Collecting your tickets at stations:
You can collect your tickets from machines like
these at any main British station (the colour &
design varies by train company). Just use
the touch screen to click 'collect tickets' then
insert your credit card
and out come your tickets! You must
have the original credit card used to make the
booking.
A London to Edinburgh train
about to leave Kings Cross station, under the
magnificent arched roof completed in 1852. London to
Edinburgh trains run hourly & take just 4 hours 30
minutes centre to centre, with fares from less
than £20 one-way...
Since 1995,
Britain's rail network has been run by over 20
different private train companies.
However, the government
makes sure they work together as National Rail,
with co-ordinated fares, ticketing & information.
You can find train times & fares for all train
operators all on one website, and you can buy a
train ticket between any two stations, with tickets
normally valid on any operator's trains. This
page is a simple guide to train travel in the UK.
This is a Virgin Trains 125 mph Pendolino train linking London Euston with
Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, the Lake District,
Carlisle and Glasgow.
These trains have air-conditioning, WiFi (free in 1st
class, charged in 2nd class), and a shop selling
newspapers, drinks and snacks. First class fares
on this route include drinks and food.
The best place to check train times & fares for any train
journey in Britain is
www.nationalrail.co.uk. This is provided by
the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) on
behalf of all train operators, and it shows train
times & fares for all routes and all operators.
To check train times
& fares by phone, call
National Rail Enquiries on 0845 7 48 49 50 (if
you are overseas call +44 20 7278 5240).
Lines are open 24 hours a day and calls are charged at
local rates.
Is your train on time? Go to
www.nationalrail.co.uk/ldb/ and
enter the name of your station to see an online 'live
departure board' showing train arrivals & departures in the next hour
or two, and whether they are on time or not....
You can
buy train tickets online using the
Raileasy booking form above. Tickets
can be collected at any main railway station, useful
if you are booking at short notice or from overseas,
or they can be posted to any UK address.
See below
for a quick
guide to the 3 types of UK train ticket:
Anytime, Off-Peak & Advance.
All these
sites offer the same train tickets with the same prices & availability
from the
same national rail database, so feel free to use any
of them. The only difference is the booking fee:
www.raileasy.co.uk
charges around £1 for debit cards or £2.61 for credit
cards plus £1.50 to send out ticket (collection at
stations free).
www.thetrainline.com charges
about £1
for debit cards or £3.50 for credit
cards. Train companies' own
websites such as
www.tpeexpress.co.uk don't charge any fee.
It can
often be best to start with the national rail website,
www.nationalrail.co.uk. This doesn't sell tickets
itself, but after answering your enquiry it will
offer you a choice of all the ticket selling websites,
including the train companies' own sites, with the
operator most relevant to that specific journey
being offered at the top of the list.
Pick
a train company site such as
www.tpeexpress.co.uk and you won't pay a booking
fee. Very, very occasionally, a train company
gives a small extra discount on its own fares, for
example at the time of writing East Coast gives an
extra 10% off its own Advance fares from London to
York, Leeds, Newcastle & Edinburgh and so on, if you
book at its own website, so it's a good idea to pick
the train operator site that
www.nationalrail.co.uk suggests at the top of the
list.
To buy
train tickets by phone, there are a
number of train operator telesales lines to choose
from, all selling the same tickets at the same prices.
For example, Virgin Trains on 08457 222 333.
Reservations normally open
around 12 weeks before departure, you can't
buy tickets
before then. But here's a good idea:
Sign up for a free email 'ticket alert' when bookings open for the
specific route
you want, allowing you to snap up those cheap fares as
soon as they are released (It's worth trying later in the day if you don't
immediately see any cheap deals available). To
sign up for an alert, go to
www.thetrainline.com, click 'Gadgets & Tools'
top right, then click 'Ticket alert' or just
click this link.
Some other train companies also offer this service.
Incidentally, if you look at a date beyond the
period when reservations are open, some websites will
still show train times with more expensive flexible
tickets available (which don't require a reservation),
just wait till reservations open & the cheap tickets
will appear.
If you
live in the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand,
Singapore, India etc, you can buy British train tickets at genuine UK
prices
using the
online booking form on this page.
Raileasy happily accepts overseas credit cards, and
although they won't send tickets overseas, you can
select the option to collect tickets from
the self-service ticket machines at most main
British stations, including all the London ones.
www.thetrainline.com also accepts non-UK
credit cards, and will now send tickets overseas to
any address worldwide for a £7.50 fee (must be
signed for). Remember that bookings normally
open 9-12 weeks before departure, you can't book
before then. Beware of agencies in your home
country selling point-to-point train tickets at inflated
prices. Also remember that you'll need the same
credit card used to make the booking to retrieve the
ticket from the machines.
