Crewe to Edinburgh validity

[mp01]

Hi experts. Is a Crewe to Edinburgh off-peak return valid via Manchester Piccadilly (Arriva Trains Wales to Manchester, TransPennine Express from Manchester)?

The context is that I'll be travelling from south Wales, and want to know what my back up options are in case there's any significant delay to the Avanti services that would theoretically take me to Preston or Carlisle to change to the TransPennine Express.

Second question is that my ticket suggests the 1009 Blackpool North service from Crewe to change at Preston. Given that's potentially a tight connection, is there anything to stop me getting the 0938 Glasgow Central service from Crewe? And is there anything to stop me changing at Carlisle rather than Preston? (I think I read somewhere that reservations are compulsory at the moment.)

Thank you so much!

 

[mangyiscute]

From what I can see the answer to both of those questions is yes - despite being an 'off-peak' ticket it essentially has no restrictions time wise, and route wise it is valid via Manchester.
Since it's a flexible ticket, it's valid on any train that goes a valid route, and you can change between trains at any station you wish on this route - there are no compulsory reservations on any services - if you have a valid walk up ticket you can always board and avanti have unreserved carriages C&U on their services.
Just in case there's major issues on the WCML its also worth noting the ticket is valid for travel into Glasgow and then across to Edinburgh if that is necessary

 

[jfollows]

Maps CG + EG in the routeing guide (https://data.atoc.org/routeing-maps) so via Manchester is fine as long as you continue down the WCML because via York & ECML is not valid.
You can use any train as long as you comply with your ticket’s restrictions - 2U I think - which seems to be no break of journey outbound, which you are not proposing to do.

 

[mp01]

From what I can see the answer to both of those questions is yes - despite being an 'off-peak' ticket it essentially has no restrictions time wise, and route wise it is valid via Manchester.
Since it's a flexible ticket, it's valid on any train that goes a valid route, and you can change between trains at any station you wish on this route - there are no compulsory reservations on any services - if you have a valid walk up ticket you can always board and avanti have unreserved carriages C&U on their services.
Just in case there's major issues on the WCML its also worth noting the ticket is valid for travel into Glasgow and then across to Edinburgh if that is necessary

Thank you, that's really helpful especially the hint about going via Glasgow which could be handy if it all goes pear-shaped.

Maps CG + EG in the routeing guide (https://data.atoc.org/routeing-maps) so via Manchester is fine as long as you continue down the WCML because via York & ECML is not valid.
You can use any train as long as you comply with your ticket’s restrictions - 2U I think - which seems to be no break of journey outbound, which you are not proposing to do.

Thank you. Yes it's 2U and via Carlisle only. I'd looked at the routeing guide, but wasn't sure what it was telling me.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Thank you, that's really helpful especially the hint about going via Glasgow which could be handy if it all goes pear-shaped.

Oddly, the opposite isn't valid, ie to Glasgow via Edinburgh, even though the mileage is similar.
It's a relic of when there were few direct WCML services to Edinburgh.

 

[jfollows]

Thank you. Yes it's 2U and via Carlisle only. I'd looked at the routeing guide, but wasn't sure what it was telling me.

It's a relatively simple case in which both Crewe and Edinburgh are "routeing points" and the "permitted route identifier" gives a table of valid map routes between pairs of routeing points like these. In this particular case there's only one combination of maps, CG+EG, which you can then look up in the map section. For sure, there are more complicated rules to be aware of sometimes, but this isn't one of them.

 

[voyagerdude220]

Just in case there's major issues on the WCML its also worth noting the ticket is valid for travel into Glasgow and then across to Edinburgh if that is necessary

Up until around a decade ago I used to regularly (around once every week or two) buy cheap Advance First tickets from Preston to Edinburgh via Glasgow Central/Queen Street, usually departing Preston on the 08:15 and returning on the 16:40 from Glasgow in order to sample the full Breakfast menu on the way up, before having the hot evening meal on the way back.

I never had any issues with the ticket routing, just occasionally Train Managers thinking I was on the wrong train until they checked my seat reservation.