Holiday period & AP availability

[Polarbear]

Hello

A colleague of mine is looking to travel from Liverpool to Brighton on Sat 29 December, returning on Sunday 30 December. According to the booking horizons page on National Rail, Virgin haven't yet released Advance Purchase tickets for the period 27-31 December, presumably because Network Rail haven't confirmed full availability of the relevant bits of the network.

I'm aware of Various bits of engineering work around these dates, including;

• Re-signalling work between Edge Hill & Runcorn
• London Victoria Closure

Is there anything else (such as preliminary HS2 work at Euston) which may be delaying release of AP tickets for these dates, or does anyone know when they may be released for sale?

Thanks

 

[gordonthemoron]

I believe that there is a reduced service out of Euston, but there will be a reasonable service

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

Hello

A colleague of mine is looking to travel from Liverpool to Brighton on Sat 29 December, returning on Sunday 30 December. According to the booking horizons page on National Rail, Virgin haven't yet released Advance Purchase tickets for the period 27-31 December, presumably because Network Rail haven't confirmed full availability of the relevant bits of the network.

I'm aware of Various bits of engineering work around these dates, including;

• Re-signalling work between Edge Hill & Runcorn
• London Victoria Closure

Is there anything else (such as preliminary HS2 work at Euston) which may be delaying release of AP tickets for these dates, or does anyone know when they may be released for sale?

Thanks

I suspect Advances might not be released at all. Virtually all Off-Peak, and some Super Off-Peak tickets are set (in the journey planner data) as being valid at any time during that period, and thus there is limited incentive for TOCs to entice passengers to travel on particular trains. Especially as, if there are any engineering work overruns, the more passengers the TOC has travelling, the greater the number of passengers they'll have to find alternative transport for.

You could ask Virgin on Twitter but I suspect the easiest way would simply be to book a regular flexible ticket now (that way if the timetable changes you are still protected and entitled to alternative transport, which you wouldn't be if you only bought on the day). Then set up an alert for Advances at www.thetrainline.com/ticketalert (obviously don't actually use The Trainline to book, as they charge avoidable fees!). If Advances later go on sale, the policy is currently that you can get a fee-free refund of the original tickets.

 

[nuneatonmark]

National Rail and Virgin Trains websites both said that train times and advance fares should be available for the weekend of 29th/30th December from yesterday but nothing has materialised. Clearly there is an intent to issue them otherwise why would they say what they did. Anyone know what the further delay or whether they have changed their minds? I too, are waiting for advance tickets for that weekend.