Stansted Express to double peak period rail services from today

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• Tony says:

  22 May22 May 08:30

  Are they doubling the fare as well?!

• vlcnc says:

  22 May22 May 10:00

  I think one of the problems with this service given how far out Stansted is the fact the trains begin relatively late in the morning and finish before midnight – given the airpot is mainly low-cost, this makes the train rather useless for a lot of people. It’s just not convenient. Least Gatwick has 24hr service even if it is fairly skeletal in the early hours.

• Richie says:

  22 May22 May 10:34

  Emirates has 2 flights per day on massive B773 planes at off peak times, train capacity may not be great at these times, particularly for the afternoon arrival and departure.

  • Andrew. says:

    22 May22 May 10:47

    Even so, that’s only 400ish passengers per plane, there’s still over 1500 seats on the Standsted Express every hour off peak. 3000+ every hour peak.

    • tony says:

      22 May22 May 11:36

      Indeed. I see FR’s highest density 737 seats 197. The EK 777 service is a mere rounding error against that.

      Have managed to avoid Stansted for more than a decade. Happy to keep it that way….

• Nick says:

  22 May22 May 12:28

  The airport is right. If there were any doubt that the train service is not good enough (frequency, reliability and cost) just look at the national express schedule between London and Stansted… 8 coaches an hour and growing. A half decent rail service would make this unsustainable.

  • Lady London says:

    22 May22 May 19:05

    Plus isn’t it the most expensive rail route in Europe or something?

    The current franchisee might smarten up if a competitor on the same line could be found a way to introduce?

    With the early flight waves Ryanair operate, and their many late evening arrivals, to say nothing of how long it can take for the huge arrival queues at Immigration to be processed late evenings, you’d think some sort of 24-hr requirement would be imposed on the rail operator.

    However I’ve got an idea they shut Stansted airport doors sometime after midnight until checkin gates open now, or did that unfriendly move by MAG Group who own Stansted, not stick?

  • ADS says:

    23 May23 May 19:10

    Yes indeed. A few months ago I just missed a train into London, and instead of waiting half an hour, I took a coach. It probably wasn’t any quicker, but it was a bit cheaper, and better than standing around in the rather dull station.

• william says:

  22 May22 May 12:58

  I really like the new trains far superior to the old trains.

  Open to correction but believe you can use a railcard purchase tickets on stanstead express but only if you book somewhere like trainline

  • Diego says:

    22 May22 May 13:33

    That’s correct, you can use a railcard, I have used the Network railcard on it recently but I believe all railcards are valid.
    I normally book directly in Great Anglia website, as trainline charges a small fee (or at least, it used to).

    • Andrew. says:

      22 May22 May 14:48

      Book on LNER. Rebates are ubiquitous and can usually be stacked.

• jjoohhnn says:

  22 May22 May 16:16

  Clearly not focusing these ‘peak’ trains on airlines passengers if the peak is during the railway peak usage period, i.e. commuters, rather than airline peak periods.

• ChasP says:

  22 May22 May 16:54

  Only tried it once, had an appointment in Central London so took train to airport and flew Ryanair to Italy. On the way back the plane was 4 minutes late arriving and bag collect was slow but not outrageously so. We still comfortably missed the last train and 100+ people had to sleep on the floor.
  Never again!
  The last train should be at least an hour after the last scheduled arrival.

  • Chaz says:

    22 May22 May 17:10

    I have no idea why anyone would sleep on a floor overnight. If you can travel to Italy, surely you can afford a taxi to London in extremis – or the Hampton that’s a five minute walk away?

    • vlcnc says:

      22 May22 May 17:51

      There are also National Express coaches all night to London.

    • Lady London says:

      22 May22 May 19:09

      Been there, done that.

      On the whole, the Stansted traveller is a very different animal than the Heathrow traveller.

  • Lady London says:

    22 May22 May 19:07

    Needs to be 24hr as so many late evening flights arrive late as well.

• Bernard says:

  22 May22 May 18:34

  It’s not very ‘Express’ though, is it?
  The National Express bus is quicker, one third the price and more frequent

  • Londonsteve says:

    23 May23 May 11:53

    +1. I was recently staggered when comparing timetables that in the late evening the bus to Liverpool Street takes the same amount of time as the train. And it’s half price with more frequent departures.

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