I’ve got an appointment coming up in London next month. I’m considering taking the train, as driving for such a large amount of time is going to play havoc with me. I’ve been shielding for the last twelve or so weeks. Any ideas which York/Leeds to Kings Cross services seem to be quiet at the moment? I know things may change in the next four weeks now the 1m+ rule takes effect at some point.
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Quietest Yorkshire - London services
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That doesn’t really help me though. I’m thinking about services where you might be the only traveller in a carriage.
DarloRich
Veteran Member
how is anyone supposed to know that in an evolving situation? By the time you travel the government will have changed the rules 17 times! Book a first class ticket for more space, wear a mask. That's about all that can be done. Passenger numbers are inching back up so you may not be the only passenger. I think just trying to take sensible precautions is all you can do.
EDIT: Hand sanitizer also sensible.
Did you read the point I said I know things may change in the next four weeks? If the quietest services are that, then you would hope that in 4 weeks they would be one of the quieter services.
RailWonderer
Established Member
I wouldn't worry about reservations being compulsory. I went to Bath two weeks ago for a one off during the lockdown and the boards at Paddington said 'reservations not available for this service' for all departures despite the websites saying reservations were compulsory.
If you have time go to King's Cross or York or wherever you're departing from and check the loadings of the train when it arrives/departs before the day of your journey. Otherwise get Seatfrog and upgrade to first for cheap.
If you have time go to King's Cross or York or wherever you're departing from and check the loadings of the train when it arrives/departs before the day of your journey. Otherwise get Seatfrog and upgrade to first for cheap.
DarloRich
Veteran Member
I read absolutely everything you wrote, thanks. I maintain: How is anyone supposed to know? Many more people will be back to work and many more will need to travel. I am not sure you can make an assessment based on today beyond avoiding the obvious times when trains have been traditionally busy. If you have to travel then you book a seat and go with it. No other option.
The OP is in Leeds. Might have to change onto one at Doncaster
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Has the hospital confirmed yet that the appointment will be face to face?
If they are not aware that you are shielding, I would contact them to check; if they are, I would expect them to be offering an alternative (my wife has just had her consultant on the phone - I appreciate that may not be feasible for your condition).
It’s a surgical theatre appointment, so will likely be faced mask time face mask.
No, but you could logically follow the idea that quietest trains now will continue to be quieter than other services later.
Thank you. I had considered the York starters, as they’re what I’ve caught in the past. Park at a colleague’s house in Acomb and return later. I might just have to wait until a fortnight beforehand and see if there’s any way LNER can identify how busy a train is by the number of reservations.
Numbers are picking up rapidly, albeit from a low base. Personally, I expect long distance travel to pick up significantly now that social distancing is being reduced to “1 metre, sort of” and now that people are allowed to stay away from home overnight and hotels are open etc.
So, The current state of trains may well be completely different to that in 2-3 weeks, and it doesn’t follow that quiet trains now will be quiet then.
My guess is that the quietest trains will be those usually used by office commuters and business travellers, as these people are less likely to be travelling. Therefore a Train arriving London between 0830-1000.
So, The current state of trains may well be completely different to that in 2-3 weeks, and it doesn’t follow that quiet trains now will be quiet then.
My guess is that the quietest trains will be those usually used by office commuters and business travellers, as these people are less likely to be travelling. Therefore a Train arriving London between 0830-1000.
They can be provided by the ticket office shortly before departure, obviously if available, can't they?
Yes they can, or they are available online up to 5 minutes before departure. However if all the reservations are taken (bearing in mind the greatly reduced capacity, then you can't travel.
I live right next to the ECML just south of York. All the LNER trains that I see are still basically carting around fresh air and many have no passengers or just one or two in some/most of the carriages. General business travel is basically non-existent at the moment.
I would guess a lot of companies that routinely have staff traveling across the country still have most, if not all staff working from home.
For example, I work for a large engineering consultancy. All our offices are still shut and everyone working from home, with a blanket ban on travel (domestic and international). We usually have a lot of people traveling on LNER and Crosscountry service due to our presence in Southampton, Yorkshire, and Midlands, alongside our office in London. It's currently at almost 0 with only our site colleagues not working in their homes.
For example, I work for a large engineering consultancy. All our offices are still shut and everyone working from home, with a blanket ban on travel (domestic and international). We usually have a lot of people traveling on LNER and Crosscountry service due to our presence in Southampton, Yorkshire, and Midlands, alongside our office in London. It's currently at almost 0 with only our site colleagues not working in their homes.
WesternLancer
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I've not seen LNER services but another option, if you don't mind the slow journey - is using the occasional EMR HST services from Leeds to St P and back in eves, if the times suited. Or using them for one way. They are lightly loaded. I was on one St P to Derby the other eve, just me and one other person in the front carriage, and then just him as he was going on to Sheffield.
And the EMR services are not 'reservation compulsory' tho with no on board checks who would know (as it happened I did pop into the ticket office to get a reservation on the specific train I wanted juts to avoid any hassle if some rule change was suddenly implemented). Do LNER actually check and enforce their reservation system, or just hope passengers honour it?
Given the widespread changes on July 4th in England it's hard to see that the railways will be able to sustain such policies.
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If they were all taken I think that the OP would know the train wasn't going to meet their aspirations for low loading.
YorksLad12
Established Member
In a different thread I estimated 7 people in a standard Azuma carriage, assuming optimal spacing. The chances of being the only person in the carriage are slim I'm afraid
It can be odd sometimes: from the Leeds the 0945 can be busier than the 0845. I'd say that mid-morning (1015 to 1145) or mid-afternoon (1345 to 1515) are your best bets, based on my own experience. Also, don't go with the default reservations if booking through the LNER website, assuming they still allow you to change your seat. From memory they book you into C and G first if a nine-car Azuma, B and A tended to be quieter as people don't wait to board in those carriages. C and D go first in a 225, B and E/F are quieter (but E & F are near the centre).
As ever, this is my experience; other posters' experiences will vary. And good luck.
One of the Leeds services. There have been occasional examples of trains running at (current) full capacity, but with the exception of the first one from York and first one from Leeds, they’ve so far been Anglo-Scottish services.
The Leeds services are split into a 1tph/2tph split at the moment - pick one of the ones in the 2tph. First Class in the middle of the day may be your best bet.
Almost all Leeds services are 9/10-car at the moment. Coach C is unreserved on most services.
I wouldn’t pick a York starter, as they call all stations so are the ones used most for local hops.
The Leeds services are split into a 1tph/2tph split at the moment - pick one of the ones in the 2tph. First Class in the middle of the day may be your best bet.
Almost all Leeds services are 9/10-car at the moment. Coach C is unreserved on most services.
I wouldn’t pick a York starter, as they call all stations so are the ones used most for local hops.
That's changed on 16th June, as they now allocated based on social distances randomly through the train, not like they used to C, G etc
Yeah coach C on 99% of services is left unreserved, and on occasions for some reason Coach G.
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