Going away for Christmas? Book your rail tickets NOW
TRAIN passengers face a Christmas of travel chaos but by planning ahead they can avoid the worst of any disruption – and even save money. Network Rail, in charge of the country’s creaking railway infrastructure, has already indicated that 200 ‘improvement projects’ are likely to disrupt travel plans for thousands of commuters over the festive period.
Those travelling to or from London, Manchester and Cardiff and using trains in the South West, Wales, East Anglia and Kent will be hit by the engineering works.
They start on Christmas Eve and will run until January 2 – a period chosen by Network Rail because fewer passengers travel at these times.
This work is in addition to the general overcrowding, price hikes, delays and occasional strikes which long-suffering train users put up with all year round.
Southern Railway workers are staging strikes for three days beginning December 22.
With careful planning and by booking early you can avoid the worst of any disruptions – details of which can be found via the ‘future engineering works’ link on the bottom of the National Rail enquiries website.
In addition, you can save more than £100 by booking in advance – savings that could be used to buy Christmas presents.
Advance tickets are released up to 12 weeks before the date of travel – though the discounts on offer vary between providers. For example, a single journey to Birmingham from London with London Midland can be pre-booked now for £6.
The train operators sell a limited number of discounted ‘advance’ tickets in batches from now until Christmas. Each batch costs more – until the price reverts to what you would pay if purchasing a ticket on the day of travel.
In some cases it can be cheaper to book a first-class ticket in advance rather than buying a standard class ticket on the day. Providers such as Virgin Trains hand out free mince pies and offer free online access to seasonal movies such as Home Alone to first-class travellers while standard fare passengers only get to be packed in like sardines.
A journey from London to Manchester can cost £22 in advance one way for standard travel with Virgin Trains on December 23 but £81.40 is the cheapest ticket on the day – with a flexible anytime ticket costing £166. Pre-booked first-class travel can cost £43. Although booking in advance is the best way to save money, you can also drive down costs by ‘split-ticketing’. This is where one long-distance trip works out cheaper if it is bought as separate tickets for different legs of the same journey.
Specialist websites such as TicketySplit and Trainsplit will do the legwork for you.
Mike Richardson, owner of website Raileasy – which offers the Trainsplit function – says: ‘Train operators do not offer as many advance tickets as they should. They are aware they have a captive audience over the Christmas period and want to squeeze as much money from travellers as possible.
‘Do not fall for train company website claims of “cheapest prices”. This is an empty boast as you may actually find a better deal by splitting the ticket into different legs.’
Richardson says a single journey booked in advance from Birmingham to Glasgow (travelling after 3pm on December 23) costs £46.50. But by split-ticketing, the same journey costs just £18.80.
This is because the journey from Birmingham to Wolverhampton costs £3.80 while the Wolverhampton to Glasgow leg costs £15. Trainsplit takes a 10 per cent cut of the saving as a fee – £2.77 – so the actual saving you make is £24.93. When planning to travel, it pays to be flexible. When you buy advance tickets, they are usually for specific trains and times – open returns are more costly. It is also cheaper to travel after 10am to get off-peak rates.
Online ticket seller Trainline says: ‘You can beat the crowds and get cheaper deals over Christmas by avoiding the busiest days of December 22 and 23.
‘To make savings book now. Our customers saved a total of £22million by booking in advance for Christmas last year – it’s a no brainer.’
Websites such as Trainline and RedSpottedHanky can do the bargain-price hunting work on your behalf. But be aware they charge for their service.
RedSpottedHanky imposes a £1 booking fee while Trainline levies a booking fee up to £1.50 plus a further 2 per cent if you buy online using a credit card.
A spokesman for the industry trade body Rail Delivery Group says: ‘It is always worth checking out the websites of the train companies directly as you might find they can get you the cheapest tickets available without further charges.
‘It is also worth purchasing a rail card if you travel at times other than just Christmas – it will soon pay for itself.’
Railcards cost £30 and usually offer a third off the price.
CARDS available include a 16-25 Railcard for youngsters, Senior Railcard for those aged 60 and over, a Two Together Railcard for two named people and a Family & Friends Railcard – which offers discounts for up to four adults and four children travelling together.
Although adults get a third off fares, the discounts for youngsters on the card aged 15 or under can be as much as 60 per cent.
Train operators occasionally offer special deals. For example, Great Western, whose passengers have recently been suffering from staff strikes, is upping the third off discount for holders of a 16-25 Railcard to 50 per cent for select journeys up to the end of January 2017.
A spokesman for Network Rail says: ‘Upgrades usually take place over Bank Holidays as up to 50 per cent fewer people travel at this time.
‘The work makes the railways more reliable and ultimately improves journeys for thousands of passengers.’