themodelcommuter

Friday was not a good day for travel.  I returned from lunch to be informed by a friend that, due to a tanker, or some such, the fire brigade had closed the Norwich line and anyone planning on travelling should probably forget about it. I needed to be home. I had guests coming to stay, being late was not an option.

Throw any route problem at a hardened commuter and they’ll instantly start plotting viable alternatives. I am no different and ended up plotting a route which, at first, seemed counter intuitive.

I could risk the trains, get on the next intercity and pray they were letting at least some trains through. Of course, if they weren’t letting trains through I’d be stuck on a train and rather late home.

I could get a tube to Kings Cross, train to Cambridge, train to Norwich and hope they are running a shuttle from Norwich to Colchester as this was north of the incident. This is an insanely long route, the problem may be fixed by the time I get home and I’m not sure if the Cambridge to Norwich route isn’t without it’s own problems (i.e. long term line closures due to a bridge or something with resultant bus service for a section of it or something along those lines).

Or I could hope on the drain to Waterloo and get a train to Guildford. There are some that would argue that this is entirely the wrong direction, and in some respects they would be right, however, my guests were starting their journey from Guildford at about the time I’d arrive so the plan was not quite so stupid. Furthermore, they’d be heading up the A12 which runs parallel to my railway line and was also closed (indeed, it was the cause of the line closure) so they’d probably be delayed too. Much better to all be delayed in the same place and try to get up by car which allows some flexibility in the route.

We were very lucky as the M25 was also closed just after we passed it due to an expansion joint coming loose (basically a long strip of rubber and metal either side of a bridge so the road doesn’t crack then the bridge moves) and causing pretty much everyone who ran over it to get a flat (thankfully not us) and getting home only took 4 hours, 3 of which were in the company of family rather than other commuters (from my perspective a much more enjoyable prospect).

I’m unsure how long it would have taken me had I stayed at work and risked getting the intercity home, I just know it wouldn’t have been pleasant.

~ by The Model Commuter on October 9, 2007.