Salisbury to Peterborough - Best transfer route

[poshfan]

On Dec 28 I and a friend are travelling from Salisbury to Peterborough. We have Advance Std Single tickets (route EC & connecting) and seat reservation tickets for 3 trains. As they are advance tickets, we are committed to the trains departing Salisbury at 17.47, Basingstoke at 18.39 and Kings Cross at 20.30.

I assumed that from Basingstoke we would travel to Waterloo (arrive 19.39) and then by tube to Kings Cross, but I see the reservation from Basingstoke is only to Clapham Junction, and when I recheck the itinery using the East Coast planner, I see that we are supposed to change at Clapham Junction and go forward to Vauxhall and by tube from there. If I set via Waterloo in the planner, the itinery then gives a later departure from Kings Cross, presumably because 51 mins is deemed insufficient to make the connection. If we change at Clapham Junction we are supposed to arrive at Vauxhall at 19.41, giving only 49 mins. but it is a direct route by tube from there.

So my question is, is it indeed quicker to change at Clapham Junction and Vauxhall, and if so what platforms do the trains to Vauxhall leave from, or is 51 mins ample time to transfer if we take the simpler option of going through to Waterloo?

 

[yorkie]

I would say possibly in the morning peak it may be quicker to do that (as trains may queue to get into Waterloo) but I would say generally no, the planners are wrong.

The quickest thing to do is to alight from the front of the train at Waterloo, and head for the Bakerloo line. Change at Oxford Circus (cross-platform, so very easy!) for the Victoria Line.

 

[Searle]

50 minutes to change is ample time for whether you go via Vauxhall or Waterloo. If you rush you could do it in a minimum of 20 minutes, so I wouldn't feel stressed out about time.

Both ways have their perks: If you can find an easy interchange at Clapham Junction for a Vauxhall train, then it's nice not having to deal with Waterloo and changing tubes. Oxford Circus however is a cross platform interchange, which does make it easier!

 

[poshfan]

Thanks very much Yorkie, will follow your advice.

 

[Cambus731]

Computers will almost always advise you to change at Clapham Junction, then Vauxhall.
Ignore that advice. You'd just be creating extra work for yourself.
Stay on to Waterloo. Then take the Bakerloo line to Oxford Circus where you literally just walk through a passageway to change to the Victoria Line to get to Kings Cross. A much easier and almost certainly quicker method.

 

[David Goddard]

Plus there is quite a walk through busy passages at Clapham Junction from P7/8 to P3/4.
Personally I normally take the 59 bus from Waterloo to Kings Cross bus not recommended if tight on time and if using a through NR ticket which of course includes LU transfer and not bus.

 

[Cambus731]

I used to find the 59 so infrequent, plus it so often used to terminate short anyway, that I used to just jump on whatever turned up first out of the 59,68,168 and jump of at the stop on Upper Woburn place and walk from there.

 

[QJ]

My advice on crossing London on a journey from Basingstoke to Peterborough would be to travel to Waterloo and catch the Northern line to Euston. Then it is either a few minutes stroll between Euston and Kings Cross along the Euston Road or a quick jump from the Northern line Charing Cross branch at Euston onto the City branch (one stop to Kings Cross).

That makes for a very quick journey only relying on the one tube if Euston to Kings Cross is done on foot.