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You Should Pay Less when you book train tickets online at Rail Saver using the Rail Easy™ train ticket price check and Rail Saver online reservation system to find the cheapest available train ticket price on your selected route at your preferred travel times with all of the train operators on the National Rail network.

Rail Saver offer a comprehensive range of point to point online train tickets impartially between train operating companies on the National Rail network. Using the RailEasy™ train ticket price checker and Rail Saver reservation service to complete an online train ticket reservation, whether it is for the cheapest or a more expensive fare with the added comfort of first class travel, is quick and easy. Rail Saver also offers you useful information and online booking facilities for:- Other linked transport including ferries, metros, London Underground, National Express busses, etc. Accommodation including hotels, guest houses locally and abroad. Rail Passes for visitors to England and Europe on all the major European rail networks. Rail Saver tells you how to legally pay less for your train tickets and helps you find the most cost effective train fares for your rail journey quickly and easily using the Rail Easy™ train ticket price check and online reservation system with all of the train operators on the National Rail network.

How To Pay Less For Train Tickets

Rail Saver tells you how to legally pay less for your train tickets and helps you find the most cost effective train fares for your rail journey quickly and easily using the Rail Easy™ train ticket price check and online reservation system with all of the train operators on the National Rail network.

Rail Saver is here to help you make the very most of your rail travel experience, whether you are a business traveller, a student, a tourist, a senior citizen or somebody who just likes travelling on trains.

The following tips will help you secure the cheapest train tickets available:-

Invest In A Rail Card

• If you're under 26, over 60 or travelling with kids you can cut a third off most ticket prices with a railcard, costing £26 a year. These can be bought at stations or better still, online, as then you can upload a Jpeg photo, saving £3.50 on buying a passport photo. Railcards aren't always valid, so if you do a regular journey, first check whether the card's applicable. And don't try and use railcards on journeys they're not valid on as there are some reports they actually add to the price.
  
  
• For journeys costing over £60, always get a railcard.
  
  
• If you don't have a railcard, and the ticket(s) costs over £60, buy one. The maths is simple, the railcard is £26 and you get 1/3 off; so at £60 plus you save at least as much as the card costs. Yet even for cheaper tickets, if you're likely to travel by train again that year it's worth considering.
  

Book In Advance

• Everyone knows book early and you can get cheaper fares yet often these disappear quicker than empty seats on a commuter trip. The key stat is, that under contract terms, Network Rail must have the timetable set 12 weeks in advance; therefore this is commonly (though not definitely) when tickets are released. So if you can, try and book 12 weeks ahead to bag super bargain fares.
  
  
• Early booking is still cheaper even when it's not so early. Advance tickets can be available as late as 6pm the night before; so it's worth a call to check.
  
  
• Book online using Rail Saver or another reputable train reservation service like www.railsaver.co.uk or www.ticketwatch.co.uk These sites always seek out any cheap seats that may still be available.

Buy Two Single Tickets Instead Of One Return Ticket

• Logically, buying a return ticket should be cheaper than two singles. Yet logic and train fares often don't sit well together often resulting in two single tickets costing a lot less than a return ticket.
  
  For example, at the time of writing this while checking a Manchester to London ticket, leaving at 7:30 am, returning the next day, the cheapest return was an huge £220 because no saver returns were available. Yet saver singles were and a quick check instantly found that for the same journey, a saver single there was £59 and returning on a 'value advance single' cost just £13 - representing a massive saving of £148!.

Only Pay Peak For The Portion That's Peak

• Peak times are usually before 10am and between 5pm and 7pm. If at all possible avoid these times and you'll find better bargains. Yet even if not, you can still cut the cost by buying two singles instead of a return if only one part of your journey is during peak times or else by using split ticketing (see below), so that if some of your journey isn't during peak time, you're not paying a peak price for your whole ticket.

Split Your Tickets - Not Your Journey

• Special fares are often available for part of the route. Therefore by buying several tickets which in combination make up the whole route, you'll often massively reduce the price even though you're on the same train.
  
  For example: For London to Penzance a standard open return was £234. This train stops in Bristol; so then I checked separate ticket prices. By buying four singles: London to Bristol, Bristol to Penzance and then for the return Penzance to Bristol and Bristol to London; the total cost was a tiny £36, a saving of £198. And remember this is for the same trip, on the same train. The same also worked on a £162 open return journey from Sheffield to Edinburgh, which was reduced to £44 via split ticketing.
  
  
• Ticket Splitting is legal and within the National Rail Conditions of Carriage. This has been confirmed by the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC). The only rule is that the train must call at all the stations you've bought tickets for. The dedicated Split Ticketing web service at www.splitticketing.co.uk is a very good point to begin when looking for those cheap split fare train tickets.

Train Ticket Types and Online Ticket Reservations

There are different types of tickets depending on when you want to travel and how early you book. The details of the type of train ticket you have bought are printed on your ticket.

