Long Eaton - Sheffield during Derby blockade

[Skymonster]

Hi all,

I sometimes travel Long Eaton - Sheffield on an offpeak day return. CDR is usually £11.90.

During the Derby blockade in August both National Rail and East Midlands Trains are showing a CDR £10.10, routed LGE-EMD-NOT-SHF or LGE-bus-DBY-bus-CHD-SHF. I have no desire to use the rail replacement buses but would do the routing via EMD and/or NOT. But what is this £10.10 fare - I can't find it on BRFARES for example? And what restrictions does it carry? Living equally as close to EMD as LGE I'd be delighted to buy this £10.10 fare for travel from originating / terminating at EMD (break / start late / finish short) rather than pay the rediculous normal £21.50 SVR from/to Parkway to Sheffield.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[Skymonster]

Now I'm even more confused.

The derby2018.co.uk site says: "Monday 30th July to Sunday 2nd September: No trains will run between Derby and Nottingham during this time. This includes East Midlands Trains and CrossCountry services.

And yet on (for example) Saturday August 4 / 11 the National Rail app lists an hourly LGE-NOT-SHF with returns via a similar route, as well as connections via EMD/NOT and bus via DBY/CHD.

 

[louis97]

Now I'm even more confused.

The derby2018.co.uk site says: "Monday 30th July to Sunday 2nd September: No trains will run between Derby and Nottingham during this time. This includes East Midlands Trains and CrossCountry services.

And yet on (for example) Saturday August 4 / 11 the National Rail app lists an hourly LGE-NOT-SHF with returns via a similar route, as well as connections via EMD/NOT and bus via DBY/CHD.

Note it says: no trains between Derby and Nottingham. However there will still be a train service for some of that time period between Long Eaton and Nottingham.

Hi all,

I sometimes travel Long Eaton - Sheffield on an offpeak day return. CDR is usually £11.90.

During the Derby blockade in August both National Rail and East Midlands Trains are showing a CDR £10.10, routed LGE-EMD-NOT-SHF or LGE-bus-DBY-bus-CHD-SHF. I have no desire to use the rail replacement buses but would do the routing via EMD and/or NOT. But what is this £10.10 fare - I can't find it on BRFARES for example? And what restrictions does it carry? Living equally as close to EMD as LGE I'd be delighted to buy this £10.10 fare for travel from originating / terminating at EMD (break / start late / finish short) rather than pay the rediculous normal £21.50 SVR from/to Parkway to Sheffield.

Thanks for any advice.

It seems tickets from effected stations have a 15% discount applied.

 

[Skymonster]

Thank you very much Louis97. And I should have thought of the NOT-LGE trains reversing at Spondon.

So the discounted SVR LGE-SHF seems to be valid via EMD during the Derby blockade - that's what NRE suggests anyway . Does anyone know whether it allows a break both ways so I can use it just between EMD and SHF? I'd really prefer to ignore LGE and just use EMD but £10.10 is way better than £21.50 and would influence where I start and end the journey.

 

[yorkie]

It's valid that way anyway (not just during the engineering works).

You can legitimately start short on any ticket that permits break of journey.

But there goes that loophole now it's been revealed

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

Hi all,

I sometimes travel Long Eaton - Sheffield on an offpeak day return. CDR is usually £11.90.

During the Derby blockade in August both National Rail and East Midlands Trains are showing a CDR £10.10, routed LGE-EMD-NOT-SHF or LGE-bus-DBY-bus-CHD-SHF. I have no desire to use the rail replacement buses but would do the routing via EMD and/or NOT. But what is this £10.10 fare - I can't find it on BRFARES for example? And what restrictions does it carry? Living equally as close to EMD as LGE I'd be delighted to buy this £10.10 fare for travel from originating / terminating at EMD (break / start late / finish short) rather than pay the rediculous normal £21.50 SVR from/to Parkway to Sheffield.

Thanks for any advice.

It would appear that they have reduced the price of certain fares (I would have thought those which they control which they deem go via Derby) by 15% across the board. This is not dissimilar to when they did the same thing for the Nottingham resignalling etc. works in 2013.

Normally you definitely wouldn't be able to go via East Midlands Parkway but if you can get an itinerary which routes you that way in conjunction with a ticket then arguably you would be entitled to start late at Parkway. I would still do so with caution, as you may have problems at the barrier and 'misusing' the validity may see it being withdrawn, to the detriment of those actually travelling from Long Eaton to Sheffield etc.!

 

[Skymonster]

It's valid that way anyway (not just during the engineering works).

Are you sure? I've never regarded LGE-SHF as valid via EMD - map DY seems to support that view unless there's an easement I have't spotted.

