Heathrow to Kings Cross using the Elizabeth Line

[ACL]

On June 29th, my wife and I will be landing at Heathrow at 9 am. I want to take the new Elizabeth Line into London and wind up at Kings Cross and catch a train there to Newcastle. I've looked at the Elizabeth Line stations, but none of them seem to have direct access to Kings Cross. What are my best options?

Also, is it wise to wait until I arrive at Kings Cross to purchase my tickets to Newcastle, or am I better off purchasing them in advance?

Thanks.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

On June 29th, my wife and I will be landing at Heathrow at 9 am. I want to take the new Elizabeth Line into London and wind up at Kings Cross and catch a train there to Newcastle. I've looked at the Elizabeth Line stations, but none of them seem to have direct access to Kings Cross. What are my best options?

Also, is it wise to wait until I arrive at Kings Cross to purchase my tickets to Newcastle, or am I better off purchasing them in advance?

Thanks.

Farringdon does. It connects very simply and easily with Thameslink, which will drop you at St Pancras International right next door to King's Cross, and when I say right next door I really do mean it. We're talking a twenty second walk :P

 

[Supercoss]

Elizabeth line to Farringdon
huge escalator up to ground level
then take either Thameslink one stop to St Pancras low level
or Circle/Met line one stop to Kings Cross

 

[yorkie]

On June 29th, my wife and I will be landing at Heathrow at 9 am. I want to take the new Elizabeth Line into London and wind up at Kings Cross and catch a train there to Newcastle. I've looked at the Elizabeth Line stations, but none of them seem to have direct access to Kings Cross. What are my best options?

Change at Farringdon.

Also, is it wise to wait until I arrive at Kings Cross to purchase my tickets to Newcastle, or am I better off purchasing them in advance?

Thanks.

Which terminal do you arrive into, what time would you like to be at Newcastle for, are you thinking of going 1st or standard class, and would you like flexiblity or a fixed time ticket?

And finally, do you have a preference for using contactless + e-ticket or paper tickets?

Farringdon does. It connects very simply and easily with Thameslink, which will drop you at St Pancras International right next door to King's Cross, and when I say right next door I really do mean it. We're talking a twenty second walk :P

I'd get the Underground personally, however if you get there and there's a big gap in service, it's easy to switch platform and get Thameslink.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

I'd get the Underground personally, however if you get there and there's a big gap in service, it's easy to switch platform and get Thameslink.

Yes either works; the reason I get Thameslink is I hate the hassle of walking through the miserable Underground areas - although from the Circle/H&C/Met to street level is not nearly as bad as from the other lines - and I can just take the escalator up to the St P side concourse and cross the zebra crossing.

 

[ACL]

Which terminal do you arrive into, what time would you like to be at Newcastle for, are you thinking of going 1st or standard class, and would you like flexiblity or a fixed time ticket?

And finally, do you have a preference for using contactless + e-ticket or paper tickets?

We will be on British Airways, so I'm pretty sure we'll be arriving at Terminal 5 (9 AM). We would be going standard class from Kings Cross to Newcastle. For the price I would think we would want a fixed time ticket. I didn't want to feel rushed to get to Kings Cross (we're a little older now and rushing is a problem), but also didn't want to sit there in the station while 2 or 3 trains left waiting for ours, so I was wondering if it was prudent to purchase the tickets once we got to Kings Cross or if that was a bad idea due to lack of availability or high prices for a last minute purchase.

I'm okay with taking a chance and purchasing a ticket for a specific departure time ahead of time if that is the best thing to do. I'd probably feel best with paper tickets, being "old" and all. If I recall, I can purchase the tickets on-line ahead of time and then collect them from a ticket machine when arriving. Do they still work that way?

 

[yorkie]

If you don't want to hang around, I'd either use Contactless (£13.30) to get to King's Cross, and then a Super Off Peak Single (SSS) e-ticket (£83.80) from London Terminals to Newcastle.

If you prefer to avoid Contactless, a paper Travelcard would be only a little more, at £15.10.

If you are happy to get paper tickets and want it booked as one journey, the forum's site will issue both the Travelcard and SSS in one transaction; a seat selector is available, but doesn't always work (due to rail industry limitations).

The problem with an Advance fare is that it would tie you to a specific train; your exact arrival time at King's Cross is unpredictable and if you booked a safe connection, you'd be letting several trains go if everything went smoothly (if it was me, for an 0900 flight arrival I'd not be booking an Advance until around 1200 from KGX, but you could get there much earlier than that if things go smoothly, or if things go wrong, you could miss even that train).

You could delay purchasing the onward ticket until you are near, or at KGX; this might benefit you if short notice Advance fares are available and/or if you get to King's Cross around the time a Lumo train is due.

The biggest potential downside to booking at the last moment is you may not get a seat reservation, in which case board a train as early as you can and head for Coach C; if you are one of the first to get on the train you will find an unreserved seat in that coach.

 

[Trainguy34]

Heres a list of departures from Kings Cross to Newcastle, should be correct

 

[ACL]

Thank you for the information. I really appreciate it. It's been a while since I've been to the UK and I know that things change. I think I'll go ahead and book a departure from KGX to Newcastle for around 12:30 or so. That should give us a bit of leeway. We can always use our time getting a bit of lunch if we get there early.

