Train Tickets & Times

How to get cheap train tickets

Tip 1: book early - up to 12 weeks ahead

The further ahead you book train tickets, the cheaper they generally are. You can book train tickets up to 12 weeks ahead (usually timetables and fares are not available any further ahead than this).

For longer-distance journeys the train operating companies sell Advance tickets. These are limited availability and are cheaper the further ahead you book. Unlike airlines, they never get cheaper nearer to the travel date, so it always pays to buy Advance tickets as far ahead as possible.

These cheap Advance tickets are not available on the day of travel; you will need to purchase them no later than the day before (usually before 6pm, sometimes before midnight). Because they are cheap they are not flexible - you must travel on the train and date specified - and cannot be refunded. You can amend the date or time of travel, though, on payment of a £10 administration fee plus the difference (if any) between the price of the new ticket and the price of the old one.

Tip 2: be flexible with your travel dates and times

Some times and days are much more expensive to travel on than others - so, if you can be just a little bit flexible, then you may save quite a lot.

The cheapest fares tend to be available after around 9am and before 2pm on weekdays, on weekday evenings (after about 7pm) and at weekends. The exact times will vary depending on the journey you're making, but these are usually the times of day when Off-Peak fares are available and when the cheapest Advance fares are also available (if these are available for your journey).

As an example, if you travel from Manchester to London on the 9.15am departure or before on a weekday, you'll pay £131.00 for a return flexible ticket. Travel on the 9.35am departure or afterwards and you'll pay just £66.20, providing you don't come back between 3pm and 6.45pm. That's a saving of £64.80 or 49%.

Tip 3: get 34% off with a Railcard

You can get 34% (and sometimes more) off almost all train fares with a railcard - and most railcards cost just £26 per year.

There are nine railcards:

• 16 - 25 (formerly Young Persons) - gives a third off most train tickets for anyone over the age of 15 and below 26, as well as for all full-time students.
• Senior - available to everyone over the age of 60, giving a third off most train tickets.
• Family & Friends - any adult can buy a Family & Friends railcard, which gives discounts to groups of adults and children travelling together (the members of the group don't need to be related). The minimum group size is just one adult and one child and the maximum is four adults and four children; everyone in the group must travel together at all times. Adults save a third off most fares and children save a fantastic 81%. A family of four (two adults and two children) travelling from Newcastle to York and back on the same day on an Off-Peak Day Return would pay £40.20 instead of £70.80 - an overall saving of £30.60 or 46%.
• Network - any adult can buy a Network Railcard, which provides a third off, off-peak fares in the South East of England. This is classed as roughly the area bounded by Ipswich, Kings Lynn, Bedford, Northampton, Banbury, Worcester, Didcot, Exeter (via Salisbury only) and Weymouth is covered as far as the south coast including, of course, London.
• Network Gold Card - if you have a First Class Annual Season ticket between any two destinations in the Network area, then you can get a Network Gold Card
• Disabled Adult / Child - disabled persons can make significant savings on train travel. Accompanying adults may also get a discount.
• HM Forces - available to all current members of the Armed Forces, and generally giving a third off fares.
• New Deal - available to jobseekers via Jobcentre Plus agencies only. It gives 50% off Standard Class tickets (no discount is available on First Class tickets) in England and Wales.

Select any railcard option and the cheaper fares you can get with your railcard will be displayed automatically.

Please remember to take your railcard(s) with you when you travel - otherwise you may be charged the full fare.

Tip 4 - Travelling tomorrow? Book tonight - there may still be cheap train tickets available

Advance fares are available on many routes until the day before you travel - so, even if you're travelling tomorrow, you might still be able to save money compared with buying at the station on the day of travel.

Advance fares are always available for purchase until 6 p.m. the day before you travel (unless they're completely sold out) and sometimes until midnight on the day before.

