Lines with significant counter peak flows

[telstarbox]

Which lines have the most significant passenger flows "against the tide" in normal times?

Every time I've got a morning suburban train out of London Waterloo it's been quiet departing WAT but lots get on at Vauxhall and Clapham Junction.

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

Hamburg - Luebeck, lots of lucrative jobs in Hamburg, but about a third as many commute in the other direction to Luebeck

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Pre-COVID19, there always used to be a fairly significant counter-flow from the Central London direction into East Croydon.

 

[xotGD]

Between Leeds and Manchester both directions are peak flows.

 

[Tomos y Tanc]

Logic would dictate that you're looking for pairs of cities or centres of employment which are within a commutable distance of each other. Bristol & Bath and Portsmouth & Southampton spring to mind. I'm guessing that the traffic between some outer London boroughs like Croydon and the more central ones goes both ways as well.

 

[duncanp]

Between Edinburgh and Glasgow there are significant numbers of commuters in both directions.

Similiarly quite there are quite a few commuters going from London to Cambridge, Milton Keynes and Reading.

Also from Milton Keynes, there is a not insignificant flow of commuters to Birmingham.

 

[yorksrob]

Lots around Yorkshire, since there are quite a few large employment centres around.

 

[Mojo]

I always found that the Great Western Main Line to be like this, Reading in particular being a significant traffic generator with people travelling toward against the flow. Also on a similar line whilst most lines lose customers as you’re travelling away from London, the intercity services in particular often pick up similar numbers at Reading heading westbound as they drop off.

 

[paddy1]

Coventry and Birmingham. Leicester and Nottingham. Derby and Nottingham.

 

[Mag_seven]

We have had a similar thread specifically for flows around London:

Contra-Peak Flows out of London

I live in London, and had cause the other day to take a contra-peak flow journey, i.e. a train out of Waterloo at about 8 AM and arriving back into Waterloo at about 6 PM. The AM train was about half-full from Clapham Junction, i.e. had you been one of the last ones on at Clapham Junction, you...

www.railforums.co.uk

As already mentioned, Paddington - Reading is the example that springs to mind.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Into Watford from Central London on the WCML , Thameslink into Elstree and Borehamwood.

 

[RPI]

Truro towards Falmouth can be almost as busy as towards Truro in the morning peak

 

[PeterC]

Into Watford from Central London on the WCML , Thameslink into Elstree and Borehamwood.

Whenever I have been in that part of Watford in the morning there seems to be a decent number alighting from northbound Overground services at High Street.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

In normal times, into Epsom from both the Wimbledon and Sutton directions can be quite heavy in the morning peak and vice-versa in the evening.

 

[tomwills98]

Coming up from Cardiff Central or Queen Street to Trefforest for the uni.

 

[Ianno87]

Waterloo / Clapham Junction to Richmond / Twickenham / Brentford

 

[Bald Rick]

Waterloo / Clapham Junction to Richmond / Twickenham / Brentford

/ Kingston

 

[Peregrine 4903]

Canary Wharf isn't in central London so technically London Bridge to Canary Wharf on the Jubilee Line is a counter peak flow. Although it probably shouldn't count as one.

Paddington to Slough and Reading to Slough are also big counter peak flows.

 

[43066]

Waterloo East - London Bridge, for those sensible enough to avoid the Jubilee line!

 

[Peregrine 4903]

Waterloo East - London Bridge, for those sensible enough to avoid the Jubilee line!

Before Covid, I once used the Jubilee line going Eastbound at Waterloo and I had to wait for 6 trains, and even then I could only just about squeeze on.

 

[Sod]

From 1966 to 1973, I commuted to school down the New Guildford Line from Claygate to London Road Guildford, and the trains running 'against the tide' were surprisingly busy. The high-quality schools in Guildford (both maintained and independent) generated substantial early morning and late afternoon traffic which may well continue today. Back then, the rolling stock was a mix of trusty 4SUBs and 4EPBs, with slighty flashy 4VEPs in later years, invariably running in eight car formations. It was always exciting when industrial action or closures in the late 60s brought visits from 2BILs and 2HALs from the main line, bringing a flavour of the exotic to a mainly suburban route. Happy days!

 

[Cheshire Scot]

Manchester to Crewe has significant contra peak flows into Stockport, Wilmslow (even before school traffic is taken into account) and Crewe itself.

 

[Scotrail314209]

Kilwinning - Ayr seems to have a significant flow. Quite a lot of workers and college students board at the intermediate stations to go to Ayr.

 

[cle]

Echoing the centres around London which either have quite specialised sector employers (Oxford, Cambridge) or general HQs/large offices (Watford, Slough, Reading, MK, Croydon) - there are some smaller ones in the same vein too.

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

What about the fairly equal flows? Nottingham - Derby for example
Thousands of people going back and forth, costs a lot in time, money, energy
Maybe people could be encouraged to try to swap and work nearer home
A win-win situation, shorter trains could be run at the same intervals
..
I used to get the train out of town to work in the suburbs, my train was nearly empty, the trains going in were full + standing

 

[Ianno87]

What about the fairly equal flows? Nottingham - Derby for example
Thousands of people going back and forth, costs a lot in time, money, energy
Maybe people could be encouraged to try to swap and work nearer home
A win-win situation, shorter trains could be run at the same intervals
..
I used to get the train out of town to work in the suburbs, my train was nearly empty, the trains going in were full + standing

I have always wondered what commuting would look like if housing were theoretically allocated to be 'optimal' to minimise the total national travel to work time/distance.

 

[telstarbox]

It's not that simple though - some of the jobs in Nottingham won't exist in Derby and vice versa e.g. Boots and Rolls Royce will have different specialist roles. Then people have other family members with ties to one place or the other.

 

[RPI]

Exeter to Digby & Sowton is another, lots work on the retail Park nearby

 

[bramling]

Which lines have the most significant passenger flows "against the tide" in normal times?

Every time I've got a morning suburban train out of London Waterloo it's been quiet departing WAT but lots get on at Vauxhall and Clapham Junction.

A few which spring to mind

Cambridge (this is a big one, and has exploded since the 1990s).
Crawley
Guildford
Stratford
East Croydon
Reading
Oxford

 

[TheSeeker]

When I worked in IT in Reading and Slough a lot of colleagues had studied in Kingston and decided to settle in West London. A lot in Ealing who came out to the sticks every day.