Train travel shorting?

Question

can anyone tell me about train travel called shorting,any good web sites

thanks

Answer 1

I know of it as an investment technique, but never in relation to train travel.  You sure?

I'll watch with interest.

Answer 2

Not sure if this is what you mean but.....

For example, you want to get a train from Swindon to London Paddington, but it is actually cheaper to buy a ticket from Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington going via Swindon.  You buy the ticket for Bristol to London but only get on at Swindon thus saving yourself X amount of money.

Unfortunately this is against the Terms and Conditions of most (if not all) train tickets so if caught out you may be liable to be asked to leave the train at the next station.

Answer 3

The only thing I can think of that you may be asking about is when a Train is calling on an altered running diagram, example if a train which is a stopping service is running so late that the train behind is within 5 to 10 mins of it and so constituting a blocked section, then the TOC's can authorize that train to call short and run fast from major station to major station to make up time.

Or a train is formed in short formation when part of the normal service is called to do other things to cover a broken down unit, or a faulty carrage is taken off of a service and no replacement is availiable.

Otherwise I have not heard of this term in the 12years I have worked on the railway.