How busy have your trains been?

[route101]

Used the East Kilbride line services last few days.

6 car 1720 express to EK. Pretty quiet.

1147 Glasgow to East Kilbride. Dead, only two others in front coach of 156.

If anything its a bit busier after morning peak into Glasgow from East Kilbride 0930 to 1030am.

 

[185143]

How many you reckon got on at Glasgow?

That service is usually quiet

To put that train into perspective loading wise. I had a 5 car 221 on it a few years back and had no problem at all in getting a table to myself all the way to Warrington Bank Quay.

 

[SE%Traveller]

Got on Thameslink Orpington to West Hampstead Thameslink Today, 8.37 from Denmark Hill. it was Standing Room only in this new world ie 1 person per every two seats (unless obviously together). reckon about 55-60 in the carriage. Busiest i've seen, thought light in comparison to the world before Covid...

 

[peteb]

Kidderminster to Bedford Tuesday 27/10/2020. 0710 Chiltern to Birmingham 68+6 carriages very quiet; Birmingham to Northampton 4 car emu, busy until Coventry; Northampton to Bletchley 8 car emu, very quiet; Marston Vale line 2 car dmu, very quiet; Bletchley to Milton Keynes 12 car emu, virtually empty; MKC to Rugby 8 car emu, quiet; Rugby to Birmingham 8 car emu, very quiet; Birmingham Snow Hill to Kidderminster 4 car dmu, quiet. I got 4 or 6 seats to myself in a group on all trains.

 

[yorksrob]

Yesterday, damp friday - return journey to Whitby was decently busy - saw a platform display saying that the train was reported full (according to social distancing). I had enough room personally, however good to see passenger usage robust - even on a weekday !

 

[Jamesrob637]

Be interesting to see Thursday onwards. I plan to take a couple of trains Monday or Tuesday.

 

[Mojo]

I’m back on my usual early train after over a month away. Train is noticeably quieter than when I last used it in September. My local station is significantly quieter though, I think I counted five other customers boarding in addition to myself, previously this would have been 40+.

 

[Jamesrob637]

I’m back on my usual early train after over a month away. Train is noticeably quieter than when I last used it in September. My local station is significantly quieter though, I think I counted five other customers boarding in addition to myself, previously this would have been 40+.

What do you mean by previously here? September or pre-COVID?

 

[telstarbox]

Half the seats are full on my Southeastern metro train this morning. Expecting this to drop by the end of the week

 

[Mojo]

What do you mean by previously here? September or pre-COVID?

Any time before February.

Over the summer there were probably about half the usual customers boarding at my usual station, but later down the line the train was filling up to almost the same as usual

 

[Horizon22]

Back to work on Thursday, so will see how my early London metro train compares compared to the last time I was on this shift (5 weeks ago).

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Not so much a train, but a station - lunchtime at Liverpool Street today, the concourse was the busiest I have seen it all year - pretty much a normal weekday midday volume milling around; can't speak for loadings other than a few 710s seeming to have about 35% of all seats occupied, but the Norwich arrivals were disgorging a very healthy volume of passengers.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Mega final day out today - St Albans - Paddington via Farringdon - Reading - semi/fast to Hayes - local to West Ealing - DMU to Greenford - Central line to West Ruislip (walk to Ickenham) - Met to Baker Street - Bakerloo to Warwick Avenue - walk Padd down the canal- home via tube to St Pancras and fast to St Albans. Purpose good catch up with old friend and checking out on past projects we have dealt with in the past.

Highlights

Almost all trains decently loaded - 8 on the Greenford shuttle and an amazing 25 picked up northbound at West Hampstead on the Bedford. The underground on all sections was very decently , but not stupidly patronised. Masks worn without fail.

It seems an awful shame , after all this hard work to build up traffic (let alone the work done by businesses , libraries etc) , we are now back in the dark ages.

 

[Horizon22]

Following to my previous TfL Rail service 0552 from Heathrow was fairly busy at Hayes and a reasonable number getting off at Ealing as per usual. I'd say it was no less busy than it has been in previous weeks, (1 in 2-3 seats taken up at the front) but mostly filled with those that have to be in work.

 

[PTR 444]

Yesterday’s 13:42 from Southampton Central to Christchurch was formed of a 10-car 444 with an average of 10 people in each coach, although the rear two were empty. Most passengers I noticed were students or elderly.

The return journey at 17:30 was also a 10-car 444 and slightly busier. About 15 passengers in each coach when I got on and it filled up as the journey went on. Upon getting off at Southampton Central, it was the first time I had seen pre-pandemic evening rush-hour levels of passengers on platform 1 since March.

 

[Jamesrob637]

Tuesday's observations from London:

Most trains lightly-loaded, always got a seat if I wanted, but chose to stand on some journeys as they were literally almost seconds to a few minutes long. Not entirely rail-related however I had to go there by rail for the Wetherspoon: walking on the fringes of Canary Wharf it was dead! Normally of a lunch time (which was when I was there, or just the tail end thereof) you would still have people coming and going in droves for a lunchtime pint and/or food, but the area was deserted! An apocalyptic sight I won't forget for a long time.

Too many individual rail journeys to anecdotally include each one, but peak trains were probably just a bit busier than off-peak or evening ones. Mask wearing was broadly adhered to with quite a few wearing sunflower lanyards to demonstrate exemption.

 

[bramling]

Have taken the dogs walking these last couple of days, and had the opportunity to see various evening peak GTR services.