Tip 5 - Travelling to London? Get a Travelcard

If you're travelling to London for a day trip then you can get a Travelcard - allowing unlimited travel on all London Underground (tube) trains, London Overground trains, Transport for London buses and the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) within Zones 1 to 6 - for the day.

Travelcards are available as an integral part of your rail ticket for shorter journeys such as from Cambridge, Brighton, Birmingham or Bristol - just select "London All Zones Travelcard" as your destination. If you're travelling from further away to London (e.g. from Leeds or Newcastle) then Travelcards may not be available as an integrated part of your ticket, but can simply be added to your basket after you've purchased your main ticket.

If you're only going to be travelling in Central London, you might only need a Travelcard for zones 1 and 2 (all the main tourist sights are in Zone 1) - to do that simply choose "London" as your destination, then add the Travelcard on the next step.

Note that Travelcards are day tickets and are only available if you are returning from London on the same day as you are travelling to London. They are not available if you select "open return" as an option (i.e. you don't specify the return date of travel) or if you are making a journey in one direction only.

Tip 6 - book online with travelsupermarket.com

Always visit travelsupermarket.com to compare train ticket prices from all train operating companies and find great deals on rail travel.

Tip 7 - don't always assume Standard Class is cheaper than First Class

It may sound daft, but Standard Class isn't always cheaper than travelling First Class, so it pays to check the First Class prices too.

First Class is only ever cheaper than Standard Class on routes where there are Advance fares - limited numbers of fares that can only be bought before you travel (and not on the day itself).

Advance fares are sold in 'buckets' - for a particular train on a particular day there will be (for example) 50 tickets at the lowest price level in Standard Class, 50 at the next and so on. The same applies for First Class.

Sometimes the cheapest Standard Class fares sell out quickly, but the First Class fares don't - which can result in the cheapest First Class fares still being available while the two or three lowest tiers of Standard Class fares have sold out.

If you're lucky this will mean you can snap up a First Class ticket for less than the cost of a Standard Class ticket - and benefit from more space, bigger seats and sometimes extra luxuries like free Wi-Fi and complementary snacks and drinks.

This can only happen on routes where Advance fares are available - generally these are the longer distance services such as London to Manchester, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Leeds and so on, operated by Virgin Trains, East Coast, East Midlands Trains, Hull Trains, First Great Western and CrossCountry.

Tip 8 - mix and match your tickets

Sometimes you'll know exactly what time you're travelling on your outward journey, but not be sure what time you can come back.

If that's the case you may want to combine two single tickets - an Advance ticket (the cheapest ticket type, but inflexible) for your outward journey and a flexible ticket (either an Off-Peak or Anytime, depending on the time of day you'll be travelling) for your return journey.

You can mix and match tickets in this way by selecting the "two singles" tab on the second step of booking your ticket.

Tip 9 - consider using train services from competing operators

On some routes, services are operated by more than one Train Operating Company - and it may pay to choose carefully which operator you travel with. Of course, the cheaper fares are usually available on services that are slower, though this isn't always the case.

Routes where there are more than one operator include:

• London - York (East Coast and Grand Central)
• London - Doncaster (East Coast, Hull Trains and Grand Central)
• London - Bradford (Grand Central and East Coast)
• London - Birmingham (Virgin Trains, Chiltern Railways and London Midland)
• London - Exeter (First Great Western and South West Trains)
• London - Cambridge (First Capital Connect and National Express East Anglia)
• London - Brighton (First Capital Connect and Southern)
• London - Bedford (East Midlands Trainsand First Capital Connect)
• York - Newcastle (East Coast, CrossCountry and TransPennine Express)

Tip 10 - Don't forget the advantages of Off-Peak and Anytime tickets

It's easy to focus on always getting the cheapest tickets, but often these will be inflexible (Advance) tickets. If you're not certain that you can commit to travelling on a specific train - for instance, you don't know exactly what time a meeting or an event will end - then it may be best to get a flexible ticket. That way you don't end up clock-watching or worrying about missing your train - you can simply get on the train that suits you.