• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

HS1 Overcrowding

Status
Not open for further replies.

jamesd256

New Member
Joined
18 Jun 2016
Messages
3
Hi,

I have read that since a re-distribution of rolling stock during recent times, HS1 between Folkestone and St Pancras has become rather more over-crowded.

Does anyone reading this either travel on this line to commute to London from Folkestone or know either what capacity is like at various times, or know how to find out?

I am thinking of moving to Folkestone!

Many thanks.

James
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

Antman

Established Member
Joined
3 May 2013
Messages
6,842
Folkestone Central is currently the end of the line so you're pretty much guaranteed a seat there although it can get busy between Ashford and St Pancras
 

jamesd256

New Member
Joined
18 Jun 2016
Messages
3
Folkestone Central is currently the end of the line so you're pretty much guaranteed a seat there although it can get busy between Ashford and St Pancras

Thanks. Depending where I move I might be getting on at Folkestone West, the next stop down the line.

I am lucky not to have to get on very early - all the busier trains have left (7am-8:30am)

I would imagine being on the train for 8:15 am at Folkestone.

Does it really take the advertised time? I heard it's very punctual. My train from Chelmsford is rarely on time on arrival due to congestion.

Thanks!
 

Antman

Established Member
Joined
3 May 2013
Messages
6,842
Thanks. Depending where I move I might be getting on at Folkestone West, the next stop down the line.

I am lucky not to have to get on very early - all the busier trains have left (7am-8:30am)

I would imagine being on the train for 8:15 am at Folkestone.

Does it really take the advertised time? I heard it's very punctual. My train from Chelmsford is rarely on time on arrival due to congestion.

Thanks!

Yes they are normally quite reliable and I would think you will be ok getting a seat at Folkestone West
 

FlippyFF

Member
Joined
5 Jan 2014
Messages
240
Location
Ashford, Kent
Thanks. Depending where I move I might be getting on at Folkestone West, the next stop down the line.

I am lucky not to have to get on very early - all the busier trains have left (7am-8:30am)

I would imagine being on the train for 8:15 am at Folkestone.

Does it really take the advertised time? I heard it's very punctual. My train from Chelmsford is rarely on time on arrival due to congestion.

Thanks!

I commute from Ashford using HS1 and use a variety of trains depending on which shift I'm working.

I normally travel in the leading car.

06:36 AFK - STP maybe eight empty seats on arrival at Ashford. Some people choose to stand.
08:43 AFK - STP No idea about the leading car, I don't even try due to only arriving a minute or two before the train. Other cars are busy and lucky to get a seat.
09:13 AFK - STP Quite a bit quieter than the 08:43 and it's also the last of the morning peak services as it arrives at STP just before 10:00, so it doesn't have the day trippers either.

It's rare but not unknown for seriously late running services to skip both Ebbsfleet and Stratford.

Return trains from STP can be a mixed bag too.

Time keeping in both directions is generally very good but they do tend to lose a minute or two. (I think coastbound there's a temporary speed limit just outside Ashford at the moment)

HTH

Simon
 

WatcherZero

Established Member
Joined
25 Feb 2010
Messages
10,272
Do they still have some 395 in store (since after Olympics far more capacity than demand) or did they already put them back in to service?
 

SpacePhoenix

Established Member
Joined
18 Mar 2014
Messages
5,492
If the Javelins were ever to be extended, would many platforms need extending or SDO implementing?
 

FlippyFF

Member
Joined
5 Jan 2014
Messages
240
Location
Ashford, Kent
If the Javelins were ever to be extended, would many platforms need extending or SDO implementing?

You could probably fit 13 carriages in St Pancras (SE) and Stratford, not sure about Ebbsfleet and I think Ashford can only take 12.

The 395s already have SDO - 12 car 395s serve Canterbury West which is only an 8 carriage platform so the announcements say.


Simon
 

yorksrob

Veteran Member
Joined
6 Aug 2009
Messages
38,818
Location
Yorks
My family in the area who are enamoured of HS1 have been commenting on overcrowding recently.

I tell them to get the train to Charing Cross and stop moaning.
 

