Harwich Trains

[Dee-M-See]

Is there a qiuck way to get to London from Harwich?
I have been on the internet but while you can travel direct to Harwich from London without any changes
Returning involves either two or three changes and involves trains and buses.
Can anyone tell me if there are any quicker ways? Taxis and hire cars are very expensive

[Trum48]

I think you are reading the timetable incorrectly.

There certainly are trains to and from Harwich that do not involve changing trains.

Go to www.onerailway.com

[Dee-M-See]

Thank you for your answer Trum48
I have tried the web site of one railway but still can not find a direct train,
We are travelling to London from Harwich on Monday 28th May 2007after disembarking from a cruise ship at 1030AM
We have to finally get to Gatwick by 7.00PM to catch a flight

[Buenchico]

On 'normal service' days, 'one' run direct trains between London Liverpool Street and Harwich International, to meet the busiest ferry sailings and arrivals. At other times, it's necessary to change trains at Manningtree.

However, Network Rail are mid-way through an upgrade programme on the London-Norwich line. This is scheduled to take approximately 10 years to complete. During this period, the line is closed at some point between London and Norwich on almost every Sunday and on most Bank Holidays as well.

May 28 is a public holiday so, almost inevitably, part of the track is closed for engineering work. (This time, its the section between Colchester and Witham). This means that the journey from Harwich International to London requires travellers to take a branch line train between Harwich and Manningtree before transferring to a mainline service to Colchester. From there it's a bus to Witham, where train services resume to Liverpool Street.

I used to run a railway station in that area and I had to give out similar information, week after week, for several years. I can only tell you what I had to tell them: There's no alternative route, so you'll just have to struggle, with your cases, on and off the trains and buses. Sorry!

Chris

[Dee-M-See]

Thank you Chris for your comprehensive answer,
So as you say it is two or three changes,,looking at the timetable there does not appear much time to transfer trains at Manningtree, is it a very big station?

[dannydingbat]

Be careful in making your arrangements. When I disembarked in Harwich (Holland America line), the journey could not have been easier to London and the station is right next to the ship. However, the estimated disembarkation time was wildly out and we were off by 7.45, putting out train reservations out by hours on our trip back to Devon.

[Buenchico]

You needn't worry too much about the connection at Manningtree. The Harwich to Manningtree branch line usually runs on time. (That's because there's very little on it. The only passenger services are formed by the trains which shuttle backward and forwards between those two places. There's not much freight to hold things up; in fact, on a Bank Holiday, there probably won't be any freight trains on that line at all). So you should arrive at the scheduled time.

The branch line services usually run into the dead-end line on one side of a platform, while the 'up' (i.e. southbound) trains use the through line on the other side of the same platform. So, you simply step off the branch line train and stay exactly where you are. The mainline service will arrive alongside you a few minutes later.

Manningtree's not a big station. It's only got three platforms. (One northbound, one southbound and one for the branch line). So you shouldn't have any problems with your connection. However, if you did get delayed, the old-fashioned buffet is quite welcoming. The coffee's drinkable and people travel from all over East Anglia for their real ales ;-)

Chris

[Dee-M-See]

Thanks again for your answer Chris It certainly helps when you have got inside information, although the thought of a decent pint might make you want to miss a train or two,if it wasn't for the flight home it would certainly make travelling a lot less painful