Money Saving

Book 12+ weeks early for the cheapest tickets

Booking early is normally best - and the key is normally to start looking at least 12 weeks before.

Contractually Network Rail must have the timetable set 12 weeks in advance. So train operators commonly release cheap advance tickets shortly after. It's not always dead on 12 weeks though, often more like 10 or 11.

Some train companies are now starting to release advance tickets even earlier – with the caveat that times could change slightly. For example, Virgin East Coast releases advance tickets 24 weeks ahead for routes from stations north of York into London.

Get a free alert when tickets go on sale

If you know when and where you want to go, there's a sneaky way to be first in the cheap tickets queue. If you sign up and fill in your journey details with TheTrainline's* ticket alert system, you will get an email when cheap advance tickets for that specific journey come on sale (commonly the cheapest fares).

To help, National Rail has a future travel chart, showing the furthest away date in the future you can buy advance tickets for each train firm.

Split your tickets, not your journey

This is the big trick everyone should know. Instead of buying tickets for the whole journey, bizarrely, buying tickets for its constituent parts separately can slash the price – even though you're travelling on exactly the same train.

It's perfectly allowed within the National Rail Conditions of Carriage. The only rule is that the train must call at the stations you buy tickets for.

Save £219 on a London-Durham return

To show how this works, we unearthed this cracking example. For a London to Durham return, the cheapest ticket was an anytime return at £301. Yet the train stopped at York, so instead we found four singles:

The total cost for those tickets was just £82, a saving of £219. Just to clear it up…

It's the same train at the same time - the only difference is you've four tickets covering the journey rather than one

Watch out if you need to change trains

In the rare event that you book specific tickets, your split ticket stop coincides with the station where you change trains, and your first train runs late, then your second ticket might not be valid for the next leg of the journey.

For example, if you travel from Aford to Cshire via Btown and split your tickets at Btown, but you need to change trains at Btown, then if the Aford to Btown train is late, your ticket may not be valid for the later Btown to Cshire train.

Finally, off-peak and super off-peak tickets require you to travel at specific times of day. If you split your tickets at a station where you change, and the delay takes you outside the off-peak time, you may have to pay again to travel during this time.

Free TicketySplit tool to find split tickets

While split ticketing gives massive savings on scores of routes, the problem's always been finding when it works. Now our split ticket tool uncovers hidden ticket combinations to cut the cost.

Just go to our new TicketySplit tool, tell it your journey, and it'll tell you where to split and the saving. This unique tool splits advance tickets as well as on-the-day tickets - often where the supersonic savings are.

Please feed back
Please add your feedback and successes to the TicketySplit forum discussion. If you spot any glitches, please email splitticket@moneysavingexpert.com, letting us know which mobile phone you're using.

Anything to watch out for?
As with all split ticketing, the train MUST call at all the stations you buy tickets to and from. Beware split-ticketing at stations where you change trains: if your service is delayed and you've a time-specific ticket, you may need to pay extra. See a full warning.

Quick questions

Book early, late

Most people know buying train tickets before you travel is nearly always cheaper, but many don't realise you can often buy them right down to the wire. The golden rule is:

Always check if tickets are still available the night before - you may even be able to get some on the day

If tickets haven't sold out, one rail firm still let you buy advance tickets on the day. Many more let you buy the day before - so never assume it's too late. (Always make sure you'll have enough time to get your tickets beforehand as with some third party sites it can take up to two hours before your ticket's ready for collection.)

Here we've listed the cut-off points for advance tickets with each train provider. We update this table regularly but policies can sometimes change, so always check.

Spend over £90/year? Consider a railcard

Railcards can cut a third off the bill. You can buy them on the Railcard site and most are usually £30 per year or £70 for three (works out at £23.30/year). So spend more than £90 a year, even on just one trip, and it's cheaper.

All railcards, except the Network railcard, also give you up to a third off off-peak rail and tube travel in London on Oyster pay-as-you-go, or on Day Travelcards. Just go to an underground ticket office with your railcard and ask them to register it to your Oyster card or buy a travelcard.

