Like I mentioned in my other recent train reviews, before I reserve travel with a new company to trek across a country, state or city, I always look for detailed reviews of their service to know what I’m getting into and set expectations. However, I often find that these kinds of detailed reviews don’t exist.
There are general travel reviews, but I prefer to know the nitty gritty so I can mentally prepare for what I’m about to do and hopefully not make additional mistakes that traveling in another country can easily result in.
So this was my experience using a TransPennine Express Train to travel from Liverpool, England to Edinburgh, Scotland in the summer of 2025. Let’s see how it went π .
Pre-Trip
Before our trip, I received a very normal amount of emails from TransPennine, which I appreciated after Avanti’s giant number of unnecessary emails. TransPennine’s booking confirmation mentioned that we can “collect your tickets from any station with a ticket machine.
Simply insert the credit/debit card used to make the booking and enter your Collection Reference at the top of this email.” Awesome!
We also received links that I found helpful to find our station, see real-time live train departures and arrivals information, a map of a transfer train station and instructions on changing trains.
Train Details
- When: July 2025
- Where: Liverpool, England to Edinburgh, Scotland
- Time: 3.5 hours
- Distance: 175 miles
- Cost: $33.80 USD
The Journey
Liverpool Lime Street Train Station
The morning of our train ride our Uber dropped us off on what looked like the street, but was actually just around a wall from the train station. We went in and walked left of the entrance towards the Ticket Office, but didn’t see ticket machines so we went to ask an employee where they were.
The employee asked to see my confirmation email for some reason before telling me where the ticket machine was, so I had to scramble for that (I guess I should have been more prepared π ) . The employee then told me that the ticket machines are right outside the Starbucks.
So I headed towards Starbucks and saw that the ticket machines 1) looked like vending machines from the side where I approached from so I didn’t realize they were ticket machines and 2) were also hidden by an info screen. So it totally wasn’t my fault I didn’t see them right in front of my face π .
Anyway, I went to a ticket machine, which is a giant screen, and clicked on the screen to start. I selected “Collect Ticket”, entered our Confirmation Number and selected to Print out tickets. Curiously I didn’t need to use the credit card I paid with like our email from TransPennine said I would.
The machine gave us 2 tickets each – one that says “retain for inspection” and has our seat info and transfer time on it. The other ticket had general info about our trip.
After we gathered everything, we sat in a seating area that was in front of the ticket counter that is also in front of the board with platform info. Interestingly, Liverpool Station tells us the platform far in advance, even hours in advance when multiple other trains will leave from it first.
I was originally excited about that fact, but as you’ll see – it’ll bite me in the ass later π . However, the info board didn’t have boarding times on it so when we saw that the previous train at our assigned platform left, we headed there and were surprised to see that there wasn’t a ticket scanning spot.
So we just sat down at the train platform and waited for the trains. Unfortunately there were not clear signs near where we were sitting to see any train updates.
Boarding
But then, there was drama π . An employee came by and asked us where we were going.
When we said Edinburgh they said that our platform had moved from Platform 6 to Platform 4 – so I discovered the downside of announcing platform numbers far in advance π .
So we gathered our stuff and headed to Platform 4 and I had previously noticed that to access Platforms 1-5, people have to tap their ticket so I asked an employee before going through, which of my two tickets to tap since I didn’t want another Tokyo bullet train incident on my hands π .
An employee I saw walking around said to just find a different employee, show them the ticket and they’ll let us through. Well that’s weird π .
And when I approached the gates, there was no employee on our side of it, but there were a few beyond the gate. I walked up to the big gates for people with large luggage and gestured to an employee on the other side trying to explain what was happening and they opened the gate for us. Alrighty then!
We then saw our train at our new platform, but the side of the train not to board. However, everyone else started boarding anyway and I guess that was the right thing to do because the train left shortly after. Luckily we popped on after the platform was almost empty despite the sign still saying not to board. Never a dull moment π .
The Train
I looked at the side of the train, which listed which seat numbers were in each car so I could get us to the door closest to our seats and we entered that way. Once we were on the car, we noticed lights next to each seat number saying if it’s taken or not.
