Ditch the packaging: Cut the cost of train travel, part 2

Train travel in Britain can be frustrating, especially when trying to find information about booking the best ticket.

First of all, there is no rhyme nor reason to fare structures. Let's look at a short train journey of about one hour, from Manchester to Blackburn:-

• A single ticket (just to go to Blackburn) is £7.80;
• In order to return that same day costs only 10p more;
• In order to return any other day within the next 30 days costs £4.40 more.

That's right, singles don't cost half the price of a return journey. And coming back can either cost you pennies or pounds, depending on whether you come back the same day...like that matters??

NOT the 12.15 to London Euston, you'll be pleased to know

Luckily, for longer train journeys within the the UK, there are some tricks you can employ to find some real bargains.

First, there is the concept of 'split-ticketing'. This means breaking your journey, but staying on the same train. For instance, instead of buying a ticket from Manchester to Edinburgh, it is cheaper to buy two singles in advance: from Manchester to York, then another ticket for York to Edinburgh. The trick is knowing you are using the same train the entire trip (for example, make sure the 11am Manchester departure is the same train that departs York at 12.30pm). Of course, if you want to hop off in York for a spell before catching a later train, you're able to do that as well.

York's station

This ticketing trick is also useful on long journeys that involve an early start. Peak time travel pretty much means anything before 10am. If you have to travel at 9am, there is no avoiding the more expensive peak time ticket. But if the train is stopping further down the line at 10am, why should you continue to pay the peak time fare? Split your ticket and watch the fare tumble by buying a second ticket for the off-peak portion of your journey. There are some ticketing rules to obey, so it's worth reading Martin the Money Saving Expert's tips.

Another thing to bear in mind is that the cheapest tickets for long range journeys normally become available 8-12 weeks ahead of time. You can request an email alert to remind you to make a booking. Unfortunately, routes are limited - for instance, Trainline's alerts will only advise me when tickets are available to travel from Manchester to London, Penzance and Preston (an odd assortment if there ever was). Still, it's helpful to have the reminder regardless for any journeys you're wanting to make around a certain time.

Trainline offers another powerful feature, which I've only ever seen on air travel websites before, called the best fare finder. After giving a date and destination (thankfully a slightly larger range of routes is on offer), you are shown the fares several days on either side of your first choice. This gives an idea if it's cheaper to travel on a different date. Worth looking at if you're flexible on dates.

All that said, I cannot recommend booking tickets with Trainline. After years of being a loyal customer, I noticed last year they had begun applying a £1 booking fee for tickets. They also charge a whopping £2.50 per transaction when using any of the most credit common cards.

Does it look like I'm made of money?
Beer, maybe...

That is why I use National Express East Coast. Despite the name, you can use them to book tickets for any train in the country. It is easy to find the cheapest tickets on any particular day, all you do is choose your price range to filter out the expensive journeys. They also offer email alerts for any date you may have in mind for travelling. Most importantly, booking your tickets and having them posted out are free of charge.

So if you're booking UK train tickets, choo-choose your websites carefully!