Travel on the Cheap: Train Travel in the UK

To save money on travelling, for work or pleasure, we recommend train travel. It is one of the best ways to experience the natural scenery and local culture for visitors to the UK and is one of the best ways to get to work. It also tends to be a little safer as well as more affordable than driving. The rail network extends across the UK into major cities including London and Manchester amount many others. The network is comprehensive, easy to access and popular with locals, tourists, workers and visitors. For those looking to save a little money on their train tickets, or who want to travel for free, there are a few options for cheap, discounted train tickets or even free travel cards for work.

Look for promos

For a full promotions index of sales and specials on tickets, check the listing at National Rail (nationalrail.co.uk). This is a great resource for tourists to the UK. If you know your plans for travel in the UK far in advance, Megatrain offers GBP1 tickets on South West and East Midland Routes such as London to Exeter and Sheffield to Derby. The train tickets can be bought up well in advance; in fact up to 45 days in advance. If you travelling with Virgin (virgintrains.co.uk), use their fare finder tool to look for super cheap off peak single tickets on routes such as London to Manchester, Birmingham or Liverpool.

Compare prices of all tickets and transportation online

There are various websites visitors as well as residents can use to look for cheap train discount tickets for travel anywhere in the UK. They include the following.
-Cross Country Trains (crosscountrytrains.co.uk) and East Coast Trains (eastcoasttrains.co.uk) both sell tickets for routes across the UK and have the added benefit of no free or booking fees.
-The Trainline (trainline.com) is a popular site that many visitors and residents of the UK use. The site which gives commuters sizeable discounts, but charges booking fees. Occasionally, if your route is on their network, you may obtain additional discounts.
-Last, but not least, Raileasy (raileasy.co.uk) is a good alternative site to the Trainline. It also charges reasonably priced booking fees but its layout can sometimes highlight cheap tickets that are harder to find on other websites.

Book your travel at least 12 weeks in advance

The cheapest train tickets are the ones to go first or course. Same thing with the free government schemes. So to be sure you bag the cheap, heavily discounted train tickets, book immediately when Network Rail releases them. Or apply for the welfare schemes that offer free travel for work early. Book up to 12 weeks in advance from your departure date, so set a reminder on your calendar, or sign up to the Trainline’s ticket alert system which emails you as soon as cheap advance tickets come on sale.

Buy advance tickets online

Advance train tickets can mean buying them up to 12 weeks as noted above, or it can mean up to an hour before your travel time. Instead of booking your tickets in person at the station in London, Birmingham or some other city, you may be able to find discounted fares online, hours before your departure. Always check online or calling Network rail to find out if advance tickets are still available for purchase – they often are and can save you up to 30% of the total cost.

Government train travel assistance from welfare schemes

If transportation assistance is needed for work, there are welfare schemes and charities that can provide assistance. They give free (or heavily discounted) travel cards for job reasons. The goal is to help the family on a low income gain stability from an income. Find Free travel cards for work.

Try different times to travel in the UK

Off peak hours are cheaper than standard weekdays and rush hours. This is true in London as well as every other city. While it does not help workers, travelling on the weekend or outside business may give you better prices. Greater flexibility with travel times and dates mean that you can choose to only pay for off peak tickets, often shaving off more than half the price off the cost of the train ticket. In addition to using that tip, the Trainline has a Cheap Fare Finder tool that you can use to find the cheapest days and time of travel.

Use rail cards

Rail cards may be the best option for discounted train tickets, especially when combined with the tips above. As indicated there are also free schemes that give vouchers to help pay for train tickets. They reduce ticket prices by a third and can be bought from the Railcard website, or from any train station in the UK for GBP26 a year. Rail cards are cost effective if you are spending more than GBP72 in a year. There are four types of rail cards:

* The 16-25 Rail card is for UK residents under 25 year olds or full time students of any age.

* Family & Friends is a rail card used if you have at least one adult and one passenger who is under 16 years of age. The maximum is four adults and four children.

* The Senior Rail card is for pensioners and those over 60s

* The Disability Rail card is for those on benefits with a disability, and the price is the cheapest at GBP18, if you qualify.

Buy single train tickets instead of returns to save money

The conventional wisdom is that a return ticket should be cheaper than two singles; yet this is not always true on UK rail networks. Cheap discount train tickets may only be available on one way fares, so check before booking a return. The websites of Trainline, National Rail or Raileasy make finding and comparing these cheap one way fares against the return prices easy.