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ys123

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On the advise of the forum experts I have tried to use Trainsplit to obtain an "itinerary" in addition to cheap tickets. I fail miserably every time however! Happy to accept this is "user error" but without knowing the correct answer, where do I go from here? Example from yesterday (21/01/2019):

Friday 15th March travelling from Horsham (HRH) to Kidderminster (KID) and returning to HRH same day; arriving KID 1040 and departing at 1910. Cost with Network Railcard should be around £51.30. Had a go on Trainsplit and it came back with £70.xx at which point I gave up.

Should I try inputting two single journeys? Clearly the outward price is always going to be different to the return on a weekday.
Can Trainsplit cope with a Railcard in one direction only? I stumbled over the ability of gwr.com being able to do this!

Thanks for any advise/tips to get what I want :)
Network Railcard is only valid after 10am https://www.network-railcard.co.uk/help/faqs/440/
Why can’t the Network Railcard be used before 10:00 Monday to Friday?
The Network Railcard is designed to promote off-peak leisure travel. This means that it encourages people to use trains outside of the busy commuting period which occurs before 10.00 Monday to Friday.
 
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Paul Kelly

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If you take the Chiltern route both ways you'll find it very hard to beat the through Super Off-Peak Return routed ✠VIA H WYC & BIRM at £49 - this is valid on any train from Horsham and any train departing Marylebone at 08:30 or later, so you don't really need a Network Railcard for this journey at all.

Edit: the above is wrong; I misread the arrival time as 11:40 rather than 10:30.
 
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Romilly

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Because the £49 super offpeak return does not allow departures from London terminals between 0630 and 0830, it is not valid for a journey via High Wycombe & Solihull that gets to Kidderminster at 1046 as that involves leaving Marylebone at 0814 (having left Horsham at 0619). But for arrival at Kidderminster at 1046 and departure from Kidderminster at 1910, by using the Advanced Options on trainsplit.com and putting High Wycombe and Solihull as pass-through points, there is a £52.06 offer on trainsplit for the desired trains, involving three anytime day singles to get from Horsham to Marylebone, then an £18 Marylebone-Kidderminster Advance and a £12 Kidderminster-Horsham Advance. (EDIT: I was looking randomly at 31st January: prices for the two Advances on other dates may well be different.)
 
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Paul Kelly

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Because the £49 super offpeak return does not allow departures from London terminals between 0630 and 0830, it is not valid for a journey via High Wycombe & Solihull that gets to Kidderminster at 1046 as that involves leaving Marylebone at 0814 (having left Horsham at 0619).
Oops; you're totally right; I misread the requirement to arrive at 10:40 as 11:40. Have updated my post above.
 

ForTheLoveOf

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Because the £49 super offpeak return does not allow departures from London terminals between 0630 and 0830, it is not valid for a journey via High Wycombe & Solihull that gets to Kidderminster at 1046 as that involves leaving Marylebone at 0814 (having left Horsham at 0619). But for arrival at Kidderminster at 1046 and departure from Kidderminster at 1910, by using the Advanced Options on trainsplit.com and putting High Wycombe and Solihull as pass-through points, there is a £52.06 offer on trainsplit for the desired trains, involving three anytime day singles to get from Horsham to Marylebone, then an £18 Marylebone-Kidderminster Advance and a £12 Kidderminster-Horsham Advance. (EDIT: I was looking randomly at 31st January: prices for the two Advances on other dates may well be different.)
This is indeed correct - however, the cheapest option for most longer journeys which have a Chiltern set fare will be a Chiltern & Connections Advance. These are very good value for money, and you can guarantee that availability is unaffected by the train towards London by selecting the use of Thameslink services only (as Thameslink services are wholly unreservable).

This way you can then use any appropriate Thameslink or Gatwick Express services (the latter also being unreservable, somewhat surpringly, but barred from being part of an itinerary on a Chiltern & Connections Advances), or indeed Southern seem to have a policy they you can take any of their services, even a reservable service which you do not have a reservation for, if you have a cross-London Advance.
 

