Can I use an alternative route to avoid rail replacement?

[Montel Osman]

Hi, I am looking to travel from Liverpool Street to Ipswich but on Sunday there are rail replacements, i've tweeted GA to ask if I can go via Cambridge and they have said no I need to complete the journey via rail replacement. I can't see why not on an off peak return so can someone provide some advice on whether this is possible?

Thanks

 

[Haywain]

Hi, I am looking to travel from Liverpool Street to Ipswich but on Sunday there are rail replacements, i've tweeted GA to ask if I can go via Cambridge and they have said no I need to complete the journey via rail replacement. I can't see why not on an off peak return so can someone provide some advice on whether this is possible?

Thanks

What ticket are you using?

 

[XAM2175]

Hi, I am looking to travel from Liverpool Street to Ipswich but on Sunday there are rail replacements, i've tweeted GA to ask if I can go via Cambridge and they have said no I need to complete the journey via rail replacement. I can't see why not on an off peak return so can someone provide some advice on whether this is possible?

No, going via Cambridge is not a valid route for London to Ipswich.

However, you could choose to buy two tickets - London to Cambridge, and Cambridge to Ipswich - which would obviously allow you to take that route. It will cost you either a bit more or a bit less, depending on the exact times at which you intend to travel and whether you need an Off-peak Return or an Off-peak Day Return, and also whether you want to use Great Northern or Greater Anglia for the London-Cambridge leg.

 

[Haywain]

It might also be possible, if it’s a return trip, to use a ticket to Bury St Edmunds to allow one way via the ‘normal’ route and the other via Cambridge (subject to a change of route excess).

 

[Watershed]

Hi, I am looking to travel from Liverpool Street to Ipswich but on Sunday there are rail replacements, i've tweeted GA to ask if I can go via Cambridge and they have said no I need to complete the journey via rail replacement. I can't see why not on an off peak return so can someone provide some advice on whether this is possible?

Thanks

It's not allowed because it's not a permitted route. Occasionally the range of permitted routes is widened when there are engineering works, but that has not happened here - likely because GA don't want to overload the alternative trains (their Cambridge to Ipswich service is only formed of a 3 or 4 car unit).

Of course you could always buy a suitable combination of tickets, splitting somewhere en-route. Or you could travel via the non-permitted route and pay the excess.

 

[Montel Osman]

OK, i think i'll just stick to rail replacement. I assumed because I’d eventually end up at Liverpool Street it wouldn’t matter too much.

What ticket are you using?

It would just be an off peak open return Stratford to Ipswich

 

[MichealS]

Does the same apply it travelling with bikes, which cannot be taken on RRBs. I’ve never had any issue getting my ticket endorsed for this before so I assume it’s policy?