£3.50 for 2 hours’ travel

[mm333]

Rochdale-Manchester Victoria has a 2+ week blockade in September. If you fancy doing the almost full loop via Blackburn, Northern are running Manchester-Rochdale through trains and I can see on the LNER app that there are £3.50 advance tickets available.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Rochdale-Manchester Victoria has a 2+ week blockade in September.

That'll be fun if the Metrolink tram line hasn't been fixed by then. What are the scheduled rail closure dates, by the way? Is this the closure from Friday 6th September to Monday 23rd September 2024 in connection with the M62 motorway over bridge replacement near Castleton?

 

[skyhigh]

That'll be fun if the Metrolink tram line hasn't been fixed by then.

It's supposed to re-open temporarily with a speed restriction during the bridge works, then close for a permanent fix.

 

[mm333]

That'll be fun if the Metrolink tram line hasn't been fixed by then. What are the scheduled rail closure dates, by the way? Is this the closure from Friday 6th September to Monday 23rd September 2024 in connection with the M62 motorway over bridge replacement near Castleton?

The PIS at Sowerby Bridge today was confirming it was for the M62 work, yes.

 

[vectra33]

showing as rail replacement bus every day on the northern app

 

[Par]

It's supposed to re-open temporarily with a speed restriction during the bridge works, then close for a permanent fix.

May I enquire where this information has come from because as far as I am aware TfGM have only updated / informed the public on July 24 as follows:-

https://tfgm.com/rochdale-line-disruption

”Land movement affecting the Metrolink network near Derker has slowed, enabling detailed ground investigations and temporary repair works to get underway.

To get trams running again, a small section of track has to be moved back into its original position. The overhead line poles also need to be repaired. Due to the complexity of the work, it is expected to take up to five weeks to complete, and we are looking to accelerate repairs.
The detailed ground investigations will establish whether further work to strengthen foundations beneath the track will be needed at a later date”

In this timescale, re-opening of the tram line should (in the worst case), be before the end of August.

No mention there of a closure immediately following the bridge works on the M62 / heavy rail Rochdale - Mcr Vic line.

I’m not doubting your information, as it sounds like you may have some insider knowledge.

It will be massively disappointing if the tram line only temporarily re-opens for just a fortnight. It’s been areal PITA for the last 5 weeks.

 

[skyhigh]

May I enquire where this information has come from because as far as I am aware TfGM have only updated / informed the public on July 24 as follows:-

”Land movement affecting the Metrolink network near Derker has slowed, enabling detailed ground investigations and temporary repair works to get underway.

To get trams running again, a small section of track has to be moved back into its original position. The overhead line poles also need to be repaired. Due to the complexity of the work, it is expected to take up to five weeks to complete, and we are looking to accelerate repairs.
The detailed ground investigations will establish whether further work to strengthen foundations beneath the track will be needed at a later date”

In this timescale, re-opening of the tram line should (in the worst case), be before the end of August.

No mention there of a closure immediately following the bridge works on the M62 / heavy rail Rochdale - Mcr Vic line.

I’m not doubting your information as it sounds like you may have some insider knowledge.

It will be massively disappointing if the tram line only temporarily re-opens for just a fortnight. It’s been areal PITA for the last 5 weeks.

It was an internal message about a week ago, so I can't share it unfortunately.

 

[mm333]

showing as rail replacement bus every day on the northern app

The Northern website is only showing the fastest routes, the RRB. LNER is showing all routes, so I can see things like in this screenshot.

 

[A S Leib]

Which other very cheap advance fares are there for the journey duration (not necessarily mileage)? £2.10 with a railcard between Newcastle and Carlisle (~1:30) is one I've seen regularly, CrossCountry have Penzance – Totnes advance fares from £5 without a railcard (2:30), and it's the same starting point for Pwllheli – Caersws (3:00) and Inverness – Thurso / Wick (4:00).

 

[Banham7]

Interestingly there are no advances available for the replacement bus between Rochdale & Manchester, however, taking a journey from Rochdale to Salford Crescent using the replacement bus costs around £1.25 with railcard!

