Why do some not permitted routes become permitted for longer journeys and vice versa?

[Old Yard Dog]

Why do some "not permitted" routes become "permitted" for longer journeys and vice versa?

For example, Hooton to Crewe is only permitted via Chester (CH) and not via Liverpool - while Hooton to London is permitted via Liverpool & Crewe (EV) or via Chester & Crewe (EJ).

Similarly Hooton to Stoke-on-Trent is only permitted via Chester (CH+EM) and not via Liverpool & Crewe - but is permitted via Liverpool and Manchester (NO/NR+NC).

There are loads of similar examples & counter examples from Hooton.

For example, Hooton to Warrington Bank Quay and Manchester Victoria (MJ) is permitted via Chester but Hooton to Bradford and Leeds is only permitted via Liverpool (VN).

You could not make it up.

Fortunately most ticket inspectors use a bit of common sense. However I worry that when tickets are inspected by "intelligent" machines, common sense will go out of the window.

 

[mikeg]

Short answer: The Routeing Guide is not recursive. However in general I agree that longer journeys should have more leeway. This is usually (but far from always) the case.

Edit: The old British Rail book of routes was recursive and could result in some very prescriptive routeing for long journeys. Then with the Beeching axe they just decided you can take any reasonable route, which in general meant if you were going in the right direction or on a through train and a route wouldn't have created a fares anomaly, it was allowed. This was then attempted to be codified as the National Routeing Guide in order to settle any potential disputes easily upon privatisation.

Though as you say there are some routes that would today at least pass the reasonable route test but not be permitted by the routeing guide. And indeed vice versa though it's often best not to publish the more blatant examples of the latter.

 

[Watershed]

In general terms, shorter journeys tend to have more restrictive permitted routes because of the desire to avoid creating anomalies.

However, in the case of Hooton to Crewe the permitted routes clearly don't make sense as they don't match how the fares are priced. The "Any Permitted" fares are set by West Midlands Trains, at a higher level than Liverpool to Crewe fares, on the assumption you'll travel via Liverpool. But the only permitted route is via Chester, so everyone will just be sold the "via Chester" fares set by TfW anyway.

Hooton is a curious case because there are differing assumptions for different destinations as to whether you'll travel via Chester, Ellesmere Port, or Liverpool.