Sufficient time for changeover York

[AFitz]

Hi again,

We plan to take the 10.00am train from Edinburgh Waverley to York, which is due to arrive in York at 12.28. Our connecting train to Seamer is due to leave York at 12.40, therefore there's only a 12 minute time period to get off one train, find the platform we need to go to and trail suitcases and two children to the appropriate platform! (I'm travelling with daughter and young grandchildren).

Is it feasible to change trains in this time-frame or is it more likely we will need to catch the next train to Seamer, which is not until 13.40?

If we do manage to catch the 12.40 York to Filey then we should hopefully make the 13.33 Seamer to Filey as it's again a 12 minute changeover, but in a much smaller station. Failing that we won't get another train from Seamer to Filey until 15.02.

I would appreciate any and all advice. It would be particularly helpful if anyone happened to know the likely platform numbers involved at York!

Thanks again.

 

[DaveNewcastle]

If trains are running on time, then 12 minutes is adequate to make a connection at York; it's a large station, but 12 minutes is enough to get from one extreme end to the other and back again.
Anyway, as you'll be arriving from the north, you'll come into the east side of the station, and as you'll be departing to the north east, you'll also leave from the east side of the station. There's a good chance that both services will use platforms which adjoin each other - York (like Waverley) is so long that two separately numbered platforms are found at either end of the same physical platform, so you might not need to cross over the bridge at all! But even better for your connection:- the East Coast 10:00 usually stops on platform 5 at York*, and the Cross Country Liverpool to Scarborough also stops on Platform 5 at York*, so you might not have to go anywhere!

* Platform allocations are not immutable. Please do check on the day.

 

[furlong]

the East Coast 10:00 usually stops on platform 5 at York*, and the Cross Country Liverpool to Scarborough also stops on Platform 5 at York*, so you might not have to go anywhere!

* Platform allocations are not immutable. Please do check on the day.

(Transpennine Express not Cross Country)

You can look up the scheduled platform allocations at www.brtimes.com for whatever day you are travelling. (That website does not find out about late alterations so always check at the station.)

 

[yorkie]

Booked to be same platform at York (as stated above) and cross-platform at Seamer.

If you end up ~90mins delayed you would get compensation (50% based on a single, or 25% based on a return), but if your arrival time is critical then I'd suggest book an earlier train from Edinburgh as delays can occur unexpectedly, potentially causing platform alterations and missed connections.

Book in Coach C on the Edinburgh-York train if possible.

 

[AFitz]

Thank you so much for all of this very useful information. You've given me exactly what I need to take the stress out of the journey.

We don't have to arrive at the destination at a particular time, it's just that I'm hoping to make it as smooth a journey as possible - within my control of course - as one of the children has autism and it's good to be able to plan things for him.

I've saved the URL for the site that gives the proposed platform numbers to my phone, so that will come in handy to double-check things on the day. Thank you for that link!

I've actually booked standard off peak tickets, rather than advanced tickets, to give us the flexibility to use different trains in case of any unforeseen circumstances. This of course means that I haven't booked for a particular coach - I'm hoping we will be able to just sit in unreserved seats. Now I'm wondering if I've been daft here. Perhaps the train will be very busy? We're actually not going until the beginning of October - but I like to prepare in advance! (My three year old granddaughter doesn't call me Captain Gran for nothing.)

Yorkie, you mentioned that we should try to get seats in Coach C - I'm curious as to why! Also, does this coach only have reserved seats?

Thank you all once again.

 

[Hadders]

I would suggest reserving seats which you can do with an off-peak ticket. A station ticket office should be able to help. This will make sure you have reserved seats if the train is busy and that you can sit together. You'd be surprised at how busy long distance trains can be, even at 'quiet' times.

If you choose to travel on a different train it's not a problem as you have a flexible ticket (although you wouldn't have seat reservations if you used a different train).

 

[najaB]

Yorkie, you mentioned that we should try to get seats in Coach C - I'm curious as to why! Also, does this coach only have reserved seats?

Coach C will be closer to part of the platform where the TPE train will stop. It will save you the walk from further down the platform.

 

[AFitz]

Ah... thank you NajaB.

 

[30907]

If it would de-stress the grandchild, go for the previous train. Or plan for an hour's break in York for any reason you can think of.