I'll probably get us Oyster Cards at Heathrow for travel on the underground and thameslink, etc, since we will be returning to London for a few days before leaving for home.

Are you still able to collect your train tickets from a ticket machine with your credit card? Would it be better to have your tickets e-mailed and available on your phone?

 

[ACL]

Heres a list of departures from Kings Cross to Newcastle, should be correct

Thank you.

 

[ivorytoast28]

Thank you for the information. I really appreciate it. It's been a while since I've been to the UK and I know that things change. I think I'll go ahead and book a departure from KGX to Newcastle for around 12:30 or so. That should give us a bit of leeway. We can always use our time getting a bit of lunch if we get there early.

I'll probably get us Oyster Cards at Heathrow for travel on the underground and thameslink, etc, since we will be returning to London for a few days before leaving for home.

Are you still able to collect your train tickets from a ticket machine with your credit card? Would it be better to have your tickets e-mailed and available on your phone?

Yes, you can collect tickets from the ticket machine by entering the booking reference and a credit card, just be sure to select that option when booking

 

[yorkie]

Thank you for the information. I really appreciate it. It's been a while since I've been to the UK and I know that things change. I think I'll go ahead and book a departure from KGX to Newcastle for around 12:30 or so.

That journey costs £50.22 from the forum's site, and that time should be reasonably safe.

That should give us a bit of leeway. We can always use our time getting a bit of lunch if we get there early.

I'll probably get us Oyster Cards at Heathrow for travel on the underground and thameslink, etc, since we will be returning to London for a few days before leaving for home.

Are you still able to collect your train tickets from a ticket machine with your credit card? Would it be better to have your tickets e-mailed and available on your phone?

I would select the e-ticket option; you will get three tickets but all in one PDF file.

You could pay a visit to The Parcel Yard while you wait; it's not cheap but it is a pleasant environment and you get a view of the train shed from some of the tables.

If your flight is on time, you may prefer to use the Piccadilly Line to get to KGX as this is much cheaper than Crossrail and goes direct, avoiding the change at Farringdon. Journey time on the train is an hour (plus waiting time & walking time at either end). Alternatively if your flight is significantly delayed and the connection is at risk, then the HEX may be worth paying the premium for. You can keep those options open; they all work on Contactless or Oyster.

 

[bspahh]

I wanted times to get from Kings Cross to Heathrow terminal 5. I wanted to go on the Elizabeth line, to try it out. I found it was quite difficult to get it as an itinerary which only used the Thameslink and Elizabeth Lines.

National Rail only gives itineraries with the Heathrow Express, even when I turned off the "Show only fastest trains" option.

The Transport for London route planner gives a route with the Heathrow Express, or by bus. There is an option where you can choose transport mode, and if you turn off the Rail option, you can get a route by the Piccadilly Line.

Google Maps gives some public transport routes with Thameslink and the Elizabeth Line but doesn't let me ignore the Heathrow Express

Instead, with FastJP I could choose to avoid the Heathrow Express and Underground to get an itinerary by Thameslink and the Elizabeth Line.

 

[yorkie]

I wanted times to get from Kings Cross to Heathrow terminal 5. I wanted to go on the Elizabeth line, to try it out. I found it was quite difficult to get it as an itinerary which only used the Thameslink and Elizabeth Lines.

National Rail only gives itineraries with the Heathrow Express, even when I turned off the "Show only fastest trains" option.

The Transport for London route planner gives a route with the Heathrow Express, or by bus. There is an option where you can choose transport mode, and if you turn off the Rail option, you can get a route by the Piccadilly Line.

Google Maps gives some public transport routes with Thameslink and the Elizabeth Line but doesn't let me ignore the Heathrow Express

Instead, with FastJP I could choose to avoid the Heathrow Express and Underground to get an itinerary by Thameslink and the Elizabeth Line.

FastJP is the system used by the Trainsplit, which powers the forum's ticket site.

NRE and individual train company websites generally want to push people towards the fastest options, as these typically generate the most revenue for train companies, and therefore the Heathrow Express will generally be shown, especially when going to T5 over other terminals.

 

[ACL]

Thank you for your help. I really appreciate it.

I've taken the tube in before and it is more convenient and cheaper, but I've been dying to try the new Crossrail.

 

[ACL]

NRE and individual train company websites generally want to push people towards the fastest options, as these typically generate the most revenue for train companies, and therefore the Heathrow Express will generally be shown, especially when going to T5 over other terminals.

I found that also. No matter what I tried, I was always pushed towards the Heathrow Express.

 

[yorkie]

Thank you for your help. I really appreciate it.

I've taken the tube in before and it is more convenient and cheaper, but I've been dying to try the new Crossrail.

No worries

If you want that price for the 1230 train, I'd book it ASAP, as it could go up.

LNER want to charge more than that but the forum's site offers a combination of tickets (UK fare prices can be very high for "premium" routes which typically cost more than the constituent parts!), but you get one handy PDF and your rights are unaffected, so there is no drawback to doing this.

I found that also. No matter what I tried, I was always pushed towards the Heathrow Express.

The forum's site finds the Crossrail route if you put it into "value" or "cheaper" mode; alternatively you can specify 'Advanced Options' and specifically exclude HEX from the list of operators.

But no need to do that for this particular journey, as you're better off booking KGX-NCL separately.