Review: 170 (minutes) on a crowded Class 170

RAIL’s Mystery Shopper travels from Birmingham to Cambridge on a CrossCountry Turbostar.

“I’m so sorry, I can barely hear you. It’s so noisy in this carriage,” says the woman opposite me.

She has made the mistake of trying to talk on her phone while travelling on a Class 170.

I’m using one of CrossCountry’s 25-year-old diesel multiple units to travel across the Midlands from Birmingham to Cambridge.

Going from west to east by train north of London is not the quickest affair. When booking tickets for this journey, most options advised travelling via London (train to Euston, walk/Underground to King’s Cross, train to Cambridge). Estimated journey times are about the same, at around two-and-three-quarter hours.

I have to go direct, and I take the CrossCountry service bound for Stansted Airport as I just want to get settled. I’m willing to accept this 170-minute trip will be made on a ‘170’ Turbostar.

It’s a freezing cold morning at Birmingham New Street, and the concourse above the platforms is not a place to keep out the chilly February air, as the little exchange between the barista and customer next to me at Costa indicates.

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