Currently it covers the 100 most popular routes, yet even if only part of your journey’s covered, you may be able to split your tickets and get a cheap fare for part of it.

How much can you save… Glasgow to London return cut from £204 to £81.

Searching for a return from Glasgow to London, leaving in a month’s time, the cheapest fare for the Saturday I was thinking about heading off was £204. Yet a five-second search on the Cheap Fare Finder shows the Saturday before costs just £81, saving £123.

How to find cheap tickets

Simply enter your dates and destination and it shows the cheapest tickets for that day. For the absolute cheapest day to travel, click on “show months” and it’ll show you the cheapest price for every day in that month.

Even if you’re not going anywhere, it’s a fun spot of train fare geekery. Results cut through train firms’ spin, revealing how much the cheapest fares really are and who’s meeting their contractual obligation to set the timetable 12 weeks in advance.

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• Spend over £72/year? Get a 16-25, Family & Friends or Senior Railcard.

  Railcards which can be bought from the Railcard website typically cost £24 per year, or £65 for three years, and cut a third off the bill. Therefore spend over £72 a year (even in just one trip) and you save. Until May ‘08 railcards weren’t valid on some super-cheap promotional fares; now they’re valid on all tickets bought in advance and all standard class tickets.

  Don’t assume every journey is eligible for use with a railcard though; always check it out first – especially if you’re travelling at peak times. The main cards are…

  The 16-25 Railcard: This is for under 25s or full-time students of any age. So do renew just before your 26th birthday to get another year (the same applies for those older and leaving Uni).

  Family & Friends Railcard: This can be used on all tickets provided there’s a minimum one adult and one under-16 travelling together, and a maximum four adults and four children.

  The Senior Railcard: If you’re over 60 then this one works for you; some local councils give discounts on this card, so it’s worth checking first.

  The Disability Railcard: If you qualify for it, this is actually the cheapest railcard at £18; and again some local councils may allow you to get it even cheaper.

• Local rail cards, season tickets and Rover & Ranger tickets

  Local rail cards, season tickets and Rover and Ranger tickets, such as the Network Railcard in the South East, are also available, offering holders unlimited travel within specific areas for specific periods of time. There’s a full list of these on the National Rail website.

• Season tickets for regular travellers; but check out hidden options

  If you travel a route as a daily commuter, it’s often worth getting an annual season ticket. The National Rail website’s season ticket calculator is a nifty little tool to help you work out the cost.

  Sometimes there’s more than one option available for the same journey. It’s important to check both as it can make a real difference. E.g. from Bristol to London the season ticket limiting you to trains travelling through Warminster and Salisbury is nearly £3,000 a year cheaper than the unrestricted one.

  If you’re getting a season ticket on a heavy commuter route, it’s also worth checking if there are any split ticket options (see the hardcore tricks section for an explanation), which mean you can buy two season tickets covering different legs of your journey which are cheaper.

source: Money Saving Expert Forum

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1. Split your tickets, not your journey

It’s perfectly allowed within the National Rail Conditions of Carriage, and has been confirmed by the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC). The only rule is that the train must call at the stations you’ve bought tickets for.

How much can you save… London to Penzance return cut from £257 to £50.

As an example, for London to Penzance return the cheapest ticket was an anytime day return at £257. This train stops in Plymouth and by instead buying four singles…

• Outbound: London to Plymouth
• Outbound: Plymouth to Penzance
• Return: Penzance to Plymouth
• Return: Plymouth to London

the total cost for those tickets is just £50, a saving of £207 and just to clear it up …

It’s the same train at the same time, the difference is you’ve four tickets covering the journey not one.

How to find split ticket bargains:

It normally takes five-ten minutes to check, but it’s worth doing, especially for long journeys.

• Step 1: Find the cheapest price for the standard journey.

  First get the price for the standard journey; without this you won’t know if you can save.

• Step 2: Find out where the train stops.

  Use the Transport Direct journey planner; just click on the train icon after you receive your route to see where it stops. The info is also available via the timetables section of the National Rail website.

  Alternatively, if your journey involves changing trains, click on the train time at Step 2 of the TheTrainline booking process. It will reveal when and where the train stops; try splitting your ticket there.

• Step 3: Check the options.

  Now pick a main station about half way across the journey and get a price for separate tickets to and from there for each leg. If that doesn’t work try another leg. If the train stops at many places then there’s a huge combination of available tickets. Obviously it’s a balance of time versus money. You could split a journey’s tickets into six or eight… it all depends on the amount of time you have.

One thing to watch for

In the very rare event that your split ticket stop coincides with a place you may change train, your first train were late and you’d booked a specific ticket, you may find your ticket isn’t valid for the last half of the journey.

