"Jonathan Stott" wrote in message
news
David Hansen wrote:

AOL. The difference in journey times will be dramatic. It seems to
take all day to get from London to Ashford by trains to Dover, but
it is a different thing altogether by trains going to Paris and
Brussels. I imagine lots of people will pay the premium, including
people who didn't use the train before. The difference in running
time caused by 140mph running seems to be less than 10 minutes from
a quick skim of the press release.

As someone who used to regularly travel by train from Canterbury to the
Midlands (Tamworth), the much easier (i.e. Tube-free!) walk from St
Pancras to Euston would have been a godsend. And if it was raining then I
could just as easily have changed at St Pancras to Derby and thence to
Tamworth.

I guess with a 60-minute service from Canterbury to St Pancras and using
one of the few 60-minute services to Tamworth, it could be possible to do
the whole journey in 2.5 hours at a push!


Good opportunity to raise questions about through journeys then.

Arriving at St Pancras clutching your Tamworth to Canterbury via London
ticket.
Will it still be marked 'any permitted'? Probably, until December.

Wander over to the Kent platforms looking to pay a single supplement,
intention to walk from Ebbsfleet for a connection (assuming there is one).
Will there be yet another ticket office at St P? That has never been
categorically answered, to my mind.

Will there be a refund of the part of your fare that pays for that cross
London transfer by tube, now that you don't need it? Probably not, but
eventually a through ticket by HS1 shouldn't need it, so there could be a
slight reduction - but then it would have to be marked 'not underground' -
my brain hurts now...

Paul S