Rail Sail - Edinburgh to Lerwick

[Lime]

Hi all,

I just found out about Rail Sail, and in particularly an adventure to Shetland sounds absolutely fantastic! The one issue is that I can find only very limited information regarding how to properly plan an itinerary that meets the NRCoT regarding minimum connection times at Aberdeen to catch the Northlink at the ferry terminal.

Seeing as these tickets are offered by the railway, I presume it holds as a single journey. I want to travel on the 23rd of May, on that day I see there are two trains that leave for Aberdeen that could be correct to catch the 1900 service that leaves that day. The 1430 Service by LNER which arrives at 1706, and the 1530 service by Scotrail that arrives at 1754. This should give me 114 minutes or 66 minutes respectively to meet my connection to Lerwick in time.

Does anyone have any experience of this? What should happen if my train is delayed and I cannot make it to the ferry in time, do I still have any delay repay rights or right to accommodation to meet the following days service? Would love your help and assistance with this, I've never heard of a rail sail ticket and therefore looking very much forward to the adventure! Just don't want to be caught out by making an itinery mistake.

P.S. If I am travelling from England, as long as I give the minimum connection time at Edinburgh, which is I suppose 10 minutes according to BR trains, would this still be counted as two journeys or would I be covered under one journey under NRCoT?

I have seen a bit about these tickets to Belfast or Dublin but the scottish isles are a bit lacking in information online I find.

 

[Trainbike46]

Northlink closes check-in 30 minutes before departure (https://www.northlinkferries.co.uk/the-journey/check-in-and-boarding/). So whatever you do, you need to make it to the terminal 30 minutes before the ship sails off.

Personally, I would suggest taking the earlier train (if not the one before that!) as the consequences of missing that ferry are pretty significant, as the services are not that frequent.

My normal advice for Liverpool to Belfast ferry is to pick an itinerary where, if any one train is cancelled, you arrive no later than 21:00 at Lime Street (or the equivalent at Chester), for a ferry that departs at 22:30. I would apply something similar to this situation.

 

[yorkie]

P.S. If I am travelling from England, as long as I give the minimum connection time at Edinburgh, which is I suppose 10 minutes according to BR trains, would this still be counted as two journeys or would I be covered under one journey under NRCoT?

It is one journey.

My advice would be to specify additional interchange time at any relevant locations, to maximise your chances of making the connections.

 

[Blindtraveler]

I would say the 1430 is the very last train you'd want to catch. But as this originates in London, I'd maybe look at using the scotrail service an hour before and give yourself lots of time in Aberdeen. The check-in opens for the 1900 sailing 2 hours before and you can get straight on board. So if you are going to upgrade to cabin accommodation or anything like that you can get in and get comfortable much earlier.

 

[Iskra]

Hi all,

I just found out about Rail Sail, and in particularly an adventure to Shetland sounds absolutely fantastic! The one issue is that I can find only very limited information regarding how to properly plan an itinerary that meets the NRCoT regarding minimum connection times at Aberdeen to catch the Northlink at the ferry terminal.

Seeing as these tickets are offered by the railway, I presume it holds as a single journey. I want to travel on the 23rd of May, on that day I see there are two trains that leave for Aberdeen that could be correct to catch the 1900 service that leaves that day. The 1430 Service by LNER which arrives at 1706, and the 1530 service by Scotrail that arrives at 1754. This should give me 114 minutes or 66 minutes respectively to meet my connection to Lerwick in time.

Does anyone have any experience of this? What should happen if my train is delayed and I cannot make it to the ferry in time, do I still have any delay repay rights or right to accommodation to meet the following days service? Would love your help and assistance with this, I've never heard of a rail sail ticket and therefore looking very much forward to the adventure! Just don't want to be caught out by making an itinery mistake.

P.S. If I am travelling from England, as long as I give the minimum connection time at Edinburgh, which is I suppose 10 minutes according to BR trains, would this still be counted as two journeys or would I be covered under one journey under NRCoT?

I have seen a bit about these tickets to Belfast or Dublin but the scottish isles are a bit lacking in information online I find.

After a lot of persistence, I managed to get a delay repay payment out of TfW for a delayed train connecting into a ferry on a RailSail ticket last year.

