Trainsplit Itinerary Question (Birchgrove - Staplehurst)

[gcmozart]

I am looking to book journey from Birchgrove to Staplehurst, Monday 23/02 with a railcard. I have been offered, by trainsplit, what seems to me a strange itinerary.

I wondered why the wait at Cardiff is so long, and can I ignore the itinerary and catch the 11:17 from Birchgrove? Would I still have a valid itinerary if the 11:17 was delayed/cancelled causing me to miss the connection?

Cardiff min connection time is 7 minutes and the 11:17 gives 12 minutes between services.
The Birchgrove to Cardiff leg is fulfilled with an Anytime Day Single

 

[pwharley]

I am looking to book journey from Birchgrove to Staplehurst, Monday 23/02 with a railcard. I have been offered, by trainsplit, what seems to me a strange itinerary.

I wondered why the wait at Cardiff is so long, and can I ignore the itinerary and catch the 11:17 from Birchgrove? Would I still have a valid itinerary if the 11:17 was delayed/cancelled causing me to miss the connection?

Cardiff min connection time is 7 minutes and the 11:17 gives 12 minutes between services.
The Birchgrove to Cardiff leg is fulfilled with an Anytime Day Single

TfW's PAYG fare from Birchgrove to Cardiff Central is £2.20.
If the Anytime Day Single (with railcard) is more than this, you could tap in at Birchgrove for the 11:17, tap out at CDF and then immediately re-enter using your Cardiff to Staplehurst ticket(s).

 

[Adam Williams]

Looking through the logs, there are at least 40 journey planning searches that have been made in connection to a journey from Birchgrove to Staplehurst on 2026-02-23 today and yesterday evening.

As much as I wish I had the time to, I am not going to look through all of them to find this particular itinerary - can I make a plea that a search link or (preferably) a ticket information link (like "https://tickets.railforums.co.uk/ticket-information?guid=8004bbf1-4383-885e-b4c4-fedcca9cb1f8&outId=764557&returnId=0&fareSetId=1" which includes the search identifier) always be provided for any enquiries about specific results returned back from TrainSplit or the forum ticketing site.

 

[gcmozart]

Looking through the logs, there are at least 40 journey planning searches that have been made in connection to a journey from Birchgrove to Staplehurst on 2026-02-23 today and yesterday evening.

As much as I wish I had the time to, I am not going to look through all of them to find this particular itinerary - can I make a plea that a search link or (preferably) a ticket information link (like "https://tickets.railforums.co.uk/ticket-information?guid=8004bbf1-4383-885e-b4c4-fedcca9cb1f8&outId=764557&returnId=0&fareSetId=1" which includes the search identifier) always be provided for any enquiries about specific results returned back from TrainSplit or the forum ticketing site.

Apologies, I didnt realise that info would be useful for you

Ticket Information | RailUK Tickets

TrainSplit is a free service that makes it easy to find the cheapest train tickets for your journey.

tickets.railforums.co.uk

 

[Adam Williams]

I think this is the desired itinerary? You can encourage the site to give it to you with a couple of advanced options (please re-apply your railcard if you use this link). It does respect the minimum connection time at Cardiff and therefore you would be covered in the event of delays, but was being trimmed out of later searches because it's considered to be a fairly pointless result - there are better options involving the 11:17 (which get in at 15:34, significantly earlier) and cost the same amount.