Stafford to London Daily Commute

[widZyh]

Hi,

With my girlfriend recently landing a job in the Stoke area, we are considering a move to Stafford. I work in central London and would need to commute in three times a week.
Does anyone frequently do this commute in rush hour? I want to be confident about the reliability of the service before I commit.
Looks like I'd be aiming for the 0714 every morning, avanti west coast service. Am i likely to get a seat? It's a 1hr 20 train. Would be hoping to get a seat and be able to do some work.
I've seen quite a few complaints about avanti west coast. How bad is it? How often are they likely to make me late for work?
Thanks in advance!

 

[Mike99]

I notice that this train is 10 carriages, formed of 2, 5 coach units, 1 unit starts at Holyhead at 04:48 and one unit leaves Blackpool North at 05:30, they join together at Crewe and then serve Stafford. Today it left Holyhead at 05:11, 23 minutes late and eventually left Stafford 30 minutes late. There is a site, amongst others, called Real Time Trains you can check the last 7 days of operation and future days to see how it performs, yesterday and tomorrow are strike days.

 

[Mzzzs]

This might be of some use to you.
The first image shows station performance over the last 6 months.
Currently, Avanti has problems with staff which leads to many problems however it seems to be gradually improving from the December time peak worst.
WMR are generally reliable but slower into London.

The 7:14 has an on-time percentage of 33 shown in the second image.
Delays are broken down into 50% arriving and departing within 5 min.
58% arriving and departing within 10 min.
65% arriving and departing within 15 min.
74% of the time the train ran.

Edit:
overall it's not the most reliable service.

On Time Trains

Find out how often your train journey is on time, look up recent services eligible for delay repay claims and check your station rankings.

www.ontimetrains.co.uk

On Time Trains

Find out how often your train journey is on time, look up recent services eligible for delay repay claims and check your station rankings.

www.ontimetrains.co.uk

 

[widZyh]

Thanks for the help! That’s really useful.

It doesn’t look great at all. Is this sort of thing likely to change in the next year or so? Service doesn’t look anywhere near as reliable as it should be at the moment!

 

[Mcr Warrior]

It was 30 minutes late departing Stafford today!

Realtime Trains | 1R14 0448 Holyhead and Blackpool North to London Euston | 02/02/2023

Real-time train running information for 1R14 0448 departure from Holyhead and Blackpool North to London Euston on 02/02/2023. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

P.S. Where do you have to be in Central London, and when by, exactly?

 

[widZyh]

I have to be at Tottenham Court Road. Preferably by 9, but 9:30 latest. I believe it’s about a 20 min walk or a few stops on the tube from Euston, where the Stafford train terminates.

 

[Bevan Price]

The other thing to consider is the cost.
Stafford / Euston anytime return is £117.50 for any days you cannot get an advance ticket.

 

[Starmill]

Be aware there's likely to be further industrial action also; it's unlikely that you'll be able to make the trip by train on any industrial action days.

 

[Hadders]

The other thing to consider is the cost.
Stafford / Euston anytime return is £117.50 for any days you cannot get an advance ticket.

That's the Anytime Single price. An Anytime Return is £235.00. I've not checked but it might be possible to finesse this.

For a three times a week commute I'd get a season ticket which costs £374.10 for a weekly, £1,219.20 for a monthly or £12,700 for an annual

 

[Starmill]

An Annual would likely still be the best value for money for this, it would also come as a Gold Card which would offer a discount for someone travelling with you or for your own travel on other lines. You may also use it for travelling to and from Birmingham plus a great many other places, if you ever want to go there, lots of people in Staffordshire will go shopping or eating and drinking in Birmingham City centre.

You might be able to get Advance tickets which are substantially cheaper but be warned you can't guarantee their availability at any particular prices so I would strongly advise against locating your home on that basis.

I assume that you were already aware of the vast cost of this commute though, and that your role in the Tottenham Court Road area has a salary which accounts for it. If you're an employee you could ask if the company can give you a season ticket loan, these are pretty common.

 

[widZyh]

I think I’d get a season ticket. For me it says £7.7k right? (See image) I could then opt to pay for the tube or walk from Euston.

Appreciate the help! Any similar websites tracking number of passengers. Would ideally like to do a bit of work on the train.

 

[Starmill]

I think I’d get a season ticket. For me it says £7.7k right? (See image) I could then opt to pay for the tube or walk from Euston.

Appreciate the help! Any similar websites tracking number of passengers. Would ideally like to do a bit of work on the train.

That's only valid on the London Northwestern Railway service which has a longer journey time.

 

[widZyh]

Oh…that changes things. And is not too clear to someone that is not clued up about it.

How can you tell what is/isn't lnwr? That wasn’t too clear to me. On the avanti website, the cheaper £7,700 option is available too.

 

[Hadders]

The prices I quoted upthread are valid on any train between Stafford and London, regardless of who operates the service. As @Starmill has mentioned the cheaper price is only valid on the slower London Northwestern trains.

Don't under-estimate how physically draining a journey like this can be. I wonder if you should aim to live somewhere closer to London like Rugby or even Milton Keynes, although that would mean a longer journey for your girl friend.

 

[Gloster]

I know nothing about your situation or the area, but have you considered Derby or Long Eaton? There are direct trains from both to Stoke and London, and for London you also have East Midlands Parkway station; you could even consider one of the stations in the Nottingham area, but they are further from both London and Stoke.

N.b. This may be just one of the wild ideas that shoot out of my overheated brain and others will tell you how practical it is. I have done no research into it.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

That's only valid on the London Northwestern Railway service which has a longer journey time.

After the 0609 departure, the next non-Avanti train from Stafford into London Euston is currently the 0732 service operated by West Midlands Trains/London Northwestern, which doesn't get into Euston until 0925, even if running bang on time.

 

[Mzzzs]

Thanks for the help! That’s really useful.

It doesn’t look great at all. Is this sort of thing likely to change in the next year or so? Service doesn’t look anywhere near as reliable as it should be at the moment!

Its bad but delays related to staff should improve over time.
Would have a chat with your employer about this move if you choose so.
Just talk about you moving and your travel to work.
Maybe ask for your hours to change.
I am assuming you work from home 2 days so maybe longer hours at home and less hours at the office.
If your work has a office in Birmingham talk about potentially going there instead of London.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Any potential savings by ticket splitting at, for example, Rugby? If one of the tickets is a season ticket, the train wouldn't necessarily have to call there, would it?