You can legitimately start short on any ticket that permits break of journey.

But there goes that loophole now it's been revealed

Indeed I'm well aware of the starting short thing - but you didn't have to answer in public, and more to the point I'm still not convinced LGE-SHF is valid via EMD/NOT under normal circumstances unless someone can explain why it is...

 

[yorkie]

You did ask

It's valid on map DY

 

[kieron]

Are you sure? I've never regarded LGE-SHF as valid via EMD - map DY seems to support that view unless there's an easement I have't spotted.

East Midlands Parkway is between Long Eaton and Attenborough if you go that way.

 

[ashworth]

Living equally as close to EMD as LGE I'd be delighted to buy this £10.10 fare for travel from originating / terminating at EMD (break / start late / finish short) rather than pay the rediculous normal £21.50 SVR from/to Parkway to Sheffield.

That’s always been a problem with travelling north from East Midlands Parkway and it does not encourage greater use of this station. There are no CDR’s to any of the popular destinations that people may travel to for leisure purposes. Therefore fares from EAst Midlands Parkway to popular destinations like Sheffield, Leeds, Manchester, York, Chester etc are often almost double the price of the fares from Nottingham or Derby.

 

[MichaelAMW]

Now I'm even more confused.

The derby2018.co.uk site says: "Monday 30th July to Sunday 2nd September: No trains will run between Derby and Nottingham during this time. This includes East Midlands Trains and CrossCountry services.

And yet on (for example) Saturday August 4 / 11 the National Rail app lists an hourly LGE-NOT-SHF with returns via a similar route, as well as connections via EMD/NOT and bus via DBY/CHD.

Derby isn't completely closed to the south on those dates but must have much reduced capacity. There is an hourly Derby - London service, calling at Long Eaton, and an hourly Long Eaton - Newark, so the Nottingham - Derby line is actually open but with no direct trains. Otherwise it's buses.

 

[ashworth]

It would appear that they have reduced the price of certain fares (I would have thought those which they control which they deem go via Derby) by 15% across the board. This is not dissimilar to when they did the same thing for the Nottingham resignalling etc. works in 2013.

I have to travel from Hucknall, just north of Nottingham on the Robin Hood Line, to Crewe at the end of August. I notice that there is a 15% reduction in price for tickets from Nottingham to Crewe but no reduction from Hucknall and other stations on the Robin Hood Line. To get the reduction I will have to split at Nottingham, and as there are no returns from Hucknall to Nottingham, for travelling back later in the week, I don’t really save that much.

Therefore a journey from Hucknall to Crewe on a through ticket, despite being subject to one of the greatest extension to journey times as a result of the Derby blockade, does not seem to qualify for any reduction in price. Unfortunately, as I’m travelling out on a Sunday afternoon, even changing at Tamworth rather than bus from Nottingham to Derby, then Derby to Uttoxeter, results in a 55 wait for a connection at Tamworth and then a slow journey via Stoke on Trent.

 

[MichaelAMW]

I have to travel from Hucknall, just north of Nottingham on the Robin Hood Line, to Crewe at the end of August. I notice that there is a 15% reduction in price for tickets from Nottingham to Crewe but no reduction from Hucknall and other stations on the Robin Hood Line. To get the reduction I will have to split at Nottingham, and as there are no returns from Hucknall to Nottingham, for travelling back later in the week, I don’t really save that much.

Therefore a journey from Hucknall to Crewe on a through ticket, despite being subject to one of the greatest extension to journey times as a result of the Derby blockade, does not seem to qualify for any reduction in price. Unfortunately, as I’m travelling out on a Sunday afternoon, even changing at Tamworth rather than bus from Nottingham to Derby, then Derby to Uttoxeter, results in a 55 wait for a connection at Tamworth and then a slow journey via Stoke on Trent.

One of the extremely poor elements of the Derby blockade is the need to get a train and two buses on a journey that might previously involved just one change between trains, e.g. Uttoxeter - Nottingham, Newark - Matlock. It would help in a number of ways to run Crewe - Nottingham or even Newark but maybe the capacity of the Castle Donnington line couldn't manage.

 

[Skymonster]

It's valid that way anyway (not just during the engineering works).

You can legitimately start short on any ticket that permits break of journey.

But there goes that loophole now it's been revealed

Oops, new negative easement:

700816 (Circuitous Route) Tickets from Long Eaton to Sheffield are not valid via East Midlands Parkway. This negative circuitous route easement applies in both directions.

I guess the moral of the story is...

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

Well, it took longer to be fixed than I'd have thought! Obviously plenty of anti-customer routeing anomalies which were "revealed" in July - or even years ago - remain to be fixed. Why am I not surprised!