E759

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Well this was meant as a Trainsplit question but in terms of splitting it's this JB_B:

Horsham to Gatwick Anytime Day Single £6.00
Gatwick to East Croydon Anytime Day Single £5.40
East Croydon to London Z1-5 Anytime Day Single £9.00
Marylebone to Kidderminster Advance Single £9.00
Kidderminster to Marylebone Advance Single £7.50
Horsham to London Travelcard Z1-6 Super Off-Peak £14.40 (Network Railcard discount)

The £52.06 split on Trainsplit mentioned by Romilly was the sort of thing I was looking for. The "answer" to use High Wycombe and Solihull as pass-through - how would I know to do that?! So ok I do now :)

So for my next trip I can post up the Destination here and the Advance options I need on Trainsplit will be posted here manually by kind members :) :) I'd be happy with that if that is the solution? :)
 

ForTheLoveOf

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Well this was meant as a Trainsplit question but in terms of splitting it's this JB_B:

Horsham to Gatwick Anytime Day Single £6.00
Gatwick to East Croydon Anytime Day Single £5.40
East Croydon to London Z1-5 Anytime Day Single £9.00
Marylebone to Kidderminster Advance Single £9.00
Kidderminster to Marylebone Advance Single £7.50
Horsham to London Travelcard Z1-6 Super Off-Peak £14.40 (Network Railcard discount)

The £52.06 split on Trainsplit mentioned by Romilly was the sort of thing I was looking for. The "answer" to use High Wycombe and Solihull as pass-through - how would I know to do that?! So ok I do now :)

So for my next trip I can post up the Destination here and the Advance options I need on Trainsplit will be posted here manually by kind members :) :) I'd be happy with that if that is the solution? :)
Haha! As stated, if you force the Horsham-London part of the itinerary to use Thameslink services only (by using select operators - included - Chiltern + Thameslink), it will be quite considerably cheaper as you should then be able to get through Chiltern & Connections Advances, which are usable on on all services towards London.
 

JB_B

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...

So for my next trip I can post up the Destination here and the Advance options I need on Trainsplit will be posted here manually by kind members :) :) I'd be happy with that if that is the solution? :)

OK. Did you try clicking on "Value"? I didn't need to enter any via points - I just clicked on "Value" to get the slower route you're looking for.

Trainsplit then showed at £26.50 altogether (as FTLO has suggested) - £14.50 Horsham to Kidderminster Dep 06:41 arriving 10:40 and £12.00 Kidderminster to Horsham Dep 19:10 arrive 23:57.
 

E759

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OK. Did you try clicking on "Value"? I didn't need to enter any via points - I just clicked on "Value" to get the slower route you're looking for.

Trainsplit then showed at £26.50 altogether (as FTLO has suggested) - £14.50 Horsham to Kidderminster Dep 06:41 arriving 10:40 and £12.00 Kidderminster to Horsham Dep 19:10 arrive 23:57.
Ahhhh! Many thanks for that JB_B and FTLO; (i) I clicked on Value and no routing points and the magic £26.50 fare appears :) and (ii) I had no idea the Chiltern fares included the leg into MYB as well as onwards from Moor Street/Snow Hill.

That's really great helpful advise from you both which I'll use for SVR - another nail in the coffin for getting a Gold Card.

Thanks again, much appreciated,
E
 

trainophile

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Nice one Trainsplit :) . I had a cunning plan, and thanks to the advance options it has worked like a dream...

Travelling from Southport to Troon today. Staying two nights in Carlisle. Wanted to drop my backpack off at the County hotel across the road from Carlisle station before heading for Glasgow.

So I asked for a change at Carlisle and extended connection time, and it all went perfectly. Luckily no ticket check at Carlisle (there was one at the exit a couple of weeks ago).

I even got offered a second breakfast - I explained that I was split ticketing and had already had one, but was told I could have something if I wanted!

I hope this manoeuvre doesn’t get closed off as it could be extremely handy on future occasions. I often stay in Carlisle and have day trips to Scotland.
 

infobleep

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Nice one Trainsplit :) . I had a cunning plan, and thanks to the advance options it has worked like a dream...

Travelling from Southport to Troon today. Staying two nights in Carlisle. Wanted to drop my backpack off at the County hotel across the road from Carlisle station before heading for Glasgow.

So I asked for a change at Carlisle and extended connection time, and it all went perfectly. Luckily no ticket check at Carlisle (there was one at the exit a couple of weeks ago).

I even got offered a second breakfast - I explained that I was split ticketing and had already had one, but was told I could have something if I wanted!

I hope this manoeuvre doesn’t get closed off as it could be extremely handy on future occasions. I often stay in Carlisle and have day trips to Scotland.
Were you on an advanced purchase ticket by any chance? And if so, did you split at Carlisle? If you did, not sure how they could refuse you leaving.
 

trainophile

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Were you on an advanced purchase ticket by any chance? And if so, did you split at Carlisle? If you did, not sure how they could refuse you leaving.

That’s the thing... because of the myriad choices on Trainsplit advanced options I was able to get all my requirements on one Advance ticket, that cost the same as if I had stayed on the first VT through to Glasgow.

I’m not entirely convinced it’s legit actually but it’s what I got!
 

ForTheLoveOf

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That’s the thing... because of the myriad choices on Trainsplit advanced options I was able to get all my requirements on one Advance ticket, that cost the same as if I had stayed on the first VT through to Glasgow.

