Bury St Edmunds to Cambridge North via Ely

[gingerheid]

Is there any valid reason why the journey planners should offer tickets from Ipswich to Cambridge North via Ely, but not Bury St Edmunds to Cambridge North via Ely?

For example:

1600 Ipswich to Ely (passing through Bury St Edmunds at 1629) followed by 1718 Ely to Cambridge North arr 1732 is apparently legit and will cost £16.20 (the same as via Cambridge) on Greater Anglia or National Rail.

However if you ask Greater Anglia for a journey leaving Bury St Edmunds after 1615 it doesn't show the 1629 departure at all, only journeys via Cambridge (for £12.10). If you try to nudge it by adding "via Ely" then it offers you a ticket that still costs £12.10, but still doesn't show the 1629 and instead offers the bizarre route 1658 Bury St Edmunds to Cambridge, 1800 Cambridge to Ely, 1837 Ely to Cambridge North arr 1849.

If you ask National Rail for a journey leaving Bury St Edmunds after 1615 it does show the 1629 departure, but only offers you two singles at a cost of £17.10.

 

[plugwash]

This is puzzling.

Bury St Edmunds and Cambridge north have common routing points, so the local journey rules apply. Ipswitch on the other hand is a routing point in it's own right and Cambridge North does not have ipswitch as a routing point, so normal rules apply.

The rules for local journeys say

"if there is a common routeing point, the permitted route is the shortest route or a
route which is longer by no more than 3 miles. Also permitted is the route followed
by direct trains to and from the common routeing point if the journey is made on
those trains."

Which seems fine to me. Ely is a common routing point between Bury St Edmunds and Cambridge North both have Ely as a common routing point and the Journey takes direct trains from Bury St Edmunds to Ely and Ely to Cambridge North.

So I have no idea why journey planners are disallowing it.

 

[JB_B]

Certainly valid via Ely ( there are no relevant negative easements.)

Other journey planners can find itineraries via Ely using e.g. this ticket https://www.brfares.com/!faredetail?orig=BSE&dest=CMB&tkt=SDS so I'm guessing could be a bug in the NRE planner (and whatever Greater Anglia use.)

 

[Haywain]

I guess it is because Cambridge is also a common routeing point and a shorter journey by more than 3 miles. But I’m no expert in RG matters.

 

[Royston Vasey]

You can buy the ticket from Trainsplit, which has the most customisable routing and options I have seen. Not even selecting Go Via Ely and it returns 16.29-17.32 with 1 change for £12.10, alongside the Cambridge options.

As in the case you found, selecting Go Via Ely also offers a Bury-Cambridge-Ely-Cambridge North for £12.10. Does the forum know if this double back is permitted by some rule, or a permitted easement, or an error?

...

Not relevant in this case, but the only quibble I have with Trainsplit is sometimes it doesn't offer options I know exist, and I have to tweak the Advanced Options to force it, particularly for slower routings. Possibly because of the limitations of the matrix interface for multi-route journeys.

 

[gingerheid]

Thanks!