[Travel] Newcastle to Brighton direct train service

[Goldstone1976]

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A single economy ticket from Chicago to Miami is GBP 89 and that’s with no railcard.

 

[Frutos]

Given you only need a brief pootle across to Kings Cross from Thameslink St Pancras they aren't making the trip that much more appealing. Getting the flights reinstated between Newcastle and Gatwick would be far more attractive

Absolutely this, speaking as someone who does the journey relatively regularly and in a lot less than the eight hours being suggested (on here at least) for this new route.

 

[Frutos]

Awesome news for me… don’t care if it takes three weeks I can get to home games without having to Fanny about in London.

By "fanny about", you mean walk across one road?

 

[Kosh]

By "fanny about", you mean walk across one road?

I do indeed… far too much of a variable for my liking…

I tore my calf muscle playing football last night, so walking is a slight issue tbf

 

[GT49er]

Will it have a sleeper carriage?

Not on this service - sleeper trains run pretty much A to B, without much in the way of intermediate stops - not many passengers wanting to get on or off at 3, 4 or 5 o'clock in the morning! Besides, some of the lines this service uses will not be open at night (they're not kept open 24 hours a day these days)

 

[Frutos]

Calling at Newcastle, Durham, Darlington, Northallerton, York, Doncaster, Sheffield, Derby, Burton-on-Trent, Birmingham New Street, Warwick Parkway, Banbury, Oxford, Reading, Wokingham, Guildford, Redhill, Gatwick Airport, Haywards Heath and Brighton, apparently.

Journey time approx. 2 weeks, unless there's a replacement bus in which case 9 months.

 

[oxgull]

Sounds great from my end. Direct Oxford to Brighton (parents/footy) and Yorkshire (brother) looks like a winner. Also keen on anything that improves midlands connections from the horrendous 4 carriage cross country Bournemouth -manchester service that is rammed anywhere from Oxford to Wolverhampton

 

[sparkie]

There used to be a Brighton to Edinburgh train about 40-odd years ago.

 

[Sussexscots]

This would be excellent. IIRC there used to be a long distance service to Manchester from Brighton many moons ago which ran maybe once a week as well as another Long Distance service to Great Malvern.

This is the sort of route innovation that the rail network needs to engage in.

In the early 1980's, there used to be two daily services that left Brighton at 09:20 and 15:00. Called at Reading, Oxford, Coventry, Wolverhampton, Crewe, Stockport and Manchester.

There was also a Sussex Scotsman service from around 1988 IIRC, that left Brighton around 13:15 that ran to Glasgow and Edinburgh.

 

[happypig]

There used to be a Brighton to Edinburgh train about 40-odd years ago.

Has it arrived yet ?

 

[theboybilly]

At a guess about 8 or so hours, especially with the round the houses route.

I'd say 6 hours minimum is feasible for this route. Just a change-ends for the Driver at Redhill, New Street and perhaps Donny adding a few minutes here and there. The problem is that I can see this being mainly weekday workings and having the same problems when commuter services are up the spout. I can't see there being much in the way of suitable weekend workings for football kick off times either. So more hotels to book for me (not that I will ever mind a stay in Newcastle)

 

[A1X]

Interesting proposal, always thought it was short sighted of CrossCountry to give up Gatwick and Brighton so easily back in 2007

 

[A1X]

2006 was the last one, I dropped a link to a website about the history on post #9. There even used to be a Manchester Piccadilly to Newhaven Marine service in the late 80s!

There also used to be regular long distance services to Eastbourne back in the day, including sleeper services

 

[CheeseRolls]

There also used to be regular long distance services to Eastbourne back in the day, including sleeper services

What are you talking about? They never stopped these. Still a regular part of the evening match service via Falmer.

 

[A1X]

What are you talking about? They never stopped these. Still a regular part of the evening match service via Falmer.

Astonishingly these went even further than Ore (thar be dragons…)

 

[CheeseRolls]

Astonishingly these went even further than Ore (thar be dragons…)

Never sure if you drop off the edge of the world there into oblivion or even worse pass into Kent, which is quite possibly a worse fate.

 

[Nigella's Cream Pie]

Indeed. Cross Country still operate regular services to the north from the likes of Bournemouth, and Penzance, so why not Brighton?

But they are scrapping Aberdeen to Penzance, last train runs on May 16th.
Subsequently only as far as Plymouth:
https://www.independent.co.uk/trave...ain-aberdeen-penzance-cancelled-b2732873.html

 

[Rowdey]

As a kid we used the Brighton to Exeter trains to get down to Devon on holiday.

As well as Manchester I'm sure there was an Edinburgh service at some point. I remember working in Birmingham and getting to New Street to find a delayed direct service to Brighton about to pull in. Jumped on it thinking it would be easier than going via Euston (these were the days when you didn't have to worry about thich route / compnay your ticket was valid on). It took much longer to get back than if I'd gone via Euston as it trundled down through Oxford and then we had to wait for a change of loco somewhere near Kensington if I remember correctly.

I got a train from New St to Brighton for the home game Vs Saints on 9/11.. It all unfolded on board via texts ( no smart phones)

 

[Rowdey]

Depends on how much it costs though. If you book quickly when the fixture is confirmed the flight from Heathrow to Newcastle might actually be cheaper. Albeit you do have to get to Heathrow in the first place.

£175ea for the FA cup game (there and back same day) - The equivalent 1st train out of London was circa £130 return anyway.

 

[Uter]

I think it would take approximately 6.5 hours end to end. There's definitely a market for this of people who want to avoid the hassle of changing in London and aren't in a hurry.

I'd guess they are planning to use 5-car sets.

A major consideration in granting open access services (as this is) is that they mustn't be primarily abstractive, hence the unusual route and some unexpected stops. It will easily pass that test, but most proposals are refused by the DfT because the paths just aren't there. I suspect the East Coast mainline might be the most difficult to accommodate new paths, so don't get your hopes up.