(20 Feb 2024, 3:52 pm)Storx wrote Aye guess, it depends how much padding it has. 12 minutes from Northumberland Park seems quite a long time so feels like there's some fitted in there. That's all unknown though, plenty other places where they seem to work in harmony. Mind the fact that they must be Class 158's will help though with their faster acceleration etc and will keep up with the express services anyway - don't believe it's anywhere near 125mph along that stretch anyway.

The bigger point it though, is though if you started work at 8am, getting the train in at 7.36 (leaves Ashington at 7am), would be a pretty safe bet, using the same bus you'd be looking at 06.09 which get's in at 07:15 as getting a bus in at 07:45 is just too risky. Gap starts to widen a bit then, even with the 15 minute walk.

There are multiple posts on the RailUK forums stating that the timetable is very tight, and testing has taken place to see how much time can be saved. Doesn't scream out as a robust timetable, especially given they're sharing the track with freight traffic and the multiple single track sections. 

On the bus thing, that 07:45 arrival into town has been bang on time into town for each day I checked over the past 2 weeks. From experience of using the Arriva Ashington services into town in the peaks, there's time added to ensure they arrive into Haymarket close to/at their scheduled time. Yes the bus might not turn up, but similarly we're more than accustomed to trains not turning up in this country.