Splitting - a few questions

[AlterEgo]

Hi there!

I regularly travel between London and Glasgow/Edinburgh/Newcastle and wondered whether there are any economical ticket splitting points, for Advance fares?

Are there any rules in general as to when it's better to split, or is it just a case of "search and see"?

 

[rail-britain]

I tend to split my Glasgow - Euston tickets at Preston, although there is not much saving now
Previously I used Crewe, but that option is now pretty much gone

I also found a good saving by travelling via Manchester Picadilly, although this does add about 40 minutes to the journey time
Glasgow - Preston, Virgin Trains (Euston service)
Preston - Manchester FPTE
Manchester - Euston

For Kings Cross, try splitting at Doncaster or York
However this may mean travelling by both East Coast and Cross Country
Finally, if you are travelling by East Coast, then use their website for a small discount

 

[passivepassion]

I think it is difficult to draw up a rules-of-thumb as where to split. I do the York-Scotland route on the east coast every now and then, and have managed to save cost splitting at Newcastle, Alnmouth, Berwick and/or Edinburgh. Though never had any luck with Dunbar/Durham.

York and Newcastle are obvious splitting points for your London-Scotland journey on the east coast as most if not all trains call there. Since it is a rather long journey, I don't often choose to split onto different trains. I usually look up the train I want to use, see where it calls and work from there. However, if you decide to split at York, there are quite a few departures for Edinburgh (usually EC from London followed by XC coming in from Leeds) just a few minutes apart from each other which sometimes can save substantial money.

 

[jopsuk]

As I understand it, the basics of why splitting works is this:

You're travelling from A to C via B. From A to B, pricing is decided by Operator X. From B to C, pricing is decided by operator Y. However, there's a through train, operated by Z, and Z set the price from A to C. Thanks to different pricing policies, (A to B) plus (B to C) ends up cheaper than A to C.

So, as a rule of thumb, look for where two "local" operator areas meet but a long-distance operator continues through. Very often, Operator Z is Cross Country.

 

[yorkie]

Just try the usual places you'd expect, for example Doncaster/York/Newcastle on the East Coast. Or places like Preston on the West Coast.

 

[cuccir]

Hi there!

I regularly travel between London and Glasgow/Edinburgh/Newcastle and wondered whether there are any economical ticket splitting points, for Advance fares?

Are there any rules in general as to when it's better to split, or is it just a case of "search and see"?

Search and see! Doncaster is a good one on the East Coast. If you're travelling Newcastle>Edinburgh then Berwick is good - you can often get good split deals there staying on the same train, removing any worry about missing connections.

 

[b0b]

If you're travelling Newcastle>Edinburgh then Berwick is good - you can often get good split deals there staying on the same train, removing any worry about missing connections.

You can only use trains that call at Berwick though..

 

[penaltyfines]

I doubt it works out cheaper, but if you have a season ticket in london try starting with that (BZX->) as you can split at stations that the train doesn't call at.