Grand Central: Sales!

[OMGitsDAVE]

From: http://www.grandcentralrail.com

NORTH EAST - http://www.grandcentralrail.com/ticketsale
Right now until 3 July, we are offering a fantastic 20% off all Grand Central tickets between London Kings Cross and Sunderland, Hartlepool, Eaglescliffe, Northallerton and Thirsk.
Better still, there is no need to buy tickets in advance and there are no connections. Simply hop on the train from your chosen departing station, sit back, relax and enjoy the journey.
Travel to London or back for less than £40
Save 20% off all tickets
Buy on-board for the same price
See more of London for less with 2 for 1 entry on selected attractions
You can purchase tickets online, from any train booking office and even on the day on board the train itself, all with 20% off!
So what are you waiting for?
Terms and Conditions - http://www.grandcentralrail.com/ticketsale


WEST YORKSHIRE - http://www.grandcentralrail.co.uk/39poundreturn
Between 10 April and 29 May 2011
To buy your tickets visit the Grand Central ticket site.
NO need to buy in advance
NO difference between peak and off-peak
NO connections
NO excuse not to go
PLUS enjoy 2 for 1 on London attractions with your ticket.

Travel from these stations
Bradford Interchange
Halifax
Brighouse (for Huddersfield)
Wakefield Kirkgate
Pontefract Monkhill
London Kings Cross
Terms and Conditions - http://www.grandcentralrail.co.uk/39poundreturn

- Not bad, eh?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Just wondering if anyone has taken advantage of these yet?

 

[island]

I have not found myself travelling anywhere Grand Central goes recently, with the one exception of a trip to Bradford in March when EC advances beat the pants off the GC fares.

 

[Deerfold]

Have they got somethnig against Doncaster?

Is that the only station they serve with no offers?

 

[HST Power]

I'm already booked on East Coast so I'll have to wait until next time.

 

[DaveNewcastle]

Just wondering if anyone has taken advantage of these yet?

No but friends have been taking advantage of the even cheaper £15 single offers: here

Have they got somethnig against Doncaster?

Is that the only station they serve with no offers?

How many GC trains stop at Doncaster?
When were GC permitted to stop at Doncaster?
Has anyone told East Coast?

 

[Deerfold]

How many GC trains stop at Doncaster?
When were GC permitted to stop at Doncaster?
Has anyone told East Coast?

3 trains a day (each way).
Ever since they started running from Bradford.
I expect they've noticed.

 

[WestCoast]

How many GC trains stop at Doncaster?
When were GC permitted to stop at Doncaster?
Has anyone told East Coast?

In addition to the 3 daily Bradford - Halifax - Wakefield - Doncaster - Kings Cross, they also have stopped there during engineering works.

I am sure East Coast are well aware of Grand Central's operation at Doncaster. I also believe the GC services are well loaded on the Doncaster - Kings Cross section of the route, hence the lack of special offers.

 

[DaveNewcastle]

3 trains a day (each way).
Ever since they started running from Bradford.
I expect they've noticed.

Hmmm. Now, I have to ask myself why I don't think of the Bradford service when I think of Grand Central.
my bad.

 

[OMGitsDAVE]

When i go to Hartlepool station for the Ambassadors, i am usually handing out £15 / £40 offer slips, too. haha!

 

[yorkie]

I will be taking advantage of the £15 offers, once this month and another in July. That is a good offer and is highly appropriate as you can fairly easily get £10 EC advances for a train from York to London at 7pm. But for July, despite easily being able to get a £10 advance, I have chosen to pay an extra £5 for the privilege of being able to do so on board which means if something crops up I've not lost £10 and can travel the next day. Also the legroom is better and it's a nicer environment - assuming I get a HST as booked.

 

[Johnny Lewis]

There are posters up at York station, advertising the 20% off tickets on the Sunderland service, despite it specifically excluding York / London journeys from this offer!

As an aside:
Last time I saw a GC service close-up, it was about to depart from Kings Cross on Sunday afternoon (to Sunderland, not to Bradford), and, alas was a 180, otherwise I'd probably have jumped on it. It was full & standing. This does lead me to wonder why GC are not using HSTs on their Sunderland services, and why they haven't lengthened them - I thought they actually had enough coaches to run all 3 sets as 8-carriage formations?

 

[yorkie]

Last time I saw a GC service close-up, it was about to depart from Kings Cross on Sunday afternoon (to Sunderland, not to Bradford), and, alas was a 180, otherwise I'd probably have jumped on it. It was full & standing.

Which Sunday and which train? I got the evening northbound train a couple of Sundays ago and there were a small number of spare seats, unfortunately an Adelante.

This does lead me to wonder why GC are not using HSTs on their Sunderland services, and why they haven't lengthened them - I thought they actually had enough coaches to run all 3 sets as 8-carriage formations?

No, they don't have enough vehicles for that. I also don't think they can go to that length due to platform length issues at Thirsk.

