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Getting a railcard could put you on the right track for some decent savings, especially if you take the train often, as these cards get you one-third off most rail fares. If you want to get on board for some more discounts, you can get 25% off the cost of a digital one year railcard (which means the railcard is stored on your phone) when you purchase via third-party booking site TrainPal.
Note: With this deal, the railcard can only be accessed via TrainPal. You can't transfer it to the railcard app after purchasing.
To get this offer, you'll need to be new to TrainPal and also buy a train ticket via its app or website. TrainPal recommends doing this via it's app (download for free), but it will also work online on it's website. Buying the train ticket will activate your digital railcard, and you'll need to do it within 30 days of your railcard being issued. So only use this offer if you're happy to buy a train ticket from TrainPal (there's no minimum spend so you could just search for the cheapest possible fare) or if you already had a train trip planned in the next month.
If you're not new to TrainPal and are an existing customer, you can get 10% off a railcard.
Railcards normally cost £30 for one year (or £70 for three years on some cards), but enter the code MSE25 when selecting your digital railcard at TrainPal to get it for £22.50 for one year, or £52.50 for three years.
The offer ends at 11.59pm on Wednesday 31 December 2025. The code is limited to one digital railcard, and remember you need to be new to TrainPal to get the full 25% off. If not, you'll only get 10% off (making a one year railcard £27, or a three year card for £63).
Sign up for a free account at TrainPal. If you're given the option to enter the code while signing up, you can – enter MSE25 in the 'Promo code (optional)' box.
Once you're signed in to TrainPal, select the account/member icon and then 'Promo Codes'. Or in the app, go to the 'Account' tab and tap 'Vouchers & Promo Code'.
If you entered the code while signing up, your 25% off voucher will appear here. If you didn't, enter MSE25 in the 'Enter promo code' box ('Enter code' in the app). The voucher will then be added to this section.
Go to the TrainPal (the 'Buy Tickets' tab, then the 'Get Railcards' button in the app) and choose the railcard you want. The discount should be automatically applied.
To activate your digital railcard, you'll need to buy any train ticket through TrainPal within 30 days of the railcard being issued. TrainPal says it doesn't charge a booking fee. If you don't activate your railcard, you'll be issued an automatic refund. During this period, you could also manually request a free refund for an inactive Railcard at any time on the booking page.
The code can only be used to buy one of the following digital railcards: 16-17 Saver, 16-25 Railcard, 26-30 Railcard, Family & Friends' Railcard, Network Railcard, Senior Railcard and Two Together Railcard. The offer excludes the Disabled Person's Railcard and Veterans' Railcard.
If you've trouble accessing the deal or your Railcard, you can contact TrainPal via this email address: customer_complaint@trainpal.com
Newbies to TrainPal can also get 5% off their first UK train ticket purchase with the same code MSE25 – so you could use this code when buying the train ticket needed to activate your railcard.
You don't have to purchase a railcard if you want to use this 5% off code. It is open to all newbies to TrainPal making their first UK train ticket purchase until 11.59pm on Wednesday 31 December.
Existing TrainPal customers can get 10% off a railcard and 2% off train ticket via the same code MSE25.
See our cheap train tickets guide for more ways to save on rail fares.
Eurostar has launched a sale with fares for £35 one-way, meaning you can get £70 return tickets to Paris, Lille, Brussels, Amsterdam and Rotterdam from London St Pancras International – the cheapest price for Eurostar fares direct. The sale ends at 10.59pm on Thursday 9 January, but it's best to do it ASAP as the cheapest fares often sell out fast.
The £35 one-way fares are for travel from:
Tuesday 14 January to Thursday 3 April for Paris, Brussels and Lille
Tuesday 14 January to Friday 28 March from London to Amsterdam or Rotterdam
Monday 10 February to Friday 28 March from Amsterdam or Rotterdam to London
Tickets depend on availability, and some dates are excluded – see 'More info' below. Plus, we've a code to bag a return journey from £65 – or book via Uber and you'll get 10% credit back. Here are your booking options:
TrainPal offers tickets slightly cheaper than Eurostar direct, and when you sign up or log in to Trainpal* and enter the code MSE35JAN at the checkout, you can make an additional saving. If you're new to TrainPal you'll get an additional 5% off with this code, making the cheapest return journey currently £64.67. If you've already got an account with it, you'll get an extra 2% off via the same code, making the cheapest return currently £66.71.
To find the cheap fares, you'll need to enter your destination (Paris, Lille, Amsterdam, Rotterdam or Brussels) and search for a return journey – you won't see the extra cheap fares if you search for one-way only. There are no fees when booking via TrainPal and you'll receive digital tickets (same as booking direct).
When registering with TrainPal, you might receive an email from sister brand Trip.com too. Don't worry, this won't sign you up to Trip.com – TrainPal also uses the Trip.com email domain when sending emails to its users.
