The train ticketing system is a farce. Yet learn how to play it, using hidden tricks, and you'll save a fortune. For example, in just a few minutes, you can cut the London to Penzance return fare from the £260 listed as cheapest to around £50. This is a full step-by-step guide to railroading (sorry) down train fares.
Simple Train Ticket Cost Cutting Tips
Even before the hardcore system-playing tips, it's important to look at how and when you book, to see what savings can be made...
Time your booking for maximum gain
As a general rule the earlier you book the cheaper the ticket. Yet timing the purchase accurately can make a real difference.
Buy early, specifically 12 weeks early
Everyone knows book early and you can get cheaper fares, yet often these disappear quicker than empty seats on a commuter trip. Therefore to ensure a bargain, the key moment is buying 12 weeks in advance. This is because, contractually Network Rail must have the timetable set 12 weeks in advance; therefore this is commonly – though not definitely – when tickets are released.
If you know when and where you want to go, there’s a sneaky way to be first in the cheap tickets queue. The TheTrainline's* ticket alert system emails the moment cheap advance tickets for a specific journey come on sale (commonly the cheapest fares).-
Get early booking discounts at the last minute!
Everyone knows booking train tickets in advance is much cheaper, but what needs to be understood is Advance tickets can often be bought the night before, or even on the way to the station. So the golden rule is...
Always check or call if advance tickets are still available, even if you're on the way to the station.
As proof of this, during one of my It Pays To Watch TV programmes, I was challenged to save a small businessman who commutes to work by train most days as much money as I could. He usually only finds out his destination the day before so normally just goes to the station and books.
So at 5pm I got him to call for a London-Sheffield train the next morning. He'd normally just pay £147 at the station, yet the night before £64 advance tickets were still around. This is a stunning saving, and advance tickets can be available even later, just an hour before travel on occasion.
Railcards and Season ticket savings
If you’re a regular traveller, then it’s often possible to seriously cut your costs by getting a railcard or season ticket. Which one works for you depends on how often you travel.
Spend over £72/year? Get a 16-25, Family & Friends or Senior Railcard.
Railcards which can be bought from the Railcard website typically cost £26 per year, or £65 for three years, and cut a third off the bill. Therefore spend over £72 a year (even in just one trip) and you save. Until May '08 railcards weren’t valid on some super-cheap promotional fares; now they’re valid on all tickets bought in advance and all standard class tickets.
Don't assume every journey is eligible for use with a railcard though; always check it out first – especially if you’re travelling at peak times. The main cards are…
The 16-25 Railcard: This is for under 25s or full-time students of any age. So do renew just before your 26th birthday to get another year (the same applies for those older and leaving Uni).
Family & Friends Railcard: This can be used on all tickets provided there's a minimum one adult and one under-16 travelling together, and a maximum four adults and four children.
The Senior Railcard: If you’re over 60 then this one works for you; some local councils give discounts on this card, so it's worth checking first.
The Disability Railcard: If you qualify for it, this is actually the cheapest railcard at £18; and again some local councils may allow you to get it even cheaper.
Local rail cards, season tickets and Rover & Ranger tickets
Local rail cards, season tickets and Rover and Ranger tickets, such as the Network Railcard in the South East, are also available, offering holders unlimited travel within specific areas for specific periods of time. There's a full list of these on the National Rail website.
Season tickets for regular travellers; but check out hidden options
If you travel a route as a daily commuter, it’s often worth getting an annual season ticket. The National Rail website’s season ticket calculator is a nifty little tool to help you work out the cost.
Sometimes there’s more than one option available for the same journey. It’s important to check both as it can make a real difference. E.g. from Bristol to London the season ticket limiting you to trains travelling through Warminster and Salisbury is nearly £3,000 a year cheaper than the unrestricted one.
If you’re getting a season ticket on a heavy commuter route, it’s also worth checking if there are any split ticket options (see the hardcore tricks section for an explanation), which mean you can buy two season tickets covering different legs of your journey which are cheaper.