We settled into our reserved seats and put our luggage above us. And I almost immediately missed our Quiet Car on Avanti because there was a baby crying and people yelling and coughing all over the place. So I put on my face mask, popped in my earbuds and tried to ignore what was happening around me.
Luckily the view was beautiful so I focused on that. A while later an employee came through with a food cart that had tap to pay so my Partner grabbed a coffee and a snack. Our ticket had us doing one transfer in Lancaster to switch to our train to Edinburgh, but I checked the time and we seemed to be running behind.
At this point, the train car had quieted down a little so I had one of my earbuds out and it’s good that I did because there was an announcement that anyone transferring at Lancaster to Edinburgh should instead get off early at Preston station – and we were approaching that station now. Ah!
Our Edinburgh train was right behind our previous train and apparently since we were running behind, we would have missed it if we’d gotten off at Lancaster. I don’t really understand how that works since the train to Edinburgh was behind our original train, but ok.
Preston Lancaster Station Transfer
So we grabbed our stuff and got off at Preston. I checked the train status online and originally it said we would have 1 minute between when our previous train left and when our next train left, but when we were at the station, we had a whole 6 minutes and I checked a TV info panel nearby to discover that our Edinburgh train was leaving from the same platform. Nice!
Our Edinburgh train rolled up right after our original train left and our train car was in the same spot, which was nice. We got on train, but couldn’t see the seat numbers easily before boarding so we unfortunately got on the wrong side of the train car accidentally and had trouble getting to our seats.
There were lots of people on the train and they had put bags and coats on top of the storage area, the coats in particular taking up the only space for bags, so we had to move a few things around to fit our luggage. Luckily our table seat was surrounded by other table seats so we had more storage under the seats and between the table seat backs. After a few stressful minutes, we were in our seats and our luggage was out of the aisles.
The train left and soon after an employee came around asking if anyone had a ticket from Preston. I assumed they were trying to see if anyone new was on the train. We said we were from another train from Liverpool so they just glanced at our tickets and didn’t scan anything. How chill π .
On the negative side, we had a stranger in our 4th table seat that was giving us the stink eye so that’s nice π . This just reiterated my thought on my last English train that I should only book table seats when we have 4 people to avoid awkwardness with randos.
Soon after, another employee came through with a food cart and I enjoyed the relative quiet of this train car compared to the last one. There was a crying baby, but no yelling or coughing so I’m counting it as a win!
While looking at the countryside rolling by, I also glanced at the TVs within the train and noticed that they mentioned something about Delay Repay Compensation. I had no idea that existed, but apparently if a train in England is more than 15 minutes late, you are compensated for it. Wild!
This reminds me of the EU Delay Compensation (Regulation 261/2004) that I discovered during our first flight on IcelandAir that paid us back for that entire time. The UK and EU really are ahead of the curve π . So I made a note of that and got ready to arrive in Edinburgh.
Edinburgh Waverley Train Station
Edinburgh was the last stop on the train so it was impossible to miss. When we arrived, a woman exclaimed that we were 16 minutes late – I guess she was excited about that delay compensation π .
We gathered our luggage and got off the train. Employees were gesturing us forward to not use the ticket kiosks so we didn’t have to go through them, which I appreciated since our ticket wouldn’t work anyway π .
There are multiple exits at Edinburgh Waverley so I looked up where Uber picks up by starting to request a ride and seeing which location I was closest to. Once I saw a clear path to that exit, I requested a ride.
There was a bit of confusion grabbing our ride because our driver kept texting to meet across various streets farther from the train station, which was understandable because it was quite crowded, but it was difficult to cross the street for the same reason. However, eventually we were able to flag him down and we were off to our Scottish adventure!
Delay Compensation
After I got settled into our Edinburgh Airbnb, I was curious if and how that delay compensation worked – so I applied for it. I went to the TransPennine Delay Repay Compensation page and submitted my request. I just had to give them information about my trip and take a picture of our tickets.
I submitted the request on July 18 and got email saying it was approved on July 24. Later that day I got another email saying that our refund was on the way to the credit card I paid with and that it should be there in 5-10 business days. It hit my account on July 26.
