London to Pilning

[district]

I don't know the geography of the area very well and unable to check the routeing guide at present. Can anyone help? Is a London - Pilning Super Off Peak Return valid via Cardiff Central? So go London - Cardiff - Pilning?

 

[Starmill]

It should be valid via Newport certainly, without looking it up. But I doubt Cardiff Central.

 

[Romilly]

National Rail Enquiries indicates that you would need to buy a London-Newport (or London-Severn Tunnel Junction) ticket plus a Newport (or STJ) to Pilning ticket if you wanted to go to Pilning on one of the two eastbound Saturday trains that are the only trains each week to call at Pilning. And there are no Routeing Guide easements allowing travel to Pilning via stations west of Pilning.

 

[Parallel]

National Rail Enquiries indicates that you would need to buy a London-Newport (or London-Severn Tunnel Junction) ticket plus a Newport (or STJ) to Pilning ticket if you wanted to go to Pilning on one of the two eastbound Saturday trains that are the only trains each week to call at Pilning. And there are no Routeing Guide easements allowing travel to Pilning via stations west of Pilning.

I wonder if there is a local easement in place because Pilning can only be reached from the west. Something really should be written into the routeing guide to make tickets valid changing at Newport or STJ.

AFAIK if someone has a return from Pilning to Bristol on the morning train, station timetables inform passengers to change trains at Severn Tunnel Junction for the afternoon return. This, of course does not make the ticket valid however...

 

[Romilly]

Actually there is a routeing guide easement:

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To allow journeys on Saturdays to Pilning from Bristol Temple Meads to travel via Newport South Wales, this routeing point easement will override fares checking in journey planners.

But it seems to be interpreted very literally, i.e. journey planners will show a Bristol Temple Meads to Pilning ticket as valid for a journey via Newport, but not valid for the shorter journey via Severn Tunnel Junction. And the easement is not being used to validate journeys to Pilning via (rather than "from") Bristol Temple Meads, let alone from/via Bristol Parkway.

I think that what the easement needs to say is something like: "To allow journeys on Saturdays to Pilning from or via Patchway to travel via Severn Tunnel Junction or Newport South Wales ..."

 

[Kite159]

Actually there is a routeing guide easement:



But it seems to be interpreted very literally, i.e. journey planners will show a Bristol Temple Meads to Pilning ticket as valid for a journey via Newport, but not valid for the shorter journey via Severn Tunnel Junction. And the easement is not being used to validate journeys to Pilning via (rather than "from") Bristol Temple Meads, let alone from/via Bristol Parkway.

I think that what the easement needs to say is something like: "To allow journeys on Saturdays to Pilning from or via Patchway to travel via Severn Tunnel Junction or Newport South Wales ..."

Timings at Severn Tunnel Junction (STJ) are not the best, from Bristol:

Want to do the early morning service and change at STJ, you have a 40 minute wait (compared to 15 minutes at Newport)

The evening service gives a similar picture, a 40 minute connection at STJ or a 15 minute connection at Newport (from the same trains).

STJ hasn't really got a lot going for it in terms of being a nice station to spend 40 minutes

 

[Parallel]

STJ hasn't really got a lot going for it in terms of being a nice station to spend 40 minutes

Neither's Newport!

 

[Kite159]

Neither's Newport!

At least Newport has a toilet and a little shop

 

[Andrew1395]

At least Newport has a toilet and a little shop

Is that the station or the town centre?

 

[Starmill]

I think you could rely on the easement's text only format - if it were a Saturday - to travel to Piling (assuming that's actually what the OP is doing) via Newport.