A family member of mine made a return journey from Kings Lynn to Kings Cross on Saturday. The plan was to travel on the 08:45 from KLN and meet me at Kings Cross and go to an event with me in London before travelling back to KLN later in the evening. Some residual disruption was expected due to Friday's track defect between Hitchin and Cambridge. Here's what happened.
The 06:45 and 07:45 departures were both cancelled. The 08:45 was a four car class 379 and left a few minutes late. The train was due to couple up to another four car unit at Cambridge. It was standing room only upon leaving Kings Lynn and fully wedged by Ely.
No additional unit appeared at Cambridge and the service continued as four cars all the way to Kings Cross, where it arrived on time. I observed the train arriving at KGX and it was one of the fullest four car trains I've ever seen. A very uncomfortable journey.
We arrived back at KGX in good time to carch the 19:48. The signs were not looking good when we discovered the 19:17 had been cancelled and the 19:48 was planned as four cars. I worked out which platform the 19:48 was planned to leave from and we made our way to it before the incoming train arrived. When the train eventually arrived, and the platform announced there was a rush of passengers. Many failed to get on it was so full.
At about 20:05 there was an annoucement onboard that the train had been cancelled and that 'passengers should return to the foyer to await the next departure'. I guessed that the next train at 20:48 , if it ran, would be uncomfortably busy but I hatched a plan to use the 20:31 Thameslink train to CBG which gave a 6 minute connection into the Kings Lynn train (i.e. the 20:48 ex-KGX). My thinking was that some passengers would get off at CBG and even if it was still wedged, the family member would spend less time on a wedged train.
The 12-car Thameslink train was empty north of Stevenage, so we had a pleasant journey. At Cambridge we positioned ourselves for a speedy interchange only to find that the train to KLN would be terminating at CBG and would not be continuing to KLN. Eventually the family member was put in a taxi from CBG to KLN. Staff at CBG were doing a good job in difficult circumstances.
The 06:45 and 07:45 departures were both cancelled. The 08:45 was a four car class 379 and left a few minutes late. The train was due to couple up to another four car unit at Cambridge. It was standing room only upon leaving Kings Lynn and fully wedged by Ely.
No additional unit appeared at Cambridge and the service continued as four cars all the way to Kings Cross, where it arrived on time. I observed the train arriving at KGX and it was one of the fullest four car trains I've ever seen. A very uncomfortable journey.
We arrived back at KGX in good time to carch the 19:48. The signs were not looking good when we discovered the 19:17 had been cancelled and the 19:48 was planned as four cars. I worked out which platform the 19:48 was planned to leave from and we made our way to it before the incoming train arrived. When the train eventually arrived, and the platform announced there was a rush of passengers. Many failed to get on it was so full.
At about 20:05 there was an annoucement onboard that the train had been cancelled and that 'passengers should return to the foyer to await the next departure'. I guessed that the next train at 20:48 , if it ran, would be uncomfortably busy but I hatched a plan to use the 20:31 Thameslink train to CBG which gave a 6 minute connection into the Kings Lynn train (i.e. the 20:48 ex-KGX). My thinking was that some passengers would get off at CBG and even if it was still wedged, the family member would spend less time on a wedged train.
The 12-car Thameslink train was empty north of Stevenage, so we had a pleasant journey. At Cambridge we positioned ourselves for a speedy interchange only to find that the train to KLN would be terminating at CBG and would not be continuing to KLN. Eventually the family member was put in a taxi from CBG to KLN. Staff at CBG were doing a good job in difficult circumstances.
Though I do feel I've dodged a bullet every time I go there and get back successfully, given how often the Fen Line falls over. I expect to be stuck there for a considerable amount of time one day in the near future.
I actually quite like Kings Lynn - it has an 'old-style' HMV, a couple of fairly good retro gaming shops, and an independent cinema, all of which are good things as far as I'm concerned.