(22 Aug 2015, 10:32 am)8222 wrote I've used CrossCountry a fair few times as I did my undergrad and post-grad degrees at the University of Sheffield. I have to say, they seem to be a lot more competitively priced on the Newcastle-York stretch now. What I used to do, and still do do, to save money, is to travel from Sunderland - York on a Grand Central open then book a Cross Country ticket from York - Sheffield. Shaves off a fair bit of money, and if you're willing to give up an extra 30 mins, it can be well worth it.
And in 5 years of using CrossCountry on a regular basis, yes, their trains smell a bit funny (unless you're lucky enough to get an HST) but I've always found them alright and 9 times out of 10, to be on time. Now and again I would use East Coast from Newcastle - Doncaster and change and I always seemed to arrive about 8-10 minutes late. Speaking of which, it will be interesting to see the new franchise's on time performance. As a regular user of Grand Central, we always seem to be held up by a VTEC train running late.