I am having problems with train line

[whole diary]

[infoman]

Not sure if its just me.

I put in the to and from etc and then it says "oops some gone wrong",do a refresh and it then seems to work.

Thoughts any one?

[Phil]

I haven't used Trainline for several years, but just out of interest I logged into my old account a few minutes ago, typed in a journey and it generated exactly the results I expected. Have you tried using a different web browser?

[ChrisB]

I’d love to understand why anyone uses Trainline.

[Oxonhutch]

I’d love to understand why anyone uses Trainline.

Agree in general but...

Recently - in the last few months - Trainline has been offering advanced tickets that were unobtainable from the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company)'s normal websites.

[ChrisB]

Hmmm…..are Advance tickets considered to be piblic fares or special offers?

If the former, surely the ticketing agreement or other regulation means that these tickets, when available, should be equally available across all recognised sales outlets?

If a special offer, then my understsnding is that the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) can choose which outlet(s) to use.

BUT I also understand that special offer fares have to have a limited time availability such that the dates available to purchase have to be mentioned.

So either these are not Advance tockets as we understand them, or someone is breaking ticket selling regulations. I wonder which it is?

[Oxonhutch]

My suspicion was the the Trainline had contracted with the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) to sell a certain amount of Advanced Tickets when the government was putting the squeeze on the TOC to restrict their sales to discourage travel.

[ChrisB]

If so, that’s against the regulations, snd those tickets ought to becavsilable across all channels

[grahame]

My suspicion was the the Trainline had contracted with the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) to sell a certain amount of Advanced Tickets when the government was putting the squeeze on the TOC to restrict their sales to discourage travel.

If so, that’s against the regulations, snd those tickets ought to becavsilable across all channels

I would suspect that there is / was an agreement in place - perhaps a higher commission to Trainline on all Advance tickets sold provided a certain target through them is exceeded.   Provided that the same tickets can also by bought by the public at the same end user price through "all channels", I would suspect it's within regulations.  I would be more doubtful of it being within regulations if the tickets / offer was "only available on Trainline", though I have seen, I think, TOCs themselves offering special deals "only through us" ...

[ChrisB]

I’d love to understand why anyone uses Trainline.

Agree in general but...

Recently - in the last few months - Trainline has been offering advanced tickets that were unobtainable from the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company)'s normal websites.

This indicates otherwise Graham

The offers from TOCs are often tickets that aren’t generally available versions, so ot the recognised Peak, off-peak or Advances

[grahame]

I’d love to understand why anyone uses Trainline.

Agree in general but...

Recently - in the last few months - Trainline has been offering advanced tickets that were unobtainable from the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company)'s normal websites.

This indicates otherwise Graham

The offers from TOCs are often tickets that aren’t generally available versions, so ot the recognised Peak, off-peak or Advances

Ah - hadn't noted that - input data flood this morning and too much skim reading!

[infoman]

Can I ask what members use to find out trains times?

[IndustryInsider]

I most often use an app called Railboard on my phone or tablet.  Sometimes I’ll use the National Rail Enquiries website, and occasionally RealTimeTrains.

[ChrisB]

Can I ask what members use to find out trains times?

National Rail Enquiries app

[Rhydgaled]

Can I ask what members use to find out trains times?

Mostly https://tickets.gwr.com/gw/en/journeyplanning/mixingdeck and https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/detailed/ with occasional use of other sites. In the increasingly rare event I actually make a booking GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) is probably the main one though I'm more likely to use other websites for booking (eg. if the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) has an offer/feature on their own site such as being able to select a specific seat to reserve) than for just looking up train times.

[Surrey 455]

I have this pinned to the home screen on my phone
  https://live-departures.info/rail/departures/nearest/

It tells me the departures from whichever station I am nearest to. It's not an app, it's a web site.

For more detailed info, I normally use the National Rail app or website.

I normally book through GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) but it's thrown a few odd fares at me recently so on those occasions I used Southern or SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) to book.