In message , at 21:58:43 on Tue, 2 Apr 2019,
bob remarked:
Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 19:01:22 on Tue, 2 Apr 2019,
bob remarked:
Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 20:57:41 on Mon, 1 Apr 2019,
bob remarked:
Ian Clifton wrote:
Let’s suppose you’re going from Reading to Hanwell. You might have to
make as many as 2 changes (at Slough, and Hayes & Harlington), to reach
a station you’d simply pass through if you didn’t change.
What’s the
most such changes a (sensible & perfectly informed) passenger ever has
to make?

How about something like Thirsk - York - Peterborough - Stevenage - Welwyn
North?

Apart from there being a regular service from York to Stevenage, meaning
two changes eminently possible.

I obviously didn’t do my timetable checking properly, but I think the
concept is clear enough: Stevenage has a limited set of stations north of
Peterborough that are directly served, and Welwyn North has no direct
service to Peterborough, so pick a station up the ECML not served from
Stevenage with a station beyond not served directly by either Stevenage or
Peterborough, but where direct Anglo-Scottish services pass directly
through.

That only produces a fairly long list of 2-change scenarios. I think we
ought to be aiming for 3+

It appears I overlooked the one per day each way King’s Cross - Aberdeen
services that call at Stevenage,

There's several Edinburgh services which call at both Newcastle and
Stevenage.

I’d been working on the assumption all
Stevenage trains were Yorkshire only, that would make Stevenage - Newcastle
or Edinburgh impossible without a change. That would have made stations
north of Newcastle only served by Northern into 3 changers.

If most pairs of LNER stations have at least one direct service between
them per day, then we'll struggle to find any 3-change journeys on the
ECML.

Thinking a little further afield, start with the Eurostar Amsterdam
service. This calls at StP, Brussels, Rotterdam Centraal and Amsterdam
Centraal. Take Stratford International and Rotterdam Zuid, both of which
the Eurostar passes through. Disallowing doubling back, the best I can
figure is Stratford International - Ebbsfleet - Brussels Midi - Breda -
Dordrecht - Rotterdam Zuid. From what I can tell this is possible to do
without deviating from the route followed by the through train, and doesn’t
involve spurious extra changes other than those needed to avoid doubling
back.

South of France E* must be another to look at.
--
Roland Perry