Ease of change at London Bridge
 

Dear fountains of all knowledge,
Does anyone have any ideas of what platform at London Bridge Thameslink
trains from King's Cross generally arrive at, and what platform trains
to Canterbury East depart from? Information on the reverse direction
would be appreciated too. I may be helping my mum change there on
Saturday, and she suffers from MS so I'd like to know whether it would
(luckily) be an easy cross-platform change, or whether we'd be trekking
from one side of the station to the other.

To give an overall picture, the whole journey would be for me & mum to
travel from Wycombe to Canterbury, meeting a friend coming from Luton. I
ruled out the Tube for a cross-London transfer as the walk either down
to the Bakerloo at Marylebone or to Baker St is a pain in the
proverbial, as is the walk up from the Victoria line at Victoria or the
Bakerloo at Charing Cross.

One thought would be to do the 453 from Marylebone to Cockspur St or the
first stop on Whitehall, to get to Charing Cross and meet our friend
there, but I'm not keen on our chances on a bendy bus in the reverse
direction (calling Helen for advice!).

My other thought is the 205 (also right outside Marylebone) to right
outside King's Cross Thameslink, meeting our friend and continuing from
there, changing at London Bridge.

Any thoughts/advice are welcome.

--
Dave Arquati
Imperial College, SW7
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London

Ease of change at London Bridge
 

Dave Arquati wrote:
Dear fountains of all knowledge,
Does anyone have any ideas of what platform at London Bridge Thameslink
trains from King's Cross generally arrive at, and what platform trains
to Canterbury East depart from? Information on the reverse direction
would be appreciated too. I may be helping my mum change there on
Saturday, and she suffers from MS so I'd like to know whether it would
(luckily) be an easy cross-platform change, or whether we'd be trekking
from one side of the station to the other.

To give an overall picture, the whole journey would be for me & mum to
travel from Wycombe to Canterbury, meeting a friend coming from Luton. I
ruled out the Tube for a cross-London transfer as the walk either down
to the Bakerloo at Marylebone or to Baker St is a pain in the
proverbial, as is the walk up from the Victoria line at Victoria or the
Bakerloo at Charing Cross.

One thought would be to do the 453 from Marylebone to Cockspur St or the
first stop on Whitehall, to get to Charing Cross and meet our friend
there, but I'm not keen on our chances on a bendy bus in the reverse
direction (calling Helen for advice!).

My other thought is the 205 (also right outside Marylebone) to right
outside King's Cross Thameslink, meeting our friend and continuing from
there, changing at London Bridge.

Any thoughts/advice are welcome.


Southbound Thameslink trains nearly always arrive/depart from Platform 5
unless there's a problem on the platform.

I'm also pretty sure that the Canterbury services also use Platform 5.
It's either 5 or 4.

When you get onto the platform off the train, don't go down the ramp but
instead run up the stairs to the footbridge about halfway along the
platform - there's an indicator there which says when the next train to
all destinations will be and what platform it'll be on (I'd suggest
leaving your mum on the platform though cos I'm almost 100% sure it will
be on platform 5).

The reverse trips should both arrive/depart from platform 6.

Ease of change at London Bridge
 

"Dave Arquati" wrote in message
...
Dear fountains of all knowledge,
Does anyone have any ideas of what platform at London Bridge Thameslink
trains from King's Cross generally arrive at, and what platform trains
to Canterbury East depart from? Information on the reverse direction
would be appreciated too. I may be helping my mum change there on
Saturday, and she suffers from MS so I'd like to know whether it would
(luckily) be an easy cross-platform change, or whether we'd be trekking
from one side of the station to the other.

Thameslink trains use the down fast platform (5) and the up fast platform
(6). Departure platforms will depend upon the origin of the train: fast
services from Charing Cross use platform 5 (stopping services use 4), whilst
services from Cannon Street use platform 1 (or 2 in the rush hour). Coming
back, Charing Cross services use platform 6 (the same island that the
Thameslink services leave from) whilst Cannon Street services arrive at
platform 2 (or 3 during the rush hour). Inter-platform transfer is either
via a footbridge mid-platform or via a ramped subway at the London end.
South Eastern platforms are arranged in three islands, 1/2, 3/4 and 5/6.