The question crops up every so often, the answer from a friendly GC employee is:-

HST wise we can have a maximum of 2+7

 

[Ivo]

I might have take advantage of the £15 offer come July when I'll be stuck in Southend every day. Go on a Saturday to allow early morning use of both YP and ENCTS in Southend and London, and head over to the Cross for the 07:47 up to Sunderland, and maybe give the whole T&W a spin (given I've only done Central to Sunderland and back). I fail to see why 4½ hours would suffice for that? Would be back home at about 22:00, so no problems there either

Mind you, £15 return London to Sunderland, or £7.25 Thorpe Bay to London inc YP... I wonder which is better value

P.S.: I seem recall my HST last Thursday being a 2+5 combination?

 

[Johnny Lewis]

It was (before the timetable change) on the 8th of May, and was the 13.45 KGX to Sunderland. Possibly retimed due to Engineering Work between KGX and PBO.

But certainly F & S, even in First Class!

I did see one of their HSTs pulling out of York this Sunday evening (around 20.30) which was a 2+6 HST; I guess this is a step in the right direction. I think now you mention it, I knew about the maximum 7 carriage formation. Still, it is nice to see them loading well.

 

[mikeg]

No, they don't have enough vehicles for that. I also don't think they can go to that length due to platform length issues at Thirsk.

Actually, during the early days of GC they just mentioned that the train wouldn't be fully platformed and could people wishing to alight at Thirsk not try to do so in the coach that wasn't platformed. Maybe they had enough vehicles for that before the fourth service was introduced? In any case there were realtively few people in north of York. I can't say what it was like London-York because I was coming up from Burton on Trent at the time. It always seems quite a bit busier now, maybe because of awareness of the incredibly cheap northern fares has increased!

Back on topic: As for the offer it's an incredibly good one and I may do it if my financial situation improves. I've never actually been to London on Grand Central, as East Coast advances usually beat the fares.

 

[Lampshade]

What are GC's usual weekday loadings like? We tend to hear a lot about Sunday services being full and standing.

 

[WillPS]

Sunderland - Peak: Very Busy south of York, Off-Peak: Reasonable
Bradford - generally dead

 

[spionkop64]

The Bradford service is slowly getting there. The 06.51 and 10.22 ex BDI are generally reasonably loaded, the afternoon departure (was 15.22, it's now a touch later) is often very quiet. I can't see the northbound services so have no idea how their loadings are spread. The message of walk up fares seems to be getting through and reliability is more robust - excepting traction issues on a northbound service yesterday, which then suffered from poor regulating at Knottingley when the local service was put three minutes in front of the late running GC!

 

[Johnny Lewis]

I think the Bradford services will be helped if GC achieve their ambition of running direct from Donny to Wakefield Kirkgate, missing out Pontefract, and shaving 20-odd minutes off the journey. While people DO value through trains (and this is one of the prime reasons for Open Access operators to do well), Journey Planners are rarely going to generate GC as a suitable journey, when it is nearly always quicker for Bradford / London passengers to change at Leeds and go via East Coast.

The Sunderland services probably do better because from Thirsk, Eagleascliffe and Hartlepool, GC will always offer the fastest journey, rather than changing en-route (I should imagine Sunderland-London is probably fairly quick changing at Newcastle). Northallerton is now impressively served by a 2-hourly or better EC service, so the competition from GC is less important.

 

[WillPS]

I think the problem with GC's WY services is obvious - there is no blatant ORCATS raid. Where would the Sunderland services be without York? Doncaster as a town is not significant enough and in terms of connections, GC don't offer +connections tickets to Sheffield etc. to make them a visible option to those passengers.

 

[John @ home]

GC don't offer +connections tickets to Sheffield etc.

I'm not aware of any open access operator offering "& connections" tickets at all. Are they allowed to?

 

[First class]

I'm not aware of any open access operator offering "& connections" tickets at all. Are they allowed to?

They are allowed to, but obviously would have to negociate with the other TOCs. For example, I doubt EC would want to support GC, although Southern/SWT etc might.

It's a question of demand really and how the other TOCs perceive GC.

 

[rmt-driver]

Sunderland - Peak: Very Busy south of York, Off-Peak: Reasonable
Bradford - generally dead

When I travelled KX-Don the other week on a Bradford service (out on a Thurs afternoon rtn Sun afternoon) it was very quiet both ways in first class (probably due to the poor supply of food / drink in first class compared with EC now and even FHT.. also it was the Guard serving tea on the return due to short staff! Classy!)... but very busy in Standard.

When the standard class carriage next door to ours set on fire they evacuated all the passengers from there into our first class carriage and there was only just enough seats.. so it was pretty busy !

 

[Deerfold]

also it was the Guard serving tea on the return due to short staff! Classy!

Did he have trouble reaching the table?

 

[OMGitsDAVE]

Well, even with rail replacements - the trains were well loaded today!

 

[Adam_Harrison]

I've seen quite a few people with the £15 offer on the North Eastern route, including one man today who waited for around 3-4 hours at the station. He was pretty drunk so time must of slipped by for him!

 

[HST Power]

I've seen quite a few people with the £15 offer on the North Eastern route, including one man today who waited for around 3-4 hours at the station. He was pretty drunk so time must of slipped by for him!

Never, ever drink and go near the railway...I thought everyone knew that by now!