London to Cardiff

[Babybirdrobin]

Hello,
Does anyone know of a good way to get from London to Cardiff avoiding IET’s, I’ve been trying to go via Salisbury however the forums retailer has been trying to take me from there to Birmingham to get to Cardiff which doesn’t make sense. Am I missing something here so is there a way that I can get from London to Cardiff that isn’t ridiculous, avoids IET’s and doesn’t need a fight with ticket retailers.

This is probably in the wrong place but help would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[JonathanH]

Am I missing something here so is there a way that I can get from London to Cardiff that isn’t ridiculous, avoids IET’s and doesn’t need a fight with ticket retailers.

A limited number of GWR services are booked for 387s, in particular 1B04 0712 London Paddington to Cardiff Central each weekday morning, although it isn't cheap to travel on that service.

 

[MrJeeves]

I notice that your profile says you're from the SE, so are you travelling from London or just saying that as an example that's easy to get to from where you are?

Jonathan's suggestion is a good one: I think there is at least one daily Electrostar round trip from Paddington to Cardiff. These can be found by looking for journeys which don't have first class available in the timetable.

The forum's ticketing site requires no fight for a journey from London to Salisbury, and onwards to Cardiff: https://tickets.railforums.co.uk/re...ass=false&flexible=false&selectionMethod=Grid

 

[Babybirdrobin]

I notice that your profile says you're from the SE, so are you travelling from London or just saying that as an example that's easy to get to from where you are?

Jonathan's suggestion is a good one: I think there is at least one daily Electrostar round trip from Paddington to Cardiff. These can be found by looking for journeys which don't have first class available in the timetable.

The forum's ticketing site requires no fight for a journey from London to Salisbury, and onwards to Cardiff: https://tickets.railforums.co.uk/results?FromStation=7010720&ToStation=7038990&Adults=1&OutboundDate=29/03/2024&OutboundTime=10:00&advb:Via=7056630P&adv:ib:Via=7056630P&searchBy=0&firstClass=false&flexible=false&selectionMethod=Grid

Ok, thanks, I'll look for Electrostars and I'm using London as an example as living in Wickford (Crouch Valley Line) makes it easy to get to, I was trying to get that via Salisbury however my search of Waterloo Via Salisbury wasn't giving me what I was looking for...

 

[Haywain]

If you were to go via Salisbury you could then pick up a Portsmouth to Cardiff service which would achieve the objective of IET avoidance.

 

[John R]

If you were to go via Salisbury you could then pick up a Portsmouth to Cardiff service which would achieve the objective of IET avoidance.

Although I notice one of the services offered by the forum's ticketing site also included a change at Temple Meads. That last leg would be highly likely to be an IET, as most of the Taunton - Cardiff services appear to be IET these days, so worth checking before booking.

 

[Haywain]

Although I notice one of the services offered by the forum's ticketing site also included a change at Temple Meads. That last leg would be highly likely to be an IET, as most of the Taunton - Cardiff services appear to be IET these days, so worth checking before booking.

Indeed, I think avoiding changing at Temple Meads is going to give the best opportunity to avoid an IET.

 

[RJ]

If you have the time to spare, via Salisbury or via Birmingham New Street are your options.

 

[mangyiscute]

Although whether it is better to ride on a probably packed 3 car turbo from Salisbury to Cardiff compared to a 9/10 car IET from London to Cardiff for less time is another question
Perhaps there are engineering works which cause it to suggest via Birmingham whenever it is you want to travel?

 

[paul1609]

Hello,
Does anyone know of a good way to get from London to Cardiff avoiding IET’s, I’ve been trying to go via Salisbury however the forums retailer has been trying to take me from there to Birmingham to get to Cardiff which doesn’t make sense. Am I missing something here so is there a way that I can get from London to Cardiff that isn’t ridiculous, avoids IET’s and doesn’t need a fight with ticket retailers.

This is probably in the wrong place but help would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

Id suggest National Express Coaches fraction of the cost, more reliable. Journey time is around 4 hours which is identical to the rail via Salisbury option. Reasonably frequent service. Theres also Flixbus and Megabus although both these call at Bristol enroute.