This has been named the WORST train journey in the UK 🚂🇬🇧

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In this video, I travel with CrossCountry Trains from Derby to Exeter, a section of their full route that runs from Aberdeen to Penzance — the longest direct service in the United Kingdom.

Despite covering huge distances, CrossCountry is regularly rated among the worst operators in the country. I take a close look at what it's really like onboard, including a review of CrossCountry Trains First Class, and compare it with other UK train companies like Avanti West Coast and other National Rail services.

If you're thinking of travelling long distance by UK train, this is what you can expect.

Disclaimer: This video is based on a publicly available published watchdog report. All opinions expressed are my own and reflect fair comment on matters of public interest. No content in this video is intended to cause harm or misrepresent any individual or company.

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[chrisandruch]

I am studying abroad here in England, and I always dread taking Cross Country. My friends and I absolutely hate it so much. It is always boiling hot and crowded, they oversell their tickets, and is just overall crappy. I prefer using any other train service over them.

[BMScot]

The lesson here is never, ever buy tickets via Trainline, as they charge extra fees for every ticket purchased. Always, always buy from one of the train operating companies who don't change extra booking fees. Trainline are simply an investment industry vehicle to skim money out of the public transport industry, and charge customers more via booking fees, with its largest shareholder based in an off-shore tax haven.

[philipdouglas]

They have had years to deal with the overcrowding by replacing their toy town trains with a fleet 7 - 9 car trains but have chosen not to. They seem to prefer offering the Tokyo metro experience with off the planet fares. Being labelled the nation's worst is justified.

[Poohbah-gk]

I used to travel from the North East to the South West on a regular basis. After a couple of horrible experiences with XC I always went via London. It took a bit longer but it was usually cheaper and vastly more comfortable. I hope they've done something about the vaguely lavatorial smell on the trains. And the seating arrangements were a testament to the contempt in which the company held it's passengers.

[chrisbuxton]

Cross Country is appalling. Their trains are thirty years old and have 4/5 carriages when it’s obvious they should have around nine. Overcrowding is endemic and their fares are ludicrous.

[andreharris]

The privatised train experiment has been a disaster.

[colin.d]

The chances of finding your reserved seat unoccupied by someone else with XC is negligible.

[uptheshires]

Good video! Yeah, from my XC experience it really makes a difference when it's 8/9 coaches as opposed to 4 lol.

[christineblackaby]

My beef was not with the service of Cross Country but the fact that they cannot get hold of a decent number of up to date carriages. They run 4 carriages from Edinburgh to Plymouth.I travelled last year, not sure if this is service is running now. I got on at Birmingham and travelled to Exeter. Luckily I had reserved my seat. There was nowhere to put luggage as the two designated areas were full and even though I was carrying a small rucksack it did not fit on the overhead racks.

Also a large group of passengers were already onboard, travelling with very large suitcases, presumably having got on at Birmingham International (from the airport). These were mainly young women with enormous cases half as big as they were! Presumably they had been on holiday for a week or a fortnight at most.
Why do they need such huge cases? As there was no room in the luggage area, you couldn’t have fitted these cases there anyway so they had to stand in the aisle and some at the end of the carriage. This meant the poor staff had to push their way through when they going to assist passengers on and off the trains.

If I was in charge of Cross Country I would ban these cases as a safety hazard, (which they probably can’t do) or charge them double as they take up too much room. Again I know they couldn’t do this! The staff were brilliant the whole way on my journey, they deserve a medal!

[thomasburke]

To be fair, whatever company operates cross country services, delays will occur due to the multiplicity of connections route conflicts. Also the load varies enormously from one sector to another; a train from Edinburgh to Plymouth might be almost empty for long stretches but overcrowded between Birmingham and Bristol. A few hours later, the overcrowding could be on a different section.
In the good old days when a locomotive and eleven coaches could cope with the busy sections, this was less of a problem, but a four or five car voyager will inevitably be under pressure.
Commercially, the operator cannot afford to put a long train on the whole journey, the solution may be to have an auxiliary train for short sections.
The first time I took a long distance cross country train, before privatisation, it was a pleasure and an adventure. The last time, from Bournemouth to Stoke on Trent, it was an anxious trip, not to be recommended.

