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Guildford to Sevenoaks - Redhill or Waterloo?

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infobleep

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Hi there

I'm going to Sevenoaks tomorrow morning (Wednesday) from Guildford. I need to be there by 9am.

I'd like to go via Redhill and avoid central London and the crowds but National Rail Enquiries suggests going via Waterloo for the fastest journey at this time of the morning.

How reliable is the Redhill to Sevenoaks part of the journey? Am I best going via Waterloo?

In the evening I'm heading back to Haywards Heath and for certain trains it's quicker via Redhill but mostly via London Bridge.
 
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RailUK Forums

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Hi there

I'm going to Sevenoaks tomorrow morning (Wednesday) from Guildford. I need to be there by 9am.

I'd like to go via Redhill and avoid central London and the crowds but National Rail Enquiries suggests going via Waterloo for the fastest journey at this time of the morning.

How reliable is the Redhill to Sevenoaks part of the journey? Am I best going via Waterloo?

In the evening I'm heading back to Haywards Heath and for certain trains it's quicker via Redhill but mostly via London Bridge.

I'd suggest going up to Waterloo, and then down from Waterloo East - Saves relying on the hourly Tonbridge - Redhill stretch. Journey time would also be marginally quicker that way I'd imagine.

Also 2 changes (GLD - WAT/WAE - SEV) is more reliable than the (GLD - RDH - TON - SEV) option in my opinion.

Returning I'd say via London Bridge is again more reliable.
 

zoneking

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The Redhill - Tonbridge line can be badly affected by icy weather. The Guildford - Redhill line is not electrified so less affected.
 

infobleep

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Thanks for replies. On this occasion I will join the masses in London. I'll do the Tonbridge line again another time in my leisure.
 

paul1609

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id agree the 4 minute connection at Tonbridge on the second journey is particularly dodgy as it involves a long trek over the bridge.
 

infobleep

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id agree the 4 minute connection at Tonbridge on the second journey is particularly dodgy as it involves a long trek over the bridge.
Funny you should mention that. A few years ago a friend and family were visiting. They were travelling to Hastings from Guildford for the day.

On the return trip National Rail Enquiries suggested they go back via Tonbridge. There was a tight connection.

A much longer connection existed at Gatwick Airport but because the official minimum connection time between Southern and First Great Western services at Gatwick is 10 minutes, and they had 9 minutes between services, it wasn't suggested!

As it was there were train delays so they missed the train to Guildford. Not sure if they would have been successful via Tonbridge but I know which route I'd choose and it's not the one recommended by National Rail Enquiries.

In my current case I didn't check the connection times.

Incidentally the 7.17 from Guildford was delayed today due to making extra stops to cover 7.07. Being 12 minutes late it was packed.

For some unknown reason the 7.34 was 6 minutes late. There was nothing in front of it listed on realtimetrains that would hols it up. That train had plenty of room but the 7.17 didn't. I wasn't going to wait for it though as I had to be in Sevenoaks around 9am. If I was only going to Waterloo then things might be different.

So I boarded the 7.17. I got out at Woking and took a chance that there would be seats on the 7.40 from Southampton. That left 2 minutes late but still, to my surprise, got into Waterloo on time and in fact waited outside or at least travelled slowly into the station.

I was then able to buy a ticket to Sevenoaks from a machine, plenty not being used and catch the fast non stop service to Secenoaks. Meaning I'll be in 8.45. So definitely better than going via Tonbridge.

I did see a squashed train at New Cross heading towards London. Perhaps it was short formed; running late or both. There were delays into Charring Cross.
 
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Phil.

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Funny you should mention that. A few years ago a friend and family were visiting. They were travelling to Hastings from Guildford for the day.

On the return trip National Rail Enquiries suggested they go back via Tonbridge. There was a tight connection.

A much longer connection existed at Gatwick Airport but because the official minimum connection time between Southern and First Great Western services at Gatwick is 10 minutes, and they had 9 minutes between services, it wasn't suggested!

As it was there were train delays so they missed the train to Guildford. Not sure if they would have been successful via Tonbridge but I know which route I'd choose and it's not the one recommended by National Rail Enquiries.

In my current case I didn't check the connection times.

Incidentally the 7.17 from Guildford was delayed today due to making extra stops to cover 7.07. Being 12 minutes late it was packed.

For some unknown reason the 7.34 was 6 minutes late. There was nothing in front of it listed on realtimetrains that would hols it up. That train had plenty of room but the 7.17 didn't. I wasn't going to wait for it though as I had to be in Sevenoaks around 9am. If I was only going to Waterloo then things might be different.

So I boarded the 7.17. I got out at Woking and took a chance that there would be seats on the 7.40 from Southampton. That left 2 minutes late but still, to my surprise, got into Waterloo on time and in fact waited outside or at least travelled slowly into the station.

I was then able to buy a ticket to Sevenoaks from a machine, plenty not being used and catch the fast non stop service to Secenoaks. Meaning I'll be in 8.45. So definitely better than going via Tonbridge.

I did see a squashed train at New Cross heading towards London. Perhaps it was short formed; running late or both. There were delays into Charing Cross.

Sounds like standard South Eastern to me.
 
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Kentish Paul

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id agree the 4 minute connection at Tonbridge on the second journey is particularly dodgy as it involves a long trek over the bridge.

Wouldn't doing Redhill - Tonbridge - Sevenoaks involve only going from platform 1 to 2? Redhills normally arrive on 1 and Sevenoaks leave from 2. No need to use the bridge.
 

infobleep

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Coming back to Haywards Heath the train to Haywards Heath departs 2 minutes after the train from Sevenoaks gets in. Next Tarun in 32 minutes. Hopefully once the London Bridge works are competed it will be better.

I went to East Croydon and changed. Saved 9 minutes and got a train from East Croydon with plug sockets in standard.

Now just need a train with both plug sockets and wifi, rather than one or the other. I'm not demanding or anything like that. Lol.

On a serious note I was travelling back from a workshop during work time so being able to work whilst on the move would be useful. I mean connect to remote computers via Citrix and use software. This is possible with WiFi that isn't over subscribed. Less possible with 4G due to tunnels and my provider O2 not having so much coverage.
 
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