We got back $25.51 for the 3 tickets, so a refund of 25% for a 16 minute delay and a few minutes of my work. That’s absolutely amazing. Amtrak would literally never.
So just a heads up in case you’re on a delayed train in the UK – they will actually pay you for your time, which I think is a great thing that should be more normalized. Our time is our most valuable resource π .
The Review
So that’s what happened, but let’s break it down a bit.
Seat
The seats on these two TransPennine trains were fine. I of course was comparing them to our other UK train experience with Avanti and these seats were not as comfy. The headrests on these trains were strangely shaped so they weren’t very comfy to rest on.
We also weren’t able to choose if our seats were forward or backwards facing for motion sickness reasons like on Avanti, which I would have preferred. However, my hips did fit comfortably in these seats and the arm rests were nice.
Amenities
I once again can’t help but compare with Avanti π . We had a charger located under our seats like on a plane, but I missed the table top wireless charger on Avanti. There was also no screen to pull down over the windows like on Avanti and the windows on our first train were strangely dirty. Not sure what happened there. There was free Wifi on the train, but you have to register for it.
Storage
There was a luggage rack for smaller bags on top of the seats and room on both ends of the train car to store larger bags. As I mentioned, we also had lots of room under our table seats and between the table chair backs when we were at a table seat surrounded by table seats.
However, on one train, our table seat was just next to regular seats and that meant we couldn’t put our luggage underneath our seat because it would have gotten in the way of the regular seat’s legroom, so just a heads up about that. As a result of that and the extra luggage between table seat backs, I think I’ll only choose table seats surrounded by other table seats if possible.
One more note that I’m not sure why this was the case since we had the same seats on trains that looked identical, but on our second train, the wheel well was where my foot was so that cut into my legroom and also meant that I couldn’t fit my bag between my legs under the table comfortably.
Customer Service
Customer service along our journey was good. I appreciated all of the train station employees that warned us about our train platform moving when there were no TVs to warn us and I appreciated the employees that kindly let us through when our tickets turned out to be useless for some reason. However, I would suggest making tickets not be useless because that’s their main purpose π .
The employees on our trains were kind and I appreciated the announcement to get off the train at a closer station so we didn’t miss our train. I was also very impressed with the delay compensation.
Conclusion
So that was my experience riding an TransPennine Express train from Liverpool to Edinburgh. It was a very affordable way to travel between England and Scotland and I did appreciate all the people that helped us along the way.
I just got back from a week in the UK where I took two day trips by train. One of my trains was a few minutes late, and I remembered your advice about filing for a refund – but it wasn’t quite 15 minutes. Alas!
In general, though, the UK trains are so much better than what we have here. They’re fast, they’re clean, they’re comfortable, they have convenient schedules, and I like the little digital tags over each seat that tell you if it’s reserved. I wish American trains were this good. I’d travel that way all the time if they were!
Aw man so close! And yeah UK trains are pretty great in general. I also wish we could keep up with the peeps across the pond π .
The Delay Repay is good, but it varies according to train company when it kicks in – e.g. with LNER your train has to be half an hour late before they’ll give you anything.
Also, although you can buy a ticket for any operator from any other operator, you can only do the Delay Repay through the one that is actually late, so I’ve ended up having to create an account just so I can get some money back.
Good to know – thanks for sharing.
great post!
unrelated question… the struggle is real with figuring out how to budget/track expenses after FIRE.
how do you use YNAB when your income is a lump sum? or you have expenses that are far in the future …like when you used to book AirBnB 10 months a a time?
Thank you! And for me it works similarly as getting a regular paycheck except I get one annual paycheck that I put in a “2026 Spending” category and allocate my budget from that instead of the “Ready to Assign” category like when I was working. If I book something in advance it just goes into its appropriate category, such as “Lodging” for accommodations or “Travel” for flights. And I still book Airbnbs and flights almost a year in advance π .
However, I mostly use YNAB these days to keep track of my transactions to look back on and not to decide how much I spend in advance since I buy whatever I want these days – so it’s all a bit of a washπ€£. But I hope that helps!