On the rails

One of the things we (especially Chuck) really like about the UK is the train services. The Brits, of course, complain incessantly about the trains; but compared to the US the service is fantastic. Chuck has used trains for business well over 30 times so far and only once has a train been more than 5 minutes late. And we've begun using them for some of our recreational travel within the UK. (Chuck, for his part, is a bit of a "train nut" anyway.)

There are numerous stations in London -- served by a number of different railroad companies. Each station tends to handle trains for destinations in a given direction from London. For instance, Paddington Station (in addition to handling the Heathrow Express that goes to the airport every 15 minutes) also handles trains of the Great Western Railroad serving destinations to the northwest of the capital.

Our most recent trip, to Liverpool and Chester, took us a bit farther north and we left from Euston Station on a Virgin Trains Company train (as pictured above.)

For most destinations there are frequent departures -- for instance to Cambridge, the site of the great University that Chuck visits from time to time, departures tend to be about every 15 or 20 minutes during the day. In most towns outside London "the station" is located very centrally and often within easy walking distance of wherever we are going. UK trains make us wish we had not done such a drastic job of dismantling passenger train service in our country.

Most of the newer trains make very good speeds for much of their routes -- speeds of 70 to 80 mph are routine with some doing 100 mph. The second picture, above, is of a modern, high speed Italian electric train called the Pendolino (because it swivels like a pendulum to lean into curves to minimize the feeling of centrifugal force during high speed turns). Virgin Trains has introduced some of the Pendolinos on their routes and we rode one to Liverpool on Columbus Day weekend.

Trains in the UK are very well-used with a high degree of ridership. The "suburban" trains that serve communities within about 50 miles of London carry many thousands into and out of the city every day. The longer-route inter-city trains which, of course, run less frequently, are also well utilized. One of the neat things about rapid transit in the UK, including the Underground and buses as well as trains, is that they are used by all sorts and classes of people. Your seat mate on a London bus is as likely to be a bank executive on his way to work as a student.

Of course, without the well-used public transport systems London would long ago have died as a result of gridlock.