Trains in the UK
 

I'm trying to get information online on train travel in the UK. I can find timetables, but I'm having difficulty finding prices and online booking for anything but Virgin. Virgin's prices seem very high, but I don't have anything to compare with. We're travelling London to Birmingham, and then Birmingham to Edinburgh. What's a fair price, and do I really need to advance book - Virgin's prices go up astronomically the closer to travel time you book. I've never needed to book advance on a day train before, I've just bought the ticket at the station. Any websets (other than Virgin's) that allow comparisons & booking? Thanks

i think www.thetrainline.com might help.<BR><BR>kavey

Thanks Kavey, but I think that's the one that is run by Virgin. It is a great site, it just doesn't help compare options.!

Oh is it?<BR>I hadn't realised it was solely Virgin...<BR><BR>Sorry, no other sites that I know of. I will look out for any other responses myself too!<BR><BR>Kavey

First, I believe that only Virgin goes from London to Birmingham. If that is the case you will not have anything to compare. When you leave from Birmingham to Edinburgh you will still use Virgin at least part of the way. I did not pull up the details but it did seem that Virgin has specials to Birmingham for cheap prices. Did you check that out? Good luck.

The other Internet scheduling & booking service is www.Qjump.co.uk, which is owned by the National Express Group. But I think you are looking for something that doesn't exist. The only operating company offering frequent high speed service between London and Birmingham is Virgin, and the fares will be the same on Qjump as Trainline. You might save some money by trying the slower service on the Chiltern Line from London Marylebone to Birmingham Moor Street. And yes, UK train pricing is like airline pricing - the earlier you book and the less flexibility you demand, the cheaper the fare.

I don't think that www.thetrainline.com is run by Virgin Trains. I think Virgin has their own site that gives fares. The Trainline does give prices for rail travel.<BR><BR>Are you sure that there are other rail companies offering that route? I think that when British Rail privatized, different rail companies took over different lines, for example Wales and Borders operates the trains in the west.<BR><BR>My husband and I did find rail travel to be the only thing in Britain that was eyebrow-raisingly expensive. (Isn't privatization supposed to drive *down* prices?)<BR><BR>Julie

Sorry, I forgot to give you Virgins site. www.virgintrains.co.uk/

Yes it's true that Virgin are the only operators of the high speed (I use that term loosely) rail link between London and Birmingham, and yes, train travel is outrageously expensive in the UK. The rip-off debate is fast becoming a national obsession. It's cheaper to fly from London to Edinburgh than take the train.<BR><BR>An alternative, if price is an issue, is to take the coach from London Victoria Bus Station, which is vastly cheaper, and not that much slower. (Takes about 2-2.5 hours to Birmingham)

I think folks are overstating the cost of trains in the UK. Yes, &pound;127.50 for a standard open return from London to York, for example, is expensive, but &pound;19 for a Gner 50 Plus Promotion return ticket (3 day advance purchase) seems pretty reasonable. Even the &pound;30 Bargain Return (7 day advance purchase) is reasonable. And I doubt any airline could match the &pound;27.50 I paid for a return ticket from London to Carmarthen last October.<BR>

Book in advance to get the cheapest fares. Whatever you do, do not travel by train in the UK on a Sunday! This is when much of the engineering work takes place - many trains are cancelled, rerouted, delayed - and in many cases replaced by buses.<BR>Best of luck!

Since they were privatized, rail lines in the UK are divided geographically. The different regions are served by different companies. <BR><BR>So you are pretty much stuck with the company serving where you are going. But there are always deals and discounts - advance purchase, cheap day returns, leisure excursions, etc.

What you are looking for is an Apex ticket booked 14 to 7 days in advance (i think) this should cost about &pound;30.<BR>If you turn up on the day then yes it can get very expensive.

We just returned from 2 wks in UK. Booked GNER online 2 wks prior to trip for London Kings Cross-Edinburgh RT 36GBP each. If we had departed London on Mon instead of Sun fare would have been 29GBP, but those special fare seats were sold out. We enjoyed the trip, train was very clean & comfortable, staff very pleasant and helpful. For smokers, GNER and the other regional trains, except Virgin, still retain a smoking car at front of train that you can either book for entire journey or use during trip. There is also southerntrain.co.uk offering cheaper fares from Gatwick to London than Gatwick Express. We will definitely travel this way again--cheaper than flying or driving if you book ahead and take advantage of special fare offers. Search UK trains or rail for different sites. Virgin confirmed via email that they own/operate Thetrainline.com site.

It's true that we did buy our tickets in the train station right before we got on the train. But it didn't seem like there was any way to book tickets in advance from the U.S. The Trainline site would only mail advance purchase tickets to Britain.<BR><BR>So is there any way to book cheaper tickets in advance if you are only going to be in Britain for a short trip?<BR><BR>Inquiring minds want to know,<BR>Julie

I wanted cheaper advance tickets last summer to go from Edinburgh to London. I had the tickets mailed to the hotel where I had reservations. They put the tickets in their safe and I picked them up when I arrived. I, of course, checked that this was OK with the hotel before I did it.

You can also have the tickets held for you to pick up at the station.

Thanks for all the assistance. I ended up booking through thetrainline.com. I will pick the tickets up at the station when I arrive. It did not end up being too expensive - the site was quoting me the price for 2 tickets (what I had asked for) but it appears like the price for a single ticket. I didn't figure this out until the final payment screen. So the final price London-Birmingham-Edinburgh ended up being &pound;9+&pound;32 each person, which seems fair enough.