 

[redreni]

It's supposed to re-open temporarily with a speed restriction during the bridge works, then close for a permanent fix.

Crikey - I wouldn't have thought it possible to make Manchester's trams any slower without them grinding to a halt altogether!

 

[Watershed]

Interestingly there are no advances available for the replacement bus between Rochdale & Manchester, however, taking a journey from Rochdale to Salford Crescent using the replacement bus costs around £1.25 with railcard!

Advance tickets require seat reservations (whether real or nominal "counted place" ones) to be available for at least part of the journey, as this is the means by which the availability of different Advance tiers is controlled.

Replacement buses don't have reservations for fairly obvious reasons, so you can't get an Advance ticket for a journey purely involving a replacement bus. This explains the results you have seen - journeys to Salford Crescent involve taking a train (on which reservations are available) from Victoria.

 

[OscarH]

Replacement buses don't have reservations for fairly obvious reasons

Is this universally true? I don't think Northern would bother, but I think some intercity TOCs might do it - certainly they have created "bus" coach types, though I don't have examples of them using them off the top of my head (obviously they never have real reservations, only counted places)

 

[A S Leib]

Is this universally true? I don't think Northern would bother, but I think some intercity TOCs might do it - certainly they have created "bus" coach types, though I don't have examples of them using them off the top of my head (obviously they never have real reservations, only counted places)

I have a ticket for a rail replacement bus from Newcastle to Berwick (through to Edinburgh; I think there's one leaving Newcastle at the same time for stations to Chathill) which doesn't mention any seat reservations.

 

[redreni]

Since the buses used will have a limited capacity - and where coaches are used this will usually be for seated passengers only - one would think seat reservations (counted places) might be considered all the more important when replacement buses operate? Unless there's a lot of flex in the number of buses that can be laid on depending on demand.

 

[Starmill]

Advance tickets require seat reservations (whether real or nominal "counted place" ones) to be available for at least part of the journey, as this is the means by which the availability of different Advance tiers is controlled.

Replacement buses don't have reservations for fairly obvious reasons, so you can't get an Advance ticket for a journey purely involving a replacement bus. This explains the results you have seen - journeys to Salford Crescent involve taking a train (on which reservations are available) from Victoria.

Annoyingly you can make a replacement bus reservable for the purpose of restricting sales though... Not that I'd encourage such practice.

 

[OscarH]

This Lumo service on the 25th is a bus with compulsory reservations: https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:N18561/2024-08-25/detailed

 

[trover]

Which other very cheap advance fares are there for the journey duration (not necessarily mileage)? £2.10 with a railcard between Newcastle and Carlisle (~1:30) is one I've seen regularly, CrossCountry have Penzance – Totnes advance fares from £5 without a railcard (2:30), and it's the same starting point for Pwllheli – Caersws (3:00) and Inverness – Thurso / Wick (4:00).

There used to be a Nottingham - Preston EMR & connections at £2.15 with railcard, it takes almost 3 hours with a change in Manchester. Unfortunately it was pulled a few months ago.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

There used to be a Nottingham - Preston EMR & connections at £2.15 with railcard, it takes almost 3 hours with a change in Manchester. Unfortunately it was pulled a few months ago.

Available until end last September, it would seem, although I have the price as being an extortionate £2.35.

 

[trover]

Available until end last September, it would seem, although I have the price as being an extortionate £2.35.

I’m sure your data is more accurate, in fact I haven’t bought this ticket for a while now and £2.15 is probably before a couple of fare revisions. What a shame it could no longer be bought at this extortionate price

 

[infobleep]

I’m sure your data is more accurate, in fact I haven’t bought this ticket for a while now and £2.15 is probably before a couple of fare revisions. What a shame it could no longer be bought at this extortionate price

If I have my sums right that is a 9.3% increase in price!

 

[Mcr Warrior]

If I have my sums right that is a 9.3% increase in price!

Was. The bargain fare is regrettably no longer available.