Frustrating timetables at Brighton.

[bengley]

I regularly travel from Chesham to Seaford via Brighton to visit my grandparents.

On my way home this evening I will have to arrive at Brighton 30 minutes early - the train to London leaves at the same time that the train from Seaford arrives.

Same on the way to Seaford, the Brighton train from London arrives 9 minutes after the Seaford train leaves, and when there are engineering works and trains are hourly I'm often left waiting an hour for a train in the cold at Brighton station.

I don't understand why the timetable is so terrible.

I think this has only been since the december timetable change - it was fine before.

 

[Mike395]

I believe it's to do with pathing issues on the Brighton Mainline - bear in mind the Seaford services do have to use it for a short period leaving Brighton station

Could be wrong though :P

 

[Greenback]

I always thought that Brigthon had a very good timetable to London? When engineering works are taking place, many stations have no trains at all. So things could be worse than having to wait for an hour!

 

[MidnightFlyer]

With the density of services on the Brighton Mainline, it is hard to get everything perfect. It shouldn't be so bad during the week with 2tph to Seaford (or does one terminate at Lewes?) and 5tph to London...

I know how you feel though, the connection since December 2008 from Colne, Nelson and intermediate stations to Preston to Euston is..... 58 minutes .

 

[tbtc]

Its a tricky one, at some stations there are going to be a lot of services to potentially connect with, and to connect with one would knock out another connection (e.g. is the Seaford service more important than the Worthing one or the Eastbourne)

There's a similar problem with the ECML timetable. The revised timings mean an arrival at Edinburgh may miss a connection with a Stirling train but does not connect well with a Dundee train.

 

[yorkie]

Seaford xx53
Lewes xx11

Lewes xx17
Victoria xx31

 

[thelem]

I believe it's to do with pathing issues on the Brighton Mainline - bear in mind the Seaford services do have to use it for a short period leaving Brighton station

There are 4 tracks from Brighton to the BML. Given Lewes trains (almost?) always use platforms 7 and 8 and London trains use 3-7, the only conflict between the two lines I see is platform 7. Surely it's possible to design a track layout that avoids interference between the lines for the other 5 platforms?

Having said that, at peak times there upto 7tph to Lewes, so they couldn't all arrive at convenient times.

 

[ushawk]

One train an hour connects at Lewes with a waiting Seaford train (the train from London departs Lewes before the Seaford train).

I also thought Seaford to Brighton services were 2tph everyday, including Sundays.

 

[Fincra5]

Yes, off-peak the services are; 2tph to Seaford, 1tph to Lewes (For Ashford Intl) and 1tph to Ore.

The seaford train usually connects at Lewes with the service to Eastbourne/Ore from Victoria, so maybe its worth trying that route instead of coming into Brighton; journey times will be very similar.

 

[bengley]

Seaford xx53
Lewes xx11

Lewes xx17
Victoria xx31

I go via brighton, I sometimes decide to meet friends in Brighton so it's more convenient for me (and I like the occasional 442 too )

 

[MCR247]

Well then you can't complain can you?

 

[bengley]

Well then you can't complain can you?

Yes, it should logically be a connection, but there is no logic in the railways in this country.

 

[MCR247]

Yes, it should logically be a connection, but there is no logic in the railways in this country.

It's not as if all passengers for Seaford will have to wait for ages. It's only people that choose to go via Brighton. So surely it is more important to ensure other connections work, opposed to two to Seaford. Honestly, I think it's you that lacks logic, not the railway in this instance.

 

[class377man]

As has been said, the connection at Lewes is ideal, it's your problem if you want to go the long way round to bash 442s.

 

[Greenback]

Yes, if you choose to take a different route to the easiest one, I don't see that you cna then complain that the connection is not perfect! Obviously the conenctions at Brighton ar enot very good because there are very good ones at Lewes!

 

[pendolino]

It's not as if all passengers for Seaford will have to wait for ages. It's only people that choose to go via Brighton. So surely it is more important to ensure other connections work, opposed to two to Seaford. Honestly, I think it's you that lacks logic, not the railway in this instance.

^ this

As has been said, the connection at Lewes is ideal, it's your problem if you want to go the long way round to bash 442s.

^ this

Yes, if you choose to take a different route to the easiest one, I don't see that you cna then complain that the connection is not perfect! Obviously the conenctions at Brighton ar enot very good because there are very good ones at Lewes!

^ and this.

Quite a bizarre thing to complain about really.

 

[jay jay]

As has been said, the connection at Lewes is ideal, it's your problem if you want to go the long way round to bash 442s.

Is the correct answer for this!