For short distances (for example, London to Greenwich,
Oxford or Cambridge) just buy a ticket at the station
& hop on the next train. For longer distances (for example,
London to Bath, York or Edinburgh) you can also buy
tickets on the day, as advance reservation is never
compulsory on any British train so they can never
'sell out', but the big advantage in pre-booking is
that on long-distance routes you'll usually find cheap
budget-airline-style 'Advance' fares. This may help:
Quick
guide to the 3 types of train ticket.
If you have problems booking online,
you can check train fares & availability at
www.nationalrail.co.uk, then buy the same tickets
at exactly the same prices via an international phone
call, for example to Virgin Trains telesales on
+44 870 9080 107.
Using this advice, one traveller avoided a
$183 (£110) London-Edinburgh fare and found a cheap
£14 ($24) train ticket instead!
Train fares have
a reputation for being complicated, but the
Quick guide to the 3 types of train ticket on this page will make it simple. If you book
a cheap 'no refunds, limited changes' ticket in advance
you can find
some great fares, for example:
Cheap train fares...
How
to find these cheap train tickets...
1.
Book in advance, the earlier you book the more
likely you are to find a cheap fare. You can
buy these tickets online using the booking form on
this page, or by phone or at a station, but buying
online is easiest.
2.
You can buy Advance fares a maximum of 12
weeks ahead, though it's sometimes less than this,
perhaps 9 weeks in some cases. If reservations aren't yet open for
your date of travel,
sign
up for an automatic 'ticket alert' from
TheTrainline.com and they'll email you the
moment bookings open. Be warned, if you
look at a date beyond the period when
reservations are open, some websites will then
only show the more expensive flexible
tickets (which don't require a
reservation), you need to wait till reservations open &
the cheap tickets will appear.
3.
Like budget airline fares, Advance fares vary in
price from train to train & day to day, so hunt
around for the cheapest train. Obviously,
Wednesday lunchtime is usually
cheaper than Friday or Sunday afternoon...
5.
Advance fares are only valid on the train
you've booked, no refunds, only limited changes to
travel plans allowed... If you want
flexibility, you'll need an
Off-Peak orAnytime
fare instead.
6.
Bookings for Advance fares theoretically close at 18:59 the day
before travel. But in practice they remove any
remaining Advance fares at 23:59 on many routes,
so it's worth trying even if you've just missed
the deadline!
Cheapest available
one-way 'Advance' fares:
Journey:
Fare starts
at:
London - Edinburgh
£14.50
London - Glasgow
£20
London - Newcastle
£13.50
London - Leeds
£11.50
London - York
£11.50
London - Sheffield
£15
London - Manchester
£12
London - Liverpool
£12
London - Oxenholme (Lake District)
£16
Other ways to make your journey cheaper...
Consider getting a
railcard if you're under 26,
over 60, travel as a family, or have a registered
disability. Railcards give 34% off Anytime,
Off-Peak and Advance fares, see
the section below.
Megatrain.com:
www.megatrain.com offers really cheap train tickets
from just £1 on a handful of fairly random routes
(the common factor is that they're all on train
companies associated with Stagecoach group), usually on just a handful of trains a
day. Routes include London to & from
Liverpool, Runcorn, Sheffield, Nottingham,
Loughborough, Coventry, Birmingham, Bath, Exeter,
Salisbury, Portsmouth, Southampton, Bournemouth,
Poole, Weymouth. Also some cross-country
routes such as Birmingham to Edinburgh/Glasgow. Worth
a look, although they keep trying to sell you a bus
ticket.
Split the journey,
if two tickets are
cheaper than one: You'll sometimes find
a situation where the fare from A to B plus the fare
from B to C is less than the fare from A to C.
As long as the train stops at B, you're perfectly
entitled to use a combination of tickets. For
example, rather than buy a Penzance to Birmingham
Off-Peak ticket you can save money by buying two
Off-Peak tickets, one from Penzance to Cheltenham
and another from Cheltenham to Birmingham (all the
Penzance-Birmingham trains call at Cheltenham).
This situation arises where different pricing
managers on different train companies have priced
the various sections of route, and not noticed the
anomaly. To find such situations, it requires
some trial & error with
www.nationalrail.co.uk to find where your train
stops en route, and to try different combinations of
ticket. Don't waste too much time looking for
these, as it won't always make your journey
cheaper (after all, pricing managers try to avoid
such situations) but where it does occur there can be
big savings.
Split the journey to
avoid paying peak 'Anytime' fares for the whole trip:
You can sometimes save money by splitting the
journey into two tickets if your chosen train starts
as a peak train but becomes an off-peak train en
route. This tends to happen where Off-peak
fares carry an 'any departure after 09:30'
restriction, as they do in much of the Greater
London area. For example, if you need a train
leaving at 09:15 and arriving 10:00, why pay the
peak 'Anytime' rate for your whole journey, it might
be cheaper to pay the peak 'Anytime' rate to the
first station at which the train stops after 09:30,
then pay the cheaper Off-Peak rate from that station
onwards.
