London - Bournemouth via Reading - how busy?

[itfcfan]

I'm intending to visit Bournemouth from London tomorrow.

Bearing in mind I live in west London (Paddington is my easiest accessible London terminal) and the SWR strikes right now, I'm looking at the route from Paddington to Reading (GWR) then Reading to Bournemouth (Cross Country). At 1h55 (including a ~10minute change in Reading) it appears to be only 10mins slower than the usual 1h45 on the direct route.

I have never travelled from Reading to Bournemouth, but I have been on other Cross Country services and they always seem busy. How is the Reading to Bournemouth stretch? Does anyone have an opinion on which would be the most comfortable option (in terms of available seats on the train) tomorrow? I'm likely to be travelling out of London around 11:00 and back around 16:00.

 

[theironroad]

I'm intending to visit Bournemouth from London tomorrow.

Bearing in mind I live in west London (Paddington is my easiest accessible London terminal) and the SWR strikes right now, I'm looking at the route from Paddington to Reading (GWR) then Reading to Bournemouth (Cross Country). At 1h55 (including a ~10minute change in Reading) it appears to be only 10mins slower than the usual 1h45 on the direct route.

I have never travelled from Reading to Bournemouth, but I have been on other Cross Country services and they always seem busy. How is the Reading to Bournemouth stretch? Does anyone have an opinion on which would be the most comfortable option (in terms of available seats on the train) tomorrow? I'm likely to be travelling out of London around 11:00 and back around 16:00.

They are usually busy at the best of times, normally a 4 or 5 car, though sometimes on a Saturday there is a 8 car, not sure when.

I'm guessing tomorrow around the yime you want will be busy as Liverpool are visiting Bournemouth to play the cherries at 3pm

 

[The Ham]

I'm intending to visit Bournemouth from London tomorrow.

Bearing in mind I live in west London (Paddington is my easiest accessible London terminal) and the SWR strikes right now, I'm looking at the route from Paddington to Reading (GWR) then Reading to Bournemouth (Cross Country). At 1h55 (including a ~10minute change in Reading) it appears to be only 10mins slower than the usual 1h45 on the direct route.

I have never travelled from Reading to Bournemouth, but I have been on other Cross Country services and they always seem busy. How is the Reading to Bournemouth stretch? Does anyone have an opinion on which would be the most comfortable option (in terms of available seats on the train) tomorrow? I'm likely to be travelling out of London around 11:00 and back around 16:00.

Like most things it can be hit and miss.

However as there's strikes on, I would expect that they would be fairly busy as the take up some of the slack.

 

[Lewlew]

I travel from Basingstoke to London and often go via Reading. The XCs from Bournemouth are often pretty full from Basingstoke northbound but the Newcastle trains that start at Southampton are often a lot quieter with plenty of seats available. So it might be worth taking a XC from Reading to Southampton and change there but these trains only run every 2 hours.

The stopper from Reading to Basingstoke only takes 8ish more mins than the XC and will have loads of room and if there is first class then this is declassified. These are 2tph. But you would then need to take a SWR service from Basingstoke.

 

[Master29]

They are usually busy at the best of times, normally a 4 or 5 car, though sometimes on a Saturday there is a 8 car, not sure when.

I'm guessing tomorrow around the yime you want will be busy as Liverpool are visiting Bournemouth to play the cherries at 3pm

I've never known of an 8 car on this route outside holiday periods and even at weekends however as the dreaded C holiday approaches that is possible. I could be wrong however.

 

[theironroad]

I've never known of an 8 car on this route outside holiday periods and even at weekends however as the dreaded C holiday approaches that is possible. I could be wrong however.

It may only be 8 car on one or two Saturday summer services, it's definitely not year round.

 

[njlawley]

It could be a lot worse, at least you're using the route on a Sunday, so you won't hit the huge college runs out of Basingstoke, Winchester and Brockenhurst.

 

[swt_passenger]

It could be a lot worse, at least you're using the route on a Sunday, so you won't hit the huge college runs out of Basingstoke, Winchester and Brockenhurst.

Question was asked Friday evening surely, about travel today Saturday?

 

[njlawley]

Still applies. I just had a d'oh moment!