rail connection from Victoria station to Harwich cruise terminal
 

Next June, we will visit London for 4 days and then go to Harwich to board a cruise ship. We will be staying close to Victoria Station.
Is it possible to go by rail ? How long does it take ? Does anyone know how much it costs ? I am unable to find the information I need on the transportation site.

Many thanks for your assistance !

The port is served by Harwich International station which has hourly trains from London Liverpool St. The journey takes about an hour and a half. From Victoria, you can take the Circle Line to Liverpool Street. Train times and fares are on www.nationalrail.co.uk.

Thanks so much, Geoff . This is the exact information 4 Canadians need to make a smooth trasition from London to Harwich !

Thanks so much, Geoff . This is the exact information 4 Canadians need to make a smooth transition from London to Harwich !

Buy your tickets together. There's often significant discount with 4 people traveling together.

For example, single one-way is about £23, but 4 people can buy a group return for £46.2. Throw away the return tickets but you still save half.

For details of the services to Harwich, look at www.oneanglia.com for the train operator's site (although the tickets available are the same as those on the National Rail site)

I believe that there are two stations in Harwich. Make sure that you get off at the Harwich International terminal, as mentioned in a previous post. We did this 2 years ago and it worked out very well. One word of warning. The track we arrived on required us to go up and over some other train tracks via a walkway and then enter a terminal type building which was a very short distance from the cruise terminal. The only problem we had was that we were not allowed to use the elevator which took us from the track level to the walkway level and thus had to haul our bags up a long flight of steps. So, make sure your group members are able to handle their bags and get them up the steps if need be. We found the staff in the train station area at Harwich to be very unhelpful. There were probably 40 other folks on our train doing the same thing we did to meet the cruise ship.

The cruise ships/ferries depart Parkstone Quay, so that may well be the name of the station.

We made that run three years ago. It is as other's described. We also stayed in the Victoria Station area. It is a short cab ride to Liverpool. For four of you it would be cheaper and more convenient to take a taxi. The train actually had a cruise ship special fare advertized. We did have to change trains at a nowhere station. The conductor tolds us (and about 50 others) to get off and walk to the next platform and take the next train. About a five minute wait. The second train stopped right across from the curise ship. The easiest access we have ever had for a cruise. The best part was the return. Walked off the ship and the train was sitting there. It took another 30 to 45 minutes before the train left. It seemed to be there just for the cruise passenagers. Didn't change training going back to London. Very convenient --- and don't throw away your return ticket as someone suggested earlier.

The station used to be called Parkeston Quay, but is now called Harwich International. Most trains go from London Liverpool Street to Harwich Town, and Harwich International is two stops BEFORE Harwich Town. There is no need to change trains anywhere. The train goes along the main line (to Ipswich and Norwich) as far as Manningtree, then the branch line follows the estuary of the River Stour to Harwich. You will see the port and ships before the train reaches Harwich International station.

<<< It is a short cab ride to Liverpool >>>

It's a couple hundred miles to Liverpool.

Presumably you mean Liverpool Street Station - PLEASE use the FULL name of places as many UK placenames are similar and even within London you could end up 20 miles from where you intend to be

alanrow, lets don't get overly picky. Of course, I meant Liverpool Station and it was clear from my posting since I had referenced the others postings with their references to Liverpool Station.

Gerofftamer, we did change trains. But it was three years ago and perhaps the schedules have changed or maybe every train from Liverpool Station doesn't go directly to Harwich International. I don't know and it is not terribly important. We were meeting people at LStation and when they arrived we took the next train. Perhaps if we had waited for the train after that one, it would have gone directly. I was just relating our experience.

&quot;<i>Of course, I meant Liverpool Station</i>&quot; No you didn't. Honest.

You need to call it &quot;Liverpool <b><u>STREET</u></b> Station&quot;,

Parkeston Quay. Ha, no wonder the 3-digit code for Harwich International is HPQ. Nothing to do with Hewlett-Packard!

Search nationalrail.co.uk for 'Liverpool' to 'Harwich' and you will get just that.

However, you are quite right that there are some journey time which involve a change onto a local Harwich train at Colchester or Manningtree. Including one, 1720 departure, which is timetabled as the quickest journey of the whole day - go figure.

(At Colchester, I'm pretty sure there's lifts available if you ask staff, and similarly at Manningtree, unless it's like Ipswich and you can be escorted across the track at the end of the platform.)

For most of the day, there are hourly trains from London Liverpool Street to Harwich International, and I'm sure that's a better service than a few years ago when you usually needed to change trains. There are other trains from London to Manningtree, so you can still change if you want to, but there is no reason to do so. During the peak evening time, there are no through London-Harwich trains, so you need to change at Manningtree. However, you should avoid travelling at that time of day, if possible, because the trains will be packed with commuters.