I’m not entirely convinced it’s legit actually but it’s what I got!
If you have a large amount of connection time at Carlisle, what exactly are they going to say if you ask to leave the station during it? "No, you must stay on the station property"?! Or you could ask to go to the WH Smith's just opposite the ticket office, or you might need a smoke....
 

yorkie

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...I was able to get all my requirements on one Advance ticket...

I’m not entirely convinced it’s legit actually but it’s what I got!
It's legit to have a change of train, but not legit to "break your journey", which used to be properly defined, but no longer is.

When it was defined, it did not allow you to leave station premises except under circumstances, such as having permission to do so.

In practice, permission would be likely to be granted for the purposes of dropping your bag off at a hotel while en-route, however as there was no-one at the exit to grant/deny permission, it didn't arise.
I explained that I was split ticketing and had already had one,
It sounds like you were not using "split ticketing" (using a combination of two or more tickets for one journey).
 

trainophile

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Just a heads up that there's a big article in today's Daily Mail about split ticketing, and Trainsplit in particular. I expect this is common knowledge to the team on here, but for guests or those who don't buy the DM (we only get it on Saturdays for the TV mag!) you might like to check it out.

Not sure if I'm ecstatic that this is now even more in the public domain, hope the train companies don't increase the non-regulated fares to make splitting less attractive.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-6918465/Could-ultimate-hack-train-travellers.html
There is one way to capitalise on the shambolic pricing policy of train companies and avoid attempts by sites such as thetrainline.com to fleece customers.

It involves ‘split ticketing’ or ‘fare splitting’, which is completely legal, fast and efficient. Crucially, it can save as much as 90 per cent off the price offered by train operators, despite their claims of ‘best price guaranteed’.

‘If you go on the individual train company sites or Trainline, you won’t necessarily be offered all the cheaper options that are available,’ says Mike Richardson, a co-founder of the website trainsplit.com, part of the Raileasy group.
 
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najaB

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Not sure if I'm ecstatic that this is now even more in the public domain, hope the train companies don't increase the non-regulated fares to make splitting less attractive.
They would be cutting off their noses to spite their face. There are a fair number of journeys that only get made because splitting makes them affordable.
 

talldave

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Snap! DM only on Saturday for the TV guide! And an occasional splitter....
 

yorkie

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They would be cutting off their noses to spite their face. There are a fair number of journeys that only get made because splitting makes them affordable.
This is very true. However some passengers are prepared to pay more for their journeys than the sum of the constituent parts of that journey, but the longer distance fare cannot be reduced because the Government is NOT prepared to pay the train companies the shortfall in revenue that would be lost from the less savvy passengers.

A claim made in the article was that people need to "know the tricks of the trade to get a fare that works for them" but this is not correct. It's just that only some retailers provide those fares. No knowledge needed by passengers!

There is nothing to stop any retailer offering a combination of tickets instead of one ticket (indeed a station local to me did this - unprompted - when I last asked for a ticket), but if all retailers did that, the train companies would require more subsidy. That is not going to happen, so unless the cheaper fares increase in price, it will be cheaper - at least for the next few years - to use a combination of tickets for many journeys, for which the through fare is arguably overpriced.
 

Adsy125

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Is the booking fee new? I'd never seen one before on a route where it can't split to save you any money, but it tried to charge me one when booking yesterday, so I had to use a TOC site instead.
 

SickyNicky

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Ok. I can't reproduce that. It's not showing a booking fee when I go through the process.

Are you using a brand other than trainsplit.com
 

SickyNicky

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Ok . You're using raileasy's white label, not the core trainsplit. They have chosen to add on a booking fee, which any of our affiliates can.

The core www.trainsplit.com site doesn't have booking fees.
 

JB_B

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In this post above, the Daily Mail is quoted as saying...

"'If you go on the individual train company sites or Trainline, you won’t necessarily be offered all the cheaper options that are available,’ says Mike Richardson, a co-founder of the website trainsplit.com, part of the Raileasy group."

... is it possible that's caused some confusion?
 
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SickyNicky

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Yep. Trainsplit is not part of the Raileasy group. However, we do work closely together and we did develop the look and feel of the current web site together.
 

Adsy125

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Ok . You're using raileasy's white label, not the core trainsplit. They have chosen to add on a booking fee, which any of our affiliates can.

The core www.trainsplit.com site doesn't have booking fees.
Ah thanks. I'd just searched for trainsplit and that's what came up, obviously I need to check next time.
 

Joe Paxton

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Using Trainsplit (web or app), is there a delay between purchase and the tickets being available to collect?
 
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