Odd Journey Planner Result

Am travelling between Eastbourne and Galway on a through ticket and Stena Line have sent the tickets through but to me the route looks really, really odd.

Eastbourne - Brighton (Southern)
Brighton - Portsmouth & Ssea (Southern)
Portsmouth & Ssea - Southampton C (Southern)
Southampton C - Coventry (CrossCountry)
Coventry - Nuneaton (WMR)
Nuneaton - Crewe (LNR)
Crewe - Glasgow Central (Avanti)
Glasgow Central - Ayr (ScotRail)
Ayr - Cairnryan (Stena Line Bus)
Cairnryan - Belfast Port (Stena Line)
Belfast Port - Belfast G V St (Translink Bus)
Belfast G V St - Newry (N I Railways)
Newry - Dublin Connolly (Enterprise)
Dublin Connolly - Heuston (Luas)
Heuston - Galway (IÉ)

Seems like a very diverted route. It's for Sunday so am guessing there is engineering work.

I know the railways well, and would have done Eastbourne - Victoria - Euston - Holyhead - Dublin - Galway. Can I still do that? Tickets don't state any route restrictions except "Via Stena Line".

As there is now only one Stena bus to Cairnryan at 12.35 I suspect the complication may be that their planner doesn't allow a long enough stopover anywhere so you end up with sundry long-ish connections to kill time on a marathon journey.
Why you are routed that way is another question, which Stena need to answer!

You haven't accidentally got 'via Ayr' or 'via Belfast' or something set in the search, have you?

I can’t reproduce this, I’m afraid - generally get a route via Euston and Glasgow except on weekends where WCML is closed (e.g. Easter) when routing is via Kings Cross and Edinburgh. What is the precise date you are travelling, if you don’t mind me asking ?

So they have stopped the issues around the use of the anytime ticket to Belfast by only allowing 1 train and 1 bus which precludes long distance trips.

Staffordian said:

I can’t reproduce this, I’m afraid - generally get a route via Euston and Glasgow except on weekends where WCML is closed (e.g. Easter) when routing is via Kings Cross and Edinburgh. What is the precise date you are travelling, if you don’t mind me asking ?

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This Sunday. Was booked through Stena Line not the UK sites.

embers25 said:

So they have stopped the issues around the use of the anytime ticket to Belfast by only allowing 1 train and 1 bus which precludes long distance trips.

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Not quite. They have withdrawn all but one bus. No service that still operates has been forbidden

Steddenm said:

This Sunday. Was booked through Stena Line not the UK sites.

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Thanks - it’s almost as if the route has been planned avoiding changes in London, Birmingham or at Gatwick Airport. Perhaps some hidden criterion in Stena’s route planner ?

The odd thing is that it's being routed via Glasgow and Belfast at all. The obvious and much faster route is Holyhead to Dublin then train to Galway.

Stena have got some vessel changes on that route this month (for refits), but all sailings on Sunday are offering foot passenger tickets.

Steddenm said:

This Sunday. Was booked through Stena Line not the UK sites.

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*This* Sunday? Who knows what will actually happen, the NR timetables are all being torn up for the coming storm.
You *might* get various cross-TOC ticket acceptance which would allow you to go by various different routes.
There's talk of a blanket 50mph speed restriction to minimise the danger of trains hitting debris on the track etc. so it's probably going to be a difficult journey regardless.
There's a fair bit of advice not to travel at all if possible.

What sort of tickets are these, how did you get them?

Tickets routed through Cairnryan are not going to be valid via Holyhead, either on rail or Stena in normal circumstances.


Edit: as the line east of Llandudno Jct has preemptively been closed for all of this Sunday either this ticket was issued based on this closure or it is a strange coincidence. Either way you are not going to be able to travel via Holyhead this Sunday and I'd be less than certain your trip via Cairnryan will be possible either.

In fact there is no way even without disruption you would be able to do Brighton - Galway via Belfast in one day, even getting to Belfast via Cairnryan would be impossible on a normal Sunday.

I'd suggest either cancel the trip and go another day or look for flights to DUB or SNN although they may be disrupted by the weather as well.

30907 said:

Not quite. They have withdrawn all but one bus. No service that still operates has been forbidden

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According to Stena Line all other ships are forbidden to use.

https://www.stenaline.co.uk/ferries-to-ireland/rail-sail