Great Western Coffee Shop

I tried a new ( for me) route this morning, from Dean to Eastbourne.
Usually drive, due to the minimum 2 changes, time constraints etc.
One of the things previously putting me off using rail is the connection at Central. The 07.02 from Dean ( 6.50 from Salisbury) is scheduled to arrive at 07.30, and the Brighton train departs at 07.33 leaving not much wriggle room. However the Salisbury/Dean train comes in to 3B, and the Brighton one leaves from 3A, so its a 20 second change. Worked like a dream today, and I had a decent trip to Eastbourne/Hampden Park at an excellent price, £28.10 anytime return.

My question is  two fold really. Firstly, the NRE search engine doesn't show the connection at Central as a viable option. I know it's only 3 minutes to change , but  if they usually use those platforms, with usual punctuality it is viable.
Second, and given that the two trains actually stand at the same platform,and it must be a useful connection for quite a few people ( I saw several using it today), couldn't a minute or two be found somewhere to make this a  really integrated connection?

Sorry, probably used the wrong terms, and showing amateur levels of understanding, but hope you get my drift !
Thanks.

Edit: after spending a lot of the day on Southern, I suddenly got the feeling that SWR passengers are a bit pampered...we have catering...sometimes....wifi ....sometimes ( although now limited to 30 MB total use).....although neither have charging sockets .No doubt regular Southern travellers are happy just to have a train to travel on.

The official connection time at Southampton Central is shown as 3 minutes on Table 123 only (nothing on 158, 165 or 186) so it should be an advertised connection

That 3 mins in table 123 has got to be spurious, surely?  It’s unusual for a station the size of Southampton to have reduced interchange time, especially with multiple TOCs operating?

The connection isn’t viable most of the day, in the normal pattern the up Romsey train arrives just after the Brighton has gone.

Paul

I believe that 3 minutes is a misprint. Southampton is the standard 5 minutes. Unless connection is between South Western, Southern or Southern Western/Southern services. In which case it's 4 minutes.

http://www.brtimes.com/#board?stn=SOU&show=info&date=20171019