Great Western Coffee Shop

A question for the routing gurus out there.

I've got an elderly relative who needs to travel from Sidmouth to Worcester this coming Sunday.

My usual advice would be not to travel by train on a Sunday.

Leaving that aside (!), the sensible route is for her to be driven to Exeter St Davids and be collected from Cheltenham.

But this coming Sunday, the trains are being replaced by coaches from Exeter to Taunton, and I wouldn't want to inflict that on her.

At one stage I thought that a cunning route would be to take a diverted West of England train (calling, v handily, at Honiton) to Westbury and then travel by way of Bristol. But they're digging that up as well!

One of the routes that's consistently being offered by the journey planner is to stick with the London train, change at Reading, and travel to Worcester instead of Cheltenham.

Now, is that a legit route for ticketing purposes? Or do we have to do something complicated involving two tickets? And if so, how does that affect the hopefully-straightforward return journey?

If the journey planner is offering you that route, I would assume that it is allowed.  If you get a seat reservation, I can't see you getting in any trouble for sticking to your reserved trains whatever the routing guide may say. 

The Off Peak Return Honiton to Worcester Stations is routed: ANY PERMITTED and one of the routeing points is Salisbury. This allows Honiton-Basingstoke-Reading-Worcester for an all train journey this Sunday.

There are other options for an all train journey that involve split ticketing, but I would need to know the times your relative will be travelling and when they plan to return.

As it stands you cannot use the diverted WoE HSTs on a through ticket as they are not on a permitted route for Honiton-Worcester (as is the case when they are not diverted). Whilst some Journey Planners will show the diverted trains I've not found one that will give up a reservation on the diverted trains. WebTIS shows the trains but all fare options are greyed out. However there is a split ticket option that would allow the use of the diverted services and it works out cheaper than the through fare!

Lets us know the travel times and I'll endeavour to offer further advice.

I'd been looking at the 13:53 from Honiton to Reading.
Arrive Reading 16:10 and depart 16:21 to Worcester via Oxford. There's another one from Reading at 17:21 if things Go Wrong.

Ah, you've picked one of the diverted services that doesn't offer up a split ticket opportunity at Westbury as it doesn't call. Ho hum! Now if you said the 1153.....

If you wish to take the 1353 then the only valid fares will be to split at Reading. Honiton - Reading SVR ^44.00 plus Reading - Worcester Stations SVR ^38.00. Total ^82.00 and the inflexibility of having to return via Reading and Basingstoke as well.

Now, if your relative CAN take the 1153 then you can split at Westbury. Honiton to Westbury ^25 SVR and Westbury to Worcester Stations (Route: Not Birmingham) SVR ^26.00. Total ^51.00 And the flexibility to return via Bristol, Westbury and Salisbury. Travelling out you are due in to Reading at 1430 and there is a service to Worcester at 1521, arriving 1714.

Alternatively, on the same split (HON-WSB/WSB-WOF) you can travel out at 1553 with changes at Castle Cary and Reading

HON 1553
CLC 1713

CLC 1740 (Calls Westbury)
RDG 1855

RDG 1907
WOF 2120

Choices are limited if you want to avoid the dreaded rail replacement bus. It may be worth enquiring of FGW whether you can use the 1353 FGW service Honiton to Reading with a Honiton to Worcester (SVR ^59.00 Any Permitted) even though it isn't a permitted route.

Oh for the days when routeing was decided on what was 'reasonable'....  :D

At the least routeing is now black and white (ish), whereas 'any reasonable' was open to variations in interpretation/personal opinion.