50002Superb
Established Member
So, I had booked an Open Return from Long Eaton to Norwich today.
I managed to get back to Norwich Station at about 1.40 with a view to getting the 1.52 to Nottingham only to find that there had been signalling issues at Ely and anything via Thetford was being shown as delayed indefinitely.
The 12.52 was still sat in Platform 6 and I queried with the gate line staff what I should do.
Due to the Open Return not being valid via London the gentleman on the gate line told me to get the 2pm train to London and change at Ipswich to get to Peterborough and then make my way back from there.
This immediately set alarm bells ringing but he spoke with confidence so I went through the barrier but before I boarded the train I checked with Trainline / RTT what the connections were like at Ipswich, which told me that there was not a train from Ipswich to Peterborough until 4pm!
At this point I was considering paying to go via London but went back to the gate line and told him what I had found. There was another train to Ipswich later that I could always get to make the 4pm connection if that route really was the right way to go but I remained sceptical.
I therefore gave the 2pm to London a swerve.
Shortly after the 2pm to London departed there was a tannoy announcement that rail replacement buses would be taking us to Ely via Thetford and the same chap told me that this was the best option.
It definitely appeared much better than going via Ipswich.
We boarded the RRB and left at about 2.15 but I kept an eye on RTT because i wanted to see what connections might be made at Ely.
It was at this point that I noted that the 12.52 had departed Norwich, pretty much 6 or 7 minutes after our bus had left the station.
This meant therefore that the 12.52 would go through Thetford before the RRB got there (which it did) and the 13.52, which departed Norwich at 3pm only got into Thetford about 20 minutes after our RRB did.
Satnav was telling me that if I stayed on the bus to Ely we would get there about the same time as the 1.52 from Norwich did and as I’m sat at Ely typing this there is no one from the RRB boarding the train at Ely so I suspect that those who stayed on the RRB will now be getting the 2.52 from Norwich.
So my questions are this:
1. Why did the gate line staff tell me to go via Ipswich as it never made sense?
2. Why was the RRB used when the train departed only 6/7 minutes later?
It’s moments like today that I’m truly grateful for apps like RTT and Trainline to provide me with actual information, and I feel sorry for those who were due to travel on the 12.52 and missed the connection at Ely so will get home nearly two/three hours later due to the lack of joined up planning / advice.
I managed to get back to Norwich Station at about 1.40 with a view to getting the 1.52 to Nottingham only to find that there had been signalling issues at Ely and anything via Thetford was being shown as delayed indefinitely.
The 12.52 was still sat in Platform 6 and I queried with the gate line staff what I should do.
Due to the Open Return not being valid via London the gentleman on the gate line told me to get the 2pm train to London and change at Ipswich to get to Peterborough and then make my way back from there.
This immediately set alarm bells ringing but he spoke with confidence so I went through the barrier but before I boarded the train I checked with Trainline / RTT what the connections were like at Ipswich, which told me that there was not a train from Ipswich to Peterborough until 4pm!
At this point I was considering paying to go via London but went back to the gate line and told him what I had found. There was another train to Ipswich later that I could always get to make the 4pm connection if that route really was the right way to go but I remained sceptical.
I therefore gave the 2pm to London a swerve.
Shortly after the 2pm to London departed there was a tannoy announcement that rail replacement buses would be taking us to Ely via Thetford and the same chap told me that this was the best option.
It definitely appeared much better than going via Ipswich.
We boarded the RRB and left at about 2.15 but I kept an eye on RTT because i wanted to see what connections might be made at Ely.
It was at this point that I noted that the 12.52 had departed Norwich, pretty much 6 or 7 minutes after our bus had left the station.
This meant therefore that the 12.52 would go through Thetford before the RRB got there (which it did) and the 13.52, which departed Norwich at 3pm only got into Thetford about 20 minutes after our RRB did.
Satnav was telling me that if I stayed on the bus to Ely we would get there about the same time as the 1.52 from Norwich did and as I’m sat at Ely typing this there is no one from the RRB boarding the train at Ely so I suspect that those who stayed on the RRB will now be getting the 2.52 from Norwich.
So my questions are this:
1. Why did the gate line staff tell me to go via Ipswich as it never made sense?
2. Why was the RRB used when the train departed only 6/7 minutes later?
It’s moments like today that I’m truly grateful for apps like RTT and Trainline to provide me with actual information, and I feel sorry for those who were due to travel on the 12.52 and missed the connection at Ely so will get home nearly two/three hours later due to the lack of joined up planning / advice.