uk rail tickets?

kindalen

hi, am looking for a rail ticket(for 3 adults) for next february. will be travelling from glasgow to edinburgh to liverpool by train.
any ideas on deals/sources?

John R

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ will give you the times and fares but they don't sell tickets.

The rail fares in the UK are quite complex so how to get the best deal would depend on exactly what your plans are.

Assuming you will be stopping off in Edinburgh for some time/days then the cheapest fares would be to buy seperate tickets for Glasgow-Edinburgh and Edinburgh-Liverpool.

Glasgow-Edinburgh is £9.20 outside peak hours, the journey time is about 50mns and there are trains every 15 mns from Queen Street station. That fare can be bought at the station before you board.

For Edinburgh-Liverpool the cheapest fares need to be booked in advance and they are tied to the specific train you reserve, if you book one and miss the train you have to buy a new full price ticket.

There are no direct trains so you will need to change at least once. There are two routes, either via Preston/Wigan which is approx 4 hours or via York which is approx 5 hours. Via Preston/Wigan the cheapest fare is £15 but there are also a few trains via York/Leeds for £11.50 (to get fares for that route on the booking system put York as a via point).

The cheap advanced fares are loaded 12 weeks in advance so the tickets up to 18 Feb are now available, the cheap tickets can go quite quickly on popular trains so the earliest you book the cheaper and the more choice you .

To book these you need to register with one of the train operating companies websites, http://www.gnertickets.co.uk/ for example (it doesn't really matter which as they will all book tickets for all train companies)

This is the slightly tricky part as they do not allow you to sign up with a non-UK address.

To get around this: Go to the website, put in your journey and go through the booking process. Put in your Name and e-mail when it asks. When it asks for your address put in a valid UK postcode, select any address and continue. At this point click on "My Account" and change your personal details to your correct Irish address that is on your credit card account.

Then you can go and book your ticket but make sure to select ticket collection from Fast ticket machine NOT postal option as they may not post tickets to IRL. You need the credit card you booked the tickets with and the booking reference number they will give you to collect the tickets.

kindalen

thanks muchly,seems to be a real mess with uk trains.got a group rate on trains from liverpool to sheff with only 3 people....?

gipi

Irish Rail in Abbey St Dublin sell tickets for European Rail Services - might be worth checking them out to see if they sell UK tickets (they used to, but I last used it 10 years ago!).

Another useful website is www.qjump.co.uk which provides timetables and tickets.

kindalen

thanks for that,will give them a buzz on monday.

John R

kindalen wrote: »

thanks muchly,seems to be a real mess with uk trains.got a group rate on trains from liverpool to sheff with only 3 people....?

It's not a mess as such, just very complicated as there are so many different ticket types and variables. The only constant is that un-discounted Open fares are very expensive on long distance routes.

You won't get group rates in general, certainly not for a handful of people.

The advance tickets that I listed above (that are priced per person btw) are by far the cheapest fares you will get for single or return journeys.

For example the Edinburgh-Liverpool fare of £15 or £11.50 is discounted from the open single fares at £46.50 and £76.50 which would be the only fares available for certain peak trains without pre-booking.

The only exception is if you are doing a LOT of travelling where a BritRail Pass may work out cheaper and it has the advantage of allowing you to use any train without having to book in advance. There is a small group discount available with these passes.


For Liverpool-Sheffield the cheapest advance purchase fare is £7 and the standard single fare is £17.10.

kindalen

going from birmingham airport to liverpool next saturday,back sunday.
cheapest i can get is £63.

is this good/bad.

any tips on how to get this cheaper?

jahalpin

kindalen wrote: »

going from birmingham airport to liverpool next saturday,back sunday.
cheapest i can get is £63.

is this good/bad.

any tips on how to get this cheaper?

The cheapest that is avaliable at the moment is £30.60 return, you can book this through www.thetrainline.com, you have to register and you can collect your ticket from the automatic ticket machines at the airport station. There are cheaper fares on this route, but these are not avaliable for the Sunday.

kindalen

thanks,forgot to say that was for 2. only need liverpool to brum next sunday,16th, need to leave liverpool at about 17.00.

thanks.