[Brighton] Daily am rush hour trains Brighton to London Bridge

[Lower West Stander]

So - apart from not needing to walk over London Bridge to go to Cannon St or tube it to Charing Cross, what are the other benefits of the amazing new London Bridge station?

Having walked through there the last couple of days, I was most surprised to read that all work was completed and the station fully opened again.

I hope they haven't decided to just leave outside as a building site


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[Brovion]

Never mind London Bridge, what about direct trains from Brighton to Clapham Junction? A few years ago I was working in Basingstoke and needed to change at Clapham. There only seemed to be two trains in the entire morning peak period that stopped at Clapham - one was too early and the other too late. I had to go to East Croydon and change. Anyone who's ever done that knows what it's like trying to wedge yourself onto an already-packed train. Eventually I got the earlier one.

I don't miss the stress of rail commuting one bit.

 

[dazzer6666]

So - apart from not needing to walk over London Bridge to go to Cannon St or tube it to Charing Cross, what are the other benefits of the amazing new London Bridge station?

Having walked through there the last couple of days, I was most surprised to read that all work was completed and the station fully opened again.

I hope they haven't decided to just leave outside as a building site


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It's not fully functional/finished yet - some platforms are still closed and the TL trains can't go straight through yet like they used to (hence the fewer trains from Brighton calling there - they trundle out to Tulse Hill to go towards Luton). Have to say so far it's a massive improvement on what it was.

https://www.networkrail.co.uk/running-the-railway/our-routes/south-east/london-bridge-improvements/

 

[mothy]

Never mind London Bridge, what about direct trains from Brighton to Clapham Junction? A few years ago I was working in Basingstoke and needed to change at Clapham. There only seemed to be two trains in the entire morning peak period that stopped at Clapham - one was too early and the other too late. I had to go to East Croydon and change. Anyone who's ever done that knows what it's like trying to wedge yourself onto an already-packed train. Eventually I got the earlier one.

I don't miss the stress of rail commuting one bit.

I commute from hove thankfully clj is well served - but i find it bizarre that btn to clj is not.

To the OP - 7.11 hove to ldn bridge is an option

 

[nordicgod]

Thameslink are not going through London Bridge till the may timetable change then there will be loads per hour. We have to learn the new track first

 

[Gwylan]

So - apart from not needing to walk over London Bridge to go to Cannon St or tube it to Charing Cross, what are the other benefits of the amazing new London Bridge station?

You've always been able to get from LB to Charing X without tubing it - I used to do that journey into town when I lived in SE London 36 years ago.

The 'improvements' at LB have taken away the bogs that used to be opposite the platforms on the main concourse (and the ones on the old Thameslink platforms). You now need to go on a route march to the other side of the world to get to one.

 

[dazzer6666]

You've always been able to get from LB to Charing X without tubing it - I used to do that journey into town when I lived in SE London 36 years ago.

The 'improvements' at LB have taken away the bogs that used to be opposite the platforms on the main concourse (and the ones on the old Thameslink platforms). You now need to go on a route march to the other side of the world to get to one.

It's not too bad - they are just down the escalators.........close to the Tooley St exit....not sure if there will be others as the rest of the building work is completed.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

There used to be (many years ago) 2 per hour at 5, 6 and 7 and then up to 4 per hour from 9am

That sounds about right by rail industry logic. 2 trains an hour when they're most needed, then 4 an hour when they're less needed

 

[The Spanish]

You've always been able to get from LB to Charing X without tubing it - I used to do that journey into town when I lived in SE London 36 years ago.

The 'improvements' at LB have taken away the bogs that used to be opposite the platforms on the main concourse (and the ones on the old Thameslink platforms). You now need to go on a route march to the other side of the world to get to one.

There haven't been LB to Charing Cross trains while the LB work has been going on, I think thats what he's saying.

 

[Uter]

That sounds about right by rail industry logic. 2 trains an hour when they're most needed, then 4 an hour when they're less needed

If I have got it right there will be 16 Brighton to LB trains departing prior to 9am from May onwards.

The other thing of note is that from May there will be a train to Falmer from Brighton and Lewes every 10 minutes, 6 days a week, throughout the day. Presumably this is possible because of the introduction of the new Thameslink fleet freeing up more trains to work the Coastway routes. This should make evening games in particular much less of a bind next season.

