Thameslink’s Connections To Long Distance Trains
When Thameslink and Crossrail are complete how will this effect those tricky long distance journeys that should be done by train.
Some journeys like Eastbourne to York will become easier, as you’d probably hop along to Brighton and then take a train to Peterborough, for your train to York.
So how do two destinations I know well connect to the main radial routes from London.
I’ll start with Cambridge.
Great Eastern Main Line – Not really a problem, as you’d probably take a local train to Ipswich and Norwich. You could also go direct into Liverpool Street or change onto Crossrail at Farringdon.
East Coast Main Line – You’d still do what you’ve always done and take a train into London. Whether there will be fast trains into Kings Cross itself, has not been said. But travelling to Scotland without the direct Kings Cross trains and a heavy case, would mean lugging it across from St. Pancras Thameslink. If Thameslink improves the service to Stevenage that would be an alternative for the ECML, but train company management, must be wishing that over zealous cuts in the past that left Cambridge with no direct train lines to Peterborough or Bedford, had not been made.
Midland Main Line – This would be a walk or lift up from St.Pancras Thameslink. It would be nice though if there was a lift directly between Thameslink and the MML platforms.
Eurostar – This would be a walk or lift up from St.Pancras Thameslink.
West Coast Main Line – This is a bad change, as it’s a long walk from St. Pancras Thameslink to the Underground. It’s also difficult with a heavy case.
Great Western Main Line – If the interchange to Crossrail at Farringdon is properly designed, which it should be, you’d use Crossrail to get to either Paddington or Reading.
South Western Main Line – This one is difficult, as it’s either a struggle to the Underground at St. Pancras Thameslink and then a change to get to Waterloo or Clapham Junction. Whatever it is, it’s a nightmare with a heavy case. A better alternative might be to go to London Bridge and then get the Jubilee Line to Waterloo.
Lines from Victoria – As with Waterloo, Victoria is difficult with a heavy case, due to the Underground connections. From Cambridge to Victoria, you are probably better taking a Liverpool Street train to Tottenham Hale for the Victoria line.
Now I’ll look at Brighton.
Great Eastern Main Line – Not really a problem, as you’d just change onto Crossrail at Farringdon for Liverpool Street, Stratford or even Shenfield. Or for perhaps Ipswich and Norwich, you might just go to Cambridge and get a relaxed local train, through the countryside.
East Coast Main Line – This is a connection that will be greatly improved, as you might skip London and go direct to Peterborough, to pick up the train there.
Midland Main Line – This would be a walk or lift up from St.Pancras Thameslink. It would be nice though if there was a lift directly between Thameslink and the MML platforms. Or would you go to somewhere like West Hampstead Thameslink or Luton.
Eurostar – This would be a walk or lift up from St.Pancras Thameslink.
West Coast Main Line – This is a bad change, as it’s a long walk from St. Pancras Thameslink to the Underground. It’s also difficult with a heavy case.
Great Western Main Line – If the interchange to Crossrail at Farringdon is properly designed, which it should be, you’d use Crossrail to get to either Paddington or Reading.
South Western Main Line – You’d probably do as you do now and take a train direct to Clapham Junction and change there.
Lines from Victoria – These are no problem, as you can get a train to either Victoria or Clapham Junction.
One thing that becomes obvious from this post, is that Euston, Waterloo and Victoria don’t have the best links to Crossrail and Thameslink.
Euston’s problems are mainly because when the station was built in the 1960s, together with the Victoria line, passengers were treated as fit, uncomplaining individuals, who should be satisfied with what the government paid for.
Victoria suffers from similar problems to Euston.
Waterloo’s problems are that to get there from St. Pancras by Underground, requires a change of train.
What doesn’t help any of these transfers is the substandard interchange between Thameslink and the Underground at St. Pancras. It may be step free, but it’s a long walk.
If the interchange with main lines in London to Thameslink and Crossrail are to be improved, the following should be looked at.
Improve the Access to St. Pancras Thameslink
If you’re going up from St. Pancras Thameslink to Eurostar or the Midland Main Line, it isn’t too bad, but the long hike to the Underground is a disgrace. Especially for a station that is only a few years old.
I wonder if it’s possible to create a tunnel between Thameslink and the Northern line at St. Pancras.
Build a Crossrail station at Old Oak Common
This would make it easier to get on trains out of Euston on the West Coast Main Line.
