Routeing Guide 'Easements' amended 14/03/2012

[bnm]

A new updated Easements section to the Routeing Guide is now on the ATOC website, dated 14/03/2012.



DELETED EASEMENTS:
49. Journeys via Carlisle and Carstairs may double back from Motherwell. This easement applies in both directions.
50. Journeys to or from Kings Sutton may double back at Banbury.
64. Passengers from Baldock, Letchworth or Hitchin to Peterborough and stations beyond Peterborough may go via Stevenage. This applies in both directions.
69. The following groups of journeys to Stansted Airport via Cambridge may double back from Bishops Stortford: (1) journeys from stations north of Cambridge, (2) journeys via Cambridge from Knebworth, Watton at Stone, Stevenage or Hitchin, (3) journeys from stations between Hitchin and Cambridge, (4) journeys from stations north of Hitchin, (5) journeys from Cambridge. This easement applies in both directions.
79. Journeys from Peterborough and via Stevenage or via Peterborough and Stevenage to stations between London and Welham Green or London and Crews Hill may double back from London. This easement applies in both directions.
85. Journeys from Kensington Olympia and Willesden Jn made on tickets with a cross-London marker may double back from Euston. This easement applies in both directions.
10002. During engineering works on the Forth Bridge journeys between or via Edinburgh and Dundee may go via Falkirk, Stirling and Perth. This easement applies in both directions.
10005. During engineering works when trains from or via Leeds reverse at Guiseley journeys will be valid via Guiseley. This easement applies in both directions.
10006. Journeys via Preston and Crewe may go via Stoke on Trent and double back through Kidsgrove. (Temporary easement during engineering works)
10009. During engineering works when trains from or via Preston are diverted via Blackburn, Hellifield, Settle and Appleby to or via Carlisle, this will be a permitted route. This easement applies in both directions.
10013. Routeing via Carlisle for Edinburgh (and north/west thereof) to Newcastle (and south thereof).This easement is to allow for engineering works at weekends up until and inclusive of 09/10/2005. This easement is in both directions
20001. Passengers from Cumbria and the Scottish borders are permitted to travel on an evening service to Glasgow to join the London sleeper. Tickets must be routed via Glasgow.
20002. Passengers travelling between London and stations to Hexham may travel via Edinburgh and Newcastle if holding sleeper berth reservations.
20011. Passengers using the sleeper southbound from Glasgow may start their journey with a cross Glasgow service
30007. Journeys to and from Stapleton Road and Lawrence Hill may doubleback via Bristol Temple Meads.
30027. Journeys from York to Doncaster may travel via Leeds, but only when the direct route is closed because of engineering works. This easement applies in both directions
30029. Journeys from Dunblane, Bridge of Allan, Stirling and Larbert to Carlisle and beyond may travel via Edinburgh and/or Haymarket. This easement applies in both directions
30057. Journeys to and via Derby may travel via Birmingham and Leicester. The easement applies Saturdays and Sundays only.
30059. Journeys to and via Sheffield may travel via Birmingham and Leicester. Journeys to and via Birmingham may travel via Sheffield and Leicester. The easement applies Saturdays and Sundays only.
30060. Journeys from London Euston to Burton on Trent and stations via Derby, Sheffield, York, Newcastle and Edinburgh may travel via Birmingham New Street. This easement applies in both directions.
30071. Journeys from Chester-le-Street, Durham and Darlington to Northallerton and beyond may doubleback between Eaglescliffe and Stockton. This easement applies in both directions.
30180. Customers travelling from Finsbury Park to Cambridge and beyond may doubleback via London Kings Cross. This easement applies in both directions.
30251. Customers travelling between Westbury and Exeter St Davids may travel via Yeovil Pen Mill and Yeovil Junction. This easement applies both directions.
30252. Customers travelling between Wrexham General and Shotton may travel via Chester. This easement applies in both directions.
30257. Customers travelling between Woking and Reading West may travel via Farnborough Main and Farnborough North Stations. This easement applies in both directions.
30261. Customers travelling between Manchester Piccadilly and Stalybridge may travel via Guide Bridge. This easement applies in both directions.
30500. During Engineering works around Arudel w/e 29-31/08/09, journeys to Arundel from the east will be allowed via Barnham.
40000. Due to engineering works journeys may report repeated stations or doublebacks at BHM for the period 27/12/06 to 02/01/06 inclusive
300402. Customers travelling from Selby to Thirsk and beyond in possession of tickets routed TPE ONLY and AP TPE ONLY may travel via Leeds. This easement applies in both directions.
700071. During the period 27 December 2010 to 03 January 2011 inclusive, customers in possession of FGW tickets may double back between Banbury and Oxford.

NEW EASEMENTS:
700224. Customers travelling from Glasgow Stations to Exhibition Centre (Glasgow) may not travel via Partick. This easement applies in both directions.
700225. Customers travelling from Coatbridge Sunnyside, Coatdyke, Airdrie or Drumgelloch to Shotts may not travel via Edinburgh. This easement applies in both directions.
700226. Customers travelling from Windsor & Eton Central to or via Datchet may not travel via Windsor & Eton Riverside. This easement applies in both directions.