A word
of warning about 'travelling short': There are many cases where
it's cheaper to buy a ticket from A to C and get off
at B. For example, a cheap
limited-availability Advance ticket might be
available from London to Edinburgh, but no cheap
fares available to Newcastle, only Off-Peak or
Anytime fares costing more than the cheap deal to
Edinburgh. In practice you might get away with
this, especially if there are no ticket barriers at
your destination so you can just walk out of the
station. But technically, you cannot break
your journey with an Advance fare, nor with the
outward portion of a long distance Off-Peak return fare.
Under the National Rail Conditions of Carriage,
ticket inspectors are entitled to charge you the
difference in fare between what you've paid and the
cheapest walk-up ticket for the journey you've
actually made.
Railcards: How to save
money if you're under 26, over 60, travel as a
family, or have a disability...
Railcards
cost £28 and give 34% off Anytime, Off-Peak &
Advance fares on all
National Rail train operators in the UK.
3-year
Railcards are now available, costing £65 and so saving
money over three annual cards.
A railcard
can pay for itself in just one or two long-distance
train
journeys. For example, an Off-Peak return
London-Manchester costs around £65, so it's £43 return
with a railcard, that's a £22 saving straight away.
16-25
Railcards are for anyone between the ages of 16 & 25
(inclusive). Buy online at
www.16-25railcard.co.uk. You get 34% off
almost all train fares, the key restriction is that a minimum fare of £12 applies
to Anytime or Off-Peak one-way or return tickets (but
not Advance tickets) if you travel before 10am on Mondays-Fridays.
That's to stop
people using it for commuter trips to work, and this
restriction does not apply in July & August.
Senior
Railcards are for anyone over 60. Buy online at
www.senior-railcard.co.uk, an get 34% off
almost all rail fares. The only restriction is that you
can't use the card for journeys wholly
within the London & Southeast area in the morning rush
hour on Mondays-Fridays (that's to stop the card being used for
London commuting and to avoid adding to overcrowding at
these times). See the website for more details.
Family &
Friends Railcards are for small groups of up to 4
adults and 4 children. You don't need to be related, as
long as the party includes at least one child and all
travels together. One Family & Friends
railcard gets 34% off all the adult fares in the group (adults of any
age) & 60% off all the child fares in the group.
It can easily pay for itself in just one long-distance
train trip! Buy online at
www.family-railcard.co.uk.
Network
Railcard: See
www.railcard.co.uk/network. This is the odd
one out, as it isn't national, it just covers the old
London & Southeast ('Network SouthEast') area, and it's
for anyone of any age. It costs £28 for a year and
gives 34% off most London & Southeast train fares after 10:00
on Mondays-Fridays, any time at weekends, subject to a
£13 minimum fare on Mondays-Fridays. You can also
take up to 3 other adults with you, also at 34% off, and
up to 4 children aged 5-15 at 60% off the child fare
(minimum fare £1) I have a Network Railcard, and it
saves me money over the year on my off-peak trips into
London. The fare from my local station to London
is £19.30 off-peak return, so I pay £13 with my
railcard, saving over £6 each time I go to London.
For a
summary of all railcards see
www.railcard.co.uk. If you're from overseas,
you still qualify for a railcard if you meet the age (or
family group) criteria, so can still save money on your
train travel within the UK, but you will need to buy in
person at a station when you get here as they won't send
railcards overseas. Railcards only give discounts
on British train tickets, not for travel in mainland Europe, or
on Heathrow Express or Eurostar.
details of any major
disruption and a 'live departure board' system showing
whether trains are running on time.
telephone
numbers and addresses for lost property, travel
assistance, current train
running information, telesales and customer
services departments for every train operator in Britain.
general information for travelling on the UK national
rail network.
details of station facilities.
links
to each train operator's own website.
There are left luggage
offices at all the major London stations, also at
Birmingham New Street, Edinburgh Waverley, Glasgow Central,
Leeds, Liverpool Lime St, and Manchester Piccadilly.
See
www.left-baggage.co.uk. There's also a small
office at Holyhead. Most other stations don't have
left luggage facilities.
Are the trains
running on
time? Are there any delays or engineering works?
Go to
www.nationalrail.co.uk/ldb/,
enter the name of your station to see a 'live
departure board' showing train arrivals & departures in the next hour
or two, and whether they are on time or not....
This and
similar maps are listed on
www.nationalrail.co.uk/passenger_services/maps/, where
you'll also find maps of the London area rail network, London &
Southeast area rail network, and several regional areas.
An excellent
Rail Map of Great Britain & Ireland is published by
Thomas Cook,
showing scenic routes, ferry routes and places of interest,
buy this using the links on the right.
Train company
websites...
Go to
www.nationalrail.co.uk, scroll right to the bottom and
click 'Train Operating Companies' for each train company's website address, postal address &
phone numbers.
First
or Standard class?
