Popular journeys between two stations without a direct service?

[charlee]

Would there be any sort of data to indicate what the most travelled route between two stations is, which do not have a direct rail service.

I.e I traveled between Paignton and plymouth and was told they see many tickets between the two.

So it had me thinking what is the most travelled route which involves a change at another station. I would assume there was a few cities and towns which generate traffic which aren't directly connected by rail

 

[Cherry_Picker]

I'll bet you a pound to a penny the answer to your question is between two stations inside the M25.

 

[oversteer]

Kings Cross and Waterloo

 

[Lampshade]

If you count London Underground I bet it's somewhere in SWT-land to London Zone 1.

Not counting LUL... somewhere on London Overground to Waterloo via Richmond, to Euston via Willesden, or somewhere in Southern/SWT-land to London Bridge via Waterloo East.

 

[Martin_1981]

A Midlands example could be Leicester to Coventry which lost its direct service in 2003-4as a result of the Nuneaton remodelling. There was an hourly direct service during the day prior to this, which was useful for Leicester passengers travelling to Oxford, Reading and the South Coast, as they could change at Coventry instead of Birmingam. Leicester to Cov now involves a change of train at Nuneaton, as all the trains from the Leicester direction go onto Birmingham and vice versa.

 

[Mutant Lemming]

A Midlands example could be Leicester to Coventry which lost its direct service in 2003-4as a result of the Nuneaton remodelling. There was an hourly direct service during the day prior to this, which was useful for Leicester passengers travelling to Oxford, Reading and the South Coast, as they could change at Coventry instead of Birmingam. Leicester to Cov now involves a change of train at Nuneaton, as all the trains from the Leicester direction go onto Birmingham and vice versa.

I would imagine Mr De Courcey and his X6 have knocked a considerable dent in the rail passenger numbers between the two.

 

[soil]

Wimbledon - Victoria?

 

[LE Greys]

Conversely, the longest distance for the shortest as-the-crow-flies must be Kyle of Lochalsh-Mallaig. That probably gets quite a lot of traffic in the summer (by Highland standards anyway).

 

[Cherry_Picker]

Conversely, the longest distance for the shortest as-the-crow-flies must be Kyle of Lochalsh-Mallaig. That probably gets quite a lot of traffic in the summer (by Highland standards anyway).

I just had a look at that. 25 miles apart by road/ferry and unless I am missing something you cannot do the trip in a day by train if you want to leave later than 6am.

To travel from Mallaig to Kyle of Lochalsh is a 14 hour trip changing at Glasgow Queen St and Inverness and if you miss the 06:03 ex Mallaig for any reason it will take more than 24 hours to complete the journey. It is literally quicker to walk.

 

[johnb]

Wimbledon - Victoria?

Red, white and blue train with green seats; goes every 10 minutes.

 

[Lrd]

Banbury - Didcot Parkway?

 

[Cherry_Picker]

There are half a dozen direct trains a day. The FGW Banbury - Paddington stoppers call at Didcot Parkway.

 

[ultros8]

Outside of London, Swindon/Bristol - Oxford must have quite a significant flow, I don't believe any trains are scheduled to use the Didcot west curve any more.

 

[bicbasher]

Forest Hill to London Charing Cross.

 

[pemma]

A lot of local stations served by the Liverpool-Manchester Oxford Rd service see passengers continuing to Piccadilly. Although the tickets will be sold to Manchester STNS or Manchester CTLZ making it difficult to obtain exact passenger numbers.

Surprisingly the TVM at Northwich once showed Sheffield in it's list of most popular destinations ahead of Manchester STNS and Metrolink City. I don't know how the most popular destinations are worked out though. Maybe if it's on recent transactions a group of 10 people going to Sheffield who purchased tickets from the TVM could have distorted the list?

 

[tony6499]

Hove to Falmer for the university

 

[tbtc]

Leicester to Coventry

Swindon/Bristol - Oxford

Two good shouts.

It's hard to come up with examples, not knowing the actual travel patterns, so a lot of this is guesswork, but off the top of my head:

• Sunderland to Leeds/ Manchester
• Burnley to Manchester (is there still some token service? this may have to be disqualified!)
• Wrexham/ Bidston to Liverpool
• Stratford on Avon - Oxford
• Reading to Brighton
• Mansfield to Sheffield
• Buxton to Sheffield
• Buxton to Macclesfield

There's a few other places that aren't directly linked, where I don't know that there'd be much demand (e.g. I've always wondered about Nottingham to Doncaster - since Nottingham has poor links to places north on the ECML - there may be one of the EMT Leeds services that serves both though).

Annoyingly I only recently read that Cardiff Central has one train a week (?) to Cardiff Bay, otherwise I'd suggest this!

 

[YorkshireBear]

In my local area i would like to put two forward. Harrogate (and other local stations) along the airdale and wharfdale lines to Ilkley, Bradford and Skipton.

Also in South Yorks, Barnsley to Doncaster.

Actually also Bradford to Sheffield. Not sure how popular this is but i do it quite often.

 

[st.ives]

Huntingdon - Cambridge

 

[Zoe]

Heathrow Terminal 4 to Heathrow Terminal 5?

 

[W230]

Norwich to King's Lynn? Ok, take the bus...

 

[tbtc]

Barnsley to Doncaster

Another good shout.

 

[pemma]

Burnley to Manchester (is there still some token service? this may have to be disqualified!)

Not that I know of. It would be a bit difficult to run one without the Todmorden Curve reinstated. Don't know why someone would try and make that journey by train given the frequent bus service which uses modern buses and is quicker than the train journey with a change.

 

[Bedpan]

Stourbridge Town to Birmingham? There must be a lot of places where people change from a branch line onto a main lime, but of course it doesn't mean they are all going to the same destination.

 

[LuSiVe]

Don't know how popular it is but Chesterfield to Mansfield by train's got to be the long way round, as has Chesterfield to Matlock.

 

[LE Greys]

Heathrow Terminal 4 to Heathrow Terminal 5?

Certainly. I tried that by bus recently, and it took me on a long tour via the cargo terminal to get around the end of the south runway. Interesting for plane spotting purposes, but not much good if you're in a hurry. Not sure what to do about it, though.

 

[tunster]

Chelmsford and London Liverpool St on the GEML?

From Chelmsford, there's no direct service and always has to stop at Shenfield/Stratford before reaching Liverpool St. I always feel sorry for people in Shenfield/Ingatestone that have to use that service as there's never any seats after Chelmsford at rush hour.

 

[MK Tom]

Aylesbury has a few of these, especially to Bicester and Birmingham. In fact why there isn't a service that reverses at Risborough is a mystery to me.

Leighton Buzzard to Bedford, MKC to Liverpool and WCML south stations to Brighton are others that have been brought to my attention. I don't know why but my contacts seem to think being an enthusiast makes me some kind of spokesperson for the rail industry...

 

[JamesRowden]

How about London to Falmer because of when Brighton and Hove Albion are hosting a London club and the University of Sussex students whos parents home is in London.

 

[Qwerty133]

I would imagine Mr De Courcey and his X6 have knocked a considerable dent in the rail passenger numbers between the two.

I don't as the bus service has always run it used to be run by arriva with n170 put and simular