Check our Railcard Deals page for discounts.

Don't assume every journey's eligible for a railcard discount, although time restrictions never apply on weekends and bank holidays. Always check first, especially if travelling at peak times as these vary by operator.

UK railcards

	TRAVEL DISCOUNT	WHO'S ELIGIBLE	RESTRICTIONS ON USE	PRICE
				1-YR	3-YR
	A third off adult fares	Under-26s or full-time students of any age	Can be used any time, but travelling before 10am on weekdays the min fare after discount is £12.	£30	£70
	A third off adult fares; 60% off child fares	Up to four adults (aged 16+); up to four children (aged five-15)	Can't use it during the weekday morning peak period when travelling between stations in theSouth East and London. Must travel with a child to get the adult discount.	£30	£70
	A third off adult fares for two named persons	Over-16s	Can't use it before 9.30am on weekdays. Both named persons on the card must travel together.	£30	N/A
	A third off adult fares	Over-60s1	Can't use it in weekday morning peak hours when travelling between stations in the South East and London.	£30	£70
	A third off for you and an adult companion	You may qualify if you receive disability-related benefits and/or have certain disabilities. Your companion doesn’t need to be a carer.	None - you can use it across the entire National Rail network any time, any day.	£20	£54
	A third off adult fares and 60% off for children insouthern England	Up to four adults (aged 16+); up to four kids (aged 5-15)	Can't normally be used before 10am on weekdays, though some operators allow you to use it a little earlier. £13 min spend for adults from Mon to Fri.	£302	N/A
1. Some local councils give discounts on the £30 cost of this card, so it's worth checking with yours first. Use Gov.uk's local council finder. 2. If you've a season ticket for London or south-east England, you qualify for a Gold Card, which gives similar discounts to the Network Railcard.

Got a season ticket for London or the South East? Get a free Gold Card

If you buy an annual season ticket for a route which starts and/or ends in the Network Railcard area (effectively London and the South East), or if you buy an annual Travelcard from Transport for London, you'll also get a Gold Card.

This gives a similar discount as a Network Railcard but also gives you a third off off-peak travel in London with an Oyster card - so you don't need to buy one separately. When you buy a qualifying season ticket, the pass given to you should also say "Gold Card" at the bottom. Those buying an annual Travelcard on their Oyster card will be given a separate Gold Card at the ticket office.

Just as with a normal railcard, you'll need to take your Gold Card with you to get the discount when travelling on eligible routes. To get the discounts on tube and London rail journeys, ask a London Underground ticket office to check a Gold Card discount has been loaded onto your Oyster card.

In Jan 2015, the benefits you get with the Gold Card changed - for one, you are now able to use it in across a wider area. For more info, see the National Rail website.

Regular traveller? Grab a season ticket

Regular rail users and commuters should always consider annual season tickets. National Rail's season ticket calculator is a nifty little tool to help you work out the cost.

The same journeys often have multiple season ticket options. Check them all, as it can make a real difference. A standard 12-month Bristol Temple Meads to London season ticket is £11,120. Yet if you restrict your travel to the Warminster and Salisbury route, it's £7,812.

Getting a season ticket on a heavy commuter route? Check if there are any split ticket options. It can be possible to save with two season tickets covering different journey legs.

Don't forget, if you've an annual season ticket inside the Network Railcard area, you get under-utilised extra perks through the Gold Card scheme.

To see how you might be able to save on the cost of your season ticket, read ourCheaper Train Season Tickets guide.

Singles can beat returns

Returns should be better value but often aren’t. Lots of top deals are only available on one-way fares. It's very common that cheaper fares are available for two single tickets but not the return, so always check.

The web makes finding them easy as you'll often be shown both single and return fares.

Save £266 on a London to Manchester return

As an example, a search for a seat on a London to Manchester train, coming back the next day, brought up a standard anytime return ticket costing a whopping £332. A quick check instantly found that for the same journey, an outbound advance single ticket was £36, while coming back, a Manchester-London advance single cost £26 - a total of £62 for the journey.