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Travelling between Birmingham & London? Which would you choose?
From New Street you have Avanti & London North Western running services into Euston. From Snow Hill & Moor Street you have Chiltern, running these services into Marylebone.
Price wise they’re all pretty competitive. However LNR tend to be the cheapest, but have the longer journey times (sometimes sped up by a change onto a quicker LNR service at Rugby). Avanti are usually most expensive, but also the fastest. But also the most unreliable. Regularly delayed or cancelled due to some farce on the WCML with little to no service recovery after an incident earlier in the day.
Then there’s Chiltern. Which sit happily between the two price wise and time wise, with most journeys between the cities at around the 2 hour mark. With many of their services being operated now by these newer, modern Mk5 sets which is increasing in December to the majority. The Chiltern route is much less congested and therefore much more reliable. Making them one of the most punctual TOCs in the UKs. They offer a First Class area, which similar to Avanti, could be seen more as a “standard premium” offering. You can choose to take a seat in the First Class seating area for an upgrade of £20 per person, payable to the Train Manager onboard. It offers comfier seating, more space and tables to work from as well as a quieter atmosphere. As it currently stands there is no onboard service, such as tea & coffee but rumours circulating that Chiltern might bring it back.
This video just includes some points of the journey from onboard a service down the Chiltern route from Birmingham to London. Including a look around the First Class carriage & seating area and facilities onboard as well as some exterior, walk along footage at both ends showing the stunning class 68 loco and the Mk5 set. The train manager was great, came straight through after departure to upgrade people and regularly during the journey. Also made several PAs during the journey about our progress, safety & security and connections where appropriate. Arriving into London bang on schedule at 15:43. Couldn’t knock the service at all, it was great!
London to Birmingham… if you’ve not given Chiltern a go, I’d highly recommend. Good reliability and punctuality. Great route, through the scenic Warwickshire & Chiltern countryside. Nice staff and comfortable newer trains, with more & more of them in service throughout the year. By December, all of the new sets will be out. Allowing more of the previous 168 units to be doubled, adding a huge amount of capacity across the route.
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