Most
leisure travellers go standard class, with first
class used by businessmen. But if you pre-book
you can find some great first class deals.
First class fares on intercity trains run by Virgin
Trains, East Coast and East Midlands Trains now include
meals and drinks, at least on Mondays-Fridays.
This is 1st
class (above left) and standard class (above
right) on a Virgin Trains Pendolino from
London to Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool,
the Lake District, Carlisle and Glasgow.
As you can see, in standard class there 2+2
seats across the width of the car, in first
class it's 2+1, so there's more elbow room,
more legroom, and there's tables for two
(below left). Below right, a full
English breakfast with cereal, toast, tea or
coffee and juice is served on Virgin Trains
inter-city services leaving before 10:00 on
weekdays. East Coast & East Midlands Trains
offer a similar service. Another good
reason for taking a morning train not plane
from Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester,
Newcastle to London!
www.traintaxi.co.uk
shows up to date phone numbers
for
taxi firms local to each UK railway station. An
excellent site!
Need a bus at the other end?
www.traveline.org.uk
allows you to check local bus times across the UK,
or you can call Traveline on 0871 200 22 33. Traveline
is a national
initiative to make local travel information available on a
single number nationwide. All call centres open
08:00-20:00, some open longer.
www.transportdirect.co.uk is the new government
transport information website, designed to give train, bus,
road and air information for any journey within the UK.
There is a
system called PLUSBUS, where for £2-£3 more than the normal
train fare you can add unlimited bus travel within your
origin and/or destination city. So for example,
instead of buying a normal return from London to Manchester
for (say) £59, you can buy a return to "Manchester Plusbus"
for just £2 or so more and get exactly the same train ticket
but with unlimited free bus travel within central Manchester
for the day added on. See
www.plusbus.info for
details of the 200 towns and cities in which PLUSBUS
operates, or just ask when you buy your train ticket.
BritRail
passes (unlimited train travel for overseas visitors)...
If you
live overseas and plan to visit the UK, you can buy a
'BritRail' pass which gives unlimited train travel on all 20+ British train
operators for various periods.
Is it worth
buying a BritRail pass? A pass is only worth it if
you're going to make a number of long-distance train trips
around Britain, so don't bother with a BritRail pass if all
you're going to do is make one long-distance trip, or a
number of relatively short trips. For longer distances, a
BritRail pass typically works out about the same as a normal
'Off-Peak' flexible ticket bought on the day of travel, it's more expensive than the
cheaper 'Advance' tickets, but is far cheaper than the
'Anytime' tickets needed to travel in the Monday-Friday
business peaks, see
the 30-second guide to UK rail fares. So if you want to
make early starts on Monday-Fridays and have complete
all-day flexibility, a BritRail pass is a great idea, but if you're prepared to avoid the Monday-Friday morning &
afternoon business peaks, and especially if you book cheap
tickets in advance at
www.thetrainline.com on a no-refunds,
no-changes-to-travel-plans basis, ordinary point-to-point
tickets will be the same or cheaper than a pass. Before investing in a BritRail pass, check that normal
tickets wouldn't be cheaper for what you plan to do, using
www.thetrainline.com or
www.nationalrail.co.uk.
Rail Rovers
(unlimited train travel for UK citizens)...
If
you're a UK resident, Rail Rovers give unlimited
travel over all or selected parts of the British rail network, see
www.nationalrail.co.uk/promotions. There are rail
rovers covering the whole network or just certain areas. The All-Line
Rail Rover gives unlimited travel over the whole British national rail network, cost as
follows (May 2009 prices):
7-day
standard class All-Line Rail Rover £450 (child £225,
16-25/senior/disabled railcard
holder £297)
14-day
standard class All-Line Rail Rover £680 (child £340,
16-25/senior/disabled railcard
holder £448.80)
7-day 1st
class All-Line Rail Rover £680 (child £340, senior or
disabled railcard holder
£448.80)
14-day 1st
class All-Line Rail Rover £1,040 (child £520, senior or
disabled railcard
holder £686.40)
The All-Line
rover used to be valid on all national rail trains without
restrictions but some time restrictions were introduced
in
January 2011 to stop business travellers using it on
certain key business routes. No restrictions apply on Saturdays, Sundays and
Bank Holidays, but on Mondays to Fridays the
All-Line Rail Rover
is not valid for boarding or alighting
train services operated by Virgin Trains, East
Coast, East Midlands Trains or CrossCountry at the following
stations before 10:00:
London Euston
London Kings Cross
London St Pancras International
Birmingham New Street
Bedford
Luton
Luton Airport Parkway
Milton Keynes Central
Stevenage
Watford Junction
There are no restrictions on these companies'
trains at other stations or on Saturdays,
Sundays and holidays, or on other companies'
trains at any station on any day. So it's no problem
using a First Great Western train getting in to
London before 10:00, or a ScotRail sleeper
arriving at London Euston before 10:00.
