When minimum connection times are misleading

[bicbasher]

Despite the fact Clapham Junction is a fair walk across from the SWT to the Southern platforms, I boarded the 1615 from Richmond to Clapham Junction to change for a service to Forest Hill.

Now according to NRE, they suggested I board the fast to East Croydon and then back up to Forest Hill that way.

However I arrived at Clapham Junction at 1623 with enough time to board the 1627 to London Bridge at Platform 15 using normal walking pace arriving at 1657.

I respect that I might not have reached the Southern side of the station in time during the peak, but there doesn't seem to be room for common sense on NRE.

 

[causton]

No, unfortunately there isn't, however this means you will not be running around. For example you could maybe make a 2 minute connection from an Overground train at Clapham Junction to a SWT Windsor line service, but the day the train goes into platform 17 and not platform 2...

...Common sense would require a lot of effort and may not be always right, remembering that it would have to be updated for different services, during engineering works, station works etc!

 

[TEW]

I'd imagine some of the allowance at Clapham Junction would be to allow passengers to get their bearings. It can be quite a daunting station if you don't use it often, with it being so big.

 

[Eagle]

Also possibly to allow people to find what platform their train is going from from one of the giant departure boards. (Not a problem for regulars, who are savvy of which platforms lead to which lines.)

 

[TEW]

The departure boards never seem very user friendly to me, and that's a regular user of the station. Always takes me an age to find when the next fastest train to somewhere is. Not helped by the fact that not all the boards show all destinations.

 

[bicbasher]

In the subway, there are signs which tell you which platforms to use for each destination, I simply looked up Richmond and went to 5-6.

The footbridge has the live departure boards, found Forest Hill, went to Platform 15 and boarded a train.

However I agree if you're a new user or have luggage, you may need the extra time NRE suggests, although it should show connection times of at least 4 minutes for regular users of the station.

 

[Eagle]

In the subway, there are signs which tell you which platforms to use for each destination, I simply looked up Richmond and went to 5-6.

Doesn't help if the platforms you want are not consecutive though. For instance, trains to Woking depart from 9 and 11. (Although a little local knowledge will tell you that 9 is better, because that's the one for fast services.)