over the defective track from 5 mph to 20 mph and had to install boards at the trackside to let drivers know of this.

Seeing a TransPennine Express was about to arrive and depart for Manchester on the adjacent platform 6 I decided to head south that way. Even that train was running 22 minutes late due to “this train being late from the depot” and was truncated at Manchester Piccadilly rather than Manchester Airport.

Had I stayed at Preston rather than wander off for some refreshments I could have caught the late running 08:38 from Glasgow, which was the only train that did run direct to Euston, arriving there at 14:27, but it wouldn’t have been a very pleasant journey, packed out with at least double the load of passengers.

And it arrived 75 minutes late, and even more pertinent, 134 minutes later than my original train from Glasgow’s arrival.

There’ll be quite a few full refunds through Delay Repay as a result of that, unless Avanti West Coast play their usual “your application has been declined” trick, asking for credit card receipts and other avoid-the-payout tactics.

It’s the lack of information, reassurance and explanations of alternatives which comes to the fore when using the rail network at times of disruption.

I’ve lost count of the number of times research has shown rail passengers very much value being kept informed during disruption. But it still fails; all the more so when staff are less informed than passengers as they don’t seem to have access to the same sources of electronic information which passengers now enjoy.

Wednesday wasn’t a good day for the West Coast Main Line, but, as they say, these things happen. Just like delays can be encountered on motorways due to roadworks, accidents and other issues. Can you imagine if the motorway network including the notorious M25 was rebranded “Great British Motorways”. Motorists would soon ridicule that.

Sadly, I predict the same ridicule will befall the ‘Great’ in ‘Great British Railways’ at the first inevitable major disruption.

And I sincerely hope it’s not envisaged all the thousands of familiar red ‘double arrow’ signs at station entrances and on road directional signs (from BR days) will be replaced at huge cost over the coming years with this new blue and red “Union flag’ style GBR logo.

Please, NO.

Roger French

Blogging timetable: 06:00 TThS with an extra special Sunday blog about a very special person appearing tomorrow – don’t miss it.