Ways around these new restrictions from
Edinburgh, Newcastle, York, Leeds etc:
You cannot use your Rail Rover on a weekday from
(say) Edinburgh or Newcastle to London if it
arrives in London before 10:00, but you can
use it on the same train as far as Peterborough
where no alighting restrictions apply, then use
a suburban train run by First Capital Connect
for the rest of the journey to London, even if
this arrives in London before 10:00.
How
to buy a Rail Rover: You can buy Rail
Rovers from any railway station or train operator telesales
line, but not online. You can only buy one within 3 days of the date
you want them to start (5 days for Rail Rovers bought from
telesales). If you have any trouble buying a rail
rover, ask them to look in section G of their fares manual.
It's also valid on the Ffestiniog Railway, and on Caledonian
sleepers (sweated cars free, sleepers if you pay the berth
supplement). It is not valid on Eurostar, Heathrow
Express, Heathrow Connect, London Underground or Docklands,
heritage railways (except Ffestiniog Railways) or shipping
services. For information on rail rovers covering
other areas call National Rail Enquiries on 08457 48 49 50.
London tours & sightseeing...
Check out the day tours, city tours & excursions at
www.isango.com;
Buy a
London Pass giving free entry
to all the main attractions.
To Europe by train...
See the Europe page for information
on how to travel from the UK to destinations all over Europe
by train.
See the
Buying train tickets to Europe page for
advice on Eurostar through tickets from many UK towns
and cities, or the special connecting train tickets from most
British stations to
'London International'.
'The
Man in Seat Sixty-One' book...
An
essential handbook for train or ferry travel from the
UK into Europe, based on this website and written by
yours truly. Published in paperback by
Transworld,
click to buy at Amazon.co.uk.
It's the most
civilised, romantic and time-effective way from central
London to the heart of Scotland. Every night
except Saturday night, two Caledonian Sleeper trains leave
London's Euston station, one around 21:15 for Dundee,
Stirling, Perth, Gleneagles, Aviemore, Aberdeen, Inverness
and Fort William, the other around 23:50 for Edinburgh
and Glasgow. These sleeper trains are miniature hotels
on rails, with 1- & 2-berth sleeping compartments with
proper beds and washbasin, fully-air-conditioned, plus a
lounge car with steward service of wine, beer, spirits, soft
drinks and snacks. There are also economy reclining
seats. The Caledonian Sleepers are run by ScotRail,
the Scottish train company, and are crewed by Scottish staff
- a little bit of Scotland that visits London six nights a
week. Book sleepers online at
www.thetrainline.com (small booking fee applies) or at
www.scotrail.co.uk, or call ScotRail on
08457 55 00 33.
The
Caledonian Sleeper waits to leave London Euston on its
500 mile journey to the Highlands of Scotland.
1-berth
sleeper
(= First
class).
2-berth
sleeper
(= Standard
class).
The most
wonderful train in Britain?
Easily
the most amazing train ride in Britain is the
overnight Caledonian Sleeper from London to Fort
William, sometimes known as 'The Deerstalker'...
Why?
Imagine the convenience of a train that leaves rainy central
London after work at 21:00 and arrives at Fort William in
the glorious Scottish West Highlands at the foot of Ben
Nevis (the highest mountain in Britain) at 09:43 next
morning. Imagine a trip where you go to bed as the
train speeds through familiar London suburbs at 80mph, then
wake up in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by mountains,
streams and woods, sunlight streaming through the window,
deer bounding away from the train, a diesel locomotive
struggling to haul the two sleeping-cars and lounge car up
the gradients and around the sharp curves of the scenic West
Highland Line at 40 mph. Imagine a train that has
almost 'cruise train' facilities - private sleeping
compartments and a plush lounge - yet on which you can
travel for little over £60.
Fares start at £63.60
each way including a light breakfast sharing a 2-berth room or £158.60
with a room to yourself. Passengers travelling alone can book a berth in a 2-berth room and share with another
passenger of the same sex, if they don't want to pay the 1st
class single berth fare. You can also get special
online 'Bargain
Berth' fares for just £19/£29/£39/£49 one-way, although
these cheap deals are few and far between on this particular
train.
Anyone who lives in the South of England but who loves the Scottish Highlands should know about this train. If you fancy a
weekend away in the heart of the Highlands, this train makes
it possible! Book
online on the Caledonian Sleeper page
or call ScotRail on 08457 55 00 33.
To
complete the experience, take the connecting train from Fort
William to the end of the line at Mallaig, a small fishing
port and ferry terminal for Skye. This is one of the
most scenic sections of line anywhere in the UK. Or you could
climb Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in Britain - the main
track up 'the Ben' starts just 15 minutes walk from Fort
William station.
Condor Ferries operate fast
catamarans from Weymouth & Poole to Jersey & Guernsey,
and a conventional ship from Portsmouth to Jersey &
Guernsey. Special combined train & ferry fares are
available from any station in the UK to Guernsey or Jersey.