E.g. If you travel from Aford to Cshire via Btown and split your tickets at Btown, plus need to change trains there, if the Ashire to Btown train is late, your ticket may not be valid for the later Btown to Cshire train.

source: Money Saving Expert Forum

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1. Only pay peak for the bit that is

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• Check for hidden promotional specials

  The National Rail website has a special promotions index page listing all special offers. Also do note that on certain East Midlands and South West Trains routes, including Sheffield to Derby and London to Exeter, it’s possible to get Megatrain fares for £1 if you book early enough.

  Plus if you’re travelling from Manchester to London, go to the Virgin Trains website and click the e-ticketing and m-ticketing section. This offers super-cheap mid-week single tickets, from £1 provided you print the tickets yourself. And a similar service is available via Chiltern Railways for London to Birmingham trips.

• Where to find all train ticket info

  There are four main sites for finding cheap train fare info, as well as different types of search tools, rather bizarrely they don’t all list exactly the same tickets, so if you’ve time for a full belt and braces check on a big fare, do try them all.

  TheTrainline. The ubiquitous TheTrainline powers both its own site and many other commercial booking sites. Its operating system is relatively simple, but it charges fees when you book through it, so you’re better booking direct from the train operator.

  National Express’ East Coast system. The name might suggest otherwise but the National Express East Coast system covers the whole UK, has no booking fees and sometimes gives extra discounts if your journey uses its network. One advantage of this is it includes a low fare finder, which will also find alternative routes which may be cheaper.

  Raileasy. Another commercial booking site, like TheTrainline, Raileasy also charges booking fees; it’s a new player which is promising to bring out some powerful tools. One advantage is it lists single fares on the results screen, which is useful as these can often be cheaper than returns.

  National Rail. The daddy of all the info providers, National Rail has huge details of the different fares and great depth for the search. You can’t buy your tickets direct through it, but it will link you to individual train operators, which don’t charge booking fees.

• The cheapest way to book tickets

  Booking direct at a station or via the rail company’s own website is usually cheapest as there’s no booking fee; plus you may also find some extra online discounts.

  If you’re using the booking sites, beware, you’ll pay more … the Trainline charges a £1 booking fee, plus an extra £2.50 for credit card payments. Raileasy, on the other hand, charges a £1 booking fee on every purchase over £10 (£2 if it’s under a tenner), plus a 50p debit card fee and 2.5% for credit cards.

  Overall this means of the two, the Trainline is cheapest for any bookings using a debit card and for credit card payments over £60, whereas Raileasy wins for credit card bookings under £60.

• Calling National Rail Enquiries? Pay less for the call

  If you need to dial National Rail Enquiries, the official number is 0845 748 49 50; yet you can cut the cost of calling by dialling 0121 634 2040 and then pressing ‘1′, you’ll get through to the same thing.

• Travel overnight and save on accommodation too

  Sleeper trains may sound like something from days gone by yet travelling overnight could save on both transport and accommodation. For example if you’re planning a trip to London from Scotland it’s worth checking FirstScotRail’s Bargain Berths section where single fares on the Caledonian Sleeper start at £19.

• Get free first class in the dining car

  Some longer journeys still have first class dining cars as well as the standard buffet. These are often open to all diners, whatever class their ticket is. So go in and order a meal; while it’s a bit more expensive, you can effectively travel in first class luxury for a second class price and some grub.

  It’s worth knowing, they do have the right to kick you back to where you belong (i.e. second class!) once you’ve finished eating, but it rarely happens.

• Reclaim the cost after train delays

  The rules state that if a train is late you can reclaim a full or partial refund. How late it needs to be to qualify depends on the journey, but as a rough rule of thumb, if you’re over 30 minutes late then it’s worth checking out. Ensure you keep your ticket and pick up a reclaim form from the station.

source: Money Saving Expert Forum

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1. Time your booking = Cheap tickets

Time your booking for maximum gain

As a general rule the earlier you book the cheaper the ticket. Yet timing the purchase accurately can make a real difference.

• Buy early, specifically 12 weeks early

  Everyone knows book early and you can get cheaper fares, yet often these disappear quicker than empty seats on a commuter trip. Therefore to ensure a bargain, the key moment is buying 12 weeks in advance. This is because, contractually Network Rail must have the timetable set 12 weeks in advance; therefore this is commonly – though not definitely – when tickets are released.

  If you know when and where you want to go, there’s a sneaky way to be first in the cheap tickets queue. TheTrainline’s ticket alert system emails the moment cheap advance tickets for a specific journey come on sale (commonly the cheapest fares).

• Get early booking discounts at the last minute!

  Everyone knows booking train tickets in advance is much cheaper, but what needs to be understood is Advance tickets can often be bought the night before, or even on the way to the station. So the golden rule is…
  
  

  Always check or call if advance tickets are still available, even if you’re on the way to the station.
  
  Watch the Train Tricks and Tactics video on the right for an example!

source: Money Saving Expert Forum

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1. Finding cheap fares and book for less …