Ah, Northern Rail... over the years the franchise has changed hands, again and again, it seems no…read morematter who runs the franchise the main problem is the infrastructure, currently, they are operated by the government as "operator of last resort" after Arriva lost the franchise in March 2020. I have noticed a huge improvement from Northern of late, it went from being an operator I'd try my best to avoid, to one I'm willing to accept travelling with. The main highlights of Northern are the staff, the staff on the trains and at their own run stations seem really friendly and happy to help most of the time, and it's much harder to find a staff member that doesn't seem to care in Northern uniform than many other train companies. Many of their routes are slower, as they are forced to stop at many smaller stations along the way which Avanti/Cross Country and co would simply zoom past. The new trains are much more comfortable, while they still are average and can't compare to new trains from TPExpress for example, it's still a huge and much-welcomed step up from the recently withdrawn Pacer trains, which still give me nightmares, it's such an embarrassment they used them for so long... a type of train which is banned in Iran. While Northern wouldn't be my first choice to travel with, they still are improving as much as they can, services seem to be running closer to the actual schedule (I do notice they've added a few minutes onto the stops, so on recent journeys the train is always waiting for a couple of minutes, perhaps to avoid delay complaints). 3*

With city centre parking pretty costly to say the least, I'm always more than tempted to leave the…read moregood old Mel mobile in the West Wing quarters and get a train into the centre. It also means good old Mel can be tempted to a cheeky glass of fizz or two after a tiring day shopping and getting my hair done. Perfect. Northern rail provide some of the trains into the station and have done since taking over from Arriva Trains Northern in 2004. Lots has been said of failing targets and decline in service standard across the rail network and you only have to listen to regular users to hear plenty of moans and groans. However, I must admit I've not actually found too many problems with my local service. Granted, weekend engineering work and too many leafs on the track make me want to pull my hair out, but in terms of general day to day running you'll find a more than reasonable standard. We've not got the most modern fleet in the country. In fact I'd say we look positively second rate in comparison to other parts of the country, but they are relatively clean, comfy and more importantly do the job you want. Get you from a to b. Do check if the artic weather comes in and as I said earlier, you'll get some disruption at times on Bank Holidays and weekends but if you check you should be well away. It also won't cost you an arm and a leg and is pretty reasonable on your pocket.

HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE.... DO NOT RIDE IN THIS TRAINS. We bought two one-way First-Class seats…read moretickets. The online booking system is the worse, but I thought that, since the webpage was professionally designed, the company was good. BIG mistake. They are disorganized, not professionals and staff lack basic training. We took the train in London in route to Edinburgh. A 3-hour ride, turned into a 7-hours ordeal that ended up with us stranded on a different train station figuring out how to make it to Edinburgh. HORRIBLE..... After an hour of arguing online, they accepted to return the money paid.

London North Eastern Railway, styled as LNER are a very good train operator. They run trains along…read morethe East Coast Mainline, run by the UK government as an operator of last resort following the termination of Virgin Trains East Coast, who previously ran services along this route. Ever since LNER has taken over, they have put so much time and money into improving the network with brand new Azuma trains and investment into areas which they serve. The new trains are comfortable and very similar to the new TPExpress fleet. I have had some fantastic dealings with LNER staff members, their station staff, customer service agents and staff on trains all seem super friendly and happy to help. On my origin journey, I travelled from Doncaster to London, where I was upgraded to First Class. The First Class offering was good, the staff were again very attentive in regards to getting drinks as well as food, the gluten-free food offering wasn't great, but they do appear to be still running a limited menu, I was able to get a soda, water and some crisps to go alongside the sandwich, I had purchased at Doncaster Railway Station anyway. On my return journey, I travelled from London Kings Cross to Leeds in standard class, and I was rather impressed by the Standard class offering, although First Class is obviously better, the standard offering was much better than other operator's First Class, notably CrossCountry. The seats were really comfortable, the windows were clean and set for a great view, an Arsenal fan will love to see their stadium, the Emirates when travelling from London Kings Cross. I also like how they have a QR code, where you can order and pay for food, and they bring it to you, this is really cool and innovative and means you don't have to awkwardly go down from one end of the train to another, for the shop. Both services ran on time which was good, LNER does tend to run services on time. I did notice a rather long gap, often of around five minutes (sometimes longer) between arriving at a station and departing, I'm not sure if this is a way to help ensure their trains are never classed as late. LNER already skimp on the "Delay Repay" scheme, they only offer compensation for a delay of 30 minutes or more (what is legally required), compared to 15 minutes or more (which is offered by many operators) Their online booking system is good, although I still prefer using Trainpal which supports split-ticketing, and can often be cheaper. On a side note, Kings Cross is 1000x better to travel from, in comparison to Euston (WCML) in comparison to basic station processes and Underground access. 4* - LNER is still an awesome operator, one I hope to use more often on my trips around Yorkshire and the east coast.