Link Thameslink to Clapham Junction
This would help travellers from the north to get on the lines out of Victoria and Waterloo.
I use Clapham Junction a lot as it is very useful station, and I can get the Overground there easily.
Crossrail 2
This may be the real solution to a lot of the problems, as it is proposed it will link Kings Cross/St. Pancras/Euston to Victoria and Clapham Junction.
It will be interesting to see how Thameslink changes in the first couple of years of operation.
A Round Trip To St. Albans
Today, it looked like it was going to be miserable and wet.
I’d also been wanting to go to St. Albans to see the Abbey Line, which is one of those short connecting lines like Upminster to Romford and the Greenford branch.
So after checking the weather, which showed it might brighten up at lunchtime, I decided to take a chance.
These pictures show my round trip using Overground to Watford Junction and then the Abbey Line to St. Albans Abbey station before coming home from St. Albans City.
The pictures show I was right about the weather.
St. Albans is a medium-sized city with several attractions for visitors, but unfortunately whichever station you use to get to the city, it’s a walk up the hill.
If the city wants to attract more visitors by train, then it should inform visitors which bus they use to get up the hill. In fact, although they have quite a few fingerposts, St. Albans could do with a few maps.
A Timetable Of Major Projects On The UK Rail Network
This is for my own use at present and it will be updated as more information becomes available.
2014
2015
2016
Cambridge Science Park Station
Great Western electrification to Oxford and Newbury.
Introduction of Class 700 trains onto Thameslink.
Oxford to Marylebone
Preston to Blackpool electrification
2017
Great Western electrification to Cardiff
Introduction of Class 800 and 801 trains
Midland Main Line electrification to Corby
Modernisation and electrification of Great Western Main Line
2018
First trains start running on Crossrail.
2019
East-West Link – Oxford to Bedford
Midland Main Line electrification to Derby and Nottingham
2020
Midland Main Line electrification to Sheffield
Note that some projects have been left out, as they are not ones that particularly interest me. An example would be small stations that I am unlikely to use that are outside London. Some projects like HS2 and the Northern Line Extension To Battersea have been deliberately left out until the project timetables are firmed up.
Leeds To Get Two New Stations
Modern Railways is reporting, that two new stations; Apperley Bridge and Kirkstall Forge are to be built in the Leeds area.
Stations seem to be like buses. You wait for a new one for years and then they arrive in bunches.
Searching For Food At Edinburgh Waverley
Coming back from Edinburgh Waverley, I booked on-line for the 14:30 train for the princely sum of £64.35. After picking up my ticket, I thought I’d ask if there was any sensible food in First Class. The guy I asked was honest and said, that if he was me, he’d have something before travel. As my friend had said that last time, all she got was sandwiches, I decided to look for a snack. Especially, as I had a cooked sausage and bean casserole in te fridge that just needed heating, so I didn’t need much.
I first tried the First Class Lounge, which was guarded by this notice.
East Coast’s First Class Welcome
There was no food and the coffee machine was broken. So that was a waste of time.
I had plenty of time, so I walked out of the station and to a restaurant I’d eaten in behind Harvey Nicholls. No luck at all!
On my way back to the station, I popped into the Balmoral Hotel and asked if there was anything gluten-free in the bar. The Western European waiter spoke worse English, than all the waiters I’d encountered in Poland. I thought Edinburgh was in Scotland. As he couldn’t understand my dietary needs, I quickly left and went back to the station.
Costa Coffee had what looked like a nice salad, but they’d polluted it with pasta. Why do people ruin perfectly good salads in this way?
I then tried the other coffee outlets and there was nothing I could eat. Even Marks and Spencer were out of gluten-free sandwiches. At least the manager said sorry which is more than anybody else did!
In desperation, I thought I’d look out of the other side of the station and saw this cafe.
The City Art Centre Cafe
So I asked and they said that the beef and red wine casserole was gluten-free.
Beef And Red Wine Casserole
It was a choice I didn’t regret.
It would appear that despite eating many good gluten-free meals in Edinburgh, trying to find one by the main station is a lot more difficult.
But I’d certainly go back to The City Art Centre Cafe again
Should Network Rail Manage More Stations?
This post was suggested by this article pointed to by Global Rail News, which says that Network Rail is going to take more stations directly under their control. Here’s the first two paragraphs.
