Great Western Coffee Shop

Just had a look at the possibility of heading out from Montpelier to Pilning one Saturday morning, and was a bit surprised by the fare. I appreciate that since they took the footbridge down it is necessary to change at Newport, but it seems a bit unreasonable that the fare is £21.40 - so not only to I have to traipse all the way to Wales and back, but I have to pay for the privilege too! The fare for the (much quicker and more direct) return journey is a more reasonable £4.20.

Is this information correct, or should the outbound fare match the inbound?

I assume you're referring to an online booking engine that's giving erroneous fares.

Just buy the Anytime Day Single (£4.20) from Montpelier to Pilning on the train from Montpelier on Saturday.

There are Routeing Guide easements, both local and fare check, that allow you to double-back from Newport to get to Pilning. These should be programmed into booking engines, but may not be implementing correctly.

You shouldn't have any issues using the Anytime Day Single. Staff should be well aware of the limitations of getting to Pilning from the Bristol area with trains only calling in the up direction.


Are you planning on returning by train from Pilning? If so then it's the £6.50 Anytime Day Return, and don't miss the later departure! Or is the plan to reposition to Severn Beach under your own steam to get back home?

? BRFares gave me £6.50 return ?  ... And I think that allows you to double back at Severn Tunnel Junction.

As a wise sage once said to me Avoid Newport .... different context, but put that into the journey planner and you won't be offered the higher fare.

An off peak return Monpelier to Newport is £12.40 and you can break your journey at Pilning on the way back ... though of course  you wouldn't then be counted in the Pilining ORR stats.

I would say do go via Newport rather than Severn Tunnel Junction. The Routeing Guide easements allow it, you have less time waiting for the Pilning train, there is better shelter, and you can grab a coffee.

Thank you both for your help and observations.

I got my information from http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk, which I have always imagined to be definitive - shows what I know!

I am just toying with ideas at the moment, but I wouldn't be too badly stranded if a lunchtime pint turned into three and I missed the 15:34...

Showing my ignorance even more: am I right in assuming that I can't leave the station at Newport?

We would be pleased to see you at Pilning  RS ,all are welcome, the more the merrier.

There is nothing written in black and white that says you can or can't break a journey when using a Routeing Guide double-back easement.

Leaving the station at Newport is entirely in the gift of gateline staff.

A promise to come back for the Pilning train may suffice, but there is the potential for staff to think you are using the Pilning fare to get to Newport on the cheap.

Ask nicely and hope for the best. But be prepared to be told you'll have to wait on the station for your connecting train.

Perish the thought that anything so devious could possibly have entered my mind..!

National Rail is giving me £4.20 for the return leg but two fares for the outbound leg: £18.60 on the 0651 or £21.40 on 1336. "No return fares available" it says, so it doesn't know about this £6.50 Anytime Day Return.

The National Rail journey planner won't show the return fare from Montpelier to Pilning weirdly... But if you use the GWR website direct it will come up with an itinerary with the £6.50 fare. If you do want to buy the ticket online, going directly to the GWR website is the best option.

If you try to click 'Buy now for £(whatever price it shows)' on the NRE website, it automatically redirects you to the GWR website, which then fails to show any fares at all, so clearly a bit of a bug in the NRE system.

I also tried the Crosscountry website direct, which says 'No tickets are available', the Transport for Wales and Trainline websites for example also does the same... All of these ticket sites are ran by the Trainline booking engine mind ...

If you try to leave the station at Newport, the ticket won't work on the gateline, but I have never had trouble with the staff when showing the ticket.