 

[bb21]

700224. Customers travelling from Glasgow Stations to Exhibition Centre (Glasgow) may not travel via Partick. This easement applies in both directions.

Unenforceable.

Exhibition Centre - Glasgow Central: 2 miles
Exhibition Centre - Partick - Glasgow Queen Street: 4.5 miles

This is covered under the 3-mile rule and the route cannot be invalidated by a negative easement.

 

[island]

And there's no such place as Glasgow Stations anyway

 

[Ivo]

The deletion of 69 is somewhat harsh in my opinion. There is only one direct service an hour between CBG and SSD, resulting it being much easier to double-back. They can claim that people should do so at Stansted Mountfichet all they want - the one time I did this journey I changed there on the return leg, having gone direct to Cambridge - but even that is not always convenient.

Is it also worth pointing out that pretty much every change they've made is negative from the passenger's perspective? At this rate, come 2020 it won't even be possible to do London to Birmingham via Oxford any more...

 

[34D]

The deletion of 69 is somewhat harsh in my opinion.

The loss of 64 is also very harsh, and could add quite a bit of time onto Baldock-Leeds - noting that one Leeds per hour calls kgx svg then gra omitting pbo.

 

[SS4]

Yet none of the expired easements have been removed :roll:

 

[MarkyMarkD]

Surely:

30500. During Engineering works around Arudel w/e 29-31/08/09, journeys to Arundel from the east will be allowed via Barnham.
40000. Due to engineering works journeys may report repeated stations or doublebacks at BHM for the period 27/12/06 to 02/01/06 inclusive
700071. During the period 27 December 2010 to 03 January 2011 inclusive, customers in possession of FGW tickets may double back between Banbury and Oxford.

includes 3 expired easements which HAVE been removed?

 

[SS4]

Surely: includes 3 expired easements which HAVE been removed?

Indeed, that'll teach me to read more carefully

 

[transmanche]

The loss of 79 and 30180 will inconvenience a lot of people.

 

[johnnychips]

Well I can see lots of cans of worms in here. Could I very politely suggest to the moderators that they encourage posters to open new threads about each easement they want to talk about, otherwise if they all post them here, the volume will be so great, we will have the situations of 'but didn't you read my comments four pages back' etc. when in fact only a few hours have passed.

EDIT: Since I started writing this, three comments have appeared in about six minutes!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
But then there's been nothing. So perhaps I'm wrong

 

[trc666]

Glasgow Stations is shown as 'GLASGOW CEN/QST' on tickets so in theory it does exist.

 

[gnolife]

I'm glad to see some of the trash being hauled out - 30261 being one that always was worthless (because its always direct trains)

 

[lyndhurst25]

Is there any notice period or public consultation before Easements are changed? Or are passengers making use of them supposed to check the ATOC website on a daily basis to see if there have been any changes? What about season ticket holders, or passengers who bought tickets in advance for a journey using an Easement that no longer applies?

 

[hairyhandedfool]

....This is covered under the 3-mile rule and the route cannot be invalidated by a negative easement.

Depends on your reading of the rules. The three mile rule only appears in the Routeing Guide and routes permitted by the Routeing Guide can be 'invalidated' by negative easements. The only permitted routes that are immune to the negative easements, imo, are 'routes taken by a through train' and 'the shortest route' which are printed in the NRCoC.

 

[SickyNicky]

Depends on your reading of the rules. The three mile rule only appears in the Routeing Guide and routes permitted by the Routeing Guide can be 'invalidated' by negative easements. The only permitted routes that are immune to the negative easements, imo, are 'routes taken by a through train' and 'the shortest route' which are printed in the NRCoC.

I have to admit that I have come to that conclusion as well recently.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Is there any notice period or public consultation before Easements are changed? Or are passengers making use of them supposed to check the ATOC website on a daily basis to see if there have been any changes?

The electronic version of easements can be downloaded daily by the booking engines, so if you consult one of those it should give you the "current" answer on validity. Incidentally, many easements that appear in the printed text have expired in the electronic version anyway, so won't be used by booking engines, although they are, of course, still valid because they're still in the public routeing guide.

That doesn't answer your question, of course ...

What about season ticket holders, or passengers who bought tickets in advance for a journey using an Easement that no longer applies?

I am sure that the terms and conditions for your ticket are those in force on the day you purchased it.

 

[Jordy]

700226. Customers travelling from Windsor & Eton Central to or via Datchet may not travel via Windsor & Eton Riverside. This easement applies in both directions.

Is it me or does that not make sense? How can you travel from Windsor & Eton Central to Datchet without going via Windsor & Eton Riverside?

 

[SickyNicky]

Is it me or does that not make sense? How can you travel from Windsor & Eton Central to Datchet without going via Windsor & Eton Riverside?

