Trivia: Most frequently connected cities by rail

[anti-pacer]

Which cities have the most frequent rail service between them?

I'm guessing Glasgow and Edinburgh.

4tph fast via Falkirk High
4tph via Bathgate
2tph via Shotts
...plus some XC and SR via Carstairs (not sure how frequent).

In defining "cities", let's exclude those that are really towns but have city status because of a cathedral. Also, we'll exclude Salford-Manchester services and Underground services connecting the City of London with Westminster.

Other contenders I'm guessing are...

Birmingham-Coventry
Bradford-Leeds
Brighton-London
Leeds-Manchester
Liverpool-Manchester
Newcastle-Sunderland
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Wow, what a popular thread!

Mods, you may as well close it please.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

In defining "cities", let's exclude those that are really towns but have city status because of a cathedral.

Which are...?

Norwich?
Ely?
Chelmsford?
Chichester?
Truro?
Gloucester?
Lichfield?
Lancaster?
Wakefield?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
In fact, could you give a yay or nay to all these on this list so I know what I'm looking for please? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cathedrals_in_England_and_Wales

 

[anti-pacer]

Which are...?

Norwich?
Ely?
Chelmsford?
Chichester?
Truro?
Gloucester?
Lichfield?
Lancaster?
Wakefield?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
In fact, could you give a yay or nay to all these on this list so I know what I'm looking for please? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cathedrals_in_England_and_Wales

OK, let's say...

Birmingham
Bradford
Brighton
Bristol
Cardiff
Coventry
Derby
Edinburgh
Glasgow
Hull
Leeds
Leicester
Liverpool
London
Manchester
Newcastle
Norwich
Nottingham
Plymouth
Portsmouth
Sheffield
Southampton
Stoke-on-Trent

 

[Iskra]

Surely Birmingham-London is 'up there' with VT/LM/Chiltern.

10 trains per hour tomorrow from 0955-1055 between Birmingham and London. Presumably 10 in the other direction too.

 

[anti-pacer]

Surely Birmingham-London is 'up there' with VT/LM/Chiltern.

10 trains per hour tomorrow from 0955-1055 between Birmingham and London. Presumably 10 in the other direction too.

Yes, that's probably got to be the second busiest link.

Manchester to Leeds is 8tph (IIRC) so that's got to be up there too (possibly 3rd).

 

[mlambeuk]

York to Leeds must rank high up (7tph )

 

[GrimsbyPacer]

OK, let's say...

Birmingham
Bradford
Brighton
Bristol
Cardiff
Coventry
Derby
Edinburgh
Glasgow
Hull
Leeds
Leicester
Liverpool
London
Manchester
Newcastle
Norwich
Nottingham
Plymouth
Portsmouth
Sheffield
Southampton
Stoke-on-Trent

Why on Earth isn't Sunderland, Preston, Aberdeen, Dundee, Carlise, York or Swansea on the list??? Some of them are larger than places you've mentioned.
Sunderland has frequent services to Newcastle.
Liverpool to Manchester, Peterborough to London and Wakefield to Leeds have a few.

 

[anti-pacer]

Why on Earth isn't Sunderland or Swansea on the list???
Sunderland has frequent services to Newcastle.

I was going through the country for sizeable cities, I'm bound to have forgotten a couple.

Sunderland has 1tph to Newcastle doesn't it? How many Metro tph are there?

What about Cardiff-Swansea? Can't imagine that being up there.

 

[GrimsbyPacer]

I was going through the country for sizeable cities, I'm bound to have forgotten a couple.

Sunderland has 1tph to Newcastle doesn't it? How many Metro tph are there?

What about Cardiff-Swansea? Can't imagine that being up there.

Okay sorry. Sunderland gets a metro train every 12mins last time I heard. It is only houry on Northern but they share the same platforms.

 

[anti-pacer]

Okay sorry. Sunderland gets a metro train every 12mins last time I heard. It is only houry on Northern but they share the same platforms.

I'm guessing Liverpool-Manchester is approx 6tph. Brighton-London must have a decent frequency too.

 

[rwebster]

Its not on the OP's list but very much a city - 9tph Wolverhampton to Birmingham:

2x London Midland all stations
2x London Midland Liverpool - Birmingham
1x London Midland Shrewsbury - Birmingham
2x CrossCountry Manchester - Bristol/Bournemouth
1x Arriva Trains Wales Aberystwyth/Holyhead - Birmingham International
1x Virgin Trains Edinburgh/Glasgow - London

Used to be 10tph until Virgin merged the Wolverhampton to London and Scotland to Birmingham services.

I make Brighton to London 9tph if Hove is included (its within the City, and perfectly usage to London with a connection off the Brighton - Hove shuttle):

4x Thameslink
2x Southern fast
1x Southern semi-fast
2x Southern semi-fast from Hove

 

[anti-pacer]

Its not on the OP's list but very much a city - 9tph Wolverhampton to Birmingham:

2x London Midland all stations
2x London Midland Liverpool - Birmingham
1x London Midland Shrewsbury - Birmingham
2x CrossCountry Manchester - Bristol/Bournemouth
1x Arriva Trains Wales Aberystwyth/Holyhead - Birmingham International
1x Virgin Trains Edinburgh/Glasgow - London

Used to be 10tph until Virgin merged the Wolverhampton to London and Scotland to Birmingham services.

