Commuting from London to Tring

[CAB07]

Hi There. I'm helping a family who are wanting to move to Tring but are feeling very nervous/daunted by the daily commute. I'd love to be able to offer some reassurance but also potentially put them in touch with others who do it. I'd love to hear if you do it and thoughts/helpful tips etc? Thanks so much.

I am familiar with the commute. We moved to Herts from London to save money, but rentinf up here isn't that much cheaper, and travel to London is relatively expensive (although cheaper than some places)
I commuted by train daily (maternity leave now) and on a good run it is very easy to go between Euston and Tring, you can usually get a seat and there were a lot of improvements to the line in 2014 (if I remember rightly). Travelling outside of rush hour is especially easy and actually enjoyable in a sunny day.
On days with signalling failure, or lack of crew etc, it can be very stressful. I usually take an earlier train just incase of delays, but when there are severe delays or cancellations it can be impossible to get to London on time. I made it clear to work from the get go that I would be commuting and that I take care t get earlier trains (I hate being late) so if I ever am late it has genuinley been out of my control. What is usually worse is delays going home - getting to Euston to find a sea of cancellations and 1000s of agitated commuters that cant get out of London, so that when trains come back on there are so many people that most can't board anyway.

When you commute you have to accept that, with the best will in the world, there could be times when if there are no trains you are not going to get back to the childminder/afterschool club/dinner or whatever, in time.
My husband does the commute by car due to the amount of equipment he carts around and the hours he works. He can get to work in 40 mins on a good day, but when the M1 is backed up it could take 2 or even 3 times as long, same thing coming home, and his fuel bills are very high.
That said, when things are running smoothly Tring to London isnt that far and plenty of people happily do that commute for years, it gives you half hour or so to yourself in the morning, transport links are fairly good and Tring is a nice place.

thank you SO much for this very helpful response it's brilliant.