[Anonymous]

[MartynSinclair]

With 6 minutes to go at Paddington, train was still “being prepared”. 5 minutes to go, platform announced, a rush of passengers, all had to put ticket through electronic gate AND 5 minutes later, all on board ready to go bang on time.

Now passing Reading, a very pleasant way to travel.

[Bath_VIP]

Martyn,

Were you travelling on the Bristol Temple Meads train? This is my usual train and I have noticed that this train is prone to being given a platform close to departure time even when it is obvious which platform it is on. By contrast, Plymouth trains seem to be given platform numbers well ahead of time.

By the way, are you one of the small group of passengers (including me) who are capable of guessing which platform the train will be on? There is a knack to this!

[NTarrant]

There is also another way and that is to go on to http://www.nationalrail.co.uk and live departure boards as this will usually give the information way in advance.

Or if really geeky you can always go the http://www.networkrail.co.uk and go to the working timetables and it will tell you the platform numbers in there, but that is not a document for the faint hearted!

[MartynSinclair]

Indeed I was; now changed at Swindon for Stroud.

I have no idea how to guess the platform, I just find the train such an easy way of travelling, stress free. Even when the platform is only announced 5 minutes before departure!

I only feel the stress, when there are delays getting to the station via the tube.

[Bath_VIP]

NTarrant has probably beaten me here. I will have to give that website a go.

But if your mobile is down, the trick at Paddington is to recognise which platforms and which destinations use HST125 trains. At Paddington, they use platforms 1 to 5 & 8 to 10, all of which are visible from the main concourse. Their destinations are Bristol, South Wales, Devon & Cornwall, Cheltenham and express trains to Oxford. If these trains are showing on the departures board with platform numbers, you can scan the platforms to see which HSTs are not yet matched to a train on the departures board. Chances are that will be your train.

Doesn’t always work, most notably when I had decided it would be platform 1 and had sidled over that way only for them to announce it was platform 10 on the other side!

[AMcWhirter]

Martyn – EMT also run a slick operation at St Pancras. It allows 21 mins to turnaround an incoming train from Sheffield but when the service is delayed it can accomplish the procedure in 10 mins.

[TimFitzgeraldTC]

Going on to http://www.nationalrail.co.uk on your mobile does work a treat. Only once at Euston when there were delays did it get my platform wrong but the other 7/8 times I’ve done this it has worked. You can position yourself nicely at the front of the platform ready for the announcement (just in case it does change!!).

[Bath_VIP]

Tried out the website mentioned by NTarrant yesterday at Paddington and it worked brilliantly. Allowed me to go onto the platform ahead of everyone and bag the best seat in standard class.

[Author]

Posts