Getting to London from Liverpool Lime Street during December Avanti strike?

[thames]

Had an Avanti train ticket for 3rd december ( Sunday). Obviously with strikes, avanti is cancelled. I can use ticket on 2nd but worried about having to pay extra to stay in London and also not having seat.

Looking at 3rd, there is national express coach from liverpool to birmingham coach station. From birmingham new street there is cross country train to reading and great western railway service from reading to London paddington.

Can anyone recommend what would be better option? Are cross country and great western likely to be cancelled. I get coach sick so trying to use mix of bus and coach

 

[Mcr Warrior]

We've had a similar thread on the go here...

London to north west during Dec strikes

I’m due to travel from London to Preston on the weekend of the Dec 2/3 strikes. It’s the annual family gathering and has been booked in for months and can’t be changed. Are there any options for returning from the Preston vicinity to London other than via Avanti West Coast or West Midlands...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[AlastairFraser]

Had an Avanti train ticket for 3rd december ( Sunday). Obviously with strikes, avanti is cancelled. I can use ticket on 2nd but worried about having to pay extra to stay in London and also not having seat.

Looking at 3rd, there is national express coach from liverpool to birmingham coach station. From birmingham new street there is cross country train to reading and great western railway service from reading to London paddington.

Can anyone recommend what would be better option? Are cross country and great western likely to be cancelled. I get coach sick so trying to use mix of bus and coach

What about Northern to Manchester, Northern stopper to Stoke, EMR to Derby then London? Will take a while, but you can get reasonable advances on Northern to Stoke.

 

[Djgr]

Had an Avanti train ticket for 3rd december ( Sunday). Obviously with strikes, avanti is cancelled. I can use ticket on 2nd but worried about having to pay extra to stay in London and also not having seat.

Looking at 3rd, there is national express coach from liverpool to birmingham coach station. From birmingham new street there is cross country train to reading and great western railway service from reading to London paddington.

Can anyone recommend what would be better option? Are cross country and great western likely to be cancelled. I get coach sick so trying to use mix of bus and coach

Can you not get non Avanti trains from Liverpool to Birmingham on that day? Or Merseyrail to Chester and Tfw from there?

 

[AlastairFraser]

Can you not get non Avanti trains from Liverpool to Birmingham on that day? Or Merseyrail to Chester and Tfw from there?

LNWR are the only other operator and on strike too.
Merseyrail then TfW to Brum is an option, but very slow and then you have an extended route from Brum, while if you do Liverpool-Manchester-Stoke-Derby-London, it is relatively fast apart from the Stoke to Derby EMR stopper.

 

[12LDA28C]

Had an Avanti train ticket for 3rd december ( Sunday). Obviously with strikes, avanti is cancelled. I can use ticket on 2nd but worried about having to pay extra to stay in London and also not having seat.

Looking at 3rd, there is national express coach from liverpool to birmingham coach station. From birmingham new street there is cross country train to reading and great western railway service from reading to London paddington.

Can anyone recommend what would be better option? Are cross country and great western likely to be cancelled. I get coach sick so trying to use mix of bus and coach

CrossCountry and GWR should be running but be aware they would probably be running a reduced service due to the overtime/RDW ban.

 

[AlastairFraser]

Had an Avanti train ticket for 3rd december ( Sunday). Obviously with strikes, avanti is cancelled. I can use ticket on 2nd but worried about having to pay extra to stay in London and also not having seat.

Looking at 3rd, there is national express coach from liverpool to birmingham coach station. From birmingham new street there is cross country train to reading and great western railway service from reading to London paddington.

Can anyone recommend what would be better option? Are cross country and great western likely to be cancelled. I get coach sick so trying to use mix of bus and coach

Another option - Northern to Manchester Picc, XC from Picc to Reading (may be packed and cost you a bomb, but you could get a seat from Manchester Picc), GWR/EL to London.

 

[thames]

Another option - Northern to Manchester Picc, XC from Picc to Reading (may be packed and cost you a bomb, but you could get a seat from Manchester Picc), GWR/EL to London.

What is cost of this. Theres 2 of us but we have 2 together railcard. Northern usually unreliable mind...

LNWR are the only other operator and on strike too.
Merseyrail then TfW to Brum is an option, but very slow and then you have an extended route from Brum, while if you do Liverpool-Manchester-Stoke-Derby-London, it is relatively fast apart from the Stoke to Derby EMR stopper.

Merseyrail to where sorry?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Merseyrail to where sorry?

Probably to Chester.

 

[12LDA28C]

What is cost of this. Theres 2 of us but we have 2 together railcard. Northern usually unreliable mind...

Feel free to research prices online to see if any advance options are available.

 

[AlastairFraser]

What is cost of this. Theres 2 of us but we have 2 together railcard. Northern usually unreliable mind...


Merseyrail to where sorry?

The cost for the Manchester to Reading section with 2 Adults and a TT Railcard is 100 quid alone, so not cheap!

Merseyrail to Chester sorry, then through Shrewsbury to Brum.
Coach to London from Brum isn't awful, tbf.
2 Advance Singles on the 11.32 out of Chester on TfW to Birmingham is only £21.30 with a Two Together Railcard, so that seems more reasonable.

