National Rail London & South East map

[mattdickinson]

The National Rail London & South East map has now been combined with the Network Railcard validity map.

It now stretches as far as Bristol and Exeter.

 

[JonathanH]

The National Rail London & South East map has now been combined with the Network Railcard validity map.

It now stretches as far as Bristol and Exeter.

It will always have stretched to Exeter - not sure why it needs to include Bristol.

Interesting implication of South Western Railway services operating through Reading - think there should have been separate interchange markers for the two routes.

 

[Horizon22]

Which SWR services go direct from Basingstoke tvia Reading? I presume its a very limited service at weird hours of the day?

 

[03_179]

Scrap that ... my eye sight is going

 

[berneyarms]

Which SWR services go direct from Basingstoke tvia Reading? I presume its a very limited service at weird hours of the day?

21:47 ex-Salisbury (via Andover) and 23:07 ECS to Salisbury (via Southampton).

 

[pdeaves]

Which SWR services go direct from Basingstoke tvia Reading? I presume its a very limited service at weird hours of the day?

There's a fairly new SWR service Reading to Basingstoke (since May timetable change?). I can only find one late at night.

 

[robbob700]

There's an hourly SWR service on Sundays between Reading and Basingstoke and on to Salisbury

 

[swt_passenger]

There's an hourly SWR service on Sundays between Reading and Basingstoke and on to Salisbury

Just to add that it’s only during the day, it switches back to Waterloo in the evening. Last arrival at Reading 1645; last departure Westbound 1712.

 

[route101]

It will always have stretched to Exeter - not sure why it needs to include Bristol.

Interesting implication of South Western Railway services operating through Reading - think there should have been separate interchange markers for the two routes.

A network rail rover covering this extent would be cool

 

[Mikey C]

Slightly off topic, but I wish they'd adjust the Network Rail card validity as it's crazy that you can get to Worcester or Exeter (via Salisbury) but not to Swindon

 

[AM9]

A network rail rover covering this extent would be cool

... and expensive!

 

[route101]

... and expensive!

Indeed. I know Southern do a day ticket

 

[K.o.R]

Indeed. I know Southern do a day ticket

I only found this out two days ago thanks to a particular YouTube train nerd.

 

[route101]

I only found this out two days ago thanks to a particular YouTube train nerd.

Yep , might use it one day

 

[JB_B]

The National Rail London & South East map has now been combined with the Network Railcard validity map.

It now stretches as far as Bristol and Exeter.

I was wondering what the criteria were for including heritage railways. I think all those shown can be reached by national rail but that can't be the only thing - e.g. the Mid Hants isn't on there. ( Or is it purely commercial and the heritage railways paid to be on the map? )

 

[Ianno87]

It will always have stretched to Exeter - not sure why it needs to include Bristol.

Wonder if it's as simple as getting all of SWR on the map?

But does seem like a bit of a random development - suddenly produce a combined (and expanded) map that almost just exposes the fairly random historic nature of lines with Network Card validity. Does make me wonder if something may happen at the January fares change....

Slightly off topic, but I wish they'd adjust the Network Rail card validity as it's crazy that you can get to Worcester or Exeter (via Salisbury) but not to Swindon

A simple (and potentially popular) start might be to have the Network Card match the expanded Gold Card area. I'd be interested to know how successful the 2015 expansion to include the West Midlands and East Anglia has been.

 

[swt_passenger]

I was wondering what the criteria were for including heritage railways. I think all those shown can be reached by national rail but that can't be the only thing - e.g. the Mid Hants isn't on there. ( Or is it purely commercial and the heritage railways paid to be on the map? )

IIRC it was commercial reasons that was the consensus last time the lack of the Mid Hants was pointed out, or put another way they get shown if through ticketing exists.

 

[aleandrail]

Indeed. I know Southern do a day ticket

Yes, I use them all the time when I am in the area for a period of time. the ticket is called Daysave. Everytime I show the guard my ticket I normally get the reply "Have not seen one of those for a few years."

 

[Brighton Belle]

I was wondering what the criteria were for including heritage railways. I think all those shown can be reached by national rail but that can't be the only thing - e.g. the Mid Hants isn't on there. ( Or is it purely commercial and the heritage railways paid to be on the map? )

As the key states, "Independent heritage railway with National Rail interchange and through ticketing available." One of these two criteria was relaxed recently because it was originally "cross-platform interchange at a National Rail station" but that would have excluded the Bluebell and prevented the recently added East Kent from being included.

 

[Brighton Belle]

It will always have stretched to Exeter - not sure why it needs to include Bristol.

Wonder if it's as simple as getting all of SWR on the map?

But does seem like a bit of a random development - suddenly produce a combined (and expanded) map that almost just exposes the fairly random historic nature of lines with Network Card validity. Does make me wonder if something may happen at the January fares change....

The LSE map was combined with the Network Railcard because a) all national plus Network Railcard leaflets were merged into one and there was not space to include a full area of Network validity map and b) customers were increasingly confusing the two maps, using the LSE map poster at stations as their (incorrect) indication of the Network Railcard validity area.

Including the Network Railcard area meant having to expand the LSE map to include Exeter and Worcester. This in turn meant the map size has increased and the leaflets will need to be printed on a slightly larger sheet of paper. The increased size meant that a larger empty area developed in the west and several 'edge of map arrows' were all pointing to Bath, Bristol, Worcester etc so the opportunity was taken to fill the space with cartography and link the areas up to show other connectional possibilities and demonstrate, for example, which routes to Exeter are and are not included within the Network Railcard area.

 

[Joe Paxton]

One fairly obvious benefit of this change is that it should give the Network Railcard some extra exposure. I've lost count of the number of times I've brought it to people's notice who were otherwise unaware of it. Furthermore, the Network Railcard name isn't exactly self-explanatory (apart from those who are clued up on its historical roots) - and it could quite easily be misconstrued as encompassing the whole rail network / the whole of Network Rail.

The new L&SE map both shows that it exists, and clearly defines the boundaries of its existence.

 

[Mikey C]

One fairly obvious benefit of this change is that it should give the Network Railcard some extra exposure. I've lost count of the number of times I've brought it to people's notice who were otherwise unaware of it. Furthermore, the Network Railcard name isn't exactly self-explanatory (apart from those who are clued up on its historical roots) - and it could quite easily be misconstrued as encompassing the whole rail network / the whole of Network Rail.

The new L&SE map both shows that it exists, and clearly defines the boundaries of its existence.

Yes, it's weird that it's still named after NSE which was abolished well over 20 years ago! Maybe it should be renamed