London Blackfriars

[Malcolmffc]

This is exactly it. I suspect the only reason the Sutton loop can be so quiet at times is because Sutton and wimbledon have far more frequent services from other operators and south Merton/Morden South could potentially also be an opportunity to take some passengers of the northern line which is busy right from Morden. In reality, how many customers will happily change from an every 2 minute service to an every 30 minute service, it removes flexibility. Commuting from wimbledon to st Pancras? Getting a train every 4 minutes to vauxhall then the Victoria line every 90 seconds sounds a lot more appealing than having to leave at an exact time each day without fail otherwise you may have a 30 minute wait on your hand. It all comes down to preference.

Wimbledon to St Pancras on Thameslink gets you a guaranteed seat for the whole journey in either direction. Not going to happen on either SWR or the Victoria line. For some people that’s worth the extended journey time.

 

[modernrail]

Thinking more about the transfer point, does anybody know what National Rail allows for in journey planner? I just tried to work it out but failed.

 

[Horizon22]

There needs to be a train on the platform you are transferring to to have successfully changed! So it is transfer time PLUS time until the next train, plus a margin of error as you are probably on your way to work. That easily adds up to 10-15 minutes even for somebody fit and able, especially as the errors that require margin are particularly pronounced on Thameslink in general. As an example today I went to catch a northbound at Blackfriars to make a Eurostar connection and the next 6 trains were delayed.

For interest, no-deal planning in Brussels appears to be well ahead of that in London.

That isn't what people would generally regard as "transfer time" - its really how long does it take to get off your inward train and get to the point to catch your outward train. In the core if you're just going to St Pancras, you can just hop on the first thing going Northh which is generally Tube-like timings at somewhere like Blackfriars right now.

Thinking more about the transfer point, does anybody know what National Rail allows for in journey planner? I just tried to work it out but failed.

Seems to be 5 minutes from core to bays and vice versa: http://www.brtimes.com/#!board?stn=BFR&date=20191003