Newcastle to Milton Keynes

[louise]

Hi All

after someone's wisedom. travelling from Newcastle to Milton Keynes regually and need to be in Milton Keynes for around 10:30/11am. The cost of the fare is like £200 plus. Is there a cheaper route rather than changing at Birmingham??

look forward to your responses

thanks
louise

 

[OwlMan]

Louise
How often do you travel? and how far in advance do you know the dates of travel?

Peter

 

[generalvegitable]

I would suggest going to york, then getting first TPE to Manchester, and then Virgin down to MK

 

[yorkie]

An Off Peak return from Manchester to Milton Keynes is valid for arrivals into Milton Keynes at or after 1030 and is priced at £51.90

An Off Peak return from Newcastle to Manchester is valid for arrivals into Manchester at or after 0930 and is priced at £59.40. To arrive before that TPE want to rob you of £78.50, so don't let them. Newcastle to York Off Peak is valid for departures after 04:00, and is priced at £33.70, and a York to Manchester Anytime is a reasonable £29.90.

TOTAL = 33.70 + 29.90 + 51.90 = £115.50

This is just £2 less than half the price that the idiots at Cross Country think you should pay for this journey. XC set the fare even though the most sensible route is TPE / Virgin via Manchester, and XC have the most restrictive tickets in the country.

Recommended journey:

Newcastle 0613
Manchester Picc 0905

Manchester Picc 0915
Milton Keynes 1046

You can get the 0613 from Newcastle at York (0740) leaving a few minutes later at 0621, you have 18 minutes at York (arr 0722), I'd recommend doing this as there is an unofficial potential connection at York leaving at 0723 that gets you to Manchester at 0851 which gives you more time to make the connection at Piccadilly. You probably won't make it but it's always worth a try.

On the return you can depart MKC between 0900 and 1514 (inclusive) and at or after 1901. There is no restriction on when you can leave Manchester or York.

 

[krus_aragon]

Heh, I was typing something like this up and saw yorkie's reply while previewing mine.

An Off Peak return from Newcastle to Manchester is valid for arrivals into Manchester at or after 0930 and is priced at £59.40.

My copy of NFM03 shows a NCL-MAN off peak return for £62.10 (restriction code 8A - any train), but the National Rail website agrees with you. I guess that's one of the 'updates' in the most recent version of the fares manual. Using the £62 ticket the total was £114, so only a few pennies in it.

 

[tony_mac]

Newcastle to Lancaster is permitted via Manchester (you can even get set reservations from NXEC site, but not on return), which is £42.50 SOR

and if you can get a railcard, then an off-peak return from Manchester to Milton Keynes can be used at any time on Virgin.

 

[scrapy]

Newcastle to Lancaster is permitted via Manchester (you can even get set reservations from NXEC site, but not on return), which is £42.50 SOR

and if you can get a railcard, then an off-peak return from Manchester to Milton Keynes can be used at any time on Virgin.

Are you sure a Newcastle to Lancaster ticket valid via Manchester?? If so it would be handy to know which maps as don't have access to them.

National rail enquiries says two tickets must be purchased. Would be handy for me if so as I regularly travel MAN - NCL

 

[yorkie]

Yes it is, the RG is at http://www.atoc.org/rsp/Routeing_Guide/

See the Permitted Route Identifier (Section C, the "Yellow Pages")

permitted routes via Manchester are on maps NC+MH+TP

which allows, among other things, you to go via Manchester then to Wigan or Warrington and north from there.

My advice is to get reservations on the NXEC site to avoid arguments with badly trained staff, just in case you encounter any jobsworths.

 

[louise]

hi everyone

just to say thanks for the advice, all has been very useful and hopefully i can save some pennies

thanks
louise