Best Tube for Fenchurch Street from King's Cross

[ricoblade]

Hi All - My daughter has got herself a boyfriend from Benfleet so will probably be travelling there from Retford or Doncaster for the foreseeable.

She went for the first time last week and had a bit of a 'mare. I advised her to go to Tower Hill as that appeared to be the closest and should be a simple trip from King's Cross.

However on the way out the Circle Line was severely delayed and she ended up on an H&C, bailed at Liverpool Street and walked.

On the way back, she got to Tower Hill and there appeared to be no information on next trains so she sensibly walked to Aldgate and got a Met.

Any pointers as to the best options going forward please? My assumption is that Liverpool St is the best as it covers all 3 lines to/from King's Cross.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

If the Circle is up the creek like that, then yes Met to / from Aldgate is closest. It's not quite as close as Tower Hill, but it's definitely a good choice. Liverpool Street from Fenchurch Street is about twice the walking distance than Aldgate.

It's also possible to bail out of the c2c service at West Ham and get the Hammersmith and City service from there to King's Cross and vice-versa.

 

[43096]

Hi All - My daughter has got herself a boyfriend from Benfleet so will probably be travelling there from Retford or Doncaster for the foreseeable.

She went for the first time last week and had a bit of a 'mare. I advised her to go to Tower Hill as that appeared to be the closest and should be a simple trip from King's Cross.

However on the way out the Circle Line was severely delayed and she ended up on an H&C, bailed at Liverpool Street and walked.

On the way back, she got to Tower Hill and there appeared to be no information on next trains so she sensibly walked to Aldgate and got a Met.

Any pointers as to the best options going forward please? My assumption is that Liverpool St is the best as it covers all 3 lines to/from King's Cross.

Don’t forget that at weekends c2c operate a half-hourly service from Liverpool St to Shoeburyness, calling at Benfleet, so that offers another option at weekends.

 

[Wivenswold]

Might it be worth getting a Hammersmith & City train from KX to Barking? Then she'd have a choice of C2C trains from Fenchurch Street and Liverpool Street. Barking has a lot of staff and is pretty user-friendly if there are problems you also get the choice of the fast line to Benfleet via Basildon and the slower trip via Tilbury as a further contingency in case of issues.

 

[Harpo]

Liverpool Street at weekends is best, but there are often weekends when everything runs to Fenchurch Street.

In busier daylight times the short walk from Fenchurch Street to Bank for the northern line.

Otherwise, West Ham for a Hammersmith service.

 

[sh24]

Assuming she doesn't mind a short walk, Northern Line from KX to Bank is the most frequent option. Easy and straightforward walk at any time of the day or night.

 

[pokemonsuper9]

Might just be best to get whichever of the three lines comes first when going towards Benfleet.

I think in terms of Aldgate/Tower Hill it's just a matter of which comes first, if a Circle line comes first go to Tower Hill, if a Metropolitan comes first go to Aldgate, if there are neither for a while West Ham works too.

When arriving I'd keep an eye on the times of the tube trains, but when trains are going to Liverpool Street it's probably best to just go all the way there.

 

[wls1]

the fastest route is nearly always northern line to bank then monument to tower hill as the circle line is very unpredictable with frequent gaps in service. walking from aldgate isn't a bad shout however not the best if you have luggage

 

[rebmcr]

As someone who used to live in West Ham and commute through Kings Cross, I'd put a lot of credibility behind the "H&C to West Ham or Barking" option.

Saving a handful of minutes by cramming in to the Northern Line on a weekly basis is a very different experience to the minimal-hassle option that has a bit more waiting & journey time. Plus, the more hyper-optimised routes then become an emergency option when running late.

 

[Yunchy]

I used to do this journey regularly and tested multiple routes. I can assure you that the best route is to change from C2C at Limehouse, take the DLR to Bank and then (thanks to the remodelling at Bank), you have a very short change to the Northern line straight to Kings Cross.

The thing about this route is that it's usually very reliable with frequent trains - almost no waiting. I would usually be able to do Limehouse to Kings X in 15 minutes this way.

The H&C route just has too many stops and the subsurface lines are too hit and miss with the frequencies and reliability in my experience.

 

[ricoblade]

Thanks for all the replies. I'll pass them on.

Limehouse, suggested by @Yunchy, would be interesting as I used to commute on the DLR from there into Bank (and onto Oxford Circus) in the late 90s/early 2000s.