jaxbill

Hello,

I am due to land at LHR at 7AM on a Thursday morning. I need to get to Norwich for a 12:30 meeting.

I have a quote for a black car for £236. Would this be the fastest / least risk method of getting there on time?

The rail option I found requires about a 1 hour drive to Liverpool Street station whereas using a taxi seems to avoid download London altogether.

Any advice?

Thanks

stut

A taxi will use the M25 motorway to bypass London, but this is very busy and prone to delay between 7 and 9am.

Leaving at 8am, it'll take around 3h-3h30, depending on traffic, accidents, etc.


If you want to do the rail option, I'd get the Heathrow Express into London, the Tube (crowded!) or a taxi from Paddington to Liverpool Street, then the train from there (about 2h, every half hour). The trains are fairly elderly, but proper inter-city ones.

jaxbill

Great information. Thank you. Do you think using rail for the entire ride will be more predictable? I will see if I can find a route that avoids the Tube.

lhrsfo

Rail will be far more predictable, especially in rush hour. And you won't be able to avoid the Tube - but, arguably, the Tube is more predictable than the railway and both are more predictable than the inbound flight or Immigration control.

jaxbill

I am beginning to realize I did not leave much spare time given I only have from ~7AM-12:30PM for immigration and transit.

stut

Are you committed to those flights? You can fly into Norwich by transiting in Amsterdam.

Gagravarr

If you don't have much luggage, the quickest would probably be Heathrow Express train to Paddington, 5 minute walk to Lancaster Gate, Central Line (underground / tube) to Liverpool Street, then train to Norwich. The tube from Paddington to Liverpool street is pretty slow, if you don't mind a short walk then heading to Lancaster Gate on foot will save you quite a bit of time

Sixth Freedom

The 10am train from Liverpool Street is scheduled to arrive in Norwich at 11.50am, giving plenty of time to get from the station to your place of business.

Let's assume that you want to be at Liverpool Street station by 9.30am in case of delays and to give time to buy or collect your ticket.

It takes 25 minutes to get from Paddington to Liverpool Street on the London Underground, so you need to leave Paddington at 9.05am.

It will take approximately 10 minutes to get from the Heathrow Express to the London Underground, buy a ticket and reach the platforms, so you need to arrive at Paddington by 8.55am.

The Heathrow Express takes 21 minutes to get from Terminal 5 to Paddington, so you need to catch the 8.27am train from Terminal 5.

Which all means that you have 1 hour and 27 minutes from landing to catching the Heathrow Express if you want to take the train.

The schedule sounds manageable to me.

An off-peak return ticket from Liverpool Street to Norwich in first class is GBP 66.20 and a standard class return ticket is GBP 51.70. Note that these tickets are only available for sale at the station and return tickets bought on the train are GBP 174.90 in first class and GBP 105.70 in standard class. Return tickets on the Heathrow Express are GBP 53.00 in first class and GBP 35.00 in standard class. A return trip on the London Underground will cost GBP 4.60 with an Oyster card.

So the cost of going on the train is GBP 123.80 in first class (GBP 112.20 less than the car) and GBP 91.30 in standard class (GBP 144.70 less than the car).

I would go by train and buy a first class ticket.

Ldnn1

This is simple enough if you work out the timings backwards.

There's a train arriving at Norwich at 12.27 but you probably want the one before that, which departs Liverpool St at 10.00, arr Norwich 11.50. So you want to be at Liverpool St by 9.45.

Give yourself a comfortable 40 mins for the tube, so aim for Paddington by 9ish.

That means you're aiming for the 8.48 Heathrow Express at the latest, arriving 09.04. I assume you're on AA50 from DFW arriving T3 at 6.55, so you have c.1h50 to make that if you land on time. Barring a really nasty immigration queue, that should be plenty of time. Hopefully even enough for a shower and smoothie in the arrivals lounge.

Obviously if you land late and/or have immigration problems things can go amiss, but you still have the next Norwich train as a reasonable back-up.

Note for the tube journey, unless you're running late I would take the Circle/Ham&City line - yes it is bit slower than the Central, but it's simpler and is air conditioned. Do however make sure to check the boards to ensure there's a 'Good Service' when you enter the Underground at Paddington.

Edit: Sixth Freedom is much quicker than me! He's been slightly more conservative, going for the HEX arriving 15 mins earlier. Personally I'd be comfortable with 55 mins from Paddington to train at Liverpool St but it helps to be familiar with the station and ticket machines. The earlier HEX would obviously give you a lot more leeway here.

Also don't know why I had it in my head you were coming from DFW - did I dream that up? Which airline/terminal are you flying into?

jaxbill

Wow, great information from all of you. I really appreciate it. I feel much better now. I was getting overwhelmed trying to figure out all of the train connections and train lines.

I am coming in from DFW on AA flight 50. I believe that's Terminal 3.

I will now spend some time relating all of this back to the rail website. Thanks!

Ldnn1

If you're looking at booking tickets, note that it's possible to book a through ticket from LHR to Norwich, and indeed it's only £38.50 single in First class if Advance tickets are available.

Unfortunately you can't pick these up at LHR, but if your trip is far enough ahead, thetrainline.com can post them out to you in the US for £7.50. (I'd never normally recommend thetrainline to a UK resident because they charge fees but in your case it may be useful as most UK rail sites only offer UK delivery.)

The big advantage of doing this is having all your tickets in hand on arrival. This will save LOTS of hassle avoiding ticket machines, which aren't too intuitive and can have queues at Liverpool St.

The disadvantage of an Advance ticket is it can only be used on the specific train you reserve to Norwich (i.e. the 10.00 from Liverpool St). It is valid on any HEX train and tube combo to Liverpool St, though. Alternatively, a First anytime single, valid on any Norwich train, is £127.60. Returns are also available depending on your plans afterwards.

I would definitely recommend getting delivery if you do have time and you don't mind the delivery fees/company is paying.

If your trip is too soon for delivery, you could still book a cheap Advance ticket from Liverpool St but if your company is paying, there's little practical benefit to doing so.

Aviatrix

Advance tickets are, of course, worthless if you miss your train... but there is one big advantage:

If you buy a Liverpool Street to Norwich advance ticket you can print it at home - no need to mess around with ticket machines, or queue at the ticket counter.

And isn't there also a print-at-home option for the HEX?

Ldnn1

Good point! I didn't realise Greater Anglia offered this.

HEX do also offer mobile tickets for that leg.

However I'd still recommend thetrainline delivery option if OP has time, as it will cover his tube travel too. Otherwise I think he'll need to pick up an Oyster at Paddington if he doesn't have one already or a contactless card. That's a further annoying little hassle after a TATL flight.

Mizter T

If doing the above, buy direct via the website of the train operator that runs the London to Norwich services - Abellio Greater Anglia (bit of a mouthful of a name but not as bad as it used to be!).

Yep:
www.heathrowexpress.com/tickets-deals/booking-tickets

Mizter T

Alternatively the OP could book their Tube ticket as part of their rail journey to Norwich - if you enter "London Underground Zone 1" (instead of just "London") in the "From" box on the Greater Anglia (or indeed any other) rail booking website, then you'll be offered fares - including Advance tickets (for travel on specified trains from Liverpool Street to Norwich) - that include the Tube journey across London, as both Paddington and Liverpool Street are in Zone 1.

What it's not possible to get doing it this way is a print-at-home ticket, as the Tube ticket element means it has to be issued on regular railway ticket stock. However the OP could collect their tickets on arrival in Paddington, after getting off the Heathrow Express - any of the many self-service ticket machines on the concourse will do that, except for the few dedicated Heathrow Express ones which are easy to spot and avoid.