Loadings are still *very* light. The various fast Peterborough, fast Cambridge/Kings Lynn and Baldock services were running with as low as one or two people per carriage, the busiest being no more than about five per carriage at the London end of the train. The Thameslink services were slightly busier but still well down on normal. Under normal conditions these services would generally be most or all seats taken, and in some cases with standing.

The car park at my local station was empty beyond the one-third point. Normally full to overspill.

 

[Jamesrob637]

Yesterday’s 13:42 from Southampton Central to Christchurch was formed of a 10-car 444 with an average of 10 people in each coach, although the rear two were empty. Most passengers I noticed were students or elderly.

The return journey at 17:30 was also a 10-car 444 and slightly busier. About 15 passengers in each coach when I got on and it filled up as the journey went on. Upon getting off at Southampton Central, it was the first time I had seen pre-pandemic evening rush-hour levels of passengers on platform 1 since March.

Possibly people who WFH going out in Southampton for one last food and drinks before the four-week lockdown

 

[Ianno87]

Have taken the dogs walking these last couple of days, and had the opportunity to see various evening peak GTR services.

Loadings are still *very* light. The various fast Peterborough, fast Cambridge/Kings Lynn and Baldock services were running with as low as one or two people per carriage, the busiest being no more than about five per carriage at the London end of the train. The Thameslink services were slightly busier but still well down on normal. Under normal conditions these services would generally be most or all seats taken, and in some cases with standing.

The car park at my local station was empty beyond the one-third point. Normally full to overspill.

Admittedly end of half term week pre-Lockdown 2, but I was on the 1709 King's Cross-Ely on Friday evening. In the rear half of the train, most pairs of seats had at least one person sat in them... slightly quieter towards the front. Encouraging from a leisure perspective once restrictions ease again.

The same day I was on the 0639 Cambridge-King's Cross (ex-King's Lynn). 4 people per carriage max. Very very surreal as my first 'peak' train since lockdown (with only one other person waiting on the platform at Cambridge as the stock came in!)

 

[baz962]

Drove from Stratford to Clapham junction at around 16.30 , quite busy. From Clapham junction to Willesden v busy and on my last working to Stratford from Clapham at 9 pm was v busy.

 

[greyman42]

I travelled on LNER from York to London on the 1257 on Wednesday 4 November. There were 4 passengers in my coach.

 

[Mojo]

Barely any difference this morning in terms of customer numbers on the train I've been catching all week. The regular customers were all waiting at my usual station and I'd say that the difference in loading was marginal.

Over the course of this morning up until the end of the traditional peak, official numbers were down to 37% from 39% earlier in the week (percentage is compared to the same weekday in November last year).

 

[KevinTurvey]

Peak time services out of Liverpool Central and Moorfields have been reasonably busy over recent weeks, on Wednesday evening they were very busy. Thursday and Friday were slightly less busy but not massively so, certainly not like April and May when you could have an entire carriage to yourself.

As for off peak I don't really know.

 

[Jamesrob637]

Wednesday probably had almost pre-COVID loadings on some evening trains especially around 17:00 for office workers who had spent one (final) day in office prior to WFH once again, and later around 22:00 for when hospitality closed for the next four weeks.

 

[Peregrine 4903]

Wednesday probably had almost pre-COVID loadings on some evening trains especially around 17:00 for office workers who had spent one (final) day in office prior to WFH once again, and later around 22:00 for when hospitality closed for the next four weeks.

When travelling back from Milton Keynes to Euston on Wednesday at 17:00, I would say national rail was a little busier, but the Victoria Line from Euston was the quietest I had seen it in a month, which was a bit surprising.

Still I would say, loadings haven't really noticably dropped at all since Wednesday, in my experience.

 

[Jamesrob637]

When travelling back from Milton Keynes to Euston on Wednesday at 17:00, I would say national rail was a little busier, but the Victoria Line from Euston was the quietest I had seen it in a month, which was a bit surprising.

Still I would say, loadings haven't really noticably dropped at all since Wednesday, in my experience.

Is that because people have still been going out, at least during the daylight hours, or that trains were really quiet anyway? Tuesday in London was the quietest I've ever seen London not living there, but I bet it was much busier than in April/May.

 

[greyman42]

Slightly of subject, but today i tried to book a seat for the 4 December on the 1257 York to London service and it was full including first class. Anyone any ideas why it would already be fully booked?
PS; I booked in person at the station ticket office.

 

[Horizon22]

Slightly of subject, but today i tried to book a seat for the 4 December on the 1257 York to London service and it was full including first class. Anyone any ideas why it would already be fully booked?
PS; I booked in person at the station ticket office.

LNER are requiring bookings I believe and limiting seats availability for covid restrictions. So its not "full" in what you'd usually expect, but has maxed out whatever the social distancing maximum is. But I'm sure someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[greyman42]

LNER are requiring bookings I believe and limiting seats availability for covid restrictions. So its not "full" in what you'd usually expect, but has maxed out whatever the social distancing maximum is. But I'm sure someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

Sorry, i meant "maxed out". But it still seems to be an unusual situation. The numerous journeys i have made from York to London in the last 6 months have largely been carrying fresh air.

 

[Horizon22]

Sorry, i meant "maxed out". But it still seems to be an unusual situation. The numerous journeys i have made from York to London in the last 6 months have largely been carrying fresh air.

It's two days after lockdown is due to end so it might be pent up demand.