An absolute disgrace

Tuesday 10th February 2026

I was going to leave this rant until February’s ‘Seen Around’ round up but then I realised it’ll be too late for thousands of other passengers by then.

So I’m ranting now.

It follows last weekend’s travel experiences with East Midlands Railway.

Quite simply, the travelling conditions were an absolute disgrace and those at senior level at Network Rail, LNER and EMR should be ashamed of the conditions passengers had to endure.

I booked a return trip to Derby way back last November, through EMR’s website, innocently thinking my bargain advanced ticket price (with Railcard) of £53.90 return from Hassocks would make for a very pleasant weekend away.

No indication was given of the chaotic travel conditions that must have been known about at that time. Had I been advised, I’d have avoided travelling by train completely.

It was only last Wednesday (with three day’s notice) I received the bad news in an email from EMR that King’s Cross was closed all weekend and its trains “are expected to be very busy”.

What an understatement.

How do LNER and EMR senior management think providing no extra trains on the adjacent Midland MainLine to and from St Pancras to compensate for the loss of the compete service into and out of King’s Cross is ever going to work? All the more so as EMR runs five coach trains as the norm whereas neighbouring LNER runs nine and ten coach trains as the norm. Furthermore it’s public knowledge EMR is suffering from a shortage of trains having withdrawn some of its Meridian train sets without sufficient new replacements yet available due to new train deliveries running hopelessly late.

It beggars belief these “upgrade works” were allowed to go ahead in such circumstances.

Like many weekend leisure travellers I don’t closely monitor train company websites week by week, but had I done so I might have noticed the slimline yellow banner at the top of the home page warning of problems at weekends, which I now see began at the end of last month. Frankly I’d much rather see due prominence given to the fact no trains are running into and out of London on consecutive weekends (which, after all, is quite a thing) than all the marketing guff further down the page.

Interestingly checking LNER’s website last night I see that micro yellow banner has disappeared giving no indication of problems coming up this Sunday and future weekends.

At least EMR’s website has still left it in situ.

The railway fraternity has been in hyper self congratulatory mode this year, including running new bi-mode Evero trains over the Settle-Carlisle line in a blaze of publicity, salivating over brand new (five coach) Aurora trains finally being introduced years late and even getting over excited about new Serenza trains that haven’t even been built yet (and won’t arrive until at least 2028), but for thousands and thousands of passengers who need to travel on the East Coast MainLine at weekends this month when it’s yet again closed for “planned engineering upgrade work”….. it’s all hidden away almost as though they don’t want to promote it.

Instead, just try squeezing yourself on to already overcrowded weekend trains or get left behind on a station platform forlornly waiting for the next one – which will be just as jammed packed because it may have escaped senior managers’ attention but weekend leisure travel is booming and five coach trains are completely inadequate even on a normal weekend.

If this complete indifference to intolerable conditions continues with no suitable contingency plans put in place for the upcoming weekends in February I can see, just like myself after Sunday’s experience, people will turn away from the railway and go back to driving or using the coach.

What annoys me even more about this is we were given the impression during previous closures of King’s Cross they were to complete the “upgrade work” and the new timetable introduced (years late) last December was the result. Yet, here we are, less than eight weeks into the supposed new ‘upgrade complete’ timetable and the line is closed yet again for “upgrade work”. Delving into LNER’s website I see this is all about the “East Coast Digital Programme”. If this means as that programme is rolled out across the entire East Coast MainLine over the next few years disruption becomes the norm at weekends, then it’s not looking good for the railway.

We deserve better than this.

We should be told in a high profile way months in advance of closure dates so alternative dates for travel or other arrangements can be planned by passengers.

The closures dates should be made prominent on websites (including those running trains on adjacent lines which will “generally be much busier than usual”) and printed notices should be installed at stations – far more important than some of the marketing guff we get plagued with.

