Easement 70

[johnnycache]

Easement 70 reads as follows:

70 The following journeys may double back between Gatwick Airport and
Three Bridges: (1) from Faygate to Haywards Heath, (2) from Faygate and
via Haywards Heath, (3) via Faygate and to Haywards Heath, (4) via
Faygate and via Haywards Heath. This easement applies in both directions.

The journey i want to make is Horsham to Shoreham (Sussex) via Gatwick Airport using the following trains:

1020 Horsham Gatwick 1037
1050 Gatwick Shoreham 1130

1314 Shoreham Gatwick 1355
1409 Gatwick Horsham 1426

The nationalrail site quotes single fares of £16.20 outward and £16.70 return
and says there are no return fares

My question is should the normal off-peak day return of £13.90 apply in this case?

If the journey is made changing at Three Bridges and Haywards Heath (not via Gatwick Airport) then £13.90 is quoted

I work for Southern...but i'm sure some of you guys out there understand this better than i do!

 

[hairyhandedfool]

For the purposes of clarity I'm sure you mean Shoreham-by-Sea rather than Shoreham (Kent).

Going via Gatwick doublebacks through Three Bridges, so is not permitted route. The £16.20 single fare is two tickets, one at £5.10 the other at £11.10.

 

[tony_mac]

Going via Gatwick doublebacks through Three Bridges, so is not permitted route.

I guess you missed the point of the post, there is an easement allowing it.

Often, when one of the stations on the route is not a stopping or timing point, then the journey planner does not know the train passes through that station.
So, it wouldn't know the train goes through Faygate, and hence does not know that the easement should be applied.

 

[Paul Kelly]

I agree with tony_mac. The faster trains from Horsham to Gatwick that the journey planners are coming up with don't have Faygate as a calling point, nor is it a compulsory timing point. As the journey planners don't have any knowledge about the geography of the rail network, they don't know that the train goes via Faygate anyway, and hence don't apply the easement.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
According to page 18 of the Sussex Rules of the Plan, Horsham, Crawley and Three Bridges are all compulsory timing points, but the only trains to be timed at Littlehaven, Faygate and Ilfield are those calling there.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

I guess you missed the point of the post, there is an easement allowing it....

I mis-read (4).

The easements listed in the ATOC website aren't always a direct translation of the Electronic version used by journey planners though.

 

[Paul Kelly]

FWIW I have access to a copy of the electronic version of the easements dating from last year and I checked it before replying above - this particular easement looks not to have changed since 2004 and to be implemented electronically exactly as it is in the (unusually precise!) human-readable description.

 

[Paul Kelly]

I see Easement 70 seems to have been replaced by Easement 700282:

Customers travelling from Arundel, Amberley, Pulborough, Billingshurst, Christs Hospital, Horsham, Littlehaven and Faygate via Crawley to Haywards Heath and beyond may double back between Three Bridges and Gatwick Airport. This easement applies in both directions.

 

[SussexMan]

The new wording appears to be a bit more restrictive. For instance if you want to travel from Warnham (which is on the Horsham to Dorking line) to Brighton you are not travelling from one of the stations mentioned so that suggests the easement doesn't apply.

The previous wording clearly allowed it. Why would the wording have changed and was the intention to make it more restrictive?

 

[johnnycache]

I work for Southern and requested this change. The problem with the old easement was it didn't work! On the NRE Journey Planner higher fares were being charged via Gatwick Airport. I was advised that it was best to be specific about the stations that the easement applied to.

The new wording of 700282 is as follows:

Customers travelling from Arundel, Amberley, Pulborough, Billingshurst, Christs Hospital, Horsham, Littlehaven and Faygate via Crawley to Haywards Heath and beyond may double back between Three Bridges and Gatwick Airport. This easement applies in both directions.

This version is not exactly as requested and we will seek to get it further revised. However it does work on the NRE Journey Planner for all the journeys i have tested so far and that is a big benefit as passengers can make trips such as Horsham to Lewes with one change of train at Gatwick instead of having to change at both Three Bridges and Haywards Heath. If any of you have time/inclination to test more journeys usuing this easement i'd be very interested to receive the results.