This is one of Britain’s most HATED high-speed trains!

The Avanti West Coast Class 221 is one of Britain's most HATED high-speed trains in the UK, so today I decided to try the so-called Super Voyager on a ride in standard class from Holyhead to London Euston, running along the North Wales Coast. Are these troubled trains really deserving of all the hate they get? Let's find out!

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Journey Details:
Origin: Holyhead
Destination: London Euston
Company: Avanti West Coast (AWC)
Train: UK Class 221 'Super Voyager'
Accommodation: Standard Class Seat (2nd)
Distance: 263 miles / 423 kilometres
Price: £55.80 (€65.30 / $70.10)
Time: 3 hours 39 minutes, arrived 3 minutes late

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00:00 Introduction
00:32 Welcome to Holyhead railway station
01:12 History of London to Dublin sail rail
02:00 Introducing the Voyager trains
02:30 Virgin Trains
02:56 Boarding the Avanti West Coast Voyager in Standard Class
03:21 Today's route from Holyhead to London Euston via the West Coast Mainline
03:40 Departing Holyhead to travel on the North Wales Coast
04:18 Avanti Standard Class seat review
05:20 Llanfair­pwllgwyngyll­gogery­chwyrn­drobwll­llan­tysilio­gogo­goch
06:59 Llandudno Junction - the North Wales village named after a station
09:41 Joining the West Coast Mainline high-speed railway
11:51 A quick look at Avanti First Class
13:23 Ticket price
14:02 Avanti West Coast's new trains and the future
14:40 Slightly delayed arrival into London Euston

[christopherflynn]

The super voyagers are not the ones that people complain about, they are actually not bad. Its the normal voyagers that cross country run that are terrible.

[grassytramtracks]

I'm not sure about AWC but Cross Country don't have enough capacity and often run four or five cars on quite long and busy routes, because not only trains to London are busy you know

[suchcone]

At least it was an Avanti Voyager. The Crosscountry ones are much worse as they're unrefurbished from the Virgin era

[benjamin]

7:22 > In France, there's a town of 4000 inhabitants named "Capdenac - Gare" [literally "Capdenac - train station"]. The original city of Capdenac, which still exists today by the way, is located on the left bank of a river while the train station was built on the right bank. When the station oppened, the residents decided to create a second Capdenac city on the right bank and they just named their new city "Capdenac - Station".

[stepheng]

The Voyagers are not bad where they are deployed, that is the problem.
Holyhead to London on board a nice refurbished one doesn't sound too bad.
I think the bad reputation is all down to CrossCountry's use of them. Edinburgh to Plymouth on one would be absolute torture.

[pmb]

The GWR 800 series are crap as well and the most uncomfortable seats for a lengthy journey and rubbish catering, otherwise fine .

[poppyland]

Now try X-C, with a suitcase, on a busy day & see how you get on. Not sure a review of a trip on an empty train is getting to the heart of why they are 'hated'...!

[spottymaxy]

These trains have a lot of potential. If they had better capacity they wouldn't be so hated.

[AquaValet]

As a train, I don't think the Voyagers are as bad as they can sometimes be made out to be. There were broadly two complaints. One was that being multiple units they had engine noise that loco hauled carriages did not, though personally it doesn't bother me too much and they're not as bad as some other units on the network. The other and more critical complaint was overcrowding. Even though this can be a general theme on many a rail service in the UK, it does feel like the Voyagers needed to be longer from the outset and there has always been a desire for more carriages. In terms of ambience though, I feel they are quite decent. Interestingly, regarding some of the "new train" complaints they attracted when introduced about seat-to-window alignment and the comfort of seats, arguably because some newer trains have got much worse in this regard it now makes the Voyagers look better.

[garygoobdon]

I find the Voyager a comfortable train but what lets it down is capacity. Especially with XCountry who never seem to have enough carriages at peek times on Bristol to Birmingham and back.

[notskillfulpob]

CrossCountry is always packed. For example the machester picadilly and bournemouth route, my sister couldn’t get out because of the crowd. I think they need to always do 9 or 10 car CrossCountrys because 4 or 5 aint enough especially with how active and busy it gets

[Millennial_Manc]

9:38 Let’s not forget that it was British Rail’s APT technology that created the Pendolino. There were passive tilt systems in some fairly obscure rolling stock around the world but the APT brought the active tilt principles. The APT also debuted the step that extends from the side of the train before the doors open too, which is also featured on the Pendolino. Also the APT seats are dramatically more comfortable to sit on than the Pendolino, and APT seats are lined up with the windows.

[gordonbruce]

The philosophy introduced by Virgin of short, frequent services gummed up the network and led to persistent late services with overcrowded trains.

[MairtinOm]

I made the opposite journey last week from London, leaving my accommodation there at 7.00am. I had no problem with the train and enjoyed the trip. The total cost was €75 including the ferry to Dublin, booked about 2 days in advance. It was a 12 hour trip door to door. Local train from Homerton to Central London and ferry to Dublin. The bus that meets the ferry in Dublin costs €3 to Dublin city centre.

[johnbuttery]

I remember thinking that the Voyagers were quite nice when they were introduced. That said, I was used to Southern region slam-doors at the time so anything was an upgrade by comparison!

[RedCatTrain]

9:50, the train companys that serve Crewe are: Avanti West Coast, London Northwestern Railway, EMR, Transport for Wales and Northern. The station also sees the Caledonian Sleeper highlander service at quarter to midnight and 06:00 in the morning, the station also sees a limited CrossCountry service, so 2 trains a day, 1 to Bournemouth, the other to Manchester Piccadilly.

[aeschynanthus_sp]

There's the town of Entroncamento in Portugal. The name means 'junction', because it grew around a junction of two railway lines. Then in Finland there are places where a railway line did not go through the centre of a parish/municipality. They are not "towns" themselves, strictly speaking, but villages or some conglomerations of population. The places where passenger trains still stop (and I can think of) are "Hankasalmen asema" (between Jyväskylä and Pieksämäki, in Hankasalmi), "Asemankylä" or "Iin asemankylä" (between Oulu and Kemi, in Ii), "Asemanseutu" or "Alavuden asemanseutu" (between Haapamäki and Seinäjoki, in Alavus).

Edited later: There's also "Oriveden asema" in Orivesi, between Jyväskylä and Tampere.

[SimnTrains]

During the December 2022 timetable change, the North Wales/Chester services don't call at Milton Keynes Central anymore, they now stop at Stafford and then fast to London Euston. But CrossCountry will be getting 12 Class 221 Super Voyagers from Avanti instead of the seven as planned, great video

[jscz]

What is now called 'Waterloo' in London was known as 'Lambeth Marsh' before the arrival of the station, which was named after the village in Belgium near to where the eponymous 'Battle of Waterloo' took place.

[Uajd-hbqs]

I spent a whole year commuting on Voyagers (both 220 and 221 variants) and I absolutely loved them. Quiet, smooth and comfy. I was even able to sleep on the floor of one when it was packed full. And here’s a little hack to Voyagers if you’re getting tired of all the seats getting reserved; there’s a row (either 2 seats or 4) in carriage B, if I remember they tend to be in front of a baggage storage, where the seats don’t have the display screens for reservation so these seats cannot be reserved. As long as you’re quick, you’re guaranteed a seat.