U.K. and Ireland - UK train ticket questions.

For the first time in 10 years I am considering catching a train. 35 GBP in First class compared to 100 GBP plus parking and trekking across London by flying.

Obviously at this price they are advance fares and I have to change trains.On the way down it is all one ticket so I assume if my first train is late and I miss the connection I could catch the next one. However on the way back it is not letting me buy as one ticket although if I buy as separate tickets it still comes to the same price. So If I miss the connection on the way back can i just catch a later train or would I have to pay the fare difference?

Are trains late? Or do they pretty much run to schedule?

Finally Sheffield or Leeds to connect through? East Midlands trains or National Express East coast?

Thanks

Apologies if this should have been posted in the Bmi forum;)

If you miss a connection on an Advance fare, then normally, yes, you can get the next train. Your best best, if this happens, is to visit the ticket office to see if you can re-book a seat (as it may be that bit busier) and see if it needs to be endorsed (some companies do, some don't).

On the way back, yes, a misconnection would be down to you.

If you let us know the location and day, we can advise as to routing and punctuality.

Personally, I'd go via Leeds on NXEC if the connection is decent - Leeds to London is far faster. The electric trains are modern and have a very nice first class, and all their trains have on-board Wi-Fi. Their older, diesel HSTs are basically the same as EMT (in fact, several of them were transferred from their predecessor, MML), although NXEC have refurbished some. Finally, EMT do have some new 'Meridian' trains, some of which run to Sheffield (although most Sheffield services are HSTs), which are nice and fresh, but do suffer from engine noise and vibration, as these are under the carriage, rather than in a power car.

Another vote for NXEC

On the way back, yes, a misconnection would be down to you.

That is certainly the theory and the rule.

But if you had booked two Advance tickets....

A to B
B to C

with a clear (say more than 10 minutes) connection at B

If the first train was late arriving at B, I would say you would stand a very good chance of persuading the guard on the next available train from B to C to allow you to travel with the original ticket. I would certainly try and argue the case...

I think there is enough - "network" spirit left in the system for them to make a judgement in your favour.

With the move to Advance tickets - I think this is certainly one of the weaknesses in the system and needs rectifying....

The rule should be - If the rail industry causes the problem, they bend the rules to help you....

Thanks for the replies.

The NXEC option has now gone dearer. The return is on a Sunday and the Sheffield train takes forever so looks like driving may be the best option.

Thanks for the replies.

The NXEC option has now gone dearer. The return is on a Sunday and the Sheffield train takes forever so looks like driving may be the best option.

Driving :td::)

Where is it you are trying to get/to and from ?

Tropical Lancashire to Canary Wharf.

By the time I get into Manchester and then from whatever London station to Canary wharf its gonna be 5+ hours and even more on the way back.:td:

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (SymbianOS/9.1; U; en-us) AppleWebKit/413 (KHTML, like Gecko) Safari/413 es61i)

Ah... It's the Rugby blockade. There's no trains Manchester to London on the weekends.

FWIW, the Manc-Sheffield line is rather stunning (and you can usually get a good fare on TPE), plus you can transfer to NXEC at Doncaster, which gives more opportunities.

Shame about the engineering works, really.