[lvckUK]

I was on cross country Rock hard seats on a 7:10 hour long journey. Severely over crowded too. Luckily I had a seat booked from the start of the journey.
The snack trolley made one appearance as soon as the train left Aberdeen, and was never seen again.
It was supposed to go to Penzance, but they announced it would terminate at Plymouth due to staff shortages.

[chriswarrington]

EMR can often be terrible. Trains too short and consequently packed, toilets out of order, no catering facilities. Their worst service is the Liverpool to Norwich which doesn’t run as it should more often than it does.

[alexmcwhirter]

These regional routes have been Cinderella services for many decades ... right back to the BR days. Cross Country tries its best but is let down by a complex network with passenger demand varying between the stations/regions as you discovered. Lack of capacity has been a major issue and I am not sure what is happening as some units are being transferred from another operator in a bid to alleviate matters.

[uk-martin]

I wasn't looking foward to my Cross Country journey from Basingstoke to Manchester on the day after Boxing Day having experienced gross overcrowding on previous trips. The 5-car trains are totally inadequate.
I was deeply unimpressed when the train arrived with just 4 carriages and despite having a reserved seat. I was forced to stand by the entrance to the toilet for the first leg of the journey.
In my opinion it was dangerously overcrowded and my thoughts kept turning to what our survival rate might be in the event of a crash.

[undertheradar]

They mainly use 4 or 5 car voyager trains to take passengers that need 9 cars to meet capacity. And crowded voyagers stink of piddle.

[fargoboyle]

Regarding Trainline, I was also told to avoid using them when I had an issue.

[robblake]

the problem generally lies with the department for transport, but this is conveniently hidden as blame is almost always laid on train operating companies. crosscountry have had rolling stock removed by the govt because of high costs, which only exacerbates overcrowing. since the trains will be full anyway, it allows them to charge higher prices since demand is so high.

[westcommonroom]

The problem with X Country is simple - it is trying to do the impossible and failing. For example all the services from the West Country also form the important xx24 Bristol TM service to Cheltenham and Birmingham. Unless all their trains were fully reservable they invariably run the risk of pax with walk up fares of all kinds set by other TOCs turning up and filling every space. Trouble is in this country we want to have our cake and eat it - walk up fares AND a guaranteed seat. Can't be done.

Never Never Never use the Trainline. Any TOC's website can sell pretty well any ticket with no booking fee.

[michaeljohndennis]

Hi Claire - living in Manchester myself, being Irish, travelling home to Ireland on SailRail via Holyhead can be a nightmare from Manchester Piccadilly Platform 14 via Chester, especially if arriving on Manchester Metrolink Trams from Shudehill, Market St & Piccadilly Gardens, where there are also very few direct trans from Manchester to Holyhead and where most trains from Manchester to Chester don’t even call at Deansgate/Castlefield (easier connection to Metrolink), so what I do now is get a Northern Rail Service from Manchester Victoria to Chester and an Avanti service from Chester to Holyhead, as Transport for Wales trains are tiny, it’s like a sardine can, especially with heavy luggage and only 6 mins to change trains at opposite ends of Chester Station - if changing at Lladnuo, one does get to stay on the same platform and catch the larger Mk 4 Loco-Hauled train from Cardiff to Holyhead, which happened me in August 2022 during a train strike, but when coming back from Ireland in October 2022, due to a mix up over buses to Dublin Port and bad weather on the Irish Sea, I ended up being stranded in Holyhead for 2 days with a horrific journey back to Manchester involving bus transfers from Lladnuo to Chester and for twice the costs

[jackmartinleith]

Lovely video and fair treatment of XC and other operators. Thanks.