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

Trains in the UK often get a bad reputation,  whether for the terrible reliability,   or the extremely high fares. But today, I’m  going to be taking a look INSIDE one of the   UK’s most HATED trains – the Avanti West  Coast ‘Super Voyager’ – to find out just  

What makes this train so bad. Running from  Holyhead on the sunny coast of North Wales,   we’ll be travelling on this high-speed train down  to the English capital, London. So join me for   this three hour trip, as we find out just what’s  wrong with one of the UK’s most HATED trains!

Well good afternoon from the port  town of Holyhead, in North Wales,   where it looks like I’ve been  blessed with some typical weather. Holyhead station is surprisingly large,  when you consider this town has just   13,000 residents. However, this scale is all  down to its history, which we’ll get to soon.

The station has three platforms, with a fourth one  previously being located next to platform 2 here. Only two platforms are actually located here,   though, with the one my train will be  departing from a few minutes walk away. As for facilities, the station has a  small shop, and little else to be honest.

However, the station building also serves as a  ferry port, with frequent departures to Dublin. Of course, before the advent of budget airlines,   this train and ferry combination was the  only affordable way to reach Ireland. Whilst those days are far behind us now,  

Some great value ‘SailRail’ fares between  UK cities and Dublin still exist today. Anyway, my train today will be the 13:58 service  to London Euston, departing from platform 1. So let’s head back out of the station  building for the long walk to platform 1. This platform is easy to miss, and in fact,  

I even had to ask other people to find out  where the train actually departed from. And here’s my Class 221 ‘Super Voyager’ train,  operated by Avanti West Coast. These high-speed   tilting diesel units have earnt themselves quite  the reputation over their 20 years of service.

Some of the most common complaints  are the unpleasant smell,   and intense overcrowding  due to their short length. The units are just five carriages  long, but thankfully my train is   formed of two units coupled together,  resulting in a much nicer 10 carriages.

A fleet of 44 ‘Super Voyager’ units was  ordered by Virgin Trains in the late 1990s,   as part of a flashy modernisation of  the West Coast and Cross Country routes. Nowadays, some of these trains are operated by  Avanti West Coast, while about half of them ended  

Up with CrossCountry, who run them on journeys  of up to 13 hours between Scotland and the South   of England. Let me know in the comments if  you want to see my try this BRUTAL journey! Time to get on-board! No seat reservation today, so  I’ll be taking any available seat.

Standard Class is in a 2+2 layout,  with mostly airline-style seats,   though there are also a limited number of  table seats available throughout the train. My seat today will be Coach J, Seat  56, a forward facing window seat. Today’s route will see us heading along  the scenic North Wales Coast to Crewe,  

Before running at full speed down the West Coast  Mainline into London Euston. Journey time is   scheduled to be three hours and 34 mintues,  covering 263 miles, or about 423 kilometres. We end up departing Holyhead on-time, at 13:58. If you look closely beyond all  the raindrops on the window,  

You can catch a glimpse of Holyhead  signal box, dating back to 1938. And just beyond this, some of the classic  semaphore signals controlled by it. So, let’s have a look around  the interior of Standard Class. As I mentioned earlier,  seating is in a 2+2 layout,  

Which can feel cramped at times thanks to the  particularly narrow bodyshell of these trains. Though I’ll explain the reason for  this narrow design a little bit later. The seating looks really smart, having  been refurbished just a few years ago. There’s a decent amount of padding, which  actually made this seat really comfortable.

It also has good ergonomic support,  and up top, a nicely curved headrest. Between seats, there’s a folding armrest. Though  this was quite narrow, and unusually curved. Legroom is pretty tight as far  as long-distance trains go,   which leads to longer journeys feeling  like a little bit of a squeeze.

The seat in front has a folding  table. This was pretty small,   but did feature a groove to hold a drink. And up here, there’s an adjustable blind,   which could effectively block out the sun.  However, there wasn’t anything to block. Lastly, there were some coathooks  located here above the seats.

Looking outside, we’re currently passing by  the Royal Air Force base in Valley. This used   to serve the only domestic flight in Wales,  with a daily commuter service to Cardiff. And not long later, we pass through a town that   claims to have the longest name in  Europe, displayed on screen now.

Though for the station’s official name,  this is shortened to just Llanfairpwll. Our time on the Isle of Anglesey is coming to an  end, as we begin to cross the Britannia Bridge. This double-deck bridge  carries a single rail track,  

With a two-lane road on the upper level.  It serves as a vital link from the Isle   of Anglesey to mainland Wales, and  by extension, the rest of the UK. Also be sure to look out for one of the four   lion statues at either end of  the bridge, two on each side.

Our first station is Bangor,  now on the mainland of Wales. This is the busiest station in  North Wales by passenger count,   with over half a million passengers  using the station every year. At this point, we meet the North Wales coastline,   which we will be running  alongside for the next hour or so.

This part of the route  provides some amazing views,   and as the sun has (surprisingly) come out,  there’s even a rainbow in the distance. Though at Conwy, we briefly head inland,   affording an incredible view of Conwy Castle,  which dates back to the mid-13th Century.

Nowadays, it serves as a major  tourist attraction in the area,   and is even a UNESCO World Heritage Site. To the left is the line from the  seaside resort town of Llandudno,   visible as we arrive into one of the only  places in the UK named after a train station.

Llandudno Junction is a village  previously known as Tremarl,   though with the opening of the station  and the now-closed maintenance depot,   the village’s name was changed  to match that of the station. Let me know in the comments if you’re aware  of any other places named after stations!