The Selby Train station is located on Station road just behind the bus station on Bawtry Road…read more Opened in 1834 by the Leeds and Selby Railway it was the first station to be built in Yorkshire. Behind what is now the station, the original station used to be a shed by the waterside in which passengers would alight the train and walk across the road to the connecting boat on the river. The line is run by First TransPennine Express and has 3 stations. There are regular routes to Hull, York, Leeds, and Manchester with the new fast trains to London. You can buy your tickets at the station and there are waiting room and a small warm café.

The station is very small, well, medium sized. There are more than 2 platforms and it appears to…read morebe on the mainline between the south and the North, Kings cross and Edinburgh. The station has barriers and normally you won't go through without a ticket. On occasion the barriers are open. On weekends, I guess. There are actually a few entrances to the station. Plenty of car parking and bicycle parking available. Toilets are small, but clean and cubicles are of a good size. In the middle, between the platforms, there appears to be another waiting room, besides the heated one where Costa is located and I endured an hour of wait. In general the station seems well looked after! You will hear plenty of timely announcements and everywhere screens that show the train times.

One of the better railway stations in operation Clean and tidy with very helpful staff. The…read moreautomatic barriers inside the station are a bit of a pain with large bags though.

Great train station that can get you nearly anywhere. Plenty of eating choices and staff are very…read morehelpful. Left here for London. Easy to locate train and we used it to go to Buxton which was great and a short ride. Plenty of trains running to destinations throughout the day.

It's an older, large station that is extremely busy but also easy to navigate to get to your…read moretransportation on time. Though it's older, it's clean with several places to grab food or coffee. Signage is really good and makes things easier trying to get through a big crowd to your platform.

Great stop on the way from Scotland to London. Town looked great and beautiful. Snack area was nice.read more

Grand Central is an open-access operator meaning they aren't subject to franchising which is the…read moreusual standard with the UK's railways, they're owned by Arriva who is probably one of the largest railway companies in the UK as they also have a stake in Cross Country, Northern Railway and they also were the most recent holders of Wales and the Borders franchise before it was taken over by Transport for Wales Railway Services. The ticket prices seem to be much cheaper in general than LNER for the services they do run, which is especially helpful in rush-hour when tickets cost more anyway. They connect cities such as York and London King's Cross in just over two hours. The customer service is pretty poor, both in general, with the staff on services as well as in communicating through email and telephone services, they have their customer service phone lines close at just 6 pm, which is much earlier than any other railway company I've had to deal with and they state you must wait up to three weeks for a response if you contact them via email - I mean come on three weeks? Grand Central is also one of the only railway companies (it does not include third-party booking sites) to charge a "booking fee", this is refunded and basically acts as a card authorisation however my fault with this is 1. Why do they need to charge £1 to check the card is working when this payment is taken at the same exact time as train tickets 2. They did not state this would be charged when I entered my card details for booking 3. They do not authorise or generate the ticket anyway until full payment has been completed as most train tickets are non-refundable so why do they need to charge this as well when both payments were taken within the space of 10-15 seconds? Grand Central basically eases the pressure on the East Coast mainline from LNER, they do have cheaper tickets than LNER at the times they operate which are mainly on-peak times which is useful, while still following a similar route which deserves an extra star but the awful card hold policy, poor communication skills and staff in general seeming unhelpful, the extra star is mainly for extra trains are better prices compared to a similar time LNER service. 2*

The ticket master was great, polite, helpful and informative. The station clean and tidy. Not…read moremuch else to say really, a nice old station and the beginning of a magical journey for some.

Really clean, good facilities and plenty of staff to ask for help if you need any…read more A good selection of places to get snacks for your journey. Bars, cafe and other eateries. Boots if you need any other bits and pieces.

I think we had a great experience here. It's not as exciting as King's Cross, but still has a cool…read morefeeling. We were lucky enough to book through that program that allows you to go to their private lounge first. So overall, the place seemed clean.