Mudchute to Canterbury

[FamilyVacation]

Thanks for all of your good advice this week. I think we have one more question for this forum. We are planning a day trip from Mudchute on the DLR to Canterbury on July 19. The Journey Planner takes us to Lewisham on the DLR, then Southeastern to London Bridge and Canterbury West. The DLR arrives at Lewisham at the same time the Southeastern train departs; I realize it's a small station, but will Southeastern wait for the DLR passengers? And would there be any advantage to instead taking the Tube to St. Pancras to connect to the high-speed train to Canterbury? It appears the total time and fares are about the same.

 

[yorkie]

The DLR arrives at Lewisham at the same time the Southeastern train departs; I realize it's a small station, but will Southeastern wait for the DLR passengers?

Most definitely not, no.

There are frequent DLR trains, take an earlier one to make the connection.

And would there be any advantage to instead taking the Tube to St. Pancras to connect to the high-speed train to Canterbury? It appears the total time and fares are about the same.

Zone U12* LONDON to CANTERBURY STNS fares:
£33.00 Off Peak Return (SVR) Route: Not valid on HS1. Valid any train except those timed to depart before 0930 M-F
£38.30 Off Peak Return (SVR) Route: Plus High Speed. Valid any train except those timed to depart before 0930 M-F

If you travel before 0930, the fares are vastly increased.

Alternatively you can use Oyster PAYG to St Pancras or Lewisham and then a rail ticket from there.

via St Pancras:

Oyster PAYG single fares from Mudchute to Kings Cross St Pancras:
£2.70 Monday to Friday from 0630 to 0930.
£2.00 At all other times including public holidays
(The same fares apply in reverse except the peak fare also applies 1600 to 1900 in that direction)

Return fare from London Terminals to Canterbury Stations:
£32.00 Off Peak Day Return (CDR) Route: Plus High Speed. Valid any train except those timed to depart before 0930 M-F


or via Lewisham:

Oyster PAYG single fares from Mudchute to Lewisham :
£1.50 Monday to Friday from 0630 to 0930 and from 1600 to 1900.
£1.40 At all other times including public holidays
(The same fares apply in reverse)

Return fare from Lewisham to Canterbury Stations:
£23.90 Off Peak Day Return (CDR) Route: Not London. Valid any train except those timed to depart before 0930 M-F

 

[MikeWh]

The Journey Planner takes us to Lewisham on the DLR, then Southeastern to London Bridge and Canterbury West.

Interesting. I think I'd take Southeastern from Greenwich. There's a good frequency and it cuts out 3 stops on the DLR.

The DLR arrives at Lewisham at the same time the Southeastern train departs; I realize it's a small station, but will Southeastern wait for the DLR passengers?

Good old NRE. The DLR is treated like the Underground where arrival time at your connection station is shown as the same time as the NR train departs. The Journey Planner says the DLR takes 21 minutes whereas the TfL site says Mudchute to Lewisham is just 11. I'm sure that 10 minutes is plenty of time to get between the DLR platforms and NR platforms at Lewisham. But I'd be inclined to bail out of the DLR at Greenwich anyway.

And would there be any advantage to instead taking the Tube to St. Pancras to connect to the high-speed train to Canterbury? It appears the total time and fares are about the same.

Again, NRE seems to be missing the obvious. Take the DLR to Stratford International (you'll need to change at Stratford Domestic on the way) then pick up HS1 there. With Oyster PAYG the fares from Mudchute to Stratford are the same as Mudchute to Lewisham while the fares to Canterbury are slightly less than from St Pancras.

 

[FamilyVacation]

I like the idea of DLR to Stratford and then the high-speed to Canterbury since there's just the one connection. I can't tell from the maps -- does the DLR have its own station at Stratford, or does it use Stratford Regional? It appears it would be about a 10-minute walk from Stratford DLR to Stratford International, is that correct? Thank you.

 

[sonic2009]

I like the idea of DLR to Stratford and then the high-speed to Canterbury since there's just the one connection. I can't tell from the maps -- does the DLR have its own station at Stratford, or does it use Stratford Regional? It appears it would be about a 10-minute walk from Stratford DLR to Stratford International, is that correct? Thank you.

The DLR from Mudchute has platforms within Stratford Regional's complex on the upper concourse, The DLR connection to Stratford International runs from a set of platforms on the low level concourse of the station.

 

[W-on-Sea]

I like the idea of DLR to Stratford and then the high-speed to Canterbury since there's just the one connection. I can't tell from the maps -- does the DLR have its own station at Stratford, or does it use Stratford Regional? It appears it would be about a 10-minute walk from Stratford DLR to Stratford International, is that correct? Thank you.

It's complicated....

The DLR from Mudchute will take you into Platform 4a or 4b in Stratford Regional station.

From there you can either walk (indeed a 10 min walk, or slightly less) to Stratford International, through or alongside the Westfield shopping centre:

OR

You can go downstairs to the other branch of the DLR at Stratford Regional (platform 16) and get a DLR from there to Stratford International - where the DLR station is adjacent to the National Rail one. Although this wouldn't speed up your journey by very much, generally speaking.

 

[Oscar]

Oyster PAYG single fares from Mudchute to Stratford or Greenwich :
£1.50 Monday to Friday from 0630 to 0930 and from 1600 to 1900.
£1.40 At all other times including public holidays
(The same fares apply in reverse)

Return fare from Stratford to Canterbury Stations:
£31.90 Off Peak Day Return (CDR) Route: Plus High Speed. Valid any train except those timed to depart before 0930 M-F

Return fare from Greenwich to Canterbury Stations:
£23.90 Off Peak Day Return (CDR) Route: Not Via London. Valid any train except those timed to depart before 0930 M-F

Have you bought some of your other tickets yet? If so, you should compare the total price of the point to point tickets with a BritRail Flexi Pass.