Portsmouth - Glasgow

[bigfoote]

Hi there,

Was attempting to book tickets for a trip to Glasgow. I live in Waterlooville, which makes my "nearest" station Cosham, although I am just as happy to travel from either Havant or Portsmouth Harbour.

Trying to decipher the routeing guide has proved impossible, and trainscanbecheaper doesn't seem to find "valid" splits - turning my journey into one requiring at least 6 changes of train.

Would anyone be happy to offer their expert advice? I have posted details below.

• Origin - EITHER Cosham / Havant / Portsmouth Harbour
• Dates of travel - Two sets - Either next week (on a whim to see a friend), so 7/8/9 January, returning on 10/11/12th; and in March w/c 18th
• Travel time - Reasonably flexible, would like to travel as early as possible going, and late as possible returning. Am willing to discard flexibility for price
• I have no railcard, am not eligible for YP, advice as to whether the one-time cost would be a saving (I rarely have need for the railways )
• Any routes welcome, even if they would add time to the journey.

Many thanks in advance

 

[Be3G]

I don't know if this will be of any use to you, but one thing I will mention is that there is an integrated rail-bus link to/from Waterlooville using the 37 bus via Petersfield. This means that it's possible to get through tickets from Waterlooville to various rail destinations. Worth bearing in mind if you weren't planning on driving to your train station of choice.

 

[bigfoote]

I wasn't aware the Waterlooville/Petersfield link was still going as a railbus option, I shall have a look.

 

[paul1609]

I wasn't aware the Waterlooville/Petersfield link was still going as a railbus option, I shall have a look.

I do the Portsmouth to Glasgow journey rather a lot. I feel the best balance on price convience will be Havant to Gatwick Airport, then British Airways to Glasgow. onward journey depends on your destination in Glasgow.
I'm afraid that ( and despite being a rail enthusiast) rail just doesnt offer a competitive product on this route. I do use the sleeper for leisure trips to the highlands because i like it and I envariably travel back South on day time trains but the fact remains that air is just that much better.
People will no doubt reply with how much hassle the airport is but this doesnt really actually happen. Check in is invariably on line and in around 10 journeys security hasnt taken more than 10 mins.
I have had some delays with the planes but Ive also had some real horrors with the trains.

 

[ainsworth74]

When are you travelling?

 

[bigfoote]

When are you travelling?

Two sets of dates: 7th Jan til the 10th (flexible if significant saving)
and mid March, week commencing the 18th.

 

[ainsworth74]

and mid March, week commencing the 18th.

I would recommend purchasing Advance tickets as currently the entire trip can be done for £72 from either Havant or Portsmouth Harbour travelling into London and then from Euston to Glasgow (and the same in reverse for the return). It'll take about seven hours on that route and you'll be tied to specific trains by buying Advance tickets but it's almost certain to be the cheapest way of doing it.

As for the dates in a few days it appears that there are no advance tickets left on sale so you'll need to buy walk up tickets (£155 for a Off-Peak Return). Someone may be able to suggest some splits that will bring price down but the West Coast Main Line isn't really my area.

 

[wintonian]

The trouble is that with long distance journeys, over a certain distances walk-up fares almost turn into pence per mile type pricing. So the only thing I can suggest is looking at advance tickets possibly splitting in London with Virgin Euston - Central or East Coast Kings Cross - Queen Street, it is possible though unlikely that taking CrossCountry from Southampton Central or Winchester then changing at New Street might be cheaper.

 

[soil]

You can fly from Southampton to Glasgow direct. Flybe.

From £80 return, in March. More for January.

 

[Goatboy]

I'm afraid that ( and despite being a rail enthusiast) rail just doesnt offer a competitive product on this route.

Sadly this exactly mirrors my experiences. I've been to Scotland twice in the last 2 years and both times I really wanted to travel by train but both times it was cheaper to drive even if I was alone - when you consider there was 2 of us it was about half the price to drive which made the train an impossible sell. Managed to get on a few Scotrail services once I got there, mind

 

[paul1609]

You can fly from Southampton to Glasgow direct. Flybe.

From £80 return, in March. More for January.

Tends to be very expensive if booked at short notice or if you need to make alterations. Seems to have far more reliability issues than either BA or Easyjet from Gatwick.

it might just be perception but to me the direct trains (from the Portsmouth Area) to Gatwick mean its no more difficult than Southampton which requires a change at either Southampton Central or Eastleigh. Southerns ticketing policy (advances and daysaves) means the rail leg is likely to be cheaper to Gatwick as well.

 

[wintonian]

I think there has been talk of the Southern Southampton Central services running via Eastleigh to offer better connections for the airport.

Edit: page 46 of the TfSH (Transport for South Hants) conultation and it looks like Southern have already committed to it, no time-scale as yet though.

 

[paul1609]

I think there has been talk of the Southern Southampton Central services running via Eastleigh to offer better connections for the airport.

Edit: page 46 of the TfSH (Transport for South Hants) conultation and it looks like Southern have already committed to it, no time-scale as yet though.

It was a Southern franchise commitment that the Brighton to Southampton Service would be routed via Eastleigh to provide a connection from the Sussex Coast to Southampton Airport. Unfortunately Dft decided that extra XC services had priority over the paths.
Some Southern Services do go that way especially at weekends but in one direction only.

As it happens for the reasons I've quoted above Southampton is a less attractive airport for many people from the Portsmouth/ Sussex coast conurbations now, so the DFt were probably right.

 

[Birdbrain]

If your not worried about time, try using megatrain from Portsmouth into London then look at advances from London up either the East or West Coast

 

[Lrd]

Some Southern Services do go that way especially at weekends but in one direction only.

There is one a day Monday - Friday, in each direction. 1426 off Southampton - Brighton and 1533 Brighton - Southampton both run via Eastleigh.

There seems to be three a day on a Saturday from the Brighton direction only, although this coming Saturday, there are quite a few more.

 

[dcsprior]

Hi, a couple of options in the march week you mention:

* There's bargain berths available on the sleeper from Euston-Central: northbound on Monday (arriving Tues) for £29, southbound on Thu (arriving Fri) again for £29

*The east coast ticket promotion that some newspapers (including the Scotsman) are running has £12.50 tickets from Kings Cross - Central. The only day there's availability northbound is the Monday, but there's availability southbound on Wed/Thu/Fri. However there's only one service a day each way, 1530->2125 northbound and 0650->1243 southbound. Also, you'll need someone to give you a token from one of the newspapers running the promo.

...so if you can get a good price on a ticket into London, one of these may be an option?