In article ,
Roland Perry wrote:

Although last time I looked Tamworth services didn't arrive at St
Pancras, or was the OP travelling via Leicester?

No, the poster was commenting favourably on the short walk between
Euston and St.P vs crossing London on the Tube. I had to read it
several times.

Sam

On Jun 1, 5:39*pm, Arthur Figgis wrote:

Mizter T wrote:
I hadn't entirely realised there was an LGV style 'black-out' period
during the day (though that's not the right term but I forget the
correct one) on HS1 at the moment.

It is called the white period, I think.


Thanks, seems I got my yin and yang confused. Or something.

Arthur Figgis wrote:
Mizter T wrote:

I hadn't entirely realised there was an LGV style 'black-out' period
during the day (though that's not the right term but I forget the
correct one) on HS1 at the moment.

It is called the white period, I think.

Seems to me that on HS1 it's called the "daylight track inspection".

Philip.

In light of the comment that all first class ticket holders can travel
on the Preview service at no extra charge, I have enquired about how
they will treat Britrail First pass holders - of which I shall be one
in July. A reply today from a named individual (who got my name wrong)
says my query needs "further investigation" and I should expect a
reply within 10 days from head office.

Presumably this is Southeastern for "Ooops, we hadn't thought of
that." Fun will ensue if they backtrack on "all FC ticket holders".

tf

In message
, at
02:12:08 on Tue, 2 Jun 2009, remarked:
In light of the comment that all first class ticket holders can travel
on the Preview service at no extra charge, I have enquired about how
they will treat Britrail First pass holders - of which I shall be one
in July. A reply today from a named individual (who got my name wrong)
says my query needs "further investigation" and I should expect a
reply within 10 days from head office.

Presumably this is Southeastern for "Ooops, we hadn't thought of
that." Fun will ensue if they backtrack on "all FC ticket holders".

Has it been established that Standard Britrail pass holders are
unwelcome on the service? Or can they pay a supplement.
--
Roland Perry

In article
,
wrote:

In light of the comment that all first class ticket holders can travel
on the Preview service at no extra charge, ...

Let's get this right. There's an all-standard-class service for which
standard class ticket holders pay a premium and first class ticket
holders don't. Sounds like an all-first-class service to me.

Sam

In message , at
10:34:01 on Tue, 2 Jun 2009, Sam Wilson remarked:
In light of the comment that all first class ticket holders can travel
on the Preview service at no extra charge, ...

Let's get this right. There's an all-standard-class service for which
standard class ticket holders pay a premium and first class ticket
holders don't. Sounds like an all-first-class service to me.

It's more complicated than that - eventually it'll be one of the normal
"any permitted" route to get to Kent, but more expensive. The current
route will be "not HS1" and without the uplift. The "First Class tickets
accepted" thing seems to be a kludge to paper over the cracks while
there's a premium to pay.
--
Roland Perry

On 2 jun, 11:18, Roland Perry wrote:
In message
, at
02:12:08 on Tue, 2 Jun 2009, remarked:

In light of the comment that all first class ticket holders can travel
on the Preview service at no extra charge, I have enquired about how
they will treat Britrail First pass holders - of which I shall be one
in July. A reply today from a named individual (who got my name wrong)
says my query needs "further investigation" and I should expect a
reply within 10 days from head office.

Presumably this is Southeastern for "Ooops, we hadn't thought of
that." Fun will ensue if they backtrack on "all FC ticket holders".

Has it been established that Standard Britrail pass holders are
unwelcome on the service? Or can they pay a supplement.
--
Roland Perry

Although that's not my query, it would be an equally interesting one
to submit. As would an allied one about All Line Rovers. The only one
that seems to be oout of the game is the Kent Rover as that's an off-
peak only ticket.

The preview service is a bit underwhelming really - at least at
present. Perhaps Se will increase it as more units become available
for traffic, so as to try to encourage some offpeak usage. With a
month of school holidays upcoming it would be good if they could take
advantage of it.

tf

Mizter T wrote:

The other factor is what changes are being made to "Mainline" services
to/from Ashford under the new timetable, i.e. whether they'll be
slower and less frequent.

Yup...The services via Maidstone will all be diverted to/from Victoria
(one stopper and one semi-fast an hour), the off-peak Cannon Street
services will be withdrawn, and the two services via Tonbridge to
Charing Cross will become stoppers.

Current Timetable:
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Victoria - Ashford: 1 hour 24 to 1 hour 42 (1tph off-peak)
Cannon Street - Ashford: 1 hour 9 to 1 hour 24 (1tph off-peak)
Charing Cross - Ashford: 1 hour to 1 hour 29 (2 to 4tph off-peak)
London Bridge - Ashford: 1 hour 3 to 1 hour 21 (3tph off-peak)

Draft Timetable:
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Victoria - Ashford: 1 hour 20 to 1 hour 37 (2tph off-peak)
Cannon Street - Ashford: 1 hour 3 to 1 hour 17 (evening peak only)
Charing Cross - Ashford: 1 hour 12 to 1 hour 26 (2tph off-peak)
London Bridge - Ashford: 1 hour 7 to 1 hour 17 (2tph off-peak)

So the big losers are anyone wanting to go to Cannon Street off-peak,
who'll now have to change trains and platforms at London Bridge, and
anyone travelling to Charing Cross, who'll have journey times on the
"classic" route extended by 27% for much of the day.

Draft Mainline timetables are linked from
http://www.southeasternrailway.co.uk/index.php/cms/pages/view/262

Cheers,

Barry

On Jun 2, 7:34*pm, Paul Corfield wrote:

[snip quoted text]

While we're doing tickets for this preview service does anyone know
whether Railcard and Privilege discounts will apply? I did try to
conjure up a journey for the new service on South Eastern's site and
also National Rail but neither had any record of the departures and
therefore the fares couldn't be displayed.

Fares wise, the route is being interwoven into the national network -
basically it will become the new "Any Permitted" route (and route AP
tickets will thus carry the HS1 premium), whilst there will be new
route "not HS1" fares (that won't attract the premium). In this
context national Railcard discounts will surely apply on the HS
service - though whether the (SE England-only) Network Railcard will
be valid is perhaps less clear (bearing in mind that it's not a
'statutory' railcard, it's an opt-in arrangement for the TOCs).

Someone has said that there'll be no priv-rate fares, but I've no idea
if that's true (perhaps the underlying fare will be available at priv-
rate, but the HS1 add-on premium won't be discounted?).