Originally Posted by
GayFriendly
I tried the Cross Country train from Birmingham to Stansted before COVID, it was a horrific experience, never again. A 2 carriage train with only tiny luggage spaces, standing room only most of the way. And so slow as it meandered round the East Midlands.
I remember seeing quite a few passengers with suitcases (possibly STN bound) from Stamford onwards but I don't think the availability of this service will see any increase in Wes Mids based travellers to fly from Stansted. But I do think rail is competitive against road from Peterborough onwards travelling to Stansted.
I think if STN wants to attract more passengers to travel by rail it should talk to the train companies about a half hourly dedicated STN - Peterborough airport service which would be same platform interchange at Cambridge for any Midlands bound people plus then offering a more regular Cambridge - Peterborough service for passengers who want to connect to northbound trains at Peterborough.
They do have 3 car trains as well which are also often full, it doesnt help that the 2 and 3 cars are worked interchangeably. The platform that XC use is the short one that cant take anything much bigger.
The hourly Greater Anglia Norwich train is a 3 or 4 carriage and has to share with the Stansted Express - this also has far too little luggage space but does call at Cambridge & Ely for connections north. It doesnt operate every hour though. There has been talk of it going every 30 mins which if they filled in the gaps as well would be a huge improvement.
Overall agree with you it's not very good rail wise if you don't want to go to London.