Why is Cradley Heath to Gloucester valid via Smethwick Galton Bridge?

[alistairlees]

There are two basic ways to travel from Cradly Heath to Gloucester

1. Head south, changing at Worcester Shrub Hill / Cheltenham Spa (the obvious route really, but not with that many services)
2. Head to Birmingham, then head south on a CrossCountry service to Cheltenham Spa, then change for Gloucester if needed. There are two ways to get to Birmingham - either get a train from Cradley Heath to Birmingham Snow Hill, then walk to Birmingham New Street; or get off the Snow Hill train at Smethwick Galton Bridge, then get a train from there to Birmingham New Street.

I assumed that journeys via Smethwick Galton Bridge would be valid (and they show as such on The Trainline and on Trains Can Be Cheaper).

But...
1. According to the Routeing Point Calculator, Smethwick Group is not a valid origin routeing point for this journey (because a CDS from Smethwick Galton Bridge to Gloucester is 10p more than a CDS from Cradley Heath to Gloucester)
2. It's over 7 miles longer than the shortest route
3. I can't see any relevant easements (though the easement text is generally terrible)

Am I missing something? Is the routeing point calculator incorrect, for example - e.g. is there in NFM64 an SDS or SOS that's the same price (or less) from Smethwick Galton Bridge to Gloucester, as one from Cradley Heath to Gloucester, which it's not considering? Or is one of the easements much more useful in the data than in the text (I haven't got the data to hand)?

Or is it something else?

Thanks

 

[JB_B]

I agree that Smethwick would fail for route:any permitted.

However, I think that all Cradley Heath-Gloucester tickets are routed either via Worcester or via Birmingham. For via Birmingham, Smethwick Group should be a valid origin.

 

[alistairlees]

I agree that Smethwick would fail for route:any permitted.

However, I think that all Cradley Heath-Gloucester tickets are routed either via Worcester or via Birmingham. For via Birmingham, Smethwick Group should be a valid origin.

Indeed, I had missed that rather obvious point last night, and assumed that the more expensive fare was Any Permitted.

 

[SickyNicky]

For those not well versed in the ways of these things, what's happening here is that when consulting the routeing guide, Cradley Heath to Gloucester isn't a Permitted Route when travelling via Smethwick.

However, there's another (slightly more obscure) rule that says that when a fare is geographically routed, if the whole route isn't allowed in the routeing guide you can "split the route" at the geographical location, in this case Birmingham. So instead of checking that the route is OK in it's entirety, you check that the route is OK between Cradley Heath and Birmingham, and that it's OK between Birmingham and Gloucester.

Clearly both are in this case, so the entire route is Permitted.