It's not that they're not compatible, it's that the equipment wasn't installed because the remaining 12 Class 91s are intended to be scrapped once the CAFs arrive. The railway could install the equipment and refurbish the locomotives, they just chose not to.
Airlines don't have to deal with UK Gauge trains, UK systems, signalling... They get one model "off the shelf", it's much cheaper comparatively because all airplane systems are identical across the world.
So, when I buy Advance tickets because I can plan ahead, can get the times I want and travel first class while paying less than I would for standard class walk-up tickets you are saying that only the TOC is benefitting? In what way would I be better off by paying a higher price for an inferior product?
Obviously the average fare would not be higher in a world without Advances, that's how the market works. The amount of people actually getting really good value advances will be significantly less than 5 % on any given train, and even people who view themselves as savvy will most likely lose out on money over their lifetime as just one missed train, illness, or change of plans could wipe out years of savings, not to mention the additional money spent on refreshments or activities to pass the time until their booked train which few will ever account for. Upgrading to first class is an edge case where some will benefit, although this is largely because of the lack of Railcard discounts and Off-Peak fares in 1st, and I personally found Seatfrog and Weekend First paired with walk up fares to workout better.
That's just wishful thinking.
You may have found that but it doesn't apply to my case - it doesn't even come close to working. And even without going first class the saving by booking early is substantial. I accept that may not apply to all journeys but your claim that only TOCs benefit from Advance tickets is plainly nonsense.
Yes, Eurostar (both red and blue) is SNCF majority shareholder, then Ontario Pension fund, then SNCB from what I can remember
Until when is the question. It will become unaffordable real fast, there aren't enough trains, it's plain and simple. They only order 115 TGV-M sets, and have enough s* in their pants to send 15 of them to Italy to compete with themselves (SNCF is a shareholder in NTV (company behind Italo)).
It is not artificial when the cash isn't there (I know, it's not true, but that is the public view into it), it is artificial when there are all the means to do it and they don't do crap (i.e. SNCF).
How many of the long-distance operators could cope with inducing any significant number more journeys? The "fares trial" scam that LNER have implemented has been because they couldn't cope with the number of off-peak passengers and so needed to squeeze the numbers down.
I don't know where you've got your stats from, but ORR7223 gives income in 2023/24 as:
On-the-day advances are purely a gimmick to allow the TOC to avoid sharing revenue with other operators, and have no place on the railways going forwards.
Quite. We want fares to be transparent and to be able to look at price increases over time and report them fairly. Advance purchase tickets are like a magic black box where we can't see what the allocations are for each fare, so it allows the railways to impose stealth increases above and beyond any increase to the sticker price by reducing the quotas of cheap fares.
Except that if you are making a connection, the connecting service may or may not be covered by the same rules about booked train only.
The "fares trial" had nothing to do with capacity and everything to do with revenue generation.
All connecting services are covered by the 'booked train only' rule, even services which do not offer reservations or 'counted place' reservations.
Well yes, if you are on time for your booked train and it is delayed then your ticket will still be honoured.
Yes you are quite correct, I should have said GTR + SE = LNER+ AWC+1/2 GWR
Well, why hasn't someone taken them to court if it's illegal?
What is causing it to support lower prices if it is doing so?
The planes they lease have to stored somwhere though. I accept it might be easier but there still have to be somewhere for them to stable.
You obviously don't live in the Sourh East where journeys of over an hour without seat reservations are not uncommon. In fact getting a seat reservation is uncommon.
But there's a big difference in train lengths between much of the southeast (a few exceptions like Chiltern at times aside) and non-London services in most of the rest of the UK.
The government now takes the revenue and all the risks and the TOC is paid a management fee. So this sharing revenue idea shouldn't be happening. Yea they they pay have reasons for on the day advances but it shouldn't be due to wanting to keep revenue when they don't keep it
LNER are of course a wholly owned subsidiary of DFT Operator Ltd and have been so for many years now.
It's a choice of five services in the case of Lumo, yes. But of course you are unlikely to be sitting down on any of those unless you have a reservation because they're very limited in seating, and a four and a half hour journey without a proper seat isn't anyone's idea of £190 well spent. So you're limited to an absolute maximum of five journey opportunities and in practice maybe just one or two.
It's very unlikely you won't find a seat, there are almost always reservations available, and 6 non-reservable seats on every Lumo train.
That is why I will never accept them even if they are offered for free. I will not accept a condition that makes the ticket invalid if I leave the train before the specified destination.
I may have to leave the train for many reasons including a medical emergency and I will not accept a condition that makes the ticket invalid for having to leave the train before the destination regardless of the reason. I am not prepared to argue with the train operator over the reason including a medical emergency. I will not accept the condition and I have made this clear to train operators including LNER.
Are you particularly prone to medical emergencies?
You have clearly made them sit up and take notice, judging by how they have changed their ways.
I'm sure train operating companies are seen as evil by many passengers, but if you had a medical emergency, and this could be evidenced to a reasonable standard, you wouldn't be pursued for penalties or prosecution. This seems like a very misguided view towards ticket types and enforcement action imo.
I don't count tip down seats and there are lots of trains where there's no reservations available over the next week.
Sounded like a more apt description of the 2019 position to me.
Nor was I, that would add another 20 seats assuming 2 per vestibule. Aside from the 17th every train has reservations free, and this is rare enough to warrant a large banner on the homepage of their website, so not a common occurrence.
There are plenty further away but of course they wouldn't be there on the day. And that's when they're really relevant to the person who has paid extra for an off peak ticket. LNER have an actually usable number of unreservable seats.
Whilst some of us have been advocating for a wide variety of tickets – anytime, off-peak, advance – to be available, so as many passengers as possible can get the type of ticket which best matches their need / desire.
I have only left a plane before it reached its destination (near Honiton) three times, on the first occasion it required a Royal Marines boot to take the decision out of my hands. Im glad he did because in hindsight Id have felt a bit stupid arriving at the destination. I bravely tried another couple of times where I left voluntarily and honour was satisfied.