You can also book train tickets, including Eurostar, via Uber and get 10% back in Uber credit. There's no booking fee here either. The Uber credit will appear within 60 days of completing your journey, and it'll be valid for a further 180 days – it can be used on a future train or taxi booking, or Uber Eats order. This could be a good option if you regularly use the Uber app for travelling as you're essentially getting cashback to use towards your next journey.
Head to the Eurostar website. You'll need to book a return journey to get the cheapest £35 tickets, as they're not available on single journeys.
Eurostar wouldn't tell us how many fares are at £35, but when we checked on Friday 3 January there were a good amount of £35 seats across both weekdays and weekends too, so it's possible to secure cheap seats for a long weekend. Return ticket prices usually range from £39 to £339, and the cheapest of these tend to be very limited, mostly off-peak and need to be booked well in advance, so we reckon this is a good deal given we could find plenty of £35 fares.
The £35 seats are randomly spread across all included dates on both peak and off-peak trains, so it could be trial and error finding the cheap seats. Keep in mind you'll have a better chance of snagging a cheap fare if you're flexible on your travel times and dates.
See our Cheap train tickets guide for more ways to save.
There's a maximum of nine people per booking, and tickets can't be refunded.
If booking via TrainPal, you'll be given 'e-tickets' which you can access on your phone. Similarly, if buying directly from Eurostar, you can download your tickets via the Eurostar app or at Eurostar.com. Alternatively, if booking via Eurostar you can choose to collect tickets from the Eurostar terminal or print them at home by selecting the ‘Manage your booking’ tab.
Children aged under four years old travel for free, but they’ll have to sit on your lap.
Excluded dates:
London to Paris: Friday 17 January, Sunday 19 January, Friday 24 January, Sunday 26 January, Friday 14 February, Saturday 15 February, Sunday 2 March
Paris to London: Friday 7 February, Saturday 8 February, Saturday 22 February, Sunday 23 February
London to Brussels/Lille: Friday 17 January, Sunday 19 January, Sunday 26 January, Sunday 2 February, Friday 14 February, Saturday 15 February, Sunday 9 March
Brussels/Lille to London: Friday 21 February, Saturday 22 February, Sunday 23 February
London to Rotterdam/Amsterdam: Friday 17 January, Friday 24 January, Friday 7 February, Saturday 8 February, Friday 14 February, Saturday 15 February, Sunday 23 February, Wednesday 12 March, Thursday 13 March, Friday 14 March, Monday 17 March, Tuesday 18 March, Wednesday 19 March, Thursday 20 March, Friday 21 March
Rotterdam/Amsterdam to London: Friday 21 February, Saturday 22 February, Sunday 23 February
Due to engineering work, trains will not operate on the following dates:
London to Rotterdam/Amsterdam: Sunday 2 March, Saturday 8 March, Sunday 9 March, Saturday 15 March, Sunday 16 March, Sunday 23 March
Rotterdam/Amsterdam to London: Sunday 2 March, Saturday 8 March, Sunday 9 March, Saturday 15 March, Sunday 16 March, Sunday 23 March
If you've never purchased anything from train ticket booking site Trainpal* before, you can get £5 off any UK train ticket when you download/sign in to its free app and add the MSE Blagged code MSE5OFF to your account.
The deal will end at 11.59pm on Tuesday 31 December, or when 10,000 codes have been claimed, whichever's first – so go quickly if you've got a train journey planned. You'll have seven days to use the code once you've added it to your account.
The code is valid on all UK train routes on TrainPal, provided the ticket costs £5.01 or more. You can use this for any route or date (tickets are usually released about 12 weeks in advance). There are no booking fees.
How to get this offer:
Download and sign up to the Trainpal app* (it's free). You won't be able to claim this deal if you've ever purchased any product or ticket from TrainPal before. If you're given the option to enter the code while signing up, you can – enter MSE5OFF in the 'Promo code (optional)' box.
Once you're signed in to TrainPal, if you didn't add the code when signing up, go to the 'Account' tab and tap 'Promo Codes', enter MSE5OFF in the 'Enter code' box and your £5 voucher will appear below.
Once you've chosen your train ticket costing £5.01 or more, your £5 voucher will appear under 'Price Details' and should be automatically deducted. If not, tap ‘Voucher' and select the offer (or repeat the step above if you don't see it).
You can only use this promo code once, per device, per email address. The code cannot be used alongside any other discount, except for a railcard – see how to get 34% off railcards on Trainpal.
If you've trouble accessing the deal, you can contact TrainPal via this email address: customer_complaint@trainpal.com
Trainpal* is a train ticket booking website and app operated by Trip.com, a large online travel agency, which is based in China, and also operates flight comparison website Skyscanner. TrainPal is rated 'excellent' on Trustpilot, with a score of 4.4 out of five from 4,300+ reviews at the time of writing.
See our cheap train tickets guide for more ways to save on rail fares.
Use them
If you answer 'NO' to any of the following questions, don't buy.
Are you
Will I use it?
Is it worth it?
Are you
Do I need it?
Can I afford it?
21 January 2025