Newcastle and York are to become Network Rail-managed stations from the start of the new East Coast franchise in 2015.
The main line stations will join Reading and Bristol Temple Meads, which Network Rail took over on April 1, under a new management model designed to improve long-term planning for the UK’s railway stations.
So what stations do Network Rail actually manage? There is a list of the nineteen stations, they current manage on on their web site.
Living in London, I use a lot of Network Rail managed stations, as all London terminals except for Blackfriars are managed by the company. The signs are consistent and even when the station is only used by one train operating company, like Liverpool Street or Waterloo, the national signs are dominant! As they should be! So a visitor to London, unfamiliar with where they are going, should find navigating around stations easy. Some large Continental stations could do a lot worse than mimic the signs at Euston, Waterloo or Kings Cross.
Generally, I think Network Rail gets it right. They also have a policy of getting better and often healthier food outlets into stations. Stations like Waterloo, Kings Cross, St. Pancras and Manchester Piccadilly have benefited from this policy. I have too, in that in the last couple of seasons, when I went to football at Blackburn, Burnley or Blackpool, I have sometimes arranged one journey with a change at Piccadilly, so I could have lunch or supper.
As someone, who hasn’t even managed a whelk stall, surely if one company manages a lot of stations, then good ideas filter across the group.
I wouldn’t call for all stations to be directly managed, as the vast proportion of smaller ones deal with one company. But even here, they should follow Network Rail’s policy on signs and possibly architecture and station furniture. In the case of the latter, I’ve seen some truly inappropriate designs. To be fair to Network Rail, they have produced this design guide and they are currently responsible for leading the Access for All.
So after Newcastle and York, what other stations, should they manage?
In the article from Global Rail News, one of the comments suggests that Clapham Junction station be directly managed.
The station has been improved and is managed by South West Trains, but used in addition by Southern and London Overground. The station needs further improvement and with Southern becoming part of the new Thameslink franchise, there will be three big beats using the station, which will be managed by a competitor.
It strikes me that there needs to be a policeman sitting about the corporate fights that will break out in one of the UK’s busiest stations. Network Rail are the obvious candidate.
There are other busy stations like Clapham Junction, which could probably need someone to sort out problems, caused by the station manager being the dominant train operating company in the station. In this class, I would name Peterborough, Preston, Derby, Nottingham, Sheffield and Wolverhampton.
And then there’s Cardiff.
Surely, if Glasgow Central and Edinburgh Waverly are managed by Network Rail, Cardiff Central must have string claims, even though it’s in Wales. But the Scots don’t seem to have problems over their two Network Rail managed stations.
I think by the end ofthis decade, more of the larger stations will be under Network Rail’s umbrella.
Deptford Station Is Almost Finished
In April 2012, I went to see the new Deptford station and I reported on it here. Today after seeing HMS Bulwark I walked along the Thames to the station to get a train to London Bridge station.
It shouldn’t be long before Deptford has a station of which it can be proud.
No Action At Lea Bridge Station
According to Wikipedia, Lea Bridge station will be reopened this year.
No Action At Lea Bridge Station
But does this picture say otherwise?
The Worst Station In The UK
If they wanted to remake Brief Encounter, all they’d need to do was go to Manchester Victoria station and add a few steam trains. Not for nothing was it voted the UK’s worst station in 2009.
Although come to think of it, if a powerful steam engine, went through the station, it would probably cause the tonnes of muck in the station roof to fall off and kill a few passengers, even if the steam didn’t blow the station down.
Salvation is at hand, as Network Rail are rebuilding the station and putting a new roof on the station, to protect the squalor from the elements.
At least the information screens work and I found my way successfully to the train.
A Pleasant Surprise In Middlesbrough
I like nice cafes and it was only as I was leaving Middlesbrough, that I found the Traveller’s Rest in the station.
From a quick perusal of their menu, it would appear that there is something I could have eaten, which was a pity, as I didn’t get anything to eat until I got home about five hours later.
There’a positive review of the cafe here.
I did chat to the owner and he also indicated that Northern Rail had been very encouraging in his venture. Are they repeating the philosphy, which was obviously at play with the Overground at Crystal Palace station and South Eastern at Margate?
Let’s hope so, as all fair-sized stations need a distinctive and spacious cafe or restaurant for the passengers.
The Anonymous Widower 