Does anybody know whether GTR plan to run rail replacement buses between Cambridge and Royston on Saturday 6th April? NRE and the Great Northern websites suggest there will be buses running, but no buses show in journey planners or on realtime trains (albeit I am sure they were there when I checked a few weeks ago...). Any intel on why these services are missing so close to the date?
-
Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!
Rail replacement - Royston-Cambridge 6 April
- Thread starter Max
- Start date
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R
RailUK Forums
Royston Vasey
Established Member
Very strange. Cambridge to Royston searches on NRE app return rail only itineraries, a few via bus to Stansted and thence Liverpool St or Peterborough and Hitchin. However Cambridge to Shepreth returns a mix of direct buses to Shepreth and some buses Cambridge to Royston and double back to Shepreth! So they are running.
I wonder if they're suppressing the bus results to avoid them being overwhelmed.
There appears to be a stopper bus at xx:22 and a non stop bus at xx:28 each hour to Royston for most of the day.
I wonder if they're suppressing the bus results to avoid them being overwhelmed.
There appears to be a stopper bus at xx:22 and a non stop bus at xx:28 each hour to Royston for most of the day.
Last edited:
Are you certain about this? I just checked NRE journey planner again using Shepreth and I can see buses on the 7th, but not the 6th. It's certainly quite strange!
Royston Vasey
Established Member
Ah you're right, I missed the small "Sun 7th Apr" flag
The Great Northern website is quite definite that "Buses will replace trains between Royston and Cambridge" (and presumably in the other direction as well...). But that's probably a standard message for that line closure. And it certainly doesn't help when you're then instructed to check the Journey Planner only to find no buses timetabled.
Based on the last few occasions we've had overtime bans on weekends, the details of what they plan to run usually changes completely on the Thursday or Friday immediately before, so if possible I'd wait until then (or, probably better, travel via GA, even though it will take longer).
I've seen 'missing' RRBs added less than 24 hours beforehand. They've also decided on occasion to give up entirely and run nothing (though that was a Sunday, not a Saturday).
I've seen 'missing' RRBs added less than 24 hours beforehand. They've also decided on occasion to give up entirely and run nothing (though that was a Sunday, not a Saturday).
There are also fewer trains running from Royston- it looks like 1 stopper to Kings Cross and 1 Thameslink via Redhill to Three Bridges per hour. On Previous Saturdays with buses from Royston to Cambridge there was also a fast Royston -Kings Cross non stop service but that is not showing in the journey planners at the moment.
jammmmmsssssss
Member
Journey planners will be updated tomorrow