Better contingency arrangements should be put in place. LNER bi-mode trains should be route tested and added to the Midland MainLine, just like Hull Trains do, to provide additional direct services to Leeds and York.

If there are more closures planned later this year they should be postponed until EMR’s new fleet of trains is fully introduced so that company is not caught short of having enough trains and can run more with 10 coaches. (We’ve waited long enough for other “upgrades”, another year won’t hurt.) Ten coach trains are needed. Five coaches just don’t cut it.

Fares should be reduced to compensate for the poor quality service being offered – what other customer facing industry would charge normal prices while knowingly offering such an unsatisfactory and inadequate service?

Better signage should be in place at St Pancras to deal with additional passengers – for example a separate queue was designated for “Reservations” at the weekend yet EMR had dispensed with reservations – it turns out what it meant was a queue for those booked on a specific timed train with an Advance Ticket but it wasn’t made clear at all to most people.

LNER passengers travelling between London and York/Leeds/Newcastle were advised by notices at St Pancras to travel on a Thameslink train to Bedford (64 minute journey time) then a coach to Peterborough (timed to take 80 minutes) whereas EMR’s half hourly Corby service is quicker by a third (taking 41 minutes to Bedford) and was running with empty seats on trains which had been doubled to eight coaches.

Even more confusing, LNER’s journey planner was advising passengers to travel by EMR to Derby then Cross Country to York – another service renowned for its intolerable overcrowding.

The same was true for passengers to Leeds – go via Derby on EMR and then Cross Country.

Even more worrying LNER deny that’s the case. They reckon the Journey Planner directs passengers to travel via Peterborough and Bedford. When I pointed out that was simply not true on social media…

… LNER doubled down on it, stating it is the case for southbound journeys. But it isn’t true – take a look at the Journey Planner screenshot below for a journey from Leeds to London on Saturday 21st February.

Or one from York to London.

And I had to smile when researching this further to see LNER has had to abandon its prized “industry leading Simpler Fares trial” during these weekends of disruption and bring back the much missed passenger friendly and flexible “Super off-peak ticket” which it so dearly wants to scrap.

Because, yes that offers passengers a choice of travelling between York or Leeds and London by using trains out of Liverpool Street via Cambridge and Peterborough or from Euston to Birmingham and Sheffield and avoiding the Midland Mainline.

How about promoting those options instead of Journey Planners insisting everyone struggles on to trains which plainly can’t cope?

Finally, if you did make it on to an EMR train on Sunday – many were left behind unable to board on the journey on which I returned from Derby – the train ran hopelessly late due to extended dwell times at stations, as it was simply taking for ever to get passengers off the train from inside the packed coaches and controlling those trying to squeeze on.

If you did struggle on you’re “welcomed” on board with the usual inane automated announcements and super new on board screens making a mockery of a train company being in tune with, and empathetic, to its passengers’ plight…

… and new screen displays in a brand new train showing occupancy of the five coaches plainly displaying complete rubbish with every coach rammed yet the display showed widespread seat availability in three of the coaches. What a sick joke.

Then after arriving into St Pancras much later than schedule after intolerable conditions you’re greeted with ….. ticket barriers and the usual menacing staff … well, after all, we don’t trust you’ve paid the correct fare and got a ticket, even though you can’t trust us to run a decent service.

I feel sorry for those aiming to catch the 16:32 departure from St Pancras to Sheffield on Sunday afternoon. Amid all the chaos the journey was cancelled due to a “fault with the train” although to its credit at least EMR ran 10 coaches on the following departure.

My advice – steer well clear of the East Coast and Midland Mainlines on the remaining weekends in February. Use Liverpool Street or Euston instead. Or FlixBus or National Express with whom you’re guaranteed a seat.

And if you’re travelling between York and Newcastle on weekends in March prepare for a longer ride via the Durham Coast line as, guess what, the East Coast Mainline is closed for “upgrade works” north of York each weekend.

Rant over.

Roger French

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