Gatwick airport to Gloucester 22/12

[Tallguy]

Passenger arriving at Gatwick on 22/12 approx 11am needs to get to Gloucester. Unable to pre-book tickets for a specific train in case the flight is late or they are delayed at immigration etc. 2 routes I can think of;

1; into London on GatEx or local services, tube or cab to Paddington then GWR to Gloucester
2; catch a Reading train from Gatwick and take GWR from Reading to Gloucester

any other simple route suggestions and any idea of one way, on demand ticket price please? Pax will have luggage And will have flown long haul.

Thanks.

 

[Towers]

Very difficult to say how the train service will look, owing to ongoing industrial action. Is coach an option? National Express have £58 as a cheapest option, journey time of 4hrs 40 with a change of coach and 50 min break at Heathrow.

 

[ValleyLines142]

Thameslink straight to Farringdon, Elizabeth Line to Paddington and GWR from there.

North Downs Line is prone to constant delays due to tight turnaround times, got more of a chance getting a seat at Paddington than joining at Reading and also Gatwick services arrive at Reading at 51 minutes past and Gloucester services depart at 53 minutes past.

 

[Tallguy]

Thameslink straight to Farringdon, Elizabeth Line to Paddington and GWR from there.

North Downs Line is prone to constant delays due to tight turnaround times, got more of a chance getting a seat at Paddington than joining at Reading and also Gatwick services arrive at Reading at 51 minutes past and Gloucester services depart at 53 minutes past.

Any idea what that would cost for an on demand ticket please?

 

[ValleyLines142]

Any idea what that would cost for an on demand ticket please?

Gatwick to London Bridge Anytime Day Single £12.50, London Underground Zone 1 to Gloucester Super Off Peak Single £38.70.

Total: £51.20.

A cheaper flexible fare is available via Clapham Junction, Staines and Reading, at £39.90, but involves changing at Clapham Junction from platforms 12 to 5/6.

 

[miklcct]

I don't agree with #3 and recommend the use of North Down Lines. The reason is that the distance is shorter and the fare is much cheaper.

To avoid the long wait, the passenger can travel to Redhill first where there are 2 services per hour to Reading.

Trainsplit produces splits at Redhill and Stonehouse at £34.10 (consisting of £4.30 + £24.30 super off-peak + £5.50 fares) + £3.39 commission which should be a good value for the journey.

 

[Watershed]

Very difficult to say how the train service will look, owing to ongoing industrial action. Is coach an option? National Express have £58 as a cheapest option, journey time of 4hrs 40 with a change of coach and 50 min break at Heathrow.

What industrial action are you referring to? There's none on the railways on the 22nd and it's less than 2 weeks away, so any further strike action would have had to be notified by now.

For going via London, the tickets quoted by @ValleyLines142 are indeed the cheapest combination of "paper" fares. However it's worth noting that the journey as far as Paddington could be done for less by using Oyster/contactless PAYG (it would be £9 as far as LB/Farringdon or £11.50 to Paddington, so a total of £47.70/£47.20 respectively).

Avoiding London (via Guildford) is cheaper - splitting at Redhill this costs £35.10. However, as noted, the connection at Reading between the Gatwick Airport and Gloucester service is effectively an hour, making it quicker to go via Bristol Parkway and Cheltenham if you don't want to wait. Using Oyster/contactless as far as Redhill would reduce this to £33.30 (if you were aiming for the North Downs Line stopper from Redhill, which has a better connection at Reading, this doesn't even need to entail 'stepping back').

 

[Tallguy]

What industrial action are you referring to? There's none on the railways on the 22nd and it's less than 2 weeks away, so any further strike action would have had to be notified by now.

For going via London, the tickets quoted by @ValleyLines142 are indeed the cheapest combination of "paper" fares. However it's worth noting that the journey as far as Paddington could be done for less by using Oyster/contactless PAYG (it would be £9 as far as LB/Farringdon or £11.50 to Paddington, so a total of £47.70/£47.20 respectively).

Avoiding London (via Guildford) is cheaper - splitting at Redhill this costs £35.10. However, as noted, the connection at Reading between the Gatwick Airport and Gloucester service is effectively an hour, making it quicker to go via Bristol Parkway and Cheltenham if you don't want to wait. Using Oyster/contactless as far as Redhill would reduce this to £33.30 (if you were aiming for the North Downs Line stopper from Redhill, which has a better connection at Reading, this doesn't even need to entail 'stepping back').

