Timetable change increasing journey times by an hour

[OrionHi]

Hi all,

I've noticed that since the December timetable change, the below journey has increased from 2 hours to 3 hours. I've checked the timings for Friday, but it also seems to affect the rest of the week for Mon-Fri.

Before:
LNER:
Dep: 18:45 Leeds
Arr: 20:08 Peterborough
XC:
Dep: 20:16 Peterborough
Arr: 20:49 Ely

After:
LNER:
Dep: 18:45 Leeds
Arr: 20:09 Peterborough
XC:
Dep: 21:16 Peterborough
Arr: 21:49 Ely

I believe this is due to the arrival time being increased by 1 minute into Peterborough, and then being under the minimum connection time. This doesn't seem to affect some other services, such as the 19:45 an hour later. As a passenger, is there anything that can be done about this, is it likely to be a mistake?

 

[Bletchleyite]

If you have a walk up ticket you can of course make the connection anyway (though not claim Delay Repay if missed).

 

[30907]

Hi all,

I've noticed that since the December timetable change, the below journey has increased from 2 hours to 3 hours. I've checked the timings for Friday, but it also seems to affect the rest of the week for Mon-Fri.

Before:
LNER:
Dep: 18:45 Leeds
Arr: 20:08 Peterborough
XC:
Dep: 20:16 Peterborough
Arr: 20:49 Ely

After:
LNER:
Dep: 18:45 Leeds
Arr: 20:09 Peterborough
XC:
Dep: 21:16 Peterborough
Arr: 21:49 Ely

I believe this is due to the arrival time being increased by 1 minute into Peterborough, and then being under the minimum connection time. This doesn't seem to affect some other services, such as the 19:45 an hour later. As a passenger, is there anything that can be done about this, is it likely to be a mistake?

Not an obvious mistake, as it is in the working timetable, and affects the 1745 (for example). I presume the problem is that you can no longer get an Advance?

It's not obvious that the Stansted service is timetabled to connect from the Leeds, but it might be worth contacting XC to ask them to authorise Advance ticket holders to travel on the earlier train in these circumstances.
But then there's the 6min connection off the 1645 to consider....

 

[SargeNpton]

The minimum interchange time at Peterborough is 8 minutes, so the 1 minute later arrival time there in the December timetable is unfortunate for this particular connection.

 

[dk1]

I think if I were a train operator with such a tight connection that may cause issues I would be inclined to add 1 minute to the arriving schedule to negate the connection & so solve the problem.

 

[DPQ]

I'm sure XC used to be very protective of these connections. I would assume an oversight.

There is a 4 minute call at Ely that could probably be reduced if the freight at Ely North Jn could also be nudged.

That being said, in general 7 minutes should be enough time to make the connection in most cases.

 

[Basil Jet]

I'm sure XC used to be very protective of these connections. I would assume an oversight.

There is a 4 minute call at Ely that could probably be reduced if the freight at Ely North Jn could also be nudged.

That being said, in general 7 minutes should be enough time to make the connection in most cases.

The problem is that the journey planner will tell people to leave an hour earlier, and they will drive instead.

 

[OrionHi]

I think if I were a train operator with such a tight connection that may cause issues I would be inclined to add 1 minute to the arriving schedule to negate the connection & so solve the problem.

It's actually not as bad as you may think. I've made the journey myself quite a lot of times over the last year, and have only missed it a small amount of times. When I've taken it, the LNER service is generally on time or a few minutes late, and the XC is more often late. If you position yourself correctly on the LNER train, it only takes me about a minute to change platforms, but of course the minimum connection time is there for others who may not be able to change that quickly.

Take yesterday as an example, with the new timetable changes:
- The LNER service arrives into Peterborough +2 at 20:11 - https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:C82013/2023-12-15/detailed
- The XC service arrives into Peterborough +13 at 20:27 - https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:G24805/2023-12-15/detailed

 

[dk1]

It's actually not as bad as you may think. I've made the journey myself quite a lot of times over the last year, and have only missed it a small amount of times. When I've taken it, the LNER service is generally on time or a few minutes late, and the XC is more often late. If you position yourself correctly on the LNER train, it only takes me about a minute to change platforms, but of course the minimum connection time is there for others who may not be able to change that quickly.

Take yesterday as an example, with the new timetable changes:
- The LNER service arrives into Peterborough +2 at 20:11 - https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:C82013/2023-12-15/detailed
- The XC service arrives into Peterborough +13 at 20:27 - https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:G24805/2023-12-15/detailed

Although not a connection it’s often easy to make the xx:50 off Peterborough from the xx:47 arrival from Edinburgh if prepared and mobile enough.