2019 fares analysis

As usual I do my fares analysis from the Avantix download, and not press releases! It will therefore be late January or early February before my annual tables appear.

In the meantime, I can confirm that Great Western Railway has withdrawn the Gatwick flyaway special fares, but replaced then with a special cheaper Anytime Return from stations on the Reading axis to the airport that also allows GroupSave.

Finally, Network Rail announced it would withdraw all charges for toilets from stations it runs by April. Many are already free.

When I visited Marylebone in November the toilets were also free, so I was pleased that Chiltern Railways had taken the same view as Network Rail. I got it wrong! I’m told that just before Christmas it suddenly reinstated the 30p charge.