Antman

Established Member
Joined
3 May 2013
Messages
6,842
My family in the area who are enamoured of HS1 have been commenting on overcrowding recently.

I tell them to get the train to Charing Cross and stop moaning.

I hope you told them to take a good book, flask and sleeping bag;)

I know somebody who occasionally uses the Victoria service rather than HS1 and commented on how laboriously slow it is with long dwell times at certain stations.
 
Last edited:

The Ham

Established Member
Joined
6 Jul 2012
Messages
10,283
My family in the area who are enamoured of HS1 have been commenting on overcrowding recently.

I tell them to get the train to Charing Cross and stop moaning.

...and yet HS1 is held up as a shining example as why, because it is so empty, that we shouldn't bother with HS2.
 

NSEFAN

Established Member
Joined
17 Jun 2007
Messages
3,504
Location
Southampton
The Ham said:
...and yet HS1 is held up as a shining example as why, because it is so empty, that we shouldn't bother with HS2.
Schrödinger's train: it's both an underutilised white elephant AND a load of overcrowded cattle trucks at once!
 

wimbledonpete

Member
Joined
25 Nov 2011
Messages
221
Have recently moved close to Folkestone West station and have never had a problem getting a seat on the 06.30, 07.00 or 07.30 or coming back from St Pancras. But that's been since the sea wall closure - don't know how it will be once that opens again but I can't imagine there'd be a ton of problems. Punctuality is pretty good.
 

FlippyFF

Member
Joined
5 Jan 2014
Messages
240
Location
Ashford, Kent
Schrödinger's train: it's both an underutilised white elephant AND a load of overcrowded cattle trucks at once!

It depends on which end of the train you sit in! ;)

As I said earlier, I normally like to be in the leading car so that I can make a quick exit at St Pancras before the dawdlers reach the ticket barrier, at weekends you end up with some people standing from Ashford and quite a few more join the standing ranks at Ebbsfleet. However last weekend, as I intended to get off at Stratford Int. I rode in the 2nd to last car of a 12 car set and there were only two other passengers in the carriage - judging by the number of people who'd been waiting at Ashford, I imagine the front cars were as busy as ever.


Simon
 

yorksrob

Veteran Member
Joined
6 Aug 2009
Messages
38,818
Location
Yorks
I hope you told them to take a good book, flask and sleeping bag;)

I know somebody who occasionally uses the Victoria service rather than HS1 and commented on how laboriously slow it is with long dwell times at certain stations.

Yes, the Victoria stopper is quite slow. I do still use it some of the time though.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
...and yet HS1 is held up as a shining example as why, because it is so empty, that we shouldn't bother with HS2.

It depends on what proportion of those travellers have been generated by the new service.

Given how lightly loaded a lot of the classic services from Ashford seem to be (purely anecdotally from my point of view) a lot of them seem to have just shifted off the classic routes.
 

Phil.

Established Member
Joined
10 Oct 2015
Messages
1,323
Location
Penzance
Yes, the Victoria stopper is quite slow. I do still use it some of the time though.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


It depends on what proportion of those travellers have been generated by the new service.

Given how lightly loaded a lot of the classic services from Ashford seem to be (purely anecdotally from my point of view) a lot of them seem to have just shifted off the classic routes.

The "classic" Victorias are lightly loaded because they're far slower than they were previously due to the fast services being withdrawn post HS1. The cynical could assume that this was done to make sure that HS1 got more used than it would have been. With 6 trains per hour off peak in each direction inclusive of Eurostar and eight or nine in the peak, HS1 is under capacity.
 

yorksrob

Veteran Member
Joined
6 Aug 2009
Messages
38,818
Location
Yorks
The "classic" Victorias are lightly loaded because they're far slower than they were previously due to the fast services being withdrawn post HS1. The cynical could assume that this was done to make sure that HS1 got more used than it would have been. With 6 trains per hour off peak in each direction inclusive of Eurostar and eight or nine in the peak, HS1 is under capacity.

True of the Charing Cross trains since the express services and semi-fasts were withdrawn as well.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top