How would you do a train journey from Birmingham New Street to Swansea?

[VItraveller]

Note So I have a trip from Birmingham New Street to Swansea planned in a couple of weeks on Saturday, and I have two options neither of them particularly great.
I can either get the 09:30 Xc service to Cardiff, with a 12 minute connection which is doable if the train arrives on time.
Or the 9:42 to Bristol Parkway with a seven minute connection. I’m a bit wary of taking the 09:30 , the last Cardiff train I was on yesterday. Arrived perfectly on time at 11:25 and then spent 15 minutes looking for a platform and of course being XC there’s no delay repay compensation for that.
And most of the Birmingham to Bristol trains I’ve been on have been delayed somewhat along the route, which makes a seven minute connection difficult.
I suppose The most sensible solution would be for me to take the earlier 9:12 to Bristol Parkway and wait there for an hour but Not really sure what there is to do there, I think there might be a Starbucks or a Costa.

 

[The exile]

Note So I have a trip from Birmingham New Street to Swansea planned in a couple of weeks on Saturday, and I have two options neither of them particularly great.
I can either get the 09:30 Xc service to Cardiff, with a 12 minute connection which is doable if the train arrives on time.
Or the 9:42 to Bristol Parkway with a seven minute connection. I’m a bit wary of taking the 09:30 , the last Cardiff train I was on yesterday. Arrived perfectly on time at 11:25 and then spent 15 minutes looking for a platform and of course being XC there’s no delay repay compensation for that.
And most of the Birmingham to Bristol trains I’ve been on have been delayed somewhat along the route, which makes a seven minute connection difficult.
I suppose The most sensible solution would be for me to take the earlier 9:12 to Bristol Parkway and wait there for an hour but Not really sure what there is to do there, I think there might be a Starbucks or a Costa.

It’s only 3/4 hour off the 09.12.
Or for a more novel (but no doubt slower) option there’s the 09.50 to Hereford and a 20-ish minute connection there.

 

[Doctor Fegg]

I'd always take the XC service to Cardiff just because the line down the Severn Estuary from Gloucester to Chepstow is lovely (sit on the left to get the views), but that might not be your priority!

 

[jfollows]

I would look up the trains’ performance on the day, if either is running late plan accordingly.
More importantly, if I cared less about an on-time arrival than £££ I would go for the 7-minute connection and get money back with Delay Repay if it didn’t work. If I cared more about arriving on time I’d leave earlier and wait longer for the connection.

 

[cjw714]

Note So I have a trip from Birmingham New Street to Swansea planned in a couple of weeks on Saturday, and I have two options neither of them particularly great.
I can either get the 09:30 Xc service to Cardiff, with a 12 minute connection which is doable if the train arrives on time.
Or the 9:42 to Bristol Parkway with a seven minute connection. I’m a bit wary of taking the 09:30 , the last Cardiff train I was on yesterday. Arrived perfectly on time at 11:25 and then spent 15 minutes looking for a platform and of course being XC there’s no delay repay compensation for that.
And most of the Birmingham to Bristol trains I’ve been on have been delayed somewhat along the route, which makes a seven minute connection difficult.
I suppose The most sensible solution would be for me to take the earlier 9:12 to Bristol Parkway and wait there for an hour but Not really sure what there is to do there, I think there might be a Starbucks or a Costa.

Bristol Parkway is right next to Stoke Gifford village so there are a very pleasant pub and independent coffee shop only about 5 minutes walk away

It’s only 3/4 hour off the 09.12.
Or for a more novel (but no doubt slower) option there’s the 09.50 to Hereford and a 20-ish minute connection there.

Or for an even more novel route you could go via Shrewsbury!

 

[duffield]

The Nottingham->Birmingham->Cardiff services have been frequently cancelled between Birmingham and Cardiff in recent years, and very recently were subjected to a reduced emergency timetable to allow for more drivers to be trained. The pre-emergency timetable has just been reinstated this week, and it may be showing an improvement (no cancellations or truncations today for example) but it's early days.
It is however (as per previous post) a much more scenic route if you care about such things, in which case you would probably like to sit on the estuary side (left hand side in the direction of travel towards Cardiff) if possible.

If you go via Bristol Parkway and miss the connection, I would guess your ticket might allow you to get the next service to Cardiff and proceed from there rather than waiting at Parkway for the next direct service.

 

[mrcheek]

Such a shame that both options involve Cross Country, who are notoriously unreliable on longer journeys.
The best bet is as suggested elsewhere. have a back up plan of something to do in Bristol or Cardiff if you miss the connection.

I narrowly missed a connection in Cardiff a few weeks ago, back to Gloucester. They suggested I could get there quicker by changing at Bristol parkway.
Instead, I opted to wait an hour, and spent a pleasant hour strolling around the centre of Cardiff

 

[paul1609]

I'd take the 10.00 national Express service from Digbeth coach station as far as Newport. It's about 10 mins walk to the station then frequent services to Swansea.
I haven't done the service from Birmingham but the NatExp/ Flixbus coaches I've done from London seem to arrive 10 to 15 early at Newport and then crawl through to Cardiff losing time.

 

[X-City-WM]

I would take the XC towards Cardiff, but change at Newport.

At Newport, you will arrive and depart from platform 2, making a tight connection for the GWR to Swansea much easier.