See the Channel Islands page
for more information, or visit
www.condorferries.co.uk.
They say train fares are
complicated. But for all
practical purposes, there are now just 3 types of fare making it as simple as
1, 2 3. All the train companies now use the same 3
names for the same 3 types of ticket. Always confirm the exact restrictions and conditions when you buy
your ticket. If you're buying a ticket to connect with
a Eurostar to Paris or Brussels,
see this page.
Railcard info.
1. Anytime.
Fully-flexible. Any train, any time.
Anytime fares are a simple concept to grasp:
Valid any time, any day, any train, any operator.
Aimed at business travellers, Anytime fares are fully-flexible but
expensive, for example London-Manchester over £139
one-way, £279 return.
Valid by any permitted
route unless a specific route is shown on the
ticket. You can break your journey in either
direction. Valid 1 month. No advance
booking is necessary, you can turn up and get on any train on which
your ticket is valid without a reservation.
Refundable less an admin fee if unused.
One-way fares normally half
the cost of a return. They were called 'Open'
fares before September 2008.
2. Off-peak. Flexible,
but with
time restrictions.
Off-Peak fares
are valid on any train,
any day, any time except during the Monday-Friday
business travel peaks.
The exact time restriction
varies by route, so you'll have to ask. But
they're
generally valid any time at weekends, and
(it's fairly safe to assume) after 10:30 on
Monday-Fridays. They are usually not valid on
trains leaving London (or Reading, Watford, Luton or
Stevenage) between 15:00-19:00 Mondays-Fridays.
However, many Off-Peak tickets have more generous
restrictions than this.
Off-peak tickets are more affordable, for
example London-Manchester £69 one-way, £70 return.
Off-Peak fares were called 'Saver' fares before
September 2008.
You must
make the outward journey on the date shown
on the ticket, but can return any day within 1 month. but the exact time restriction varies by route
and destination, so you'll have to ask.
No
advance booking is necessary, you can simply turn up
and buy an Off-Peak ticket on
the day and get on any train on which your ticket is
valid without a reservation. You can take any
train operator's train, travel via any permitted
route, unless a specific operator or route is shown on the
ticket. You can break your journey on the
return leg, but not the outward leg.
Refundable less an admin fee (usually £20) if unused.
One-way
off-peak fares for long-distance journeys are usually at only £1 less than the return, so don't buy
a one-way unless you're sure you
won't need to come back.
A few
train companies also
have more expensive but less restrictive versions.
3. Advance.
Cheap, inflexible.
Advance fares are also simple concept to grasp.
They're airline-style
cheap tickets, only valid on the train you've booked,
no refunds, limited or no change of travel
plans allowed.
They must be booked by 18:00 the day before travel (in
reality available until 23:59 in many cases). No break of journey allowed,
so you cannot join the train at a station en route,
or get off at a station before the one you're booked
to. Limited numbers of seats are
available at each price level, so book early to
get the cheapest fare. Use
www.nationalrail.co.uk
to check availability. They are now
normally priced as one-way fares, so you can combine the
cheapest fare for your outward journey with
the cheapest fare for your return leg.
Example: London-Manchester from £11.50 each way.
Short
distance fares & fares in the London & South
East area...
The same
three types apply to short distances too, though
obviously you won't find Advance tickets for very
short journeys. And for shorter journeys, and
journeys within the London & Southeast area, Anytime
& Off-Peak tickets tend to be valid for just one
day, not a month.
1. Anytime. For peak travel.
Fully-flexible
fares, but for shorter journeys valid only
for 1 day, not a month. Valid at any time, on any train, by any
train operator, by any permitted route (unless a
specific route is shown on the ticket). You
can break your journey in either direction.
Refundable less an admin
fee (usually £20). Priced for commuters.
2. Off-peak. For off-peak travel.
Off-Peak day returns: Short-distance Off-Peak fares are valid 1 day
only, on any train at weekends, and
after the morning rush hour (about 09:30)
on Mondays-Fridays*. After the Monday-Friday
morning peak*, they are valid on any train, by any
train operator, by any permitted route (unless a
specific route is shown on the ticket). You
can break your journey in either direction.
Refundable less an admin fee (usually £20) if
unused. Priced for a day out!
*
on routes from Paddington, Liverpool Street, Kings
Cross, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, etc. there is an evening peak hour
restriction out of London.
Super Off-Peak day returns:
A few train companies offer a second, cheaper type
of off-peak ticket with tighter time restrictions,
for example leaving after 1pm. Restrictions
vary by route, so you'll have to ask.
Off-peak period returns: On medium distances, there may also be a period
Off-Peak return valid for 1 month, on any train at weekends,
after the morning peak hour on Mondays-Fridays) or in
some cases valid
any time at weekends, after 09:30 on
Mondays-Fridays, outward travel on the date on the
ticket, return travel within 5 days.