 

[beorhthelm]

If I have got it right there will be 16 Brighton to LB trains departing prior to 9am from May onwards.

The other thing of note is that from May there will be a train to Falmer from Brighton and Lewes every 10 minutes, 6 days a week, throughout the day. Presumably this is possible because of the introduction of the new Thameslink fleet freeing up more trains to work the Coastway routes. This should make evening games in particular much less of a bind next season.

and the crappy 2 car Ashford service will be a proper 4 car train (or maybe thats next year, but its coming)

 

[Napper]

cheers all.

So from may , what sort of journey time we looking at Brighton to City Thameslink ?

 

[Lush]

Just make sure you get in first class at rear of the train as it’s declassified , you get a table and a plug socket , whoop whoop

Is this true? I always thought it was just because there's no OBS checking tickets....

 

[Uter]

cheers all.

So from may , what sort of journey time we looking at Brighton to City Thameslink ?

You can see for yourself here. You need to scroll down and use the "Check my Journey" bit. Looks like quickest is around 1hr 11 and slowest is 1hr 18. On average they seem to bit approaching 10 minutes quicker than now. It's not 100% clear if this from May or December because if you put in a journey and then follow the download timetable link you end up with a PDF with December 2018 at the top.

https://www.transformingrail.com/

 

[Rambo]

Any commuting experts on here ever tried Arundel to London Bridge? Is this a better route than the south coast line?

It looks like Southern are still serving this line not Thameslink?

 

[GT49er]

You can see for yourself here. You need to scroll down and use the "Check my Journey" bit. Looks like quickest is around 1hr 11 and slowest is 1hr 18. On average they seem to bit approaching 10 minutes quicker than now. It's not 100% clear if this from May or December because if you put in a journey and then follow the download timetable link you end up with a PDF with December 2018 at the top.

https://www.transformingrail.com/

The 8:15 from Brighton takes 1 hour 8 minutes to LB (arr. 9:23), the 8:45 takes 1 hour 10 (arr. 9:55) - oh sorry, I was looking at the wrong timetable.........the summer 1912 one!

Still, it's good to see they're looking to make progress though!

 

[Madafwo]

Is this true? I always thought it was just because there's no OBS checking tickets....

Yup, when DaFT spec'd the trains they put too much first class in so the rear first class is always declassified, it says so on the over head information screen once the train is moving.

 

[Chicken Run]

Having read through the thread it seems improvements all round from May, what’s the significance for this month and is it both Southern and TL rolling out better services?

 

[Cosmic Joker]

Any commuting experts on here ever tried Arundel to London Bridge? Is this a better route than the south coast line?

It looks like Southern are still serving this line not Thameslink?

Trains from Arundel are for Victoria. There is one direct service to London Bridge at 07:15 arriving (in theory) at 08:44. Evening direct service back is at 17:49. Otherwise its a case of change at East Croydon and join the scrum. The scrum at East Croydon can be avoided by making a same platform change at Crawley onto the the Horsham to LB stopper via Redhill (changing at Horsham requires using the footbridge) but obviously takes longer. From May the trains from Arundel will remain largely unchanged, but the Horsham to LB trains will become thameslinks and there should be four more trains an hour from East Croydon to LB to change onto.

 

[Cosmic Joker]

You can see for yourself here. You need to scroll down and use the "Check my Journey" bit. Looks like quickest is around 1hr 11 and slowest is 1hr 18. On average they seem to bit approaching 10 minutes quicker than now. It's not 100% clear if this from May or December because if you put in a journey and then follow the download timetable link you end up with a PDF with December 2018 at the top.

https://www.transformingrail.com/

The 8:15 from Brighton takes 1 hour 8 minutes to LB (arr. 9:23), the 8:45 takes 1 hour 10 (arr. 9:55) - oh sorry, I was looking at the wrong timetable.........the summer 1912 one!

Still, it's good to see they're looking to make progress though!

Except the times you are quoting from @Uter are Brighton to City Thameslink, not LB. The equivalent station in 1912 would be Holborn Viaduct; how long did it take to get there and how many changes? Yes the May 2018 service to LB will only be a few mins quicker at 1hr 02 for a fast peak service but four 12 carriage trains an hour carrying thousands more passengers. Curse these damn facts.