What does this route mean?

[Starmill]

Apologies if being thick. What on earth does 'AP ATW CT & CONN' mean? Thanks. I found it searching for tickets from Liverpool to Haverfordwest.

 

[Muzer]

Advance Purchase Arriva Trains Wales (not sure what CT is) and Connections

 

[yorkie]

Central Trains? If so, it's rather out of date!

 

[OwlMan]

Apologies if being thick. What on earth does 'AP ATW CT & CONN' mean? Thanks. I found it searching for tickets from Liverpool to Haverfordwest.

AP - Avance Purchase
ATW - Arriva trains Wales
CT - Central Trains (Now LM)

It is an Advance ticket travelling using ATW & LM + connections - probably one of many obsolete fares in the database.

 

[Muzer]

Yeah, I was thinking maybe Central Trains. Surely can't be...


EDIT: Maybe it is, then. It doesn't really matter, presumably, since the route designation on advance tickets rarely has to be enforced by anything other than the booking engines.

 

[Starmill]

Surely not!? How could you even use LM? They don't operate from Cardiff so you'd need to go to Hereford then into Birmingham and back up to Crewe, when you could just use the Marches all the way? Did Central operate what is now the CrossCountry service from South Wales? This ticket would presumably not be routed that way and also viewed with some suspicion by an XC guard. Maybe they aren't on sale after all.

 

[kieron]

I think it is treated as just ATW & connections now, as NRE will happily give advance tickets using Merseyrail, Virgin and ATW.

 

[OwlMan]

Surely not!? How could you even use LM? They don't operate from Cardiff so you'd need to go to Hereford then into Birmingham and back up to Crewe, when you could just use the Marches all the way? Did Central operate what is now the CrossCountry service from South Wales? This ticket would presumably not be routed that way and also viewed with some suspicion by an XC guard. Maybe they aren't on sale after all.

Central did operate the Cardiff - Nottingham service that is now XC and also it would have been valid via Hereford to Crewe by ATW and then Central Trains to Liverpool.

 

[hilly]

liverpool to birmingham - connections
birmingham to cardiff - central trains (pre cross country)
cardiff to haverfordwest - atw

 

[WelshBluebird]

How on earth is the average passenger supposed to understand what that means??

 

[ainsworth74]

How on earth is the average passenger supposed to understand what that means??

With difficulty! Though to be fair, in this case, it would apply to an Advance ticket so they'd have to stick to reservations or if an unreservable train is included the itinerary of the website or station they booked with would guide them.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Doesn't it just mean "Via Regional Railways TOCs" (ie not Inter City [now VT and XC]).

 

[kieron]

It's even stranger for something like Crewe to Swansea.

If your journey doesn't include ATW, you may be offered some VWC & Connections advance tickets or may not be offered any at all. If it does, it may offer some FGW/ATW & CONN ones. The description text in the route list for these will say:

Only valid on booked First Great Western and Arriva Trains Wales services and required connecting services. This fare is only valid on the train(s) specified.​

but going into the code details (click on "other tickets" where it says Advance on the right, click where it says Advance further left, then click on "view the specific 'Validity Code' applicable to the journey plan that you have selected" near the bottom) gives the text:

Valid on Arriva Trains Wales (TOC Code: ATW) and connecting services.

Seat reservations are compulsory.​

This is the same as AP ATW CT & CONN, even though FGW are still in operation.