Savvy British travellers saving up to 69 per cent on popular rail routes

British travellers are routinely banking big savings when buying their train tickets, reducing the cost of travel by up to 69 per cent according to new data from Trainline, Europe’s leading train and coach app.

Trainline has analysed 40 popular rail routes across the country, comparing the average price that travellers actually paid for their journey with the price charged for a walk-up ticket and peak and off-peak times. For each of the eight cities surveyed, passengers are saving more than half the cost of an upfront ticket on at least one major intercity route.

The biggest savers are people travelling between Glasgow and Leeds, where travellers save more than two-thirds (69 per cent) on the cost of an off-peak single ticket – netting a saving of £83.03 on the £120 price of an off-peak single. Other top off-peak savings are made on journeys between Newcastle and Glasgow (57 per cent saving, paying £32.81 on average when an off-peak single is £77.10), and between Birmingham and Bristol (53 per cent saving, with just £29.78 paid on average when an off-peak single costs £63.10).

At peak times, the biggest savings are made travelling between Leeds and Nottingham, with travellers paying on average 68 per cent less than the cost of a peak single – saving £35.73 against the £52.90 ticket price. Other big savings can be found between Edinburgh and Newcastle (67 per cent saving, with travellers paying £21.56 when a peak single is £65) and Newcastle and Sheffield (60 per cent saving, with the average price paid being £31.16 and a ticket costs £77.60).

The biggest saving found for each of the eight analysed cities was:

The main ways savvy passengers are saving money on their rail fares are:

· Buying Advance tickets, which offer discounts for buying ahead in return for reduced flexibility, such as committing to a specific train

· Buying a Railcard, which saves one-third off the cost of eligible fares

· Utilising Trainline’s SplitSave feature, which breaks a journey into a combination of tickets to produce a cheaper cost, such as only paying a peak fare for part of a long-distance journey

Mike Hyde, Chief Data Officer for Trainline said: “There are huge savings available on UK rail fares, and our data shows savvy Brits are successfully banking them. Trainline customers save an average 35 per cent on their rail travel and we aim to help travellers save effortlessly by utilising our tech to cut through the complexity and find the best possible price. Whether it’s by automatically applying rail card savings, by making smart choices about returns and singles, or by using our SplitSave technology to find hidden savings, our whole system is designed to find you the best possible price for your journey.”

Photo credit: Trainline

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