Network Railcard on train departing Oxford before 10am?

[Stargull]

I was fairly shocked this morning to go to book a 9.32 train from Oxford to Paddington via Trainline, only to have it apply my Network Railcard discount. I'm 99% sure that this isn't valid, but if I wasn't intimately familiar with the fare structure on this route, I would have happily gone ahead and grabbed it. With the number of people getting into trouble for not having railcards, I'm fairly shocked that a major site would sell an invalid ticket.

(Or I've been overpaying for travel into London for years)

Huh. GWR offer the same discount. I thought the Network Railcard rule was 'no travel before 10', not 'no arrival in London before 10'. Can anyone explain what's going on?

 

[richw]

You can buy Network Railcard discounted tickets for travel any time on weekends and public holidays or from 10:00am Monday to Friday. You may be able to start your journey a little earlier than 10:00am, see the time restriction easements section for details or check at your local station.

The 10:00am Monday to Friday time restriction applies to all types of tickets.

Presumably there is an easement on your route

Attached the easement document

 

[Bletchleyite]

Edited: There is a list of easements on the Railcard site but not that exact train. May be worth reporting to GWR?

Full list is downloadable here, linked as PDF from the bottom (bit long to quote):

https://www.network-railcard.co.uk/about-the-railcard/using-your-railcard/

 

[yorkie]

Any ticket(s) you are sold in conjunction with an itinerary would be contractually valid for use on that itinerary

 

[Stargull]

OK, interesting (though this train doesn't appear on the easement list). I shall give it a go...

 

[Bletchleyite]

OK, interesting (though this train doesn't appear on the easement list). I shall give it a go...

So it doesn't. I thought it was that time at Reading but it's not, it's the one after.

Wonder if they have changed the applicable trains but the retailers haven't updated?

 

[richw]

OK, interesting (though this train doesn't appear on the easement list). I shall give it a go...

the one that the easement is valid on from Worcester ( calling at Oxford) no longer exists.
Would your train become the easement service as the immediate train prior to the easement?

 

[Adam Williams]

Can we get the thread title updated here? Trainline are doing nothing wrong and the discounted ticket was offered in accordance with the industry's fares data.

The train is this one: https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:P75623/2023-10-31#allox_id=0

It starts at Shrub Hill at 0815 and has RSID GW7420 (BRTimes)

Restriction code RN (NETWORK RAILCARD WEF 020602) has an unconditional electronic easement on train GW7420.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Thanks. So presumably the PDF list on the Network Railcard site is just out of date, and it is in fact entirely valid on this train (whether with an itinerary or not)? Wouldn't be the first time.

 

[Adam Williams]

I would get an itinerary. This is unpublished machine-readable data, I am not sure you could rely on it contractually without one.

I'm not why RDG have decided publishing a static PDF of easements was a better idea than a dynamic page that would be automatically up-to-date, though.

 

[CyrusWuff]

Thanks. So presumably the PDF list on the Network Railcard site is just out of date, and it is in fact entirely valid on this train (whether with an itinerary or not)? Wouldn't be the first time.

Or the PDF is what is intended to apply, but the electronic data can't accurately reflect it. (i.e. by only allowing the easement from specific stations.)

 

[Bletchleyite]

Or the PDF is what is intended to apply, but the electronic data can't accurately reflect it. (i.e. by only allowing the easement from specific stations.)

It's flat wrong in this case, it lists a train from Worcester including most but not quite all stations (including Reading), but it's one that doesn't exist.

 

[Adam Williams]

The electronic data lets you specify "Except for boarding at station X" rules. No doubt if that was the intention, it will now be fixed.

 

[AlterEgo]

We've come across these easement lists before which haven't been updated with timetable changes. This is pretty poor housekeeping.

 

[cjohnson]

And on this Network Railcard page, the 'easement list' linked to at the top of the page (dated November 2022) is a different file to that linked to at the bottom (which is dated December 2022).

 

[bspahh]

Can we get the thread title updated here? Trainline are doing nothing wrong and the discounted ticket was offered in accordance with the industry's fares data.

The train is this one: https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:P75623/2023-10-31#allox_id=0

It starts at Shrub Hill at 0815 and has RSID GW7420 (BRTimes)

Restriction code RN (NETWORK RAILCARD WEF 020602) has an unconditional electronic easement on train GW7420.

View attachment 145724

That is odd. The easement for the 08.42 from Kings Lynn to Kings Cross, means that from December 11th, you can use a Network card for the 9.16 from Ely to Kings Cross (which has come from Kings Lynn), but not the 9.48 which starts from Ely.

 

[Stargull]

Just a note to say that the title of the thread has been updated on request. I still think it's odd that you can't see a list of when easements apply online!

(Oh, and the barriers accepted the ticket at both ends - no inspection in between though)

 

[plugwash]

I still think it's ridiculous that there are two inconsistent sets of rules, the human-readable ones and the electronic ones.