Saints fans intending to let the train take the strain to see Saints play up at the Brittannia Stadium against Stoke City should be aware that there are railworks which affect this journey.
Saints fans going by train to Stoke may not be aware of railworks between Eastleigh and Basingstoke which are severely disrupting services on Saturday 18th April.
For example to get to Stoke before noon from Southampton Central you would need to get the 7.38am cross country service from Southampton (This may depart from a different platform than usual) this is diverted and arrives in Basingstoke to depart at 8.47.
Those who would usually pick up this train at Parkway or Winchester will need to get a replacement bus service to Basingstoke to meet up with the train for a 8.47am departure from there.
Arrival time in Stoke if you got the 7.38am train is 11.54, so someone getting the 8.38am service would not arrive in Stoke till 12.54.
There will be the same issues on the return journey meaning that the trip time will be about 4 hrs 15 mins from Southampton Central to Stoke On Trent Inclusive.
For those who haven't yet brought a ticket, big savings can be made by splitting the ticket to Stoke up into four different segments, a straight day return to Stoke is an incredible £96, but if you buy four seperate day returns as follows
Southampton - Basingstoke (£15 approx)
Basingstoke - Banbury (£15 approx)
Banbury - Birmingham New Street (£19 approx)
Birmingham New Street - Stoke On Trent (£17 approx)
The combined fare for this would come to approximately £66, there is no need to get off the train you just need to buy the tickets at Southampton Central in these seperate segments.
If you have a network railcard then you can save approximately £10 off of the two segments from Southampton - Banbury,.
Its stupid i know but such is the intricacies of our rail system, if I save you some money feel free to buy me a beer if you see me up there.