An explanation of the various ticket types to help you better understand how the railway operators structure their ticket pricing is detailed below.

UK (point to point) rail fares can be divided into 2 main types, quota or walk on fares:

• Quota fares are the cheaper fares that are available up to 12 weeks in advance of travel. There are a limited number of each type of these and, as they sell on a particular train, the seats become more expensive. In many cases particularly on intercity trains your ticket includes a reserved seat.
  
  
• Walk on fares are more expensive but are always available. These are the fares you buy when you turn up at a station on the day.

U.K. Rail tickets are broken down into the following groups

Buy any time for travel any time

You can buy tickets at any time, with no limits on what day or time you travel. These include
Open tickets and some Day tickets. These tickets cost more than others with restrictions for the same route.

Buy any time, travel restricted

You can often buy cheaper tickets with some limitations on when you can travel. These include SuperSavers, Savers and Cheap Day tickets.

Buy in advance (specified trains only)

You can buy bargain tickets,in advance, on many routes. There are only limited numbers available and you must travel on the trains stated. These include Apex and SuperAdvance tickets.

Multi-journey

You can buy season tickets which give you unlimited travel on certain routes. They can be used for up to seven days, or for any period from one month to one year.

Regional and All-Line Rover Tickets

You can also buy Regional Rover tickets in some parts of the country. They can be used for unlimited travel in a certain area.

An All-Line Rover ticket gives you seven or fourteen days of unlimited travel on the railways.

Multi-transport

You can buy tickets which enable you to travel by train and other types of transport such as bus (PlusBus) or ferry services.

Leisure Attractions and Special Events

You can buy tickets that allow you to travel by train and then get in certain attractions or special events.

Group Advance Tickets

If you book seats before you go you can get cheaper tickets if there are ten or more people traveling. together. You can also get cheaper tickets for smaller groups on some trains, if fewer than ten people are traveling.

Children Tickets

At all times, up to two children under the age of 5 may travel free of charge with an accompanying adult, and do not require a ticket (but see the Family Railcard article for one exception to this). Children between the ages of 5 and 15 (inclusive) travel at half of the standard adult fare. (Full adult fare for journeys are almost always in multiples of £0.10; in the rare instances where the adult fare is a multiple of £0.05, the Child fare will be rounded up to the nearest £0.05.)

On tickets issued for children, the wording CHILD will appear in the "concessions" (status code) field of the ticket(s). Children can gain further reductions by travelling with adults who are using certain Railcards, or adults travelling on certain other concessionary tickets.

Accompanied Animals and Large Articles

A charge of 50% of the standard adult fare, subject to a maximum fare of £4.00 or £8.00 (depending on the type of ticket held by the passenger), would be charged for the following:

• "Dogs, cats and other small inoffensive animals or birds" (maximum of two per passenger)
• Non-folding prams (maximum of two per passenger)
• Skis and surfboards (maximum of one per passenger)
• Cellos (maximum of one per passenger)
• Disabled persons' "runabout" or other electric vehicles (maximum of one per passenger; not permitted in InterCity 125, InterCity 225 or sliding-door trains). In all of these cases, a ticket with the status code AAA would be issued for the article. This was represented as A A A on APTIS and PORTIS tickets until 1988. (Such tickets also showed NIL adults and NIL children, uniquely.)

Items exceeding the weight or size parameters, including furniture, canoes, hang-gliders and large musical instruments, will be issued with a ticket at the standard adult rate.

Most railcards and certain other concessionary fares could be combined with the Accompanied Animals and Articles discount, resulting in much larger discounts on the standard adult fare.

Privilege Tickets

Railway employees, their spouses or partners and their dependent children are able to travel on the railway network free of charge or at a substantial discount on the standard adult or child fare, depending on the type of staff travel pass, privilege pass or staff identity card they possess.

In cases where free travel is not available - either on certain routes or on all routes - the standard discount for adults is 75% of the full adult fare (i.e. a quarter-rate fare), although certain cheap-rate tickets (such as Cheap Day Returns) are not available in conjunction with the discount.

Railcards

You can buy different Railcards which give you big savings on many fares.

The Family Railcard is for groups of adults and children traveling. together (you do not need to be from the same family). The Family Railcard gives you over 30% off many fares for adults and 60% discount on many children’s fares (£1 minimum fare).

If you are aged 16-25 you can get a Young Persons Railcard. This gives you over 30% off the price of a range of fares. The Senior Railcard is for people aged 60 or over. This Railcard gives over 30% off a variety of fares.

For more information on Railcards please click here.

Season Tickets

Season tickets make your journey easy and you may purchase a season ticket for any duration. Your local train operator can provide you with a weekly / monthly / annual season tickets. Contact your local train operating company for details.

When you use Rail Saver to source and book your train tickets the cheapest possible fare for your specified dates and travel times is always determined.

Rail Saver finds the most cost effective train fares for your rail journey quickly - enjoy more rail travel for less.