People get hung
up on there being 20+ different train operators, but it's actually
pretty simple. The government requires train operators
to work together as a network, so:
If your ticket
says 'Route any permitted' (as most of them do) then
it is valid on any train operator's train, via any
of the permitted routes between your origin and destination,
although obviously if you have an Off-Peak ticket you must
stick to any time restrictions which apply to it.
There are no time restrictions with an Anytime ticket.
An Advance ticket is only valid on the specific train you've
booked.
If your ticket
gives a specific route, for example 'Route Taunton' then it
is valid on any train operator's train, via any
of the permitted routes for that journey that pass
through the specified place, in this case Taunton.
Only if it says
(for example) 'Route Virgin Trains only' are you
restricted to using only the trains of that particular train
company, in this example those of Virgin Trains. Advance
tickets are only valid on the specific train you're booked
on, so are by definition only valid on a particular train
company's train - you'll sometimes see the letters 'AP' added to the route, for example 'Route AP Virgin
Trains only', AP simply stands for Advance Purchase. However, it's relatively rare to find
Anytime & Off-peak fares valid only on trains of a specific
operator, and where they do exist there are almost always
'route any permitted' anytime & off-peak fares as well.
Why are
there several 'Anytime' & 'Off-Peak' tickets for my journey,
all with different prices? Unfortunately, online
ticket systems don't usually show the ticket routing. So
you might see two 'Anytime' fares from (say) London to Hull,
one apparently valid on all the trains, the other only valid
on a handful of trains and cheaper than the first one. The
reason is simple, in this case the first one is the 'route any permitted'
anytime fare, the other is a cheaper 'route Hull Trains only'
anytime fare only valid on Hull Trains' own services.
Similarly, you may find two Anytime or Off-Peak tickets
between London & (say) Birmingham, one valid on all trains,
the other only on some of the trains. In this case it's
because there are two sets of fares to Birmingham, one set
being the 'route any permitted' fares valid on all routes &
operators, the second being cheaper 'route High Wycombe' fares
valid on all operators but only on the slower route via High
Wycombe. This would be obvious, rather than confusing,
if the online systems stated the ticket routing for each
fare they showed, but they don't. The choice between (on the one
hand) slower but
cheaper and (on the other hand) faster, more frequent but more expensive, is up to
you.
Breaking your
journey ('stopovers'): With an Off-Peak ticket you
can take an interesting or scenic route and change trains as
much as you like without leaving the station, as long as you
stay within the time restrictions which apply to your ticket
and stick to one of the permitted routes (see below).
However, you can only break your journey (i.e. stop off and
leave the station) on the return leg of an Off-Peak return,
not on the outward leg of an Off-Peak return, and not at all
on an Off-Peak one-way ticket. With an Anytime one-way
or return ticket, there are no time restrictions and you can
break your journey anywhere you like along any of the
permitted routes.
How are fares
set? Here comes the science bit... Behind the
scenes, fare setting works like this: Every
origin-destination pair (known as a 'flow') is allocated to a
particular train operator who has the right and the obligation
to set the fares. This operator is known as the 'Lead
Operator' for that flow. Once the Lead Operator has set
the fares, every other operator serving any part of that flow
(known as the 'Secondary Operators') are legally obliged to
accept those fares for travel on their trains. As I've
said, Advance fares are by definition only valid on one train
operator's trains, and both Lead Operators and Secondary
Operators are allowed to set Advance fares for their own
trains. In addition Secondary Operators are allowed to
set other (more flexible) fare types for their own trains,
although only a few choose to do so. For example, you'll
see 'anytime' & 'off-peak' fares from London to Hull routed
'Hull Trains only' set by Secondary Operator Hull Trains, in
addition to the main London to Hull 'route any permitted'
anytime & off-peak fares set by Lead Operator National Express
East Coast. However, Lead Operators are not
permitted to set fares which are only valid on their own
trains, other than Advance fares, temporary fares & first
class fares. Revenue from the fares set by Lead
Operators is shared between all operators serving that route,
based on a computer system called ORCATS which models the
proportion of passenger miles travelled on each operator.
What are the
'permitted routes'?
The 'permitted routes' for a given
origin & destination are set out in a document called the
National Routeing Guide. Don't worry about getting hold
of a copy, even ticket clerks can't understand it half the
time, just accept that it exists, and its contents have been
incorporated into the various journey planning systems such as
those used on nationalrail.co.uk, thetrainline.com &
raileasy.co.uk. To give you a flavour of how flexible
the permitted routes are:
The shortest route by regular
train service between the origin and destination is always a
permitted route;
You'll generally find that most
other reasonable routes are permitted, in addition to the
shortest one.
If you use a through service (in
other words, a direct train with no changes) then it is
always considered a permitted route as long as you stay on
that train, even if the train takes a round-about route;
FromLondon to
Birmingham for example, permitted routes are the West
Coast Main Line from Euston via Milton Keynes, the slower
route from Marylebone via High Wycombe & Banbury, and the
route from Paddington via Reading, Oxford & Banbury.