Assuming that you allow walking in the shortest route calculations (and the walk between the Windsor stations is defined in the electronic routeing guide), that's the shortest route so the easement is irrelevant.

In fact, it's completely odd because it doesn't even work if you swap the Windsor stations.

It would be interesting to take a copy of the easements with you and try going via Reading, Wokingham and Staines

 

[LexyBoy]

No surprise that all the removed easements are "positive" and those added "negative". Some of those removed are genuinely useful and their removal will only serve to make rail less attractive for people making those journeys.

Is it me or does that not make sense? How can you travel from Windsor & Eton Central to Datchet without going via Windsor & Eton Riverside?

If it applied, then it would make the journey impossible (as other easements do for some journeys). However it's irrelevant except where this is not the shortest route (if this is possible).

 

[island]

Glasgow Stations is shown as 'GLASGOW CEN/QST' on tickets so in theory it does exist.

The NRCoC, Routeing Guide, etc. are legal documents which ascribe legal penalties to people who don't comply. I would therefore have to say that one must be quite precise in defining these legal documents and disagree that you can infer "GLASGOW CEN/QST" from "Glasgow Stations".

 

[Ivo]

It would be interesting to take a copy of the easements with you and try going via Reading, Wokingham and Staines

If you assume that the station "via Datchet" is Longcross it could make for an interesting test

 

[Dan_Lockton]

Is it me or does that not make sense? How can you travel from Windsor & Eton Central to Datchet without going via Windsor & Eton Riverside?

Is that easement intended to prevent some of the permutations discussed here? If so, that was very quick indeed!

 

[supervalkoinen]

As a frequent traveller, I feel that I've generally sussed a large part of the fares structure, but much of the routeing guide and easements still defeats me.

From what I can see, Wrexham Group - Shotton is valid via maps BC and CH, so why was there a (now removed) easement (30252) for Wrexham General - Shotton via Chester?

 

[island]

Quite a few easements purport to permit journeys that are already permitted. This is to facilitate some booking engines which aren't evaluating routes correctly.

 

[wintonian]

Is that easement intended to prevent some of the permutations discussed here? If so, that was very quick indeed!

I can't remember exactly what was discussed but this thread did come to mind.

It's nice to think that we may have some influence over the routing guide.

 

[Ivo]

It's nice to think that we may have some influence over the routing guide.

But how much of this "influence" is actually positive from the perspective of anyone outside of ATOC? Among all the things that get discussed here there have to be some they discover and take action on once every so often.

Still, if we do have some influence, there have to be some Easements out there that are painfully harsh on the customer (or would be if removed), not including those listed in this thread, that could have something done about them. To give an example I know quite well, I can see them doing something about #29 (Stanford-le-Hope to or from Fenchurch Street or Limehouse is valid via Pitsea); in the eyes of the customer, it should be extended to all stations west of and including Barking - to ATOC, it would probably be a case of 29.

 

[wintonian]

But how much of this "influence" is actually positive from the perspective of anyone outside of ATOC? Among all the things that get discussed here there have to be some they discover and take action on once every so often.

Still, if we do have some influence, there have to be some Easements out there that are painfully harsh on the customer (or would be if removed), not including those listed in this thread, that could have something done about them. To give an example I know quite well, I can see them doing something about #29 (Stanford-le-Hope to or from Fenchurch Street or Limehouse is valid via Pitsea); in the eyes of the customer, it should be extended to all stations west of and including Barking - to ATOC, it would probably be a case of 29.

I was being tongue in cheek.

 

[Ivo]

I was being tongue in cheek.

That much is obvious.

The same "obvious" that I never seem to realise until it's too late

 

[Eagle]

Is it me or does that not make sense? How can you travel from Windsor & Eton Central to Datchet without going via Windsor & Eton Riverside?

I'd assume that if you requested a ticket from Central to Datchet, you'd actually be given one from Riverside to Datchet (which is sensible IMO; if your journey starts with a walk, why make the walk part of your ticket at all?)

I'm always surprised that there isn't a 'Windsor stations' group.

 

[Bill Badger]

[30257. Customers travelling between Woking and Reading West may travel via Farnborough Main and Farnborough North Stations. This easement applies in both directions.

Given online journey planners are quite happy to offer tickets via Guildford (travelling through Farnborough North) and via Basingstoke (travelling through Farnborough Main) I'm not exactly sure what this easement achieves.

You would be able to legitimately break your journey at either Farnborough station and I can't see RPIs quizzing pedestrians walking down Highgate Lane whether they have a valid rail ticket or not!: :roll:

 

[RJ]

Unenforceable.

Exhibition Centre - Glasgow Central: 2 miles
Exhibition Centre - Partick - Glasgow Queen Street: 4.5 miles

This is covered under the 3-mile rule and the route cannot be invalidated by a negative easement.

The whole point of negative easements is that they forbid routes that would otherwise be permitted.

,