Finding cheap fares and book for less …
There are more promotional train fares available than people realise; yet for the ultra cheap deals you have to know where to look and be flexible.
Check for hidden promotional specials
The National Rail website has a special promotions index page listing all special offers. Also do note that on certain East Midlands and South West Trains routes, including Sheffield to Derby and London to Exeter, it's possible to get Megatrain fares for £1 if you book early enough.
If you’re travelling from Manchester to London, use the Virgin Trains farefinder to find its super-cheap mid-week single tickets, which start at £8. While it is possible to find them using National Rail etc, doing it that way they're easy to miss. If you're flexible and plan carefully using Virgin's farefinder you can spot the cheap tickets quicker and easier.
For travellers between London and Birmingham an alternate method is via Chiltern Railways which sometimes offers cheaper tickets if you get them sent to your mobile phone.
Cheap UK Travel
Where to find all train ticket info
There are four main sites for finding cheap train fare info, as well as different types of search tools, rather bizarrely they don’t all list exactly the same tickets, so if you’ve time for a full belt and braces check on a big fare, do try them all.
TheTrainline. The ubiquitous TheTrainline* powers both its own site and many other commercial booking sites. Its operating system is relatively simple, but it charges fees when you book through it, so you’re better booking direct from the train operator.
National Express’ East Coast system. The name might suggest otherwise but the National Express East Coast system covers the whole UK, has no booking fees and sometimes gives extra discounts if your journey uses its network. One advantage of this is it includes a low fare finder, which will also find alternative routes which may be cheaper.
Raileasy. Another commercial booking site, like TheTrainline, Raileasy* also charges booking fees; it’s a new player which is promising to bring out some powerful tools. One advantage is it lists single fares on the results screen, which is useful as these can often be cheaper than returns.
National Rail. The daddy of all the info providers, National Rail has huge details of the different fares and great depth for the search. You can’t buy your tickets direct through it, but it will link you to individual train operators, which don’t charge booking fees.
The cheapest way to book tickets
Booking direct at a station or via the rail company’s own website is usually cheapest as there’s no booking fee; plus you may also find some extra online discounts.
If you're using the booking sites, beware, you’ll pay more ... the Trainline charges a £1 booking fee, plus an extra £3.50 for credit card payments. Raileasy, on the other hand, charges a £1 booking fee on every purchase over £10 (£2 if it's under a tenner), plus a 50p debit card fee and 2.5% for credit cards.
Overall this means of the two, the Trainline is cheapest for any bookings using a debit card and for credit card payments over £140, whereas Raileasy wins for credit card bookings under £140.
Calling National Rail Enquiries? Pay less for the call
If you need to dial National Rail Enquiries, the official number is 0845 748 49 50; yet you can cut the cost of calling by dialling 0121 634 2040 and then pressing '1', you'll get through to the same thing. See the SayNoTo0870 guide for more info.
Travel overnight and save on accommodation too
Sleeper trains may sound like something from days gone by yet travelling overnight could save on both transport and accommodation. For example if you’re planning a trip to London from Scotland it’s worth checking FirstScotRail’s Bargain Berths section where single fares on the Caledonian Sleeper start at £19.
Get free first class in the dining car
Some longer journeys still have first class dining cars as well as the standard buffet. These are often open to all diners, whatever class their ticket is. So go in and order a meal; while it's a bit more expensive, you can effectively travel in first class luxury for a second class price and some grub.
It's worth knowing, they do have the right to kick you back to where you belong (i.e. second class!) once you've finished eating, but it rarely happens.
Reclaim the cost after train delays
The rules state that if a train is late you can reclaim a full or partial refund. How late it needs to be to qualify depends on the journey, but as a rough rule of thumb, if you’re over 30 minutes late then it's worth checking out. Ensure you keep your ticket and pick up a reclaim form from the station.
