All Line Rover
Established Member
- Joined
- 17 Feb 2011
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- 5,222
Condition 25(d) of the NRCoC states (emphasis added):
If you take the view that 'whichever is the greater' is to be implied, this would mean that the sub-5-minute minimum connection times specified by Network Rail in the National Rail Timetable for a wide range of stations are void. But this would enrage commuters (particularly in the South East). Also, journey planners permit these sub-5-minute connections. So this 'implied' view is clearly incorrect. I am fortified in this conclusion by the placing of that second comma in the sentence in the NRCoC ("...time, or..."), which looks to be deliberately trying to convey the message that there is a choice between following the 'default' 5 minute minimum connection time or the minimum connection time specified by Network Rail.
Therefore, if Network Rail, in the National Rail Timetable, specify the minimum connection time at a particular station as 8 minutes, but a passenger wants to make a 5 minute connection, is a passenger entitled to make this connection?
Certain ticket offices in London have offered to manually lower the minimum connection time in such a case to 5 minutes (but no lower) when selling me a ticket. Why is this facility only available in (ever decreasing) ticket offices but not on train operator websites?
NRCoC said:You should make sure that, if your journey involves a change of train, you allow at least 5 minutes interchange time, or the appropriate interchange time shown in the National Rail Timetable for the station where you change trains.
If you take the view that 'whichever is the greater' is to be implied, this would mean that the sub-5-minute minimum connection times specified by Network Rail in the National Rail Timetable for a wide range of stations are void. But this would enrage commuters (particularly in the South East). Also, journey planners permit these sub-5-minute connections. So this 'implied' view is clearly incorrect. I am fortified in this conclusion by the placing of that second comma in the sentence in the NRCoC ("...time, or..."), which looks to be deliberately trying to convey the message that there is a choice between following the 'default' 5 minute minimum connection time or the minimum connection time specified by Network Rail.
Therefore, if Network Rail, in the National Rail Timetable, specify the minimum connection time at a particular station as 8 minutes, but a passenger wants to make a 5 minute connection, is a passenger entitled to make this connection?
Certain ticket offices in London have offered to manually lower the minimum connection time in such a case to 5 minutes (but no lower) when selling me a ticket. Why is this facility only available in (ever decreasing) ticket offices but not on train operator websites?