confused over train ticket booking

melb

afternoon all - OH is wanting to go to london on sunday 9 may to see a football match. he will be catching the train from leeds and his friend will be joining the train at Wakefield. I'm pretty sure all Kings cross trains stop at Wakefield. However the times don't seem to tally and the journey time from wakefield to London is quite a bit longer than that from leeds although wakefield is about 15 minutes nearer. I'm looking at the east coast trains website which i was recommended on here thanks (I think) to KeithP. Can anyone help please? He wants to catch i think one about 9.30 on the way down and 7.00 pm on the way back.

KeithP

09:05 Leeds-London trains stops at Wakefield.

To find out which trains stop at Wakefield...
On the East Coast Trains website, click more options and state via Wakefield Stations.

Debt_Free_Chick

Search using the Buy Rail Tickets option and the following ....

From Leeds
To London
Via Wakefield

On May 9 after 9am

When the available trains appear, click on the information icon to the right of the service and then click on "show all calling points" and it will show you what time the train calls at Wakefield.

melb

don't know what I'm doing wrong - when I ask to go via wakefield the journey takes up to 4 hours and includes 2 changes - at Meadowhall which is in sheffield and then at Doncaster!! Any further suggestions much appreciated as I'm sure it can't be this complicated. also assuming we do actually manage to get it booked my OH has a rail card and his friend doesn't and obviously going from different stations would it be possible to book reservations next to each other?

KeithP

melb wrote: »

don't know what I'm doing wrong - when I ask to go via wakefield the journey takes up to 4 hours and includes 2 changes - at Meadowhall which is in sheffield and then at Doncaster!! Any further suggestions much appreciated as I'm sure it can't be this complicated. also assuming we do actually manage to get it booked my OH has a rail card and his friend doesn't and obviously going from different stations would it be possible to book reservations next to each other?

Yes... I see what you mean.

This timetable says that there are trains leaving Leeds at 09:40, 10:40, 11:40 all calling at Wakefield on their way to Kings Cross.
However, the East Coast Trains website shows trains leaving Leeds at 09:44, 10:44, 11:44 all not calling at Wakefield on their way to Kings Cross.
Don't know what to make of that.

But if you look for trains from Wakefield to London, you can find that trains leave Wakefield at 08:05, 09:25, 10:15 all calling at Leeds 17mins later on the way to London... no changes. £25.35 from either Leeds or Wakefield when booked online via ECTrains. Cheaper with railcard.

Don't worry too much about the seat reservations. Just sit in unreserved seats.

Again on the return, trains to Leeds do not call at Wakefield but continue on to Wakefield after Leeds. Similar prices to outward leg are available.

Debt_Free_Chick

melb wrote: »

don't know what I'm doing wrong - when I ask to go via wakefield the journey takes up to 4 hours and includes 2 changes - at Meadowhall which is in sheffield and then at Doncaster!! Any further suggestions much appreciated as I'm sure it can't be this complicated. also assuming we do actually manage to get it booked my OH has a rail card and his friend doesn't and obviously going from different stations would it be possible to book reservations next to each other?

I didn't realise that Wakefield was up the line!

See my previous post, but have the journey from Wakefield to London via Leeds

melb

no it's not up the line - the route is Leeds - wakefield - london kings cross

KeithP

Ah... all is explained. East Coast Trains tell us...

Sunday 9 May 2010
All-day, engineering work will be taking place between Doncaster and Wakefield Westgate.
Train services to and from West Yorkshire will use an alternative route. Most southbound services will start at Wakefield Westgate and run via Leeds to London. In the northbound direction, most trains from London will run via Leeds and terminate at Wakefield Westgate. Journey times will be up to 30 minutes longer than normal.

melb

thank you so much KeithP - i was so busy thinking I was doing something wrong that i never thought to investigate further. It looks like it'll be easier for his friend to drive over to ours and both start their journey in leeds. You're really kind and you debtfreechick to go to all that trouble. thanks again.