Is there anything in the routing guide saying you must walk between stations.
We debated this recently
here and I didn't put my point very well. I'll have another attempt.
There are clearly tickets available where the route restriction means that the journey must involve a walk. This was demonstrated by
embers25 here. For example, an SDS or SDR from Crewkerne to Castle Cary route Yeovil is clearly meant to be used for rail journeys from Crewkerne to Yeovil Junction and from Yeovil Pen Mill to Castle Cary, with the passenger is left to
walk between the two Yeovil stations, where a
walk is defined as travel by any means of transport the passenger chooses other than by the use of this particular railway ticket.
The SDS and SDR from Crewkerne - Castle Cary route Yeovil are the only railway tickets available between these stations. There are no route Any Permitted tickets available. If there had been, then the routeing guide would give a very different journey.
For example Ince to Bryn £1.90 CDS the obvious route would be Ince to Wigan Wallgate, then walk to Wigan North Western and train to Bryn. However the shortest route (without leaving the rail network) would be Ince - Hindley - Bolton - Preston - Wigan North Western - Bryn. Is this valid?
Ince - Bryn fares are route Any Permitted, so we must use the routeing guide to work out what this means.
National Routeing Guide said:
The routeing points for Ince are Bolton, Manchester Group and Wigan Group.
The routeing points for Bryn are Huyton and Wigan Group.
So Ince and Bryn have a common routeing point Wigan Group.
How to Use the National Routeing Guide said:
Common Routeing Points
If the origin and destination have a common routeing point, the permitted route is direct via the shortest distance from the origin to the destination over which a regular scheduled passenger train service operates.
http://www.atoc.org/rsp/Routeing_Guide/
No passenger train service operates between Wigan Wallgate and Wigan North Western, so the permitted route is direct via the shortest distance over which a regular scheduled passenger train service operates. CoRE calculates this to be:
Clive's on-line Routeing Engine said:
Shortest route from Ince (Manchester) to Bryn
Distance: 37 miles 16 chains
From Ince (Manchester) to Wigan Wallgate, to Kirkdale via Kirkby (Merseyside), to Sandhills, to Moorfields, to Liverpool Lime Street, to Edge Hill, to Huyton, to Bryn.
So that is a permitted route. The route suggested by
scrapy is some 10 miles longer and would not be permitted.
Clive's on-line Routeing Engine said:
Shortest route from Ince (Manchester) to Preston (Lancs)
Distance: 28 miles 70 chains
From Ince (Manchester) to Hindley, to Bolton, to Leyland, to Preston (Lancs).
Shortest route from Preston (Lancs) to Bryn
Distance: 18 miles 64 chains
From Preston (Lancs) to Leyland, to Wigan North Western, to Bryn.
Total distance 47 miles 54 chains
My opinion is that a passenger is never compelled to walk between stations when using a ticket routed
Any Permitted. This view appears to be confirmed by this correspondence with ATOC:
Clive D W Feather to ATOC said:
Question 9: can a journey involve a walk between stations? ... Does it matter if the stations involved are in the same group or not?
ATOC to Clive D W Feather said:
Qu.9: Can a journey involve a walk between stations?
Some journeys must involve a walk between stations; for example, the fare from Watford Junction to Harpenden is routed "St Albans Abbey" - this must involve a walk between St Albans Abbey and St Albans. As regards permitted routes in the Routeing Guide, there is nothing to prevent a customer using a route that involves a walk between stations (one is not breaking the "no doubling back" rule by doing this).
http://www.rossrail.co.uk/central/routeqn1.html
If anyone knows of a more recent statement from ATOC, please tell us.
John
