Last game of the season - Rail WARNING

[bocadillo]

30th April.

Those of you intending to go down to Southampton might like to take note of the rail chaos which pertains on this weekend.

The South Western main line will be completely closed at Basingstoke - a new signalling system is being installed. Southampton trains are being diverted by a different route with a much extended journey time.

The only way of getting from Leicester to Southampton will be by changing in London from St Pancras to Paddington (yes, Paddington!!) and changing again in Reading. Even this will only get you into Southampton at 12:41, less than an hour before kick-off. And to add to the problem, the Hammersmith & City and Circle Underground lines will be closed, so the cross-London journey will involve two underground trains or a bus or taxi ride.

I don't think I would go by train!!

AMENDMENT - I have had a re-think on this and researched further. I am now of the belief that Virgin Cross-Country trains have not had their times amended on the online journey planners to reflect the line-closure at Basingstoke. It seems to me that this train will not arrive at Southampton until about 13:30 or so.

I now reckon that the only hope of getting to the match by train from Leicester is to catch the first MML service at 07:05. This arrives at St Pancras at 09:14. Then it will need a quick hop over to Waterloo for the 09:54 South West Trains service to Southahampton, arrives 11:51. Please bear in mind that there is no direct Underground connection from StP to Waterloo; and to cause further difficulty the Charing Cross branch of the Northern Line is shut on that date, so you will have to use the Victoria Line to Green Park and change there for the Jubilee Line to Waterloo; there is no direct bus route between the two stations either.

 

[Fox Fan]

30th April.

Those of you intending to go down to Southampton might like to take note of the rail chaos which pertains on this weekend.

The South Western main line will be completely closed at Basingstoke - a new signalling system is being installed. Southampton trains are being diverted by a different route with a much extended journey time.

The only way of getting from Leicester to Southampton will be by changing in London from St Pancras to Paddington (yes, Paddington!!) and changing again in Reading. Even this will only get you into Southampton at 12:41, less than an hour before kick-off. And to add to the problem, the Hammersmith & City and Circle Underground lines will be closed, so the cross-London journey will involve two underground trains or a bus or taxi ride.

I don't think I would go by train!!

Do you know if this will affect me coming down from B'ham on the train??

 

[beaumontfox]

fooking hell!!

thankfully our lot are staying in Bournemouth for the weekend before going to the game.

 

[webmaster]

Do you know if this will affect me coming down from B'ham on the train??

You shouldn't have a problem getting to the game, there seems to be a normal service from Birmingham that weekend - assuming all the engineering work taking place in the preceding few weeks is finished on time. There's a 9:03 direct from New Street to Southampton, arriving at 11:42, or one from Birmingham International at 10:15, arriving at 12:42 (this is the same train people from Leicester would get on at Reading).

 

[bocadillo]

Do you know if this will affect me coming down from B'ham on the train??

There is a regular direct service of Virgin Cross-Country trains direct from New Street to Southampton Central, but as the route passes through Basingstoke it will obviously be affected by the engineering work that I mentioned earlier.

The Virgin website says "Trains will divert from Reading via Guildford and Fareham not calling at Basingstoke, Winchester and Southampton Airport Parkway, journey times will be extended by one hour." Unfortunately the amended timetable has not yet been promulgated to the online journey planners, so I can not be certain yet. However the earliest arrival time in Southampton from Birmingham on a Sunday is normally 11:42. Add an hour on to that and it gives an estimated arrival time that most would probably feel is too late to be safe.

I will watch out for the publication of the amended Virgin timetable but, if I were you, I would be looking for another way to get to this match.

 

[webmaster]

Unfortunately the amended timetable has not yet been promulgated to the online journey planners, so I can not be certain yet.

But the online planner is showing the lack of trains on the 'normal' route from Leicester - so does this mean that the online thing has been updated for some routes but not others?

 

[bocadillo]

You shouldn't have a problem getting to the game, there seems to be a normal service from Birmingham that weekend - assuming all the engineering work taking place in the preceding few weeks is finished on time. There's a 9:03 direct from New Street to Southampton, arriving at 11:42, or one from Birmingham International at 10:15, arriving at 12:42 (this is the same train people from Leicester would get on at Reading).

Jeff

Please see my post below yours to which I am replying. The journey planners are not showing any changes to VXC services, although they must be changed because they are routed through Basingstoke. (To prove this, ask about Brum to Basingstoke - it should show a bus service from Reading to Basingstoke, but returns a direct journey by train - this means that the amended VXC timetable has not been entered into the system yet).

NOTE also that I am about to amend my previous post about travellers from Leicester being able to travel via Reading.

 

[bocadillo]

But - so does this mean that the online thing has been updated for some routes but not others?

That does seem to be the case - and it isn't unusual for that to be so, even as little as one week before in the case of some Sunday engineering works.

I am not sure what you mean by "the online planner is showing the lack of trains on the 'normal' route from Leicester" - please explain.

 

[webmaster]

I am not sure what you mean by "the online planner is showing the lack of trains on the 'normal' route from Leicester" - please explain.

Sorry, I don't mean the lack of trains - but the lack of Waterloo as the suggested route - which it would normally be if you're going via London. I would never expect to see a route via Paddington unless there was a problem with the Waterloo route.

On a normal Sunday I'd expect to be able to get the 10:35 from Waterloo, arriving at Southampton at 12:00, or the 10:54 arriving at 12:32. These options are not shown on the National Rail planner, so obviously the problems from Waterloo to Southampton have been programmed into the system.

 

[bocadillo]

Sorry, I don't mean the lack of trains - but the lack of Waterloo as the suggested route - which it would normally be if you're going via London. I would never expect to see a route via Paddington unless there was a problem with the Waterloo route.

On a normal Sunday I'd expect to be able to get the 10:35 from Waterloo, arriving at Southampton at 12:00, or the 10:54 arriving at 12:32. These options are not shown on the National Rail planner, so obviously the problems from Waterloo to Southampton have been programmed into the system.

Yes, the SWT amendments are there - if you enter a Waterloo to Basingstoke query, it will return a train to Woking and a bus from there to Basingstoke. But change it to a London to Basingstoke query and it will also return the Paddington and via Reading journey, even though VXC will not be routing that way (click here and change the date to 30 April).

You may also have noticed that the MML times that I have now quoted in the amendment to my first post in this thread are different from those in both versions of the current printed MML timetable.