This is Rhyl, a very popular tourist  destination here in North Wales. In the peak summer season, these platforms  would be swarming with passengers,   both beginning and ending their holidays in  the area, but in winter it’s a bit less lively. For a train serving a route with  a lot of seasonal leisure traffic,  

You might expect these trains to be  well appointed for carrying luggage. But instead, there were just one or two  fairly small luggage stacks per carriage. And the overhead luggage racks were  tiny compared to most other trains. Though luckily, the seats were specially designed  to allow for storing luggage beneath them. There’s  

Even an airline-style bar to prevent the bags from  sliding away on take-off…I mean on departure! One of the last things we see in  Wales is the TSS Duke of Lancaster,   a passenger ship built for British Rail in 1955,  which was often used between the UK and Ireland.

This beached ship was used as a tourist  attraction for children for many years,   however since 2004 this has  ceased, and its future is unknown. After crossing the border into England, we call  at the major interchange station in Chester. This beautiful station sees a frequent service  

From Northern and Transport for  Wales, offering regional services. There are also electric commuter  trains operated by Merseyrail,   which run into Liverpool every fifteen minutes. As the engines gently purr away under the floor,  we begin the short ride from here over to Crewe,  

On the West Coast Mainline, which we will  be running on for the remainder of the trip. On the way, we also pass another Avanti  West Coast service running to Chester. Crewe is home to the Crewe Heritage  Centre, where a collection of older   diesel and electric locomotives  are parked up in preservation.

We can even catch a glimpse of  the Advanced Passenger Train,   the British-built tilting high-speed unit that  unfortunately never made it into full service. Crewe is by far one of the largest interchanges  on the UK railway network, with an incredible  

Seven train companies serving the station – let  me know in the comments if you can name them all. On the opposite platform is a Pendolino,  the other train in Avanti West Coast’s   fleet. These tilting electric trains run the  majority of long-distance trains on the route,  

With the diesel Voyagers only serving  routes that aren’t fully electrified. For a few years, these Pendolino units  were dragged to Holyhead by a diesel loco,   though this practice did not last very long. From Crewe, we now run non-stop for the  hour long ride to Milton Keynes Central.

As well as the seven train companies  that serve the station, it’s common to   see those of other operators parked up  in the sheds to the south for testing. The West Coast Mainline is one of  the UK’s most prestigious mainlines,  

And as such we can run at up to 125mph  (200km/h) for much of the remaining journey. The fleet of Super Voyager units is  also capable of tilting, which allows   them to take curves at a higher speed than  usual, as you can sort of see here. Though  

This does mean the carriages are narrower  than average, to cater for this feature. Oh, I nearly forgot to mention. These  trains are fitted with free WiFi,   which was easy to connect to. This offered reasonable speeds for  surfing the internet and sending messages.

There is also a three-pin socket  provided for each pair of seats. And above the seat, there’s a pair of very  bright individual reading lights…necessary,   as these trains have a dim and relaxed atmosphere. Here, we pass through the station of Rugby,   which is supposedly where the sport  of the same name was invented.

It’s also a major junction, with the busy line   from Birmingham joining up to  the West Coast Mainline here. Now let’s go and have a look  around the rest of the train. One of the other Standard Class carriages  features a special seating area,   with all seats situated around a large table.

This used to be sold as First  Class during times of high demand,   but nowadays you can sit here  with a Standard Class ticket. Actual First Class features a 2+1 seating  layout, with comfortable reclining leather seats. There’s also a buffet counter  located in one carriage,   however this was closed on the service I took.

Four toilets are provided on this train, and  strangely they are all wheelchair access toilets,   despite some carriages not  even having wheelchair spaces. A lot of people complain about these  toilets, saying they always smell really bad,   but that’s not the case on this train, or indeed  most of my other experiences on Voyagers either.

This modern and clean vacuum  toilet was in very good condition. The soap was working fine…as was the water. Though frustratingly, I couldn’t  get the hand dryer to work. Our last stop before London  is Milton Keynes Central,   a relatively new city, being founded in 1967.

This is where the train gets busy, with the rush   of commuters travelling back down to  London. After all, it’s just gone 5pm. As we’re now on the last dash down the capital,  let’s talk about how much this journey costs.

For a flexible one-way ticket, with my 16-25  Railcard discount of a third, it costs £55.80.   This price is not valid for the early morning  peak services, but can be used on any other trains   along the route, which I think is actually fairly  reasonable for the level of comfort and speed.

Though of course, most people  won’t be able to take advantage   of this discount, so will pay £88.70  one-way…which is quite expensive. As for the future of these trains? Well, they are  being replaced by Avanti West Coast imminently,   with a large fleet of Hitachi Class 805 bi-mode  

Units currently being tested. These can  run on electricity as well as diesel,   which will help to reduce the amount of  diesel trains running on electrified tracks. The next operator is not yet known, with  some having already gone to Grand Central,   and numerous operators reportedly  taking an interest in the fleet…

As we draw closer to London, you can  see the London Overground commuter   trains. A clear sign this journey is nearly over. And sure enough, just five minutes later we’re  gliding into London Euston, one of London’s   many terminal stations. Arrival is about three  minutes late, at 17:40, which isn’t too bad.

Overall, I enjoyed my ride on the Voyager. When  not overcrowded, I find these trains really   pleasant to travel on, with a comfortable  seat and a smooth ride. But as always,   let me know what you think of the Voyagers in  the comments, and for a look at an even more  

Hated train in the UK, then click up here now to  watch my video on the old Northern Rail Pacer!