On 10 Dec, 21:39, "Peter Smyth" wrote:
"Tom Anderson" wrote:


Evening all,

Rambling and slightly self-indulgent post, sorry. Feel free to ignore!

I would really rather like to make a 150-mile journey across the country
on Christmas Eve, from Wivenhoe (near Colchester, out in Essex) to
Swindon. Oh, the joys of the fissioned nuclear family.

If i ask the NR journey planner about this, it says (and this is the last
train, which is not quite what i'd actually be aiming for, but for the
sake of argument):

Leg 1 of 4
Depart: 18:16 Wivenhoe (WIV)
Arrive: 18:37 Colchester (COL)
Travel By: Train
Duration: 0:21

Leg 2 of 4
Depart: 18:40 Colchester (COL)
Arrive: 20:20 London Liverpool Street (LST)
Travel By: Rail replacement bus
Duration: 1:40

Leg 3 of 4
Depart: 20:20 London Liverpool Street (LST)
Arrive: 21:15 London Paddington (PAD)
Travel By: Underground #
Duration: 0:55

Leg 4 of 4
Depart: 21:30 London Paddington (PAD)
Arrive: 22:31 Swindon (Wilts) (SWI)
Duration: 1:01

Total Journey Duration: 4:15

In other words, bustitution all the way from Colchester to Liverpool
Street, taking 1:40 (if you believe that) for what would usually be just
under an hour.

But when i look at the One website (One being the company who run the
Great Eastern trains - still a stupid name) to find out why there's
bustitution, it tells me this:

http://www.onerailway.com/latest_inf...07_engineering...

And also this:

http://www.onerailway.com/content/do...ile/Advance+Wa...

Both of which indicate that it's down to works at various points along the
line from Shenfield to Liverpool Street, and that trains will be running
as far as the charming town of Ingatestone, with a bus from there to
Newbury Park (!), from where you can get the tube. So no bus ride from
Colchester to London.

I should point out that the NR planner gives the same route if i leave at
lunchtime, so this is not some late-on-christmas-eve thing.

What am i missing? Is the Journey Planner wrong, am i getting my dates and
times mixed up, is the Journey Planner presenting the three-mode leg from
Colchester to Liverpool Street as a bus for simplicity?

Does anyone know for sure what's happening in terms of trains and buses?

If you look at the page for Norwich http://www.onerailway.com/latest_inf...07_engineering...
it shows the buses from Colchester to Liverpool St given by the NR planner.

I guess One are trying to spread the load over different routes although it
seems a bit sneaky to not tell people about all the possible alternatives.

Peter Smyth


I came across a similar situation a few years back on a Norwich to
London journey. Information gleaned from two calls to NRE, a
consultation of the NR WAP site and a conversation with someone else
doing that journey resulted in me being confused!

I though we were to get tipped out of the train at Ingatestone (or was
it Shenfield - I can't remember!), on to a bus to a station closer
somewhere else, then back on a train to get into Liverpool Street. In
fact when I got to Ingatestone all the London-bound passengers were
herded on to a coach direct to Liverpool Street. I think I could have
got a bus then got back on the train, but I opted for the easy way.

So the OP might have to be on the ball when they get to Ingatestone if
they want to get to Newbury Park. Presumably, technically speaking if
he wants to get on the rail replacement bus to Newbury Park tube
station he'd need a rail ticket valid for at least some of the journey
beyond Ingatestone - but I doubt anyone would check his ticket before
they let him on the bus.