We will be going from Canterbury to Bury St Edmunds by train, and one route gives us 5 min in Cambridge but another one- hour -plus longer route going through London Bridge has a 9 min transfer time.
How easy would it be to make these trains with only this much time?
Thank you!
Posted by
Lake District, England
12026 posts
It is the minimum connection time at Cambridge. For someone who doesn't know the station I think it is very tight but do-able, and they won't hold the hourly connection. It needs the inbound train to be dead on time.
Bear in mind that there are also Peterborough to Ipswich via BSE trains which call at Ely but not Cambridge, so staying on or changing for Ely is another possibility, and Ely is a far smaller and easier station to change at.
I'm going to BSE two weeks today on a day trip. Outbound I have a sensible robust 45 minute connection at Cambridge, on the way back I route via Ely, on purpose. That, granted, is over the top cautious.
This is the 3rd time of trying BSE for me in 15 months- the previous two times I was faced with the same 5 minute change. As I know Cambridge station tolerably well I shied away from that connection, so have totally reconfigured the way I do it. The chance of seeing the tail lights vanishing into the distance as I got off the inbound felt too high to me.
Posted by
395 posts
that's the standard minimum connection time for stations that haven't been specifically assessed - and it's time Cambridge was! On a schematic plan it loks like a simple station but it's very strung out so connactions can be simple but long walks.
To which we add the problem of journey planner software being obsessed with fastest routes, whilst not even hinting at alternatives. My first thought on seeing the question was what are you doing in Cambridge, and then I realised it was the notionally fastest option. But to me the route via Ipswich seems more logical, so I added that in the National Rail enquiry, and yes it is possible, slightly slower but with more sensible transfer times so you could actually achieve it!. New problem is that one transfer on that route is between stations - Stratford International to the original Stratford - but there is time to do it.
Rather annoyingly the current version of National Rail journey planner doesn't allow you to add a little bit extra to the transfer times, you can add 30 minutes but that's nonsense. Hopefully the new GBR website will be better.
Posted by
OP
777 posts
If we don’t make it to the train, will we be allowed to use our advance ticket for the next train?
How do we get from the train coming from London, I think it is Thameslink, to the one going to Bury St Edmunds?
We have never asked for assistance on a train. If we request assistance, will someone come and help us get ourselves and the luggage to the next train in that short transfer time?