Cheap Train Tickets

This is the big trick everyone should know. Instead of buying tickets for the whole journey, buying tickets for its constituent parts can slash the price, even though you're on exactly the same train.

For example, if you're travelling from London to Durham, but the train stops at York in between, you could potentially save money by buying a ticket from London to York and then another from York to Durham. You could even be sat in the same seat for the entire journey – you'll just have two tickets rather than one.

It's perfectly legit according to the National Rail Conditions of Travel – the only rule is that the train MUST call at all the stations you buy tickets for.

Try these tools to find split tickets

While split ticketing gives massive savings, the problem's always been finding where and when it works. We've been campaigning on this for years and were the first to launch a split-ticketing tool in 2012 – now we think others have developed better specialist sites, so we link to them instead.

Several new tools that do this have launched recently, including one from the UK's biggest train-booking site, Trainline, so you've a choice. We spot-checked prices for 15 journeys across 10 tools and found there was no single cheapest, so to find the best split-ticket combos, check as many sites as you've time for. All the following let you check splits for one-way journeys, fixed returns and group bookings. All are free to use, though most charge a fee if you book via them, which we factored into our checks (see more on this below):

Railcards usually cut a third off the bill. You buy them on the Railcard site and most are £30/year or £70 for three years (£23.30/year). So if you spend more than £90 a year on trains, a railcard is worth getting.

Most railcards also give you a third off off-peak rail and tube travel in London on either Oyster pay-as-you-go or travelcards – go to a London Underground ticket office with your railcard and ask them to register it to your Oyster card, or use it to buy a travelcard.

There is also a range of tricks to cut the cost, including getting them for £10 in Tesco Clubcard vouchers or £10 if you know someone with a Gold Card. 

Don't assume every journey's eligible for a railcard discount though, always check first, especially if travelling at peak times, as the rules vary by operator. 

16-17 Saver Railcard

The 16-17 Saver Railcard, which launched in August 2019, works slightly differently to other railcards. It gives 50% off most tickets to 16 and 17-year-olds, and can't be used on rail and tube travel in London.

The card costs £30 and lasts for a year, or until your 18th birthday (whichever comes first).

Returns should be better value, but often aren't. It's very common that cheaper fares are available by getting two single tickets rather than a return ticket, so be sure to check.

It's usually easy to find these deals online as you'll often be shown both single and return fares when booking.

Save £283 on a London to Manchester return

As an example, a search for a return between London and Manchester train brought up a standard anytime return ticket costing a whopping £350. A quick check instantly found that, for the same journey, an outbound advance single ticket was £41, while coming back it cost £26 – a total of £67.