Looking to book a no change train from Kings Criss to Thirsk September 25…says tickets coming soon…yet the return tickets on sept 29 are available now….any ideas?
Posted by
Seattle, WA
16397 posts
The direct train is run by Grand Central. Sept. 25 is a Sunday, and they are not running that route on Saturday the 24th either. Perhaps a staffing problem? Or construction? Other weekends look OK.
You can take the Grand Central on Monday the 26th if that would work—- there are nice cheap Advance tickets on offer. If not, you could take one of the other options on the 25th with LNER and a change in York—- but I see those are VERY expensive, like £128. Maybe there is a way to bring that down with split ticketing.
Hopefully Nigel will be along with good ideas.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
32921 posts
I also don't know why there are no Grand Central services on that Sunday, and I haven't been able to find out. There are certainly connections available via LNER to York and Trans Pennine Express (TPE) so the line isn't closed nor the station.
By playing around on the Grand Central website I see a Super Off Peak Single available for £64 on the Sunday and a Grand Central direct service on the 29th for £38.
I do note that for the Sunday you would be changing to TPE for the short run to Thirsk who have not had a sterling record recently of running their trains to time, or in some instances not running them, full stop. The yellow exclamation mark next to all TPE services indicates the temporary emergency schedule that TPE have had to implement to try to deal with these problems. I'd take the fact that they are trying to run an emergency timetable as important information. There are still large numbers of cases of covid and one of the reasons for the difficulties at TPE are staff shortages.
As Lola said, if you were able to travel on the next day, the Monday, there are good options.
Posted by
Lincolnshire, UK
1889 posts
Ive just tried using the LNER website and have found several trains for 25th September....
Posted by
Royaume-Uni nul points, pas plus
2517 posts
Engineering work is taking place between Sunderland and York, closing various lines over the course of the weekend.
https://www.grandcentralrail.com/travelling-with-gc/disruptions
Grand Central run direct trains between London and Sunderland so their trains are affected as they also call at Thirsk. Easily solved by booking a ticket that involves change at York.
Posted by
OP
9 posts
I should have added, I’m booking from Canada, so I would need to book at https the trainline.com using my credit card. Perhaps I’ll wait a bit, as I’d rather avoid a nights lodging bill in London. Thank you!