Guildford-Sheringham

[higthomas]

So I've just realised that tomorrow I have to go from Guildford to Sheringham.
I also have to cross London at rush, getting the 0653 from Guildford to Waterloo and the 0830 from Liverpool Street to Norwich, returning next week at off-peak times, with 16-25 railcard.

The current plan is to get a Guildford-Harwich Town anytime return for £53 and an Ipswich-Sheringham off-peak return for £16.05.

I'm not entirely sure the Guildford to Harwich town fare is valid via Ipswich, is it?

Also, is there a better way? I've checked trainsplit and it requires trains which stop at Chelmsford, which I'd rather not confine myself to.
Thanks.

 

[LexyBoy]

I don't think via Ipswich is valid on Guildford-Harwich, it fails the fares check as a routeing point. It may be within 3 miles of the shortest route - I've not checked and don't remember the latest situation with the 3 mile rule.

How about:
Guildford-Sheringham SVR @ £42.00
Stratford-Norwich Advance @ £16.15 (£16.35 if you prefer to travel from Liverpool St)

edit: that SVR has a 7B restriction which is unhelpful as it wrongly claims to restrict all arrival/departures in London. This is not consistent with the Network Area rule which ought to have precedence - YMMV with the Guildford gateline.

 

[higthomas]

Yes I had the same problem with that restriction. Is the network area rule written down anywhere such that I could show it to a guard/quote it in any follow up? Or is it just that it should be the case, but isn't here and there's nothing I can do about it?

Also, I used the fares calculator and it seems to think it's valid?

 

[LexyBoy]

I had done the fares check for London-Harwich; I think you are correct as the fares check is done before evaluating the maps.

AFIAK the Network Area rule isn't written down anywhere public-facing unfortunately. In most cases it is de facto spelled out in the ticket restrictions, but as with many things (especially those advantageous to passengers) there is little to stop it being eroded.

 

[Hadders]

AFIAK the Network Area rule isn't written down anywhere public-facing unfortunately. In most cases it is de facto spelled out in the ticket restrictions, but as with many things (especially those advantageous to passengers) there is little to stop it being eroded.

The Network Area Rule is included in the relevant ticket restrictions in Avantix Traveller which is freely available to the general public from the Network Rail website.

 

[ASharpe]

I had a rather long email conversation with GA about restriction code 7B. They refused to acknowledge that the Network Area rule existed even after consulting ATOC and me sending them a screenshot from Avantix Traveller.

The only concession they made was to make the restriction code slightly less restrictive in the evenings.

But I can also say I've used long distance Off-peak and Super off-peak tickets from Guildford to London many times and never had any problems.

 

[Hadders]

AGA do know about the Network Area Rule. I had an email exchange with them about ticket validity after they tried to claim that Super Off Peak tickets were not valid at Liverpool Street until 12noon!

Eventually I ended up dealing with someone who really knew their stuff.

 

[kieron]

Is the Network Area Rule important here? higthomas mentioned a Guildford-Harwich Town anytime return, and LexyBoy mentioned a Guildford-Sheringham off peak return.

The Network Railcard map shows Guildford and Harwich Town as both being within the Network Area (so the rule wouldn't apply). Sheringham is outside, but the ticket LexyBoy suggested has a 7B restriction, which doesn't allow departure from London Liverpool Street on any trains before 9am (so the rule doesn't help).

 

[higthomas]

Is the Network Area Rule important here? higthomas mentioned a Guildford-Harwich Town anytime return, and LexyBoy mentioned a Guildford-Sheringham off peak return.

The Network Railcard map shows Guildford and Harwich Town as both being within the Network Area (so the rule wouldn't apply). Sheringham is outside, but the ticket LexyBoy suggested has a 7B restriction, which doesn't allow departure from London Liverpool Street on any trains before 9am (so the rule doesn't help).

Well the Guildford to Harwich town ticket was only because it was in essence the cheapest place to split my ticket between an anytime ticket across London during peak hours and and off peak ticket within Norfolk. My final destination is Sheringham, outside the Network area, so that the part from Guildford to London should be unrestricted, but the 7B restriction doesn't obey said rule, which made things more expensive.

Anyway, as it turns out, I will in fact be going from Sheringham to mid wales, so all the discussion became unnecessary, so in the end I combined a Stratford to Sheringham advance with a Guildford to Stratford anytime single.

 

[LexyBoy]

The Network Railcard map shows Guildford and Harwich Town as both being within the Network Area (so the rule wouldn't apply). Sheringham is outside, but the ticket LexyBoy suggested has a 7B restriction, which doesn't allow departure from London Liverpool Street on any trains before 9am (so the rule doesn't help).

A Guildford-Sheringham SVR should be valid at any time for the Guildford-Liverpool St/Stratford leg, then I suggested an Advance to cover the train out of Liverpool St since as you say the SVR would not be valid.