Turns out there is engineering work on the line between Victoria and Streatham which is going to make my journey to Heathrow more complicated and my journey home from Victoria coach station longer and more complicated. They seem to have thrown a ton of engineering work on the railways across the one week of the year I am going on holiday (yes I know it is essential but I can't believe how I managed to pick the worst time to use the railway). Think I'll get a taxi to Heathrow, it is unlikely to take longer than the more than two hours it will take by train and tube.
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Is hotel availability and high pricing affecting leisure and/or business rail travel?
- Thread starter robbeech
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I really don't know how people in normal life can afford to take taxi's regularly ( not you going on holiday) !
Peter Mugridge
Veteran Member
Can you get to Herne Hill on the eastern side services and change there for Thameslink?
If it's the same pattern of engineering as recent weeks ( caveat: I haven't checked ), that should be possible.
To get to Heathrow on the 29th by train/tube, it looks like the easiest route is to get the 8:20 Horsham to London Bridge, then the tube to Heathrow, which I assume takes another hour.
Coming back to Horsham from Victoria on Sunday 6th June late evening, NRE suggests tube to Blackfriars, Thameslink to Gatwick, Southern to Horsham, 1 hr 24 mins. This only gives a three minute connection time at Blackfriars, so presumably there is minimal distance to walk.
Peter Mugridge
Veteran Member
Three minutes from the District / Circle at Blackfriars to the Thameslink platforms sounds a bit optimistic to me, especially if you have any luggage. It's true it's not far, but you have two barrier lines to negotiate for a start...
As long as it's not giving you that three minutes connection onto the last train, you'll be OK - but you'll most likely be on the train after the one they're telling you.
Agreed, 3 minutes is tight from LU to southbound Thameslink platform. Do-able though. However, the journey planners often add in walking as a separate activity, so it may be that there is a three minute gap between the completion of the (nominal) walk between Blackfriars LU and Blackfriars NR and the Gatwick train departing.
I'll give it my best shot, I'm a fast walker even with a loaded backpack and I'm not expecting it to be busy at that time on a Sunday evening.
You’ll need to be at the right part of the underground train to get out straight on to the escalator, and walk up that escalator and the one onto platform 1 upstairs. I could do it in two minutes, but then I used to do it every night and knew exactly where to be / and how fast to speed walk.
No it isn't the last train, the journey planner includes tube journeys even if I start with a tube journey, so I can just get an earlier tube to aim for a southbound train from Blackfriars. It turns out there is a Bedford to Horsham train I can get which will be easy to catch unless my coach arrives at Victoria half an hour or more late. I have never used a long distance coach before so I have no idea of the reliability over such a long journey as Glasgow to London.
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