Beat the system: Hardcore Train Fare Tricks
Now let's delve into the hidden timetable secrets. The sheer mass of journeys and rail companies, combined with the system's lack of logic, means there are lots of tricks to try. Yet there's no way to know whether it'll apply for your journey without checking...
Trick One :
Singles can beat returns
Buying a return ticket should be cheaper than two singles. Yet logic and train fares go together like a kettle and a rabbit. Lots of top deals are only available on one-way fares. It's very common that cheaper fares are available for two single tickets but not the return, thus always check.
And just to make it more confusing, occasionally if you’re only doing a one way trip, buying a return can be cheaper.
How much can you save... £191 on a Manchester to London return
As an example, a quick search for a seat on the mid-week 9.15am Manchester to London train, coming back the next day, brings up a standard open ticket costing a whopping £230; a quick check instantly found that for the same journey, an outbound standard Advance (single) ticket was £26, returning also on a standard Advance at £13, a total of £39.
How to find them
The web makes this easy. If you're using National Express East Coast, National Rail or Raileasy*, you'll be shown both single and return fares. If you're booking via TheTrainline* then in its step 2, there's a special 'two singles could be cheaper' link. Alternatively call National Rail Enquiries.
Trick Two.
Split your tickets, not your journey
This is the big trick everyone should know. Instead of buying tickets for the whole journey, buying tickets for its constituent parts separately can bizarrely slash the price – even though you're travelling on exactly the same train.
It’s perfectly allowed within the National Rail Conditions of Carriage, and has been confirmed by the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC). The only rule is that the train must call at the stations you've bought tickets for.
How much can you save… London to Penzance return cut from £257 to £50.
As an example, for London to Penzance return the cheapest ticket was an anytime day return at £257. This train stops in Plymouth and by instead buying four singles…
- Outbound: London to Plymouth
- Outbound: Plymouth to Penzance
- Return: Penzance to Plymouth
- Return: Plymouth to London
the total cost for those tickets is just £50, a saving of £207 and just to clear it up …
It's the same train at the same time, the difference is you’ve four tickets covering the journey not one.
How to find split ticket bargains:
It normally takes five-ten minutes to check, but it's worth doing, especially for long journeys.
Step 1: Find the cheapest price for the standard journey.
First get the price for the standard journey; without this you won't know if you can save.
Step 2: Find out where the train stops.
Use the Transport Direct journey planner; just click on the train icon after you receive your route to see where it stops. The info is also available via the timetables section of the National Rail website.
Alternatively, if your journey involves changing trains, click on the train time at Step 2 of the TheTrainline* booking process. It will reveal when and where the train stops; try splitting your ticket there.
Step 3: Check the options.
Now pick a main station about half way across the journey and get a price for separate tickets to and from there for each leg. If that doesn’t work try another leg. If the train stops at many places then there's a huge combination of available tickets. Obviously it's a balance of time versus money. You could split a journey’s tickets into six or eight… it all depends on the amount of time you have.
Successful Split Ticket Examples
|
Route |
Tickets split at |
Standard Fare |
Split Ticket Cost |
Saving |
|
Birmingham – Bristol |
Cheltenham |
£68.00 |
£42.00 |
£25.70 |
|
London – Manchester |
Milton Keynes |
£230.00 |
£185.40 |
£44.60 |
|
Leeds – Newcastle |
York |
£46.00 |
£31.00 |
£15.00 |
|
Birmingham – Basingstoke |
Banbury |
£85.00 |
£37.60 |
£47.40 |
|
Sheffield – Worcester |
Derby |
£74.00 |
£39.30 |
£34.70 |
|
Newcastle - Preston |
Carlisle |
£71.50 |
£46.90 |
£24.60 |
|
Norwich – Birmingham |
Peterborough |
£65.00 |
£42.40 |
£22.60 |
|
Manchester – Edinburgh Waverly |
York |
£150.00 |
£92.20 |
£54.80 |
|
Landywood - Skegness |
Derby |
£60.70 |
£29.70 |
£31.00 |
Split ticket prices last fully updated: Aug 08 |
Add yours / read others’ successful split ticket routes
If you find a journey where split ticketing works, please report it so others can benefit. Add yours/read others: Split ticket routes
One thing to watch for
In the very rare event that your split ticket stop coincides with a place you may change train, your first train were late and you’d booked a specific ticket, you may find your ticket isn’t valid for the last half of the journey.