I make Brighton to London 9tph if Hove is included (its within the City, and perfectly usage to London with a connection off the Brighton - Hove shuttle):

4x Thameslink
2x Southern fast
1x Southern semi-fast
2x Southern semi-fast from Hove

Wolverhampton.... whoops! Sorry.

It seems Glasgow-Edinburgh is still the most frequent link.

 

[GrimsbyPacer]

Just a quick question.
If we are excluding town sized places with city status like Ely/Lincoln or Lancaster, what about including city sized towns?
Milton Keynes, Middlesbrough, Blackpool, Reading, to name a few.

 

[anti-pacer]

Just a quick question.
If we are excluding town sized places with city status like Ely/Lincoln or Lancaster, what about including city sized towns?
Milton Keynes, Middlesbrough, Blackpool, Reading, to name a few.

I did think about that, but I then thought some pedantic poster would come back and say "They're not cities. You've included Reading but not Truro", or something along those lines.

OK, GP, you're absolutely right though, so let's add to the mix the following large towns/other cities...

Blackpool
Milton Keynes
Peterborough
Preston
Reading
Watford
York

I'm not adding Middlesbrough though. Large that it is, it's a non-starter in frequent services (compared to my total list).

 

[cuccir]

Do we need a definitive list of what is and isn't a proper 'city'? I think the point is that what's more interesting is which large, semi-separated population centers are most frequently connected.

To that end, so far, the suggestions mentioned so far include the following with at least 7 trains between 12:00-12:59 today

Glasgow-Edinburgh, 10 tph
Birmingham - Wolverhampton 9tph + 9 trams per hour
Birmingham - London, 9tph
Manchester - Leeds 9tph
Wakefield - Leeds 8tph
Brighton and Hove - London 8tph
Liverpool - Manchester 7tph
Leeds - York 7tph
Leeds - Huddersfield 7tph

There may be more in peak on some of these, some routes with more during a particular 60 minute period, but I thought that the midday trains gave a good level of the 'basic' service.

 

[SeanG]

Leeds - Bradford 6tph?

 

[glbotu]

Unfortunately, not a city, but London - Reading sees 18tph (16 from Paddington + 2 from Waterloo).

 

[anti-pacer]

Leeds - Bradford 6tph?

2tph to Forster Square
4tph to the Interchange
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Unfortunately, not a city, but London - Reading sees 18tph (16 from Paddington + 2 from Waterloo).

London-Reading wins then.

 

[Lee_Again]

What about East Croydon?

I can see 25 on Monday between 12.00 and 12.59.

I included Victoria, London Bridge, Bedford (Blackfriars) and Milton Keynes (West London somewhere -forget which).

Might be others.

 

[anti-pacer]

What about East Croydon?

I can see 25 on Monday between 12.00 and 12.59.

I included Victoria, London Bridge, Bedford (Blackfriars) and Milton Keynes (West London somewhere -forget which).

Might be others.

I think MK services go through Kensington Olympia, which is probably the nearest station to Central London on that line.

 

[Abpj17]

Can I assume that there will be a reason to include all the tubes betweens the Cities of London and Westminster?

 

[dcsprior]

What about East Croydon?

I can see 25 on Monday between 12.00 and 12.59.

I included Victoria, London Bridge, Bedford (Blackfriars) and Milton Keynes (West London somewhere -forget which).

Might be others.

But surely that's not a journey between different cities/towns/population centres, given that Croydon is to all intents and purposes a part of London.

However, if it does count then it should include West Croydon services too.

 

[ValleyLines142]

What about Cardiff-Swansea? Can't imagine that being up there.

Cardiff to Newport has more, as many services start at Cardiff.

Between 1100 and 1200 there are 15tph between the two.

 

[backontrack]

Do we even need a list?

Edinburgh-Glasgow
York-Leeds
Liverpool-Manchester
Leeds-Bradford
London-Reading
Reading-Oxford
Cardiff-Swansea
Bristol-Cardiff
Sheffield-Leeds
Newcastle-Sunderland
Cardiff-Newport

 

[GrimsbyPacer]

Can I assume that there will be a reason to include all the tubes betweens the Cities of London and Westminster?

The original poster said Salford and Westminster don't count as they are not a seperate city geographically.
Also cities smaller than about 100k don't count.
But metro and trams were counted for Sunderland and Birmingham services.

 

[nuneatonmark]

You've all got it wrong it's from the City of London to the City of Westminster! Umpteen trains per hour!

 

[GrimsbyPacer]

Which cities have the most frequent rail service between them?

I'm guessing Glasgow and Edinburgh.

4tph fast via Falkirk High
4tph via Bathgate
2tph via Shotts
...plus some XC and SR via Carstairs (not sure how frequent).

In defining "cities", let's exclude those that are really towns but have city status because of a cathedral. Also, we'll exclude Salford-Manchester services and Underground services connecting the City of London with Westminster.

Other contenders I'm guessing are...

Birmingham-Coventry
Bradford-Leeds
Brighton-London
Leeds-Manchester
Liverpool-Manchester
Newcastle-Sunderland

That was the first post. Note the bit specifically excluding Westminster to London. So I haven't got it wrong Nuneatonmark.