Thanks for this but I need the route to be simple as it’s a 16yr old Australian lad who has never been to England who will be doing this journey after 24 hours in economy from Sydney with luggage. He will be on a paper ticket bought from the ticket office at Gatwick.

I will direct him to use the routing suggested by Valley Lines, unless his Dad will pay £225 for a mini cab……

 

[Watershed]

In my view, the simplest option would be that involving just one change at Reading. A bit slower than the others but it minimises the number of changes and avoids the complexity of crossing London. It also means that an e-ticket can be bought for the journey and sent to him to be printed off or downloaded to his phone. Splitting at Redhill, even without Oyster/contactless, saves a substantial amount (£56.70 vs £35.10) and with e-tickets it doesn't really make it a lot more complex.

If the lad is going to be making any other rail journeys during his stay here, it's probably worthwhile for him to get a 16-17 Saver Railcard, as this provides him with half-price fares for most journeys. As with the train tickets, this can be issued in electronic format (e.g. through the official Railcard app) so there's no need for him to visit the ticket office on arrival.

 

[NSE]

I don't agree with #3 and recommend the use of North Down Lines. The reason is that the distance is shorter and the fare is much cheaper.

To avoid the long wait, the passenger can travel to Redhill first where there are 2 services per hour to Reading.

Trainsplit produces splits at Redhill and Stonehouse at £34.10 (consisting of £4.30 + £24.30 super off-peak + £5.50 fares) + £3.39 commission which should be a good value for the journey.

Cheaper might be an important parameter for you but not necessarily for the OP/OP’s friend. After a long haul flight I’d be more inclined to pay a touch more to avoid a wait. Also, if I’ve just arrived long haul with baggage then there’s no chance I’m stopping at Redhill to try and break my journey into two smaller waits. My personal suggestion (purely for convenience) would be to Gatwick-London-Gloucester. Whether you go via Victoria and Circle line or Farringdon and Elizabeth Line is up to you. I’d agree with sentiments such as it being easier to get a seat at Paddington, avoiding a long wait at Reading and one cancellation on the NDL can give a long set back. Sure, same can happen at Paddington, but I’d rather be stuck at Paddington than Redhill.

 

[Starmill]

Cheaper might be an important parameter for you but not necessarily for the OP/OP’s friend. After a long haul flight I’d be more inclined to pay a touch more to avoid a wait. Also, if I’ve just arrived long haul with baggage then there’s no chance I’m stopping at Redhill to try and break my journey into two smaller waits. My personal suggestion (purely for convenience) would be to Gatwick-London-Gloucester. Whether you go via Victoria and Circle line or Farringdon and Elizabeth Line is up to you. I’d agree with sentiments such as it being easier to get a seat at Paddington, avoiding a long wait at Reading and one cancellation on the NDL can give a long set back. Sure, same can happen at Paddington, but I’d rather be stuck at Paddington than Redhill.

The priority was stated to be a simple journey. Using the LU Circle line to transfer from Victoria to Paddington is probably about as far from simple and straightforward as you can get on railways in this country.

Just waiting at Gatwick Airport for as long as necessary until there's a train to Reading is relatively simple however. Once at Reading the customer can ask the staff where their train to Gloucester will go from.

 

[miklcct]

The priority was stated to be a simple journey. Using the LU Circle line to transfer from Victoria to Paddington is probably about as far from simple and straightforward as you can get on railways in this country.

Just waiting at Gatwick Airport for as long as necessary until there's a train to Reading is relatively simple however. Once at Reading the customer can ask the staff where their train to Gloucester will go from.

The problem with the direct train to Reading is the 2-minute interchange and, because of this reason, I really don't recommend waiting at Gatwick for a Reading train and run the interchange at Reading.

These kinds of interchanges are stressful enough for me even if I don't have luggage and am familiar with the railway network. Therefore I will give the instruction to be "get a train to Redhill, then to Reading, then to Gloucester". With this set of instructions there is 50% chance she won't need to rush the 2-minute connection at Reading.

 

[Starmill]

The problem with the direct train to Reading is the 2-minute interchange and, because of this reason, I really don't recommend waiting at Gatwick for a Reading train and run the interchange at Reading.

These kinds of interchanges are stressful enough for me even if I don't have luggage and am familiar with the railway network. Therefore I will give the instruction to be "get a train to Redhill, then to Reading, then to Gloucester". With this set of instructions there is 50% chance she won't need to rush the 2-minute connection at Reading.

But there was never any question of a two minute interchange at Reading.

 

[miklcct]

But there was never any question of a two minute interchange at Reading.