The
rail maps on nationalrail.co.uk may help you understand
the routes quoted here.
FromLondon to
Edinburgh, Glasgow & most stations in Scotland for
example, the permitted routes include the two obvious main
lines with direct trains (East Coast Main Line from Kings
Cross via York & Newcastle, West Coast Main Line from Euston
via Crewe & Carlisle, plus the Midland Main Line from St
Pancras via Leicester, Derby or Nottingham, Sheffield, Leeds
and the scenic Settle & Carlisle route, and permutations of
those routes involving travel from Liverpool Street via
Cambridge & Ely to Peterborough then on via York &
Newcastle, plus the route from Paddington via Reading,
Oxford, Birmingham & on via Carlisle. However, going
via Swindon & Gloucester is not permitted as it's too far
west, nor is going via Ipswich which is too far east.
The
rail maps on nationalrail.co.uk may help you understand
the routes quoted here.
There are a few quirks in the
system, naturally. A key one involves London to or
from Devon & Cornwall. In theory, a 'route any
permitted' ticket between London & Exeter (or anywhere west
of Exeter) would be equally valid from Paddington via
Bristol & Taunton or Westbury & Taunton, or on the slower
scenic route from Waterloo via Salisbury & Honiton.
However, the fares system in fact only contains a set of
fares routed 'Taunton' and another set routed 'Honiton' as
this is what was inherited from British Rail, there aren't
any 'route any permitted' fares available. But don't
worry, under the National Rail Conditions of Carriage you're
entitled to travel on a different route from the one shown
on your ticket (assuming it's not a train-specific Advance
ticket, of course) on payment of a 'change of route' excess
fare. This is the difference, if any, between the fare
paid for the original route and the cheapest walk-up ticket
valid for the train & route now being taken. Since the
faster route via Taunton has the more expensive fares and
the tighter time restrictions on its off-peak tickets, this
'change of route' excess fare normally costs nothing if you
have a 'route Taunton' ticket but choose to travel via
Honiton & Salisbury to/from Waterloo in one or both
directions. If the conductor tries to tell you your
ticket isn't valid, politely suggest he consults his Ticket
Examiner's Handbook and National Rail Conditions of
Carriage, and ask for a 'change of route excess fare' at
zero cost.
London Terminals, London R1256,
London zone U1...?
When buying a ticket to
London, the cheapest option is to buy a ticket simply to
the relevant London station, but for a little more money
you can buy a ticket which includes onward Underground
travel to an Underground station in a given zone, or
even unlimited London bus & Underground travel all that
day.
A ticket to 'London
Terminals' (listed in some online booking systems as
'London mainline stations' or similar) means a ticket
valid only as far as the London station where trains
arrive from that particular starting point. For
example, a ticket from Manchester to London Terminals
would be valid to London Euston, a ticket from Oxford to
London Terminals would be valid to London Paddington (in
fact also to London Waterloo as there's an alternative
route from Oxford into Waterloo).
A ticket to 'London R1256',
with 'Travelcard' as a ticket type means a ticket
to London with unlimited bus & Underground travel
included all that day in all 6 London travel zones.
A ticket to 'London U1'
is a ticket to London which includes onward travel by
Underground to any station you like in Underground zone
1. In this case it does not include unlimited
Underground travel, just one journey (or a return
journey if it's a return ticket).
www.hotelscombined.com
is probably the best hotel search system I've seen, a free search tool
which checks all the main hotel booking sites (Opodo, Expedia,
Booking.com, Hotels.com, AsiaRooms, Travelocity, LateRooms and
others) to find the cheapest hotel rates. Set up in
2005, it's probably the best place to start for booking any
hotel online in any country, worldwide.
Other hotel sites
worth trying...
www.tripadvisor.com
is a good place to find independent travellers' reviews of the
main hotels, and it has the low-down on destination sights &
attractions, too.
www.booking.com is my own preferred hotel booking system
(Hotels Combined being a search/comparison system). It
has a simple interface, a good selection in most countries
worldwide, useful online customer reviews of each hotel, and
decent prices, usually shown inclusive of unavoidable extras
such as taxes (a pet hate of mine is systems that show one
price, then charge you another!).
For something special...
www.mrandmrssmith.com (no relation!) is the place to start
if you want something special for an anniversary, honeymoon,
romantic break or other special occasion.
www.mrandmrssmith.com lists hand-picked boutique hotels in
London, Edinburgh, Bath, York, in fact all over the UK.
BritRail
passes (unlimited train travel for overseas visitors)...
Buy in UK...
Buy
in USA...
Easily
the most amazing train ride in Britain is the
overnight Caledonian Sleeper from London to Fort
William, sometimes known as 'The Deerstalker'...