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.

There are several tools that do this, 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 splits, check as many sites as you've time for. 

All of the following let you check split tickets 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 can buy them on the Railcard site* and elsewhere, and most cost £30 a year – though you can get some for £70 for three years (£23.33 a year). So if you spend more than £90 a year on trains, a railcard is worth getting.

Most railcards (see the different types available) also give you a third off off-peak travel around London.

What's more, now's a good time to get one, as there are several MoneySaving offers, including:

• Pay £15 in Tesco Clubcard vouchers for a railcard
• Pay £10 if you know someone with an Annual Gold Card
• Get a 16-25 Railcard until you're almost 27 (or get a 26-30 Railcard until you're almost 32).

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

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 searching for tickets.

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.