Gatwick services arrive at Reading at 51 minutes past and Gloucester services depart at 53 minutes past.

Isn't this a 2-minute interchange?

 

[Starmill]

Isn't this a 2-minute interchange?

No it's a 62 minute interchange.

 

[NSE]

The priority was stated to be a simple journey. Using the LU Circle line to transfer from Victoria to Paddington is probably about as far from simple and straightforward as you can get on railways in this country.

Just waiting at Gatwick Airport for as long as necessary until there's a train to Reading is relatively simple however. Once at Reading the customer can ask the staff where their train to Gloucester will go from.

Disagree personally. Depends on situation of course. But if you’re a single traveller with one suitcase, Victoria to the Circle Line, round to Paddington, don’t see that as difficult. Wouldn’t suggest it for a family of five during rush hour with many cases. You may not get a seat, but I fail to see how one train running every five or so minutes between two major and well staffed stations is ‘about as far from simple and straightforward as you can get on railways in this country’.

 

[Watershed]

Isn't this a 2-minute interchange?

Only in your parallel universe!

 

[dastocks]

Disagree personally. Depends on situation of course. But if you’re a single traveller with one suitcase, Victoria to the Circle Line, round to Paddington, don’t see that as difficult. Wouldn’t suggest it for a family of five during rush hour with many cases. You may not get a seat, but I fail to see how one train running every five or so minutes between two major and well staffed stations is ‘about as far from simple and straightforward as you can get on railways in this country’.

The interchange at Victoria is horrible and the Circle Line all too often turns out to be the District Line via Earl's Court. In other news the Elizabeth Line interchanges at both Farringdon and Paddington are very simple, with no staircases, and it's likely to be a faster journey. I actually do Brighton to Paddington and back fairly often, and have found the Elizabeth Line to be a great improvement.

The wise traveler is advised to head for the *back* of the Thameslink train at Gatwick, noting that it's a long train that will fill the full length of the platform. That way they'll get a seat (maybe in declassified first class) - unlike the sheep who mill around on the platform at the bottom of the escalators - and will be on the right part of the platform at Farringdon.

 

[Starmill]

Disagree personally. Depends on situation of course. But if you’re a single traveller with one suitcase, Victoria to the Circle Line, round to Paddington, don’t see that as difficult. Wouldn’t suggest it for a family of five during rush hour with many cases. You may not get a seat, but I fail to see how one train running every five or so minutes between two major and well staffed stations is ‘about as far from simple and straightforward as you can get on railways in this country’.

You need to know where to go at Victoria to find the subsurface lines, which platform to go to, and then which train to board once there. Then you need to navigate out again at Paddington. That's all far more complicated than a single change of trains at Reading, with loads of time there. I really don't see how that's up for debate.

 

[Sultan]

If your passenger hasn't travelled any part of the rail journey before, it can be quite daunting finding your way round, where to change, etc. Imagine arriving at Warsaw airport and needing to get to Gdansk (recent occurence for me) - what seems straight forward on paper is not in reality when you get there (although this may have been partly due to the language barrier - in Poland a platform serves 2 tracks but only has one number).

Keep it simple and take the train to Reading and change once there. It's a pretty route, not that busy, and there is plenty of rest places at Reading to grab food and drink after a long flight.

 

[paul1609]

An alternative might be Southern/ Gatwick Express to Victoria then walk the one block to Victoria Coach station for the basically hourly service to Gloucester. The travel can be booked once a firm ETA is known at Gatwick and emailed to him. Personally if he was a relation of mine Id pick him up by car, Gatwick to Gloucester is only 140 miles well under 3 hours by road.

 

[Tallguy]

So as there are now 3 passengers we’ve gone for the car option. The route decided upon for the train was Gatwick to Reading then Reading to Gloucester as that was the simplest. Thanks for all the comments as ever.

 

[Joe Paxton]

The priority was stated to be a simple journey. Using the LU Circle line to transfer from Victoria to Paddington is probably about as far from simple and straightforward as you can get on railways in this country.
[...]

My route from Victoria to Paddington would be via the Victoria line and then a level (pseudo 'cross-platform') change at Oxford Circus to the Bakerloo, rather than the Circle line.

But in this case I'd probably suggest going via Reading.

Anyway, it's a moot point now.

 

[dastocks]

My route from Victoria to Paddington would be via the Victoria line and then a level (pseudo 'cross-platform') change at Oxford Circus to the Bakerloo, rather than the Circle line.

Have you tried the mainline to Victoria line interchange at Victoria since the station was redeveloped?