Ease of change at London Bridge
 

"Dave Arquati" wrote in message
...
Dear fountains of all knowledge,
SNIPPED A LOT

My other thought is the 205 (also right outside Marylebone) to right
outside King's Cross Thameslink, meeting our friend and continuing from
there, changing at London Bridge.
Any thoughts/advice are welcome.
Dave Arquati

Words of warning - the bus stop for the 205, which used to be almost
directly opposite the KXTL station, has been moved about 100 yards up the
hill on Pentonville Road. The stop for buses going towards Marylebone is
still just outside the station entrance.
Good luck,
Baz

Ease of change at London Bridge
 

Marratxi wrote:
"Dave Arquati" wrote in message
...

Dear fountains of all knowledge,

SNIPPED A LOT

My other thought is the 205 (also right outside Marylebone) to right
outside King's Cross Thameslink, meeting our friend and continuing from
there, changing at London Bridge.
Any thoughts/advice are welcome.
Dave Arquati


Words of warning - the bus stop for the 205, which used to be almost
directly opposite the KXTL station, has been moved about 100 yards up the
hill on Pentonville Road. The stop for buses going towards Marylebone is
still just outside the station entrance.
Good luck,
Baz

Thanks for the warning - they haven't updated the spider map for King's
Cross but they have the current stop location on the Journey Planner
auto-generated maps. It's annoying, but at least it's a downhill walk to
the station, and a shorter walk than from the 453 stops at Trafalgar
Square, I reckon.


--
Dave Arquati
Imperial College, SW7
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London

Ease of change at London Bridge
 

In ,
Dave Arquati typed:

Does anyone have any ideas of what platform at London Bridge
Thameslink trains from King's Cross generally arrive at, and what
platform trains to Canterbury East depart from? Information on the
reverse direction would be appreciated too. I may be helping my mum
change there on Saturday, and she suffers from MS so I'd like to know
whether it would (luckily) be an easy cross-platform change, or
whether we'd be trekking from one side of the station to the other.

There are no trains from London Bridge to Canterbury East. Trains from
Charing Cross to Ramsgate, which stop at Canterbury West, run straight
through London Bridge without stopping for the greater part of the day.

Thameslink trains from the north use Platform 5 at London Bridge. Take a
Hastings train from the same platform (or sometimes Platform 4) to
Tonbridge, where you can change to a train for Canterbury West (same
platform at Tonbridge).



Bob

Ease of change at London Bridge
 

In ,
Huge typed:
"Bob Wood" writes:

Thameslink trains from the north use Platform 5 at London Bridge.

"The north" prsently being Kings X Thameslink.


North of the river innit

Ease of change at London Bridge
 

On Tue, 23 Nov 2004 16:55:04 +0000, Dave Arquati
wrote:

Does anyone have any ideas of what platform at London Bridge Thameslink
trains from King's Cross generally arrive at, and what platform trains
to Canterbury East depart from? Information on the reverse direction
would be appreciated too. I may be helping my mum change there on
Saturday, and she suffers from MS

Anything of assisance at http://nrekb.nationalrail.co.uk/disabled.htm
? Sorry - don't have time to drill into it myself.


Cheers,

Jason.

Ease of change at London Bridge
 

Jason wrote:
On Tue, 23 Nov 2004 16:55:04 +0000, Dave Arquati
wrote:


Does anyone have any ideas of what platform at London Bridge Thameslink
trains from King's Cross generally arrive at, and what platform trains
to Canterbury East depart from? Information on the reverse direction
would be appreciated too. I may be helping my mum change there on
Saturday, and she suffers from MS


Anything of assisance at http://nrekb.nationalrail.co.uk/disabled.htm
? Sorry - don't have time to drill into it myself.


Cheers,

Jason.

Thanks to all who replied. The non-stopping of trains from London Bridge
to Canterbury West is rather annoying; we'd rather not attempt a journey
with yet another change, so it may just be easier to go to Charing Cross.

The reduced-mobility map on the National Rail site isn't very helpful
unfortunately. For a start, the South East map which shows step-free
access to platforms doesn't even have a key - you have to work out
whether black dot or white dot means step-free.

I do get concerned by way transport organisations are associating
"step-free" with ease of access for those of "reduced mobility".
Step-free can include very long walks - just look at the step-free
interchange between lines at Green Park for an example.

--
Dave Arquati
Imperial College, SW7
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London

Ease of change at London Bridge
 

In message , Dave Arquati
writes
I do get concerned by way transport organisations are associating "step-
free" with ease of access for those of "reduced mobility". Step-free can
include very long walks - just look at the step-free interchange between
lines at Green Park for an example.

That is symptomatic of a general tendency to regard "disabled" and
"wheelchair bound" as the same thing. As you correctly point out, they
are not.
--
Ian Jelf, MITG, Birmingham, UK
Registered "Blue Badge" Tourist Guide for
London & the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk