Southampton Cruise Terminal to Train/Bus Station

[unclegrandpa]

Are you allowed to walk between the cruise terminal and the train/bus station in Southampton and is it safe to walk there by yourself?

[John Bull]

Depends on your cruise terminal.

You're allowed to walk out of the docks from any of the five cruise terminals.

But QE 11 terminal is deep n the docks and most of the docks sidewalks from there to the gate are protected from truck traffic by only a yellow-painted line, so a taxi is strongly recommended.

And Mayflower and Ocean terminals, altho on proper sidewalks are perhaps a little too far with luggage - about 25 minutes.

City and Horizon terminals are closest, only about a 15 minute walk to either train station or coach station.

The ground is level from all cruise terminals, but if distance or bad weather dissuade you from walking, there are taxi lines at all cruise terminals - £10 tops.

 

Train is generally the better bet for central London or LGW altho Nat Express bus is cheaper.

Nat Express bus is by far the better bet for LHR, there's no direct train service

 

JB 🙂

[unclegrandpa]

If I go it would be Norwegian. So I understand it would be Horizon. Only 0.7 miles on the map if you walk to the bus station from there

Edited June 8, 2022 by unclegrandpa

[John Bull]

42 minutes ago, unclegrandpa said:

If I go it would be Norwegian. So I understand it would be Horizon. Only 0.7 miles on the map if you walk to the bus station from there

 

Yes, I think so.

 

Googlemaps shows a convoluted 1.3 mile route past Mayflower terminal, but it's probably out-of-date. Berth 102 was the fruit terminal and was secure, but it's now the site of the new Horizons cruise terminal. On the birds-eye view you can see the new terminal but the road to Solent Road, which leads to Dock Gate 10, still unfinished.

Haven't been there for some time, but if it's not yet finished it certainly will be by the time you cruise.

https://goo.gl/maps/pDUAfWe1G14shhtX6

 

JB 🙂

 

[defbref]

If its Horizon, it is a simple walk, you can walk right thru the car park in basically a straight line from the terminal to reach the roundabout at Dock Gate 10, its 10 minutes , at most, from there to the train station

 

Did this last September.

[unclegrandpa]

Is the area safe to walk on your own?

[Level six]

3 minutes ago, unclegrandpa said:

Is the area safe to walk on your own?

We felt perfectly safe

[John Bull]

4 hours ago, unclegrandpa said:

Is the area safe to walk on your own?

 

Yes.

Just beware of traffic.

 

JB 🙂

[srpilo]

On 6/8/2022 at 11:33 AM, John Bull said:

Depends on your cruise terminal.

You're allowed to walk out of the docks from any of the five cruise terminals.

But QE 11 terminal is deep n the docks and most of the docks sidewalks from there to the gate are protected from truck traffic by only a yellow-painted line, so a taxi is strongly recommended.

And Mayflower and Ocean terminals, altho on proper sidewalks are perhaps a little too far with luggage - about 25 minutes.

City and Horizon terminals are closest, only about a 15 minute walk to either train station or coach station.

The ground is level from all cruise terminals, but if distance or bad weather dissuade you from walking, there are taxi lines at all cruise terminals - £10 tops.

 

Train is generally the better bet for central London or LGW altho Nat Express bus is cheaper.

Nat Express bus is by far the better bet for LHR, there's no direct train service

 

JB 🙂

 

John just a heads up

Though not direct you can now access LHR by rail pretty easily -- SOU to  Reading, and change to the new Elizabeth line with one more  quick change before LHR right to T-2-3 or T-5

[John Bull]

5 minutes ago, srpilo said:

 

John just a heads up

Though not direct you can now access LHR by rail pretty easily -- SOU to  Reading, and change to the new Elizabeth line with one more  quick change before LHR right to T-2-3 or T-5

 

Thanks for that update.

I knew that the Elizabeth line opened last month, but was under the impression that it'd be a while before it was extended to Reading.

So I've dug deeper.

 

Yes, it has indeed been extended to Reading.

But (at least for the time being) altho it serves central London and Heathrow and Reading there's no direct service between Reading & Heathrow.. You have to take the Elizabeth line from Reading past the Heathrow junction to Hayes & Harlington, where you change to an Elizabeth line train which emanates at Paddington & which takes you back to that junction & on to Heathrow. So direct Elizabeth line trains from Paddington to Heathrow but not from Reading.

Great for folk from London, who are already well-served by public transport to Heathrow, but only marginally better for folk from other parts of the country.

Not my first rant about public transport in the south-east being London-centric. 😉

 

Passengers from Southampton will therefore have two changes of train, at Reading and at Hayes & Harlington - not a lot different to changing at Reading and at London Paddington, a service which has been available for many decades.

Oh - and the fare is around £74 pp. That's treble the cost of Southampton to Heathrow by Nat Express bus and the same total journey time of about 2 hours

Or about £50 more than a private transfer for a couple.

All very disappointing after all the hype about the Elizabeth line.😟

Mebbe it's an option for a singleton, or a Plan B if other arrangements go belly-up. But just like other train or train + Airlink bus options I'll not be recommending it.

 

I'll do some more digging to find out if a direct Reading to Heathrow service is on the cards.

 

JB 🙂

[Globaliser]

7 hours ago, John Bull said:

I knew that the Elizabeth line opened last month, but was under the impression that it'd be a while before it was extended to Reading.

So I've dug deeper.

 

Yes, it has indeed been extended to Reading.

 

The Elizabeth Line has actually been running between Reading and Paddington for a while now. Ditto between Liverpool Street and Shenfield. They were running under the interim branding of TfL Rail until the central section opened and Paddington to Abbey Wood trains started running, and then all three parts simultaneously adopted Elizabeth Line branding.

 

7 hours ago, John Bull said:

All very disappointing after all the hype about the Elizabeth line.😟

 

...

 

I'll do some more digging to find out if a direct Reading to Heathrow service is on the cards.

 

I don't believe so, and I don't think that it should have come as any surprise. Crossrail's primary aims are not about airport connectivity, the market for which is trivial compared to what Crossrail was intended to do. Anyone who's used the Elizabeth Line central section in the last couple of weeks will see just what it is intended to do, and how well it is likely to do it.

 

So from Reading, the RailAir coach is probably still the best bet. (The fact that the demand for this can be provided by a road transfer using low-capacity units shows how small the airport connectivity market is.)

 

From Southampton, there would normally be the alternative of the RailAir coach from Woking, but I think that is still Covid-suspended.

[John Bull]

5 minutes ago, Globaliser said:

 

The Elizabeth Line has actually been running between Reading and Paddington for a while now. Ditto between Liverpool Street and Shenfield. They were running under the interim branding of TfL Rail until the central section opened and Paddington to Abbey Wood trains started running, and then all three parts simultaneously adopted Elizabeth Line branding.

 

 

I don't believe so, and I don't think that it should have come as any surprise. Crossrail's primary aims are not about airport connectivity, the market for which is trivial compared to what Crossrail was intended to do. Anyone who's used the Elizabeth Line central section in the last couple of weeks will see just what it is intended to do, and how well it is likely to do it.

 

So from Reading, the RailAir coach is probably still the best bet. (The fact that the demand for this can be provided by a road transfer using low-capacity units shows how small the airport connectivity market is.)

 

From Southampton, there would normally be the alternative of the RailAir coach from Woking, but I think that is still Covid-suspended.

 

Thanks, G., it's all a bit confusing for this country boy.

 

There have been trains from Paddington since the year dot,  ditto Paddington's tube links to the rest of London.

The new Elizabeth line was built at huge cost & disruption to seamlessly cross London & link Shenfield in the NE and Abbey Wood in the SE to Heathrow in the SW and Reading in the NW. 

But my flickng back & forth on railway timetables tells me that ............

