Hastings to Maidstone two ways

[farleigh]

Hello,

I wish to travel from Hastings to Maidstone and back. I would like to travel up via Marshlink and then Ashford to Maidstone. I would then like to travel back via the Medway Valley line and down the Charing Cross to Hastings line.

Do I have to specify this when purchasing or would both be considered as reasonable routes?

Thank you for your help.

 

[soil]

Hastings - Ashford - Maidstone East and Hastings - Tonbridge - Maidstone West are both more-or-less the same distance (46 vs 48 miles) and perfectly reasonable, so there really isn't any need to consider more technical questions such as the meaning of 'Maidstone Stations'.

 

[yorkie]

Hello,

I wish to travel from Hastings to Maidstone and back. I would like to travel up via Marshlink and then Ashford to Maidstone. I would then like to travel back via the Medway Valley line and down the Charing Cross to Hastings line.

Do I have to specify this when purchasing or would both be considered as reasonable routes?

Thank you for your help.

They are both permitted routes, so there's no requirement to specify this.

However if you want to obtain an itinerary via Ashford on the outward leg and avoiding Ashford on the return leg, there is one website that will do this: www.trainscanbecheaper.info

To do this, click the 'ADVANCED OPTIONS' button after entering your journey details, and untick 'Use these for return journey as well' so that you get one set of boxes for the outward journey and an another set of boxes for the return journey.

 

[farleigh]

Thanks both for your replies - puts my mind at rest as I would not want to end up with a penalty fare or worse.

 

[district]

Thanks both for your replies - puts my mind at rest as I would not want to end up with a penalty fare or worse.

Regardless of actual validity it clearly passes the ''reasonable'' test so no-one would even bat an eyelid.