Are there any tickets with routes that go back and forth between different mainlines?

[walkingsophie]

I am looking for tickets that are valid for switching back and forth between different mainlines/major railway lines. As a small scale example, you can use a Woking to London ticket to go down the SWR mainline until Weybridge, then go to Virginia Water, then take the London to Reading Line until Clapham Junction, then walk across the station to take a SWR mainline train to Waterloo.

Are there any tickets with a permitted route that lets you take an ECML train, then a WCML train, then an ECML train again or vica versa? What about combinations of other mainlines?

 

[yorkie]

Off the top of my head, the best would be something like Aberdeen to London would let you do LNER (but a Scotrail HST would be better) to Edinburgh, then Avanti/TPE to Carlisle, then S&C to Leeds, then you could do ECML or MML, but you could probably go via Grantham and Nottingham to do both, but you'd need to check the relevant maps in the routeing guide.

If you extended it to the West Country, you could probably do something like Paddington to Reading to Basingstoke and later head back to the Great Western (probably with a choice of places).

The permitted routes to/from London are combined in this case, i.e. Aberdeen to Exeter via London has the same permitted routes as Aberdeen to London, plus London to Exeter.

But a Rover ticket would be better.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

How interchangeable are the routes between (a) London and Birmingham or the routes between (b) London and Oxford?

Also, although I am sure this is a gross simplification, isn't it the case that once you have started travelling on a route on a single or return ticket, you're not able to swap onto another valid route? Season tickets being valid for an infinite number of full or part journeys bounded by origin and destination are of course different here.

 

[jfollows]

Also, although I am sure this is a gross simplification, isn't it the case that once you have started travelling on a route on a single or return ticket, you're not able to swap onto another valid route? Season tickets being valid for an infinite number of full or part journeys bounded by origin and destination are of course different here.

Absolutely, the list of valid routes in the routeing guide are exclusive for single and return tickets, you can choose which route to use but you can’t switch between them. With a season ticket you can because it’s valid along all routes and their subsets all the time during its validity period.

So, for example, if the valid routes are shown on maps

• AB
• CD
• EF+GH

you can use either AB or CD. The third case allows you to use EF until it intersects with GH, and if there are multiple intersection points you can choose between them.

There are practical issues such as “how would anyone know” but tickets get scanned more often today so it’s not impossible.

 

[philthetube]

London to Burnley Manchester road will let you travel via east or west coast,

 

[walkingsophie]

Also, although I am sure this is a gross simplification, isn't it the case that once you have started travelling on a route on a single or return ticket, you're not able to swap onto another valid route?

Yes, that is accurate. I am specifically looking valid routes that go back and forth between different mainlines

 

[AlterEgo]

Yes, that is accurate. I am specifically looking valid routes that go back and forth between different mainlines

How are you defining "mainline" in this quest?

 

[walkingsophie]

I have intentionally left it vague, but the following definitely count:
Great Eastern Mainline
ECML
Midland Mainline
ECML
Chilterns Mainline
Great West Mainline
South West Mainline
Brighton Mainline
South Eastern Mainline

 

[Mcr Warrior]

A route "Any Permitted" London Terminals to Manchester Stns (Off Peak Return) ticket should, I believe, be valid via the Chiltern mainline up to Birmingham, then onwards to Manchester partly by the WCML. On the way back, one could travel across from Manchester to Sheffield and then back to London St. Pancras via the Midland mainline. And scarcely any route mileage duplicated!

 

[walkingsophie]

Tiverton Parkway to London Terminals single is valid on the GW Mainline from Tiverton Parkway to Exeter, then the SW Mainline from Exeter to Basingstoke, then the GW Mainline again from Reading to London Paddington

 

[voyagerdude220]

London to Burnley Manchester road will let you travel via east or west coast,

I think it's strange that this route also offers more expensive Route Via Doncaster tickets.

 

[Haywain]

I think it's strange that this route also offers more expensive Route Via Doncaster tickets.

More expensive? The singles are cheaper than their equivalents, and only the Off Peak return routed 'Any Permitted' is cheaper than two Super Off Peak Singles. The Anytime Return is more expensive than the 'via Doncaster' Anytime Singles.

 

[Ianigsy]

A Peterborough to Manchester ticket would allow the use of the ECML between Peterborough and Grantham, Midland Main Line from Chesterfield to Sheffield and a branch off the WCML between Stockport and Piccadilly on one train.