Shenfield to Reading involves a Greater Angia train to Liverpool Street, change there to the Elizabeth line to Paddington, change there to a Great Western to Reading.

From Abbey Wood it's the Elizabeth line to Paddington, then that GWR train to Reading.

From Shenfield to Heathrow requires the same two changes as to Reading, and the Paddington to Heathrow part is described as operated by Heathrow Express.

From Abbey Wood to Heathrow requires that same change at Paddington, to the Heathrow Express.

And for each of those journeys a pop-up told me "Multiple tickets required for journey"🥴

 

So for both Reading & Heathrow the new "Elizabeth line" to Heathrow isn't new, and it's the "Elizabeth line" in name only.  - it's the same old Heathrow Express Express or GWR line to Reading. from Paddington

And the new "Elizabeth line" to Reading is the Elizabeth line in name only - its the same old GWR line. line from Paddington.

It's all an over-hype of just an expensive new link from one part of London to another.

London-centricity at its worst 🙄

 

JB 🙂

 

[Globaliser]

3 hours ago, John Bull said:

But my flickng back & forth on railway timetables tells me that ............

Shenfield to Reading involves a Greater Angia train to Liverpool Street, change there to the Elizabeth line to Paddington, change there to a Great Western to Reading.

From Abbey Wood it's the Elizabeth line to Paddington, then that GWR train to Reading.

From Shenfield to Heathrow requires the same two changes as to Reading, and the Paddington to Heathrow part is described as operated by Heathrow Express.

From Abbey Wood to Heathrow requires that same change at Paddington, to the Heathrow Express.

And for each of those journeys a pop-up told me "Multiple tickets required for journey"🥴

 

So for both Reading & Heathrow the new "Elizabeth line" to Heathrow isn't new, and it's the "Elizabeth line" in name only.  - it's the same old Heathrow Express Express or GWR line to Reading. from Paddington

And the new "Elizabeth line" to Reading is the Elizabeth line in name only - its the same old GWR line. line from Paddington.

It's all an over-hype of just an expensive new link from one part of London to another.

 

No, this isn't right.

 

If you wish, you can take a Greater Anglia train from Shenfield to Liverpool Street. The Elizabeth Line trains run in parallel.

 

This is the same as it has long been between Paddington and Heathrow. You can, if you wish, take a Heathrow Express train from Paddington to Heathrow, as has been long established. But you were long able, if you preferred, to take a Heathrow Connect train from Paddington to Heathrow. Latterly, that was rebranded to TfL Rail, and that has now been rebranded to Elizabeth Line.

 

Currently, you need to change twice between Shenfield and Reading even if you stick to the Elizabeth Line, because Paddington <--> Abbey Wood including the central section has been opened as a separate operation to get it started. So Reading <--> Paddington still runs as a separate operation and uses surface-level mainline platforms at Paddington, and the same applies to Liverpool Street <--> Shenfield using mainline platforms at Liverpool Street.

 

But in the late autumn, it is planned that Reading trains will begin to run directly into the central section and use the new deep platforms at Paddington, and Shenfield trains will similarly begin to use the new deep platforms at Liverpool Street. So you will be able to get through trains into the central section from west of Paddington and from east of Liverpool Street.

 

And that was the main aim of Crossrail. It's not finished yet. These benefits are coming.

 

However, this doesn't change the fac that getting from Reading to Heathrow wasn't a primary aim of the project.

[Globaliser]

18 hours ago, Globaliser said:

But in the late autumn, it is planned that Reading trains will begin to run directly into the central section and use the new deep platforms at Paddington, and Shenfield trains will similarly begin to use the new deep platforms at Liverpool Street. So you will be able to get through trains into the central section from west of Paddington and from east of Liverpool Street.

 

FWIW, from autumn 2022, the next interim service pattern will offer:

• Reading/Heathrow <--> Abbey Wood through the central section; and
• Paddington <--> Shenfield through the central section.