tim (moved to sweden) wrote:

In general yes, but for journeys on the 'southern' via CJ there
has been a 'via' london fare for as long as I can remember.

For some journeys it makse sense to pay the extra.

....for example, if you are going to Portsmouth/Southampton/pretty much
any long-distance SWT destinations, where the fastest trains annoyingly
don't stop at CJ.