London - Shrewsbury tickets are no longer the default, and cheaper, 'via Birmingham' routing on the network rail site. You have to specifically ask to go via Birmingham. The default is now the 'any permitted' £94.50 return.
But presumably on trains to Crewe the cheaper 'via birmingham' tickets will be accepted, as it it an obvious alternative route?
Otherwise the passenger is faced with a lengthy bustitution, or having to pay a premium of £20+ on saver return tickets, which doesn't seem fair at all as this landslip isn't their fault
There are signs up at Shrewsbury that TfW and Avanti are allowing passengers to/from the North to travel via Crewe. So presumably not for those coming to/from Euston.
On my recent trip, I told the booking clerk that I wanted to travel via Crewe to avoid the bus. We got to Crewe slightly early, and I was able to catch an earlier train to Euston. However, when I looked my ticket, it stated only valid via Birmingham, and the itinerary was for an Avanti Crewe to Euston via Birmingham service, taking nearly 3 hours! Fortunately nobody checked the ticket on board.
I think that fixing that slip by the 28th will be something of a miracle. At one point he says it’s still moving.
The end date does seem a bit variable. At one point it was the 25th, but I note that it has now moved back to the 30th.
I had presumed that they were aiming to fix it before Easter to avoid resource clashes with other works going on over Easter. If not completed by then, I have a feeling it could slip to well after Easter.
