Euston to coventry split season

Westcoast-ting · 15 Jul 2018

Hi,

A passenger presented me with a Birmingham new street to Northampton season and a Northampton to Euston season on direct train from
Euston to birmingham the other day.

I didn’t challenge the season combination as I had somewhere in the back of my mind the route that you could double back from Milton Keynes to Northampton.

Is this a valid split ? And if not would a wolverton rugby make it legal ?

RailUK Forums

Hadders · 15 Jul 2018

Assuming this was a train that went via Weedon then it isn't valid. There are two relevant easements:

http://iblocks-rg-publication.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/easement_text.pdf

700438 Customers travelling from Northampton to or via Stafford in possession of tickets routed "Any Permitted may double back via Milton Keynes. This easement applies in both directions.

700066 Customers travelling from Northampton to Coventry and beyond may not travel via Milton Keynes. This easement applies in both directions.

Starmill · 15 Jul 2018

This would have been permitted historically under BR's rules I believe. Unfortunately there is nothing to suggest that it is actually valid now on trains that do not pass through Northampton.

yorkie · 16 Jul 2018

Westcoast-ting said:
And if not would a wolverton rugby make it legal ?

Yes, I would say that would be fine. No need for the train to call anywhere.

(See relevant iKB extract in this post https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...onbridge-to-canary-wharf.167087/#post-3547918 )

Westcoast-ting · 16 Jul 2018

Thank you all for the advice I feel I can now challenge the passenger with a bit of knowledge now.

Bletchleyite · 16 Jul 2018

Hadders said:
Assuming this was a train that went via Weedon then it isn't valid. There are two relevant easements:

http://iblocks-rg-publication.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/easement_text.pdf

Those conflict nicely, don't they? I guess the Stafford one is meant to say "via Weedon" or "and not via Coventry" as well.

yorkie · 16 Jul 2018

Bletchleyite said:
Those conflict nicely, don't they? I guess the Stafford one is meant to say "via Weedon" or "and not via Coventry" as well.

Northampton to Stafford is simply valid via MKC, Weedon and Trent Valley line; it's a mapped route and there is no need to apply any easements to deem it valid.

However if you go via Coventry, the negative "easement" (!) is instigated, so any such itinerary would be invalidated.

Bletchleyite · 16 Jul 2018

yorkie said:
Northampton to Stafford is simply valid via MKC, Weedon and Trent Valley line; it's a mapped route and there is no need to apply any easements to deem it valid.

However if you go via Coventry, the negative "easement" (!) is instigated, so any such itinerary would be invalidated.

Interesting, so the first easement is redundant, then? Was it perhaps inserted as a "quick fix" prior to the maps being corrected, and not yet removed?

One assumes the presence of this is because there is a high frequency of services from Northampton to Coventry (where one can change onto a VT train that way) but there are none at all onto the Trent Valley now the LNR service runs via Weedon, so via MKC provides the best journey opportunities.

Hadders · 16 Jul 2018

yorkie said:
Northampton to Stafford is simply valid via MKC, Weedon and Trent Valley line; it's a mapped route and there is no need to apply any easements to deem it valid.

However if you go via Coventry, the negative "easement" (!) is instigated, so any such itinerary would be invalidated.

What about the double back at Wolverton?

I got LM to reinstate the easement allowing travel via MKC if travelling beyond Stafford. It was removed when LM introduced the Trent Valley stoppers as it gave a direct service from Northampton to Crewe. When Project 110 started Northampton lost out so I managed to get them to reinstate the easement.

Bletchleyite · 16 Jul 2018

Hadders said:
What about the double back at Wolverton?

Aha, that'll be it!

It was the case that there was a Bletchley Group (for routeing, not ticketing, purposes) which, if I recall rightly, contained Wolverton, MKC, Bletchley, Fenny, Bow Brickhill and Woburn Sands, which would have permitted this under the "doubling back within a station group" rule. However this seems now to have been removed, hence the easement.

All Line Rover · 17 Jul 2018

No, it isn't valid. It wouldn't have been valid under BR, either: (i) there is no time saving travelling via Milton Keynes (far from it); (ii) a Birmingham to Milton Keynes yearly season ticket is c. £5000, Birmingham to Northampton c. £2200. The former is, naturally, priced for intercity travel, the latter for midlands suburban travel. These regulated fares have (roughly) increased in line with inflation, so would have been similarly priced under BR. Northampton to London tickets are, similarly, not valid via Rugby, despite the occasional slight time saving.

Euston to coventry split season

Westcoast-ting

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Hadders

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Starmill

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yorkie

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Westcoast-ting

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Bletchleyite

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yorkie

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Hadders

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Bletchleyite

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All Line Rover

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