Network Railcard should be renamed SE Railcard or Southeast Railcard

[fandroid]

Moderator note: Split from

So confused :( using Senior Rail card for early departures Chesterfield to London / Chesterfield to Manchester

Looking at getting a Senior Railcard because I go to London and Manchester for work occasionally (at my expense) I have read the FAQs / Google etc etc and I still don't think I understand how early morning trains work with a Senior rail card, and whether a discount is allowed or not, especially...

www.railforums.co.uk

It's as if they've gone to sleep in Railcard land. Network Railcard should have been renamed SE Railcard or Southeast Railcard decades ago.

 

[Mikey C]

So confused :( using Senior Rail card for early departures Chesterfield to London / Chesterfield to Manchester

Looking at getting a Senior Railcard because I go to London and Manchester for work occasionally (at my expense) I have read the FAQs / Google etc etc and I still don't think I understand how early morning trains work with a Senior rail card, and whether a discount is allowed or not, especially...

www.railforums.co.uk

It's as if they've gone to sleep in Railcard land. Network Railcard should have been renamed SE Railcard or Southeast Railcard decades ago.

And its boundaries tidied up, as they are a hangover from the old NSE/Inter City split and make no sense now, e.g. being able to go all the way to Kings Lynn but not Peterborough, Worcester but not Swindon, Exeter from Waterloo but not Paddington.

 

[Haywain]

And its boundaries tidied up, as they are a hangover from the old NSE/Inter City split and make no sense now, e.g. being able to go all the way to Kings Lynn but not Peterborough, Worcester but not Swindon, Exeter from Waterloo but not Paddington.

So, what are you advocating - an extension of the routes and area covered or a retraction to a new smaller and "tidier" area?

 

[Nick Ashwell]

So, what are you advocating - an extension of the routes and area covered or a retraction to a new smaller and "tidier" area?

Personally is should reduced, other regions don't offer the same benefits and it does seem unfair that the area with the best rail network gives discounts with a freely available railcard but other areas don't have such benefits.

My opinion is it should be scraped, and replaced with better regional ones, with the current Network Rail card area being only the South East and not reaching the West Midlands!

As an example, South West would be: Ashchurch to the south, and West of Swindon, with a similar divider on the lines further south. Wales would be, well Wales plus the Marches and up to Gloucester.

 

[Haywain]

As an example, South West would be: Ashchurch to the south, and West of Swindon, with a similar divider on the lines further south. Wales would be, well Wales plus the Marches and up to Gloucester.

The thread is about the Network Railcard, not something else for another part of the country, and my question was about what the poster I replied to thought the Network Railcard area should be.

 

[43096]

Personally is should reduced, other regions don't offer the same benefits and it does seem unfair that the area with the best rail network gives discounts with a freely available railcard but other areas don't have such benefits.

"I can't have it so you shouldn't either." is not a good reason.

My opinion is it should be scraped, and replaced with better regional ones, with the current Network Rail card area being only the South East and not reaching the West Midlands!

As an example, South West would be: Ashchurch to the south, and West of Swindon, with a similar divider on the lines further south. Wales would be, well Wales plus the Marches and up to Gloucester.

You then end up with artifical boundaries, so some crossover is probably a good thing.

 

[leytongabriel]

Weren't the lines to Worcester, Exeter via Yeovil, and Kings Lynn relatively low traffic routes (compared to major IC lines) with relatively low speed services in Network SouthEast days and so might benefit from incentives to travel?

I'd agree it's a bit irregular that Ipswich, Banbury, and Corby for example aren't included, being at the end of SE stopper services too.

 

[JonathanH]

I'd agree it's a bit irregular that Ipswich, Banbury, and Corby for example aren't included, being at the end of SE stopper services too.

Banbury is included.

Ipswich is served by faster trains, and like Peterborough sits outside the area, on that basis, even though stoppers terminate there for connectional purposes. Corby, Wellingborough and Kettering are outside the range of the historical stopping services.

 

[Hadders]

Personally is should reduced, other regions don't offer the same benefits and it does seem unfair that the area with the best rail network gives discounts with a freely available railcard but other areas don't have such benefits.

My opinion is it should be scraped, and replaced with better regional ones, with the current Network Rail card area being only the South East and not reaching the West Midlands!

As an example, South West would be: Ashchurch to the south, and West of Swindon, with a similar divider on the lines further south. Wales would be, well Wales plus the Marches and up to Gloucester.

Personally I'd like to see a national railcard but just because other regions don't have a railcard doesn't mean the Network Railcard area should be reduced.

ALso bear in mind that fares in the South East are generally more expensive than in other areas of the country and the Network Railcard is a way of mitigating this.

 

[Mikey C]

So, what are you advocating - an extension of the routes and area covered or a retraction to a new smaller and "tidier" area?

If you were creating a "Southeast" railcard now, I'm sure some of the boundaries would be extended, and others retracted. Another weird boundary station is Long Buckby, which seems a very random place, rather than the obvious Northampton, which was the terminus of "NSE" services.