Rochester - London commute

[maniacmartin]

Hi,

My employer is relocating, and will have a primary office in Cannon St and a satellite office in Moorgate. Also, I want to move house. One of the many places I'm considering is Rochester, Medway.

It'd be useful if anyone can comment on how likely am I to secure a seat on weekdays in Standard class on the following services:

Classic lines:

• Arriving into Cannon St by 7am and by 8am
• Leaving Cannon St after 5pm and after 6:15pm

HS1

• Arriving into Moorgate by 8am
• Leaving Moorgate at 6pm

NRE claims the fastest route from Rochester to Moorgate is HS1 to Stratford Intl, DLR to Stratford, Central line to Liverpool St, then walk.

I'm not convinced that this is faster than taking the Circle/Met/H&C from St Pancras to Moorgate. Can anyone comment?

 

[Mojo]

NRE claims the fastest route from Rochester to Moorgate is HS1 to Stratford Intl, DLR to Stratford, Central line to Liverpool St, then walk.

I'm not convinced that this is faster than taking the Circle/Met/H&C from St Pancras to Moorgate. Can anyone comment?

Not sure on journey times, but don't forget that going this way into Liverpool Street is permitted on a ticket to 'London Terminals' whereas to get the Underground from Kings + St Pancras will require you to have a Travelcard.

Also, the Central line heading Westbound in the morning peak is extremely busy. I think I heard once that between two of those stations in the morning peak carries the most customers between any two stations on the Underground at any one time [but the long distance might be part to do with that]. You might want to consider the Greater Anglia trains, but I have no idea how busy they are.

Also bear in mind that the DLR from Stratford It only runs every 8-10 Min. Use the exit at the very back of the train if you are walking to Stratford Regional. This is the exit signed 'Westfield Stratford City.' For the DLR use the main exit.

As to seats, shouldn't have a problem on the Highspeed services. It's very uncommon to see standees from Ashford and that is the more popular service. Not sure about the situation on lignes classiques.

 

[Clip]

They have Rochester starters so you should, in theory be able to get a seat on the HS1 and from my time on the lignes classiques there were still some seats available on the trains I used to get (the first one off Margate in a morning) but after that time I couldnt tell you.

You are aware about Rochester and surrounding areas though?

 

[PavlosA]

I worked at Moorgate full time when I used HS1, and the quickest route for me to Moorgate was alight at Stratford Int, walk through Westfield and jump on the mainline to Liverpol Street. The walk to Moorgate tube station from Liverpool Street is only 5 minutes. This was a heck of a lot quicker than the tube from Kings Cross...

 

[maniacmartin]

Work have changed their mind about their office location. I've also spent some time spent thinking about the season ticket costs and travel time have ruled this out. Thanks anyway