Cheap Train Tickets

[fruitsalad]

Where is the best place to buy cheap train tickets?

[Jackdaw33]

Try here. Input your journey details then look for cheapest fares.

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

[Stephen_G]

I open up tabs for National Rail Enquiries:
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

The Trainline:
https://www.thetrainline.com/

And the Company I use (Virgin East Coast in my case).

My last trip cost me £44.50 (Darlington - Kings Cross and back. 2 separate tickets) and the National Rail site quoted me £44 for a one-way trip from Darlington to Kings Cross. You can set up email alerts if you're going to wait for the cheaper fares (Up to 12 weeks in advance)

[Jackdaw33]

Don't touch the trainline with a bargepole.

[Trishy]

Try http://www.splitmyfare.co.uk/

[chelle7272]

www.redspottedhanky.com

[gingejbee]

I'd wait for Chris (Buenchico) to appear...the definitive answerer to anything to do with trains.

[Jomlett]

I tried Tramline last week and going to the station ticket office I was offered an off-peak price cheaper than the quoted Tramline price.

[Buenchico]

Do NOT (I repeat NOT. Got it? That's NOT!) use third-party sites such as Trainline.com. They can't find fares which aren't on the National Rail website, they often charge MORE (because they add on a booking fee) and it's not unknown for them to issue tickets which aren't even valid for travel at all. (When I ran a railway station I got fed up of explaining to customers that they couldn't use their tickets, purchased via Trainline.com, because they had been offered using a promotion from company A, on a train from company B,with seat reservations on a service which didn't even have numbered seats!).

The National Rail website (as per Jackdaw33's link) is always the right place to start. However you might then want to try 'ticket splitting' where, instead of purchasing a ticket from A to C, you buy separate tickets from A to B and then from B to C. Sites such as this one might be able to help
http://splitticketing.co.uk/
but they're far from perfect. In particular, they generally only work where there are savings to be made through buying two separate tickets for the journey and completely ignore what can be done by buying three (or more) tickets. (That can make a big difference).

So, if you can identify one or more possible places along your route where it might be possible to split your journey, it's often best to do the searching yourself (using the National Rail website).

Alternatively, post your travel requirements on AB and let one of our rail experts do the work for you. (Baza and I have both run railway stations, and know how the ticketing system works. Dzug2 and Mushroom25 are also experts in the field).

For example, Jubieanna asked about return travel between Chepstow and Gleneagles here:
http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Travel/Question1511868.html
The normal off-peak rail fare is £171.20. A ticket-splitting website could only get that down to £167.33, saving less than £4. By doing a manual search (and splitting the journey into three sections, rather than two) I got the cost down to £110.70, saving around £60.

[fruitsalad]

Thanks for your help folks, I have used trainline in the past but will think twice in the future, I need to get from watford junction to birmingham new street in 3 weeks time. And back again the same day.

[baza]

As already stated by others , keep well away from Trainline, if you have time try your local station during a quiet time and they may be helpful.

[Buenchico]

Which day of the week, Fruitsalad? What restrictions are there upon your times? (e.g. have you got to be in Birmingham by a certain time? What's the earliest, or latest, you could take a train back home?).

The cheapest tickets tend to be 'Advance' ones, where you must travel on the designated train(s), so we need precise information to seek the best fares. Don't expect any bargains though if you're limited to peak-time travel (especially if you need to return on a Friday evening), as cheap fares simply don't exist then).

[fruitsalad]

In that case Buenchico it might be cheaper to drive there, have to be at crown court not sure of exact time I would get out of there and would need to be there latest 10am thank you for help though.

[Buenchico]

PS: Using Wednesday 5 October as an example, there seem to be plenty of bargains available.

e.g. Outbound:
Dep 0634 (Direct and fast, Arr 0745) £7.50
Dep 0654 (Direct but slow, Arr 0902) £10.00
Dep 0803 (Direct but slow, Arr 1001) £10.00
Dep 0811 (Direct but slow), Arr 1017) £6.00
Dep 0903 (Direct but slow, Arr 1101) £6.00

Return:
Dep 1833 (Direct but slow, Arr 2029) £6.00
Dep 1854 (Direct but slow, Arr 2059) £6.00
Dep 1910 (Change at Milton Keynes Central but fast, Arr 2029) £11.00
Dep 1930 (Direct and fast, Arr 2041) £7.50
Dep 1954 (Direct but slow, Arr 2158) £6.00
[There are later trains available with similar fares]

So, depending upon your exact requirements, £12.00 for the return journey looks a possibility. (An Anytime return costs £79.50, so that's quite a saving!)

[Buenchico]

Crossed posts ('cos I was checking all of the details).

You've not said which day of the week you'll be travelling but, based upon my Wednesday 5 October example, you could travel out for a tenner at 0654 and back for six quid at 1833, making £16 in total. (A day's parking in central Birmingham could probably cost you close to that amount on its own!).

[fruitsalad]

Its a friday.

[fruitsalad]

Which website will I use for those prices Buenchico? They seem like excellent prices

[Buenchico]

I've just checked and the same fares are available on Friday 7 October:
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

[fruitsalad]

Thank you much appreciated

[gingejbee]

See....I told you Chris was the man with all the train answers!