 

[Lime]

Northlink closes check-in 30 minutes before departure (https://www.northlinkferries.co.uk/the-journey/check-in-and-boarding/). So whatever you do, you need to make it to the terminal 30 minutes before the ship sails off.

Personally, I would suggest taking the earlier train (if not the one before that!) as the consequences of missing that ferry are pretty significant, as the services are not that frequent.

My normal advice for Liverpool to Belfast ferry is to pick an itinerary where, if any one train is cancelled, you arrive no later than 21:00 at Lime Street (or the equivalent at Chester), for a ferry that departs at 22:30. I would apply something similar to this situation.

That should be about 90 minutes, I will put the 1430 train into my itinerary, I should be able to have more than enough time to meet it in Edinburgh, unfortunately I don't get to Edinburgh until about 2pm so can't take an earlier train. Given the distance between Aberdeen and the ferry terminus is even smaller than that between Lime st and it's ferry terminal this seems like it should work. There just doesn't seem to be the minimum connection time information as there is for rail connections online anywhere.

 

[Lime]

It is one journey.

My advice would be to specify additional interchange time at any relevant locations, to maximise your chances of making the connections.

Good to know, thanks! I always wondered how much of an impact increasing interchange time would affect the rail operators view of it being "one journey", there must be a limit.

 

[Lime]

I would say the 1430 is the very last train you'd want to catch. But as this originates in London, I'd maybe look at using the scotrail service an hour before and give yourself lots of time in Aberdeen. The check-in opens for the 1900 sailing 2 hours before and you can get straight on board. So if you are going to upgrade to cabin accommodation or anything like that you can get in and get comfortable much earlier.

Good to know, the 1430 train would be the first possible connection from Euston as I arrive in about 2pm. I know it's not ideal, I just wanted to check that it would still remain a valid itinerary should the worst happen and I get stranded in Aberdeen overnight. I think you can upgrade the cabin over the phone, or at least that's what I saw. No cabin's left on the outward journey however so I will have to make do with the reclining chairs for the voyage across, I suppose better than on the way back after wild camping and hiking! Wish me luck

 

[Lime]

After a lot of persistence, I managed to get a delay repay payment out of TfW for a delayed train connecting into a ferry on a RailSail ticket last year.

Great to know, seems like it may have been difficult for you however which is surprising as I thought it was TfW that organised the schedule and ticketing for the Fishguard/Holyhead to Ireland Rail Sail routes. Did you still manage to travel the same day, what's the story?

 

[yorkie]

Good to know, thanks! I always wondered how much of an impact increasing interchange time would affect the rail operators view of it being "one journey", there must be a limit.

If it's on one itinerary, and the booking confirmation clearly states it as a journey, it's difficult for anyone to argue with that.

 

[Iskra]

Great to know, seems like it may have been difficult for you however which is surprising as I thought it was TfW that organised the schedule and ticketing for the Fishguard/Holyhead to Ireland Rail Sail routes. Did you still manage to travel the same day, what's the story?

They kept declining it because 'they couldn't find the timetabled journey.'

I travelled Sheffield-Manchester Piccadilly-Cardiff Central (for the 67+Mk4)-Fishguard Harbour on an Anytime RailSail.

I got to Cardiff okay, but then my next train (something like the 1602 off Cardiff direct to Fishguard Harbour) arrived off Canton depot 34 minutes late and had been swapped from a 197 to a 150. It was wedged to Swansea then terminated short at Carmarthen, with buses onwards to Fishguard. I caught the ferry in good time, but claimed on the basis that it ruined my planned evening in Fishguard.

I found the reason they declined my delay claim odd, since I was on TFW services, and I was clearly delayed, and the timetable would substantiate that. They eventually gave in after I provided time-stamped photographic evidence of my journey and asked for a deadlock letter. It was a bit of an odd one, really.

 

[Lime]

Thanks for all the information everyone! I saw that actually it may even work out cheaper to book this seperately - Would I still be protected under NRCoT for a journey like with a split ticket oir would this result me in losing that right? For myself and my gf it would be half the price to book it seperately compared with the Rail sail, but the protection of the Rail Sail ticket seems to be a huge selling point!