E.g. If you travel from Aford to Cshire via Btown and split your tickets at Btown, plus need to change trains there, if the Ashire to Btown train is late, your ticket may not be valid for the later Btown to Cshire train.
Free tool to find your split ticket options
For the last two years we’ve been investigating an automated Train Ticket Calculator to find split ticket deals. It's more difficult than it appears; requiring huge computing power and research mathematicians to devise the algorithms and a problem of manipulating live data.
Yet recently (as at June 2008) we’ve started talking with a specialist partner to get such a tool … full details, when it’s up and running, will be in the free weekly MoneySaving e-mail.
Trick Three.
Only pay peak for the bit that is
Train peak times are usually before 10am and between 5pm and 7pm. Therefore if you're getting on a long-ish train journey during peak time, and some portion of the journey is outside peak time; if you're buying a return ticket you're still paying a peak ticket price.
The simple solution
By following Trick Two above and split ticketing based on time as well as distance, you can ensure you're only paying peak prices for the portion of the journey that is peak.
How much can you save… £65 on a Taunton to London peak train return.
As an example, on testing a Taunton to London return train leaving just after 8am, the standard cheap fare was £164. Yet splitting the ticket at Reading so the final portion is off-peak you can get the same journey for £99.
Trick Four.
Find the cheapest time to travel
If you're flexible, TheTrainline* has a nifty Cheap Fare Finder tool (a bit like the Flightchecker). Tell it where you want to go and a range of dates and it tells you the cheapest day and time. Yet while it's great for info, you can book more cheaply by going direct to the train company (read find cheap fares and book for less).
Currently it covers the 100 most popular routes, yet even if only part of your journey’s covered, you may be able to split your tickets and get a cheap fare for part of it.
How much can you save… Glasgow to London return cut from £204 to £81.
Searching for a return from Glasgow to London, leaving in a month’s time, the cheapest fare for the Saturday I was thinking about heading off was £204. Yet a five-second search on the Cheap Fare Finder shows the Saturday before costs just £81, saving £123.
Simply enter your dates and destination and it shows the cheapest tickets for that day. For the absolute cheapest day to travel, click on “show months” and it’ll show you the cheapest price for every day in that month.
Even if you’re not going anywhere, it’s a fun spot of train fare geekery. Results cut through train firms’ spin, revealing how much the cheapest fares really are and who’s meeting their contractual obligation to set the timetable 12 weeks in advance.
Trick Five.
Travelling short: cheap but banned
Saver fares are often less likely to be available on more popular routes, especially commuter ones. This means it's sometimes possible to buy a ticket for a longer journey that incorporates your route at a cheaper price and make some serious savings.
One, example, that’s recently been shut down is that while Chester to London peak time saver fares weren't usually available, for some journeys starting in Wales, going via Chester, they were, meaning absurdly it was actually substantially cheaper to travel further.
Sounds good, but it's banned
Many people do this, on lots of different routes and it's known as travelling 'short', but sadly it's a no-go as it's against the ticket's terms and conditions, and you can get kicked off a train if you do.
Buy on the day at peak time and an open return from York to Plymouth costs a staggering £374. For the same trip travel off-peak with a saver return and the price drops to £130. Buy single fares and it's £110 there, but just £11 back. Even better, split ticket via Birmingham, and the total drops to just £71, a saving of £303.
Return from York to Plymouth
Ticket |
Fare |
Saving |
Standard open return | £374 | - |
Saver return | £130 | £244 |
Two singles | £121 | £253 |
Split the journey | £71 | £303 |
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