Travelling East from Nottingham

[Laurenn902]

I’ve been catching the EMR train from Nottingham to Ely every week for nearly 2 years now and the frustration is getting to me.

I regularly have to travel to Cambridge, Kings Lynn, Bury St Edmunds and Norwich. Unfortunately they all have one thing in common…a massive bottleneck in Ely.

I need to travel on weekends for Uni, and it feels like Ely is closed for a quarter of the year. I can just about get to Cambridge with 6 minute changeovers, but it’s getting ridiculous.

They really need to form an alternative route. (This might help if a cow takes down a train again)

But hey, at least they increased the carriage number from 2 to 3 ://

 

[Andy Pacer]

There are even some 4 carriage trains on that end of the route nowadays, I saw two separate sets in Norwich on Saturday.

Travelling east from Leicester I've usually found quite good (except Sundays but that's another story) and generally very cheap.

Im not sure what alternative route you'd propose though other than via London!

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Im not sure what alternative route you'd propose though other than via London!

If travelling on some journey from Nottingham to Cambridge (or maybe even Bury), is a change at Hitchin possible or practicable?

 

[Farigiraf]

Ely North Junction upgrades would improve reliability, but it's quite far down the priority list at the moment.
I know it's frustrating, but not many places are lucky enough to even have that well-timed connection like at Ely.

They really need to form an alternative route. (This might help if a cow takes down a train again)

If EMR start stopping at Bedford, then East West Rail will be an option in 10-15 years

 

[Andy Pacer]

If EMR start stopping at Bedford, then East West Rail will be an option in 10-15 years

To be fair the connection at Kettering from Nottingham fits with swapping from Intercity to Connect to enable the Bedford change.

If travelling on some journey from Nottingham to Cambridge (or maybe even Bury), is a change at Hitchin possible or practicable?

Could be, in terms of a double change at Peterborough and Hitchin presumably?

 

[jfollows]

Nottingham to Cambridge via Hitchin is valid for “any permitted” tickets. Also cheaper “not via London” tickets.
Possibly via Stevenage also,

Customers travelling from Hitchin to Peterborough in possession of tickets routed "Not via London" may double back via Stevenage. This easement applies in both directions

Technicalities about whether it’s from/to Hitchin, but it may be possible to generate an itinerary.