Arend7
Traveller
589 comments
Posted 1 year ago
When asking Inverness (8:42) to London the planners (nationalrail a.o.) give a trip with 2 changes (Perth and Edinburgh) arriving in London 17:40 (too late for catching the 18:04 Eurostar). But when I ask Inverness(same time) to Glasgow followed by Glasgow-London I will arrive at 18:12 (26 minutes is enough for a station change in Glasgow of 1000m.)in London. I wonder why. Is there a missing link in the software at Glasgow, or do I miss something myself?
Arend7
Traveller
589 comments
oops 18:12 must be 17:12 (of course)
Flo
Traveller
10723 comments
Hi!
I dont know when you want to travel but there are construction works going on at Carstairs: https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/service_disruptions/313334.aspx
When I search a random date in March (after March 20 that is) the 8:42 from Inverness arrives Glasgow Queen Street at 12:14 while the train arriving in London Euston at 17:12 leaves Glasgow Central at 11:40 already.
I have been looking for a later day now (in May) and can find the connections you mentioned. Havent been using nationalrail.co.uk recently but I can only imagine that the transfer time between Queen Street and Central has been set to a value higher than the 26 minutes between the 8:42 from Inverness and the 12:40 from Glasgow.
Flo
Arend7
Traveller
589 comments
Then that connection will be set at 30 minutes, I think. The same with the connection Euston to Pancras in London, also 26 minutes (to gateclosing time) also officialy not given. I'll take my chances. There is always a plan sea for me at bad luck (wouldn't be the first time).
MisterSteve
Traveller
911 comments
This was actually part of my job about 25 years ago! Information of the set connection time between nearby stations was listed in a page near to front of the printed National Rail Timetable. When the downloadable version was a PDF version of that this page was included, but when the printed version was dropped the downloadable version had pages mostly generated from the source database (so not page set for printing) and one of the manually produced pages that didn't get included was these connection times. I have a 25 year old copy of the book and it says connection time between Queen St and Central was 30 minutes. But, I've got downloaded versions from 2013-2015 and it says 15 minutes in those. That was by walking. But the Nationalrail journey planner assumes use of the shuttle bus at times when it runs (although it doesn't have the schedules for that) so it uses the in-station connection time at both stations (10 at Queen St and 15 at Central) plus an incorrect 5 minutes travel time for the bus. This could go wrong in either way, in your case it blocks a sensible walking connection but it could also offer impossible bus connections. Had someone not closed my job in 2000 I would get this sorted out! But I agree your plan works as long as the line isn't closed. Personally I would get the 07:55 from Inverness direct to London Kings Cross........
Arend7
Traveller
589 comments
Interesting, so it is a lack at walking connections in the software. Yes, I considered the 7:55. I would have choose it when it was a business trip. But this is a pleasure trip, than variety is also important. Forth over Newcastle than back over Carlisle. (And I like looking at that wall)
MisterSteve
Traveller
911 comments
I've just checked bahn.de and their planner gives a realistic 20 minutes as the allowance - but who told them that??
Arend7
Traveller
589 comments
Maybe Bahn gets no information about public transport in Glasgow itself and take the distance between QS and CS themself (via Google Maps or something like that.)