Virgin trains engineering

[mrmartin]

I recently traveled to Carlisle on the 4th of April from London. There was engineering works on at Euston so I went to Kings Cross. Was in a rush (and wasn't expecting a 5h30 train ride) so I ended up buying a via Newcastle route on the TVM.

Would any permitted be valid (which is considerably cheaper) and if so, would VTEC refund? I have emailed their customer relations but be interested to hear peoples views here.

 

[nlogax]

That weekend I was in Glasgow and used an Any Permitted off peak return > KGX > GLC > KGX. According to National Rail, my ticket was only valid on the ECML via Newcastle, but Virgin Trains were publishing other potential routes on their engineering site;

http://www.virgintrains.co.uk/updates/route-improvements/spanner/
(specifically http://www.virgintrains.co.uk/asset...improvements-easter-2015-lon-car-scot-map.pdf )

Would be interesting in knowing if you have any success.

 

[CyrusWuff]

The "Any Permitted" tickets were only being accepted via Leeds and the S&C over Easter. Travel via Newcastle was advertised as requiring an Excess.

If there had been a direct VTEC service from Kings Cross to Glasgow, however, the Any Permitted ticket would have been valid.

 

[mrmartin]

Balls. That's so annoying, considering the journey planner was advertising that route far more than via S&C.

Does anyone know what route virgin trains would 'recommend'?

 

[Mag_seven]

The "Any Permitted" tickets were only being accepted via Leeds and the S&C over Easter. Travel via Newcastle was advertised as requiring an Excess.

So not only are Virgin inconveniencing you by making you travel by longer alternative routes but if you choose to travel on the shorter alternative route with a higher service frequency, they will charge you extra for it.

 

[Andrew1395]

balls. That's so annoying, considering the journey planner was advertising that route far more than via s&c.

Does anyone know what route virgin trains would 'recommend'?

m1 + m6

 

[mrmartin]

Out of interest, what was the recommended route to Glasgow? Was it everyone go via Leeds -> S&C -> Carlisle?

It seems like that route would get very overloaded.

 

[Hadders]

Out of interest, what was the recommended route to Glasgow? Was it everyone go via Leeds -> S&C -> Carlisle?

It seems like that route would get very overloaded.

Kings Cross - Edinburgh thence Scotrail to Glasgow I'd have thought.

 

[mrmartin]

That weekend I was in Glasgow and used an Any Permitted off peak return > KGX > GLC > KGX. According to National Rail, my ticket was only valid on the ECML via Newcastle, but Virgin Trains were publishing other potential routes on their engineering site;

http://www.virgintrains.co.uk/updates/route-improvements/spanner/
(specifically http://www.virgintrains.co.uk/asset...improvements-easter-2015-lon-car-scot-map.pdf )

Would be interesting in knowing if you have any success.

Sorry - just saw this. I think this is absolutely ridiculous.

"From Carlisle, there are two routes. The faster route is to
Newcastle and down to Kings Cross but will require you to
pay an excess fare. A slower route is direct to Leeds and
then to Kings Cross. This route will not cost any extra but
will add to your journey time considerably and has a very
limited service in operation."

So they know it is 'very limited' and 'slower' yet they don't get rid of the excess fare requirement?

Would this route be valid? STP->SHF->MAN->CAR?

Does anyone know why there is a separate 'via newcastle' fare for this in the first place? apart from engineering work you'd have to be on crack to want to go that way, considering it takes 2hrs more and you're on a crappy northern rail all stops service for 1h40 of that.

 

[Hadders]

Carlise-London is cheaper than Newcastle-London. It probably goes back to British Rail days when prices on the ECML were increased following electrification in the 1990's.

If there wasn't a higher via Newcastle fare from Carlisle passengers would simply never buy a ticket from Newcastle. They'd buy one from Carlisle and start short.

A difficult one during the engineering works - VTEC/Northern could have passed Any Permited Carlisle tickets but anyone in the know travelling from Newcastle would simply have purchased a Carlisle ticket and paid less, thus reducing the revenue of companies who had absolutely nothing to do with the engineering work.

If it were me I'd have purchased the Any Permitted and purchased a change of route excess on board, if required to do so. It costs no more to buy it on the train. You might have got a friendly guard who may not have bothered to charge the excess.

 

[mrmartin]

I see, good point. The TVMs didn't sell Any Permitted tickets, even though that was valid, and there was a long queue for the ticket office.