Edinburgh - Lichfield TV via Glasgow?,

Today we travelled from Lichfield TV to Edinburgh on an open first class return via Birmingham New Street. The train (which was a through Euston - Edinburgh Pendolino) was rammed even in First Class and the onboard staff told us that Standard Class was “mayhem” with the shop closed throughout simply because there were so many people standing in the shop area. They also told me of people who had stood all the way from Birmingham to Edinburgh, and all because of a combination of the Festival and the Kings Cross closure.

So as soon as we arrived at Edinburgh, we went to the travel shop because although we have open first tickets, when we return on Monday we don’t want to risk being sat apart. But at the travel centre we were told that even in First all reservations are taken for all Virgin services south on Monday, so we’ll have to take our chances.

But then a thought occurred - is a First class open ticket from EDB to LTV valid via Glasgow? We won’t be in a rush on Monday and I’d rather go to Glasgow Queen St and cross the city to get on what I would hope would be a quieter service to London that would stop at Crewe or Stafford, to catch a connecting North Western service to Lichfield.

Can anyone please advise if my ticket is valid via Glasgow?

Yes, your tickets will be valid via Glasgow.

Yes the ticket is valid via Glasgow. Maps EG + BE in the Routing Guide: http://data.atoc.org/routeing-guide

There are direct trains between Edinburgh and Glasgow Central to save the 5 minute walk between stations. Cross Country are roughly two hourly I think and ScotRail have frequent service via Shotts (takes a bit longer time wise though).

westralian said:

There are direct trains between Edinburgh and Glasgow Central to save the 5 minute walk between stations. Cross Country are roughly two hourly I think and ScotRail have frequent service via Shotts (takes a bit longer time wise though).

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Bearing in mind that the minimum interchange time between Glasgow Central and Queen Street is 30 minutes and within Central is 15 minutes, by travelling to Central direct from Edinburgh there would not be much difference in it at all.

For example, assuming Edinburgh - Queen Street via Falkirk High using the xx00 or xx30 (the 42 minute timed trains), with the 30 minutes interchange time between Queen Street and Central would push this up to 72 minutes.

The Intercity Crosscountry trains via Carstairs takes broadly 60 minutes or so to do Edinburgh - Glasgow Central. With the minimum interchange time of 15 minutes at Central, this pushes it to 75 minutes or so.

For the via Shotts route, if it is the limited stop train, this broadly takes around 75-80 minutes, plus interchange time. The all stations stopping train takes broadly 90 minutes, plus interchange time. This route as things presently stand is not the most advantageous, but is useful should if the Crosscountry is severely delayed and curtailed at Edinburgh, as can happen.

adrock1976 said:

Bearing in mind that the minimum interchange time between Glasgow Central and Queen Street is 30 minutes and within Central is 15 minutes, by travelling to Central direct from Edinburgh there would not be much difference in it at all.

For example, assuming Edinburgh - Queen Street via Falkirk High using the xx00 or xx30 (the 42 minute timed trains), with the 30 minutes interchange time between Queen Street and Central would push this up to 72 minutes.

The Intercity Crosscountry trains via Carstairs takes broadly 60 minutes or so to do Edinburgh - Glasgow Central. With the minimum interchange time of 15 minutes at Central, this pushes it to 75 minutes or so.

For the via Shotts route, if it is the limited stop train, this broadly takes around 75-80 minutes, plus interchange time. The all stations stopping train takes broadly 90 minutes, plus interchange time. This route as things presently stand is not the most advantageous, but is useful should if the Crosscountry is severely delayed and curtailed at Edinburgh, as can happen.

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The minimum connection time at Central includes an allowance for getting between the High Level and Low Level platforms, which of course wouldn't be necessary in this case. And 30 minutes seems a little optimistic for Queen St-Central particularly if you're not quick on your feet.

Hi, I just thought I'd update. I heard that VTWC services from Edinburgh on Monday (yesterday) were rammed to the hilt, full and standing in First, so the utterly empty (in First) class 385 Edinburgh to Glasgow Queen St at 1215 was a joy. The train conductor accepted our tickets with no comment. Our tickets were barcodes on my phone, so with two tickets on one phone I had to ask the gateline attendant at Queen Street to let us through. "LTV, whaur's tha'?" "It's a ticket from Edinburgh to Lichfield Trent Valley that's valid via Glasgow Central." "Well in that case tha's no valid here, this is Glasgow Queen Street!" "Er yes, that's why I'm leaving here to cross town to Central now." Cue five seconds glowering then a big show of reluctantly opening the gate. From there it was all plain sailing, tickets accepted without demur at Glasgow Central Virgin lounge, at the gateline and on the 1400 train.

30 minutes is decidedly tight for a connection between Queen St and Central. We arrived at 1300 and arrived at Central just after 1320 (just missed the inter-station bus, had to wait for the next one) - so we'd have made it, but only just. What doesn't help is that the bus does a circular route that goes Central - Queen St - Buchanan St bus station - Central, so the journey from Central to Queen St is a lot faster than the opposite direction.

exile said:

The minimum connection time at Central includes an allowance for getting between the High Level and Low Level platforms, which of course wouldn't be necessary in this case.

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Unless, of course, you want the protection of travelling with the benefit of a valid itinerary.