 

[thames]

The cost for the Manchester to Reading section with 2 Adults and a TT Railcard is 100 quid alone, so not cheap!

Merseyrail to Chester sorry, then through Shrewsbury to Brum.
Coach to London from Brum isn't awful, tbf.
2 Advance Singles on the 11.32 out of Chester on TfW to Birmingham is only £21.30 with a Two Together Railcard, so that seems more reasonable.

I note there is a route via sheffield...

 

[norbitonflyer]

EMR changing at Nottingham?

 

[A S Leib]

I know it's a bit of a detour, but TPE and LNER, Grand Central or Hull Trains via Doncaster or York?

 

[AlastairFraser]

I note there is a route via sheffield...

Yes, but that won't be cheap...

 

[Vespa]

Might be easier getting the overnight National Express from Liverpool bus station, not brilliant but will get you there.

You need to book your ticket soonish tho.

 

[Travelmonkey]

Wouldn't other TOCs need to carry by "any reasonable route" or that's the understanding I was going on to get back to Staffordshire on the 3rd (EMR St Pancras-DErby XC Derby-Burton)

So possibly of you go via Manchester or the ECML but I'm not a ticketing expert

28.2 of the National rail COT,

Where disruption prevents you from completing the journey for which your Ticket is
valid and is being used, any Train Company will, where it reasonably can, provide
you with alternative means of travel to your destination,

So in theory you could do EMR to Sheffield then take a 222 from there down to London,

 

[800 Driver]

Wouldn't count on GWR being anything other than a **** show on the Sunday, as half the drivers don't have a commitment and so won't be in, about a third do have a commitment (mainly west drivers and those that joined after harmonisation) and the remainder (former LTV) no one really knows if they have a commitment or not, so expect lots not to come in.

 

[frodshamfella]

What is cost of this. Theres 2 of us but we have 2 together railcard. Northern usually unreliable mind...


Merseyrail to where sorry?

I wouldnt rely, they on Northern very unreliable . If you have to go on the Sunday, the easiest maybe National Express, and get a refund on your train ticket. There must be several coaches a day from Liverpool to London. I guess could be booked up now of course.

 

[142blue]

Do other TOCs have to carry people on strike days as it's not disruption so how are all these Avanti punters going to be accommodated elsewhere

 

[LowLevel]

Don't count on EMR Derby - Stoke. It routinely leaves hundreds behind whenever there's West Coast disruption.

 

[philjo]

So possibly of you go via Manchester or the ECML but I'm not a ticketing expert

28.2 of the National rail COT,

Where disruption prevents you from completing the journey for which your Ticket is
valid and is being used, any Train Company will, where it reasonably can, provide
you with alternative means of travel to your destination,

So in theory you could do EMR to Sheffield then take a 222 from there down to London,

The ECML is closed south of St Neots for engineering works on 3rd December so there is a bus replacement from St Neots to Cockfosters for Piccadilly line into London. Thameslink are also on strike that day so the usual replacement from St Neots to Bedford won’t be available
So EMR from Sheffield is likely to be very busy with both ECML and WCML not running to London.

 

[trebor79]

What about going the day before and staying somewhere outside central London? I got a night at the Travelodge (it was actually nice, modern, massive room, no woodchio to be seen) right next to the station at Welwyn Garden City for £45 a few weeks ago. Only 30 minutes to Kings Cross.
Sometimes the Britannia at Canary Wharf is very cheap. It's not particularly nice but it's a bed for the night.

 

[robbeech]

Not sure if EMR Liverpool to Norwich (or somewhere inbetween) services are running that day so via Sheffield would in theory be easiest using a TPE Cleethorpes service and then EMR to St Pancras.

Would almost certainly be very pricey unless ticket acceptance allowed it on your current ticket.

Via Doncaster and down the ECML falls over due to it being closed for engineering works. Unless you split your tickets and got something that allowed you to go via Cambridge and into Liverpool Street but there are many options that will be faster and cheaper than that.

 

[AlterEgo]

Megabus will take you over 7 hours but they have fares for £38.20. It's slow but direct.

 

[philjo]

Via Doncaster and down the ECML falls over due to it being closed for engineering works. Unless you split your tickets and got something that allowed you to go via Cambridge and into Liverpool Street but there are many options that will be faster and cheaper than that.

There are no London services from Cambridge due to Cambridge South construction works so there are also buses from Cambridge to Audley End that day.

 

[robbeech]

There are no London services from Cambridge due to Cambridge South construction works so there are also buses from Cambridge to Audley End that day.

Haha. It’s baffling why people don’t trust the railway to get them there isn’t it.

 

[12LDA28C]

Haha. It’s baffling why people don’t trust the railway to get them there isn’t it.

Absolutely. It should be simple to build a brand new station without closing the railway and disrupting services, right?

 

[robbeech]

Absolutely. It should be simple to build a brand new station without closing the railway and disrupting services, right?

I think it pretty clear I’m referring to the combination of closures for varying reasons across the network on that day paired with the grossly unreliable service they receive more often than not rather than one specific element to it. Either way, well let the passengers speak for themselves.

 

[frodshamfella]

You could fly with Ryanair from Liverpool to Gatwick via Dublin for £65 !