This is a trick I have utilised in Australia, the Uk and USA.

This weekend I needed to travel from Penzance in the south of England to Manchester in the North west. A distance of 639km / 397 miles. The cheapest ticket was 169 Pounds in Standard (Economy) Class. This is around $US269.

So I split the journey up and booked three tickets:

• Penzance to Exeter ( 21a km / 13a miles). I found a fare for 12 pounds on First Great Western trains
• Exeter to Bristol (12s km / 76 miles) The cheapest ticket was 24 pounds in Economy but I found a First Class ticket for 19 pounds. Go figure! Also with First Great Western
• Bristol to Manchester    (297km / 184.5 miles). Crosscountry had a fare for 35.90 pounds

The total cost is 66.90 pounds total (106 US Dollars). Yes I have to change trains twice but for 103 pound ($US163) saving, I did. I was in First Class for one part of the ride! There have been times when I have done the same technique but ended up on the same train for the whole journey-albiet in different seats.

This practice is called Splitting Your Ticket and there is a whole industry that has sprung up in some parts of the world to facilitate it.

In Australia,  Great Southern Rail operate a service from Melbourne to Adelaide. For part of the service, Vline (who used to run a separate service) contract Great Southern to carry their passengers. On the particular day I needed to travel,  the train was “Full” from Melbourne to Adelaide. I booked from Melbourne to Nhill, a town about half way, on the Vline website and then from Nhill to Adelaide on Great Southern Rail’s site. In this situation, I got on the train. I did have seat reservations in two different carriages, however which meant technically at Nhill station, I needed to walk down two carriages. The staff kindly did some quick rearranging and I stayed in the same seat for the whole trip. As a bonus, I also found I made a seven dollar saving over the regular fare!

The only place this can work effectively in the USA is on the east coast of the USA between Boston and Washington DC. There are much more limited savings breaking up trips but they can be found.

It does not work in India or New Zealand and I have not tried this in China or Europe.

Happy Splitting!

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Useful Links

Money Saving Expert: Cheap Train Tickets -split (UK)

Red Spotted Hanky (Uk rail tickets)

Split Your Ticket (Uk Rail tickets)

Virgin Trains ((Uk Rail tickets)) – I find cheaper and better than trainline

Amtrak (US Rail Tickets)

Great Southern Rail (Australian Train journeys)

Vline (Australian Train journeys -SouthEast)

Countrylink  (Australian Train journeys -East Coast)

Two weeks ago, I blogged about my High Speed ICE experience. Today’s Trip Report is a little of a contrast. A much more slower trip from Budapest, the capital of Hungary to Baja, a small city south of Budapest.

Booking: 3 out of 10

MAV Start has the most complex train booking system I have ever experienced. The site also froze a few times. It does provide all of the fare and train options on the one screen so you can see which train has the cheapest seats and make up your mind easily about tickets. Eventually, I successfully wrestled a booking reservation. I opted for a first class seat on the first sector of the trip. I paid $14.34 for First Class instead of $11 for second class.

On arrival at Budapest Deli station, I looked for the ticket dispensing machine. The MAV Start website had promised that  ”this will speed up your time in long queues”. I stood in line to ask a human about how to collect my tickets.  The guy who served, me could not print the tickets as they were prepaid. He left his post, however, to ask a security guard to take me out of the ticketing hall to the station concourse where an unassuming unlabelled machine stood. The ticket issuing process is only in Hungarian.

Boarding 8 out of 10

Budapest has three main railway stations. All of them have a corresponding metro station with the same name.

1. Budapest-Déli Pályaudvar (Budapest-Southern Railway Terminal) which I refer to as Delipu has trains to Lake Balaton and Transdnubia. This was where I commenced my journey. It is the most modern and ugliest of Hungary’s railway terminals.
2.  Budapest Keleti Pályaudvar (Budapest Eastern Railway terminal) which I have nicknamed Kelipu. This is one of the most stunning stations in Europe. Most international trains start from here as well as  services to the north-east of Hungary
3. Nyugati Pályaudvar (Budapest-Western Railway Terminal) serves the Danube Bend, the Great Plain and Budapest airport. It is a stunning building  built by the Eiffel Company in 1877 which is rather run down. If you get there, go into the amazingly restored section that houses McDonalds (picture below).

Finding my vágány (Platform) at Delipu was easy. Departures are listed on a yellow timetable poster labelled indul. Arrivals are listed on similar white timetable poster labelled érkezik. Some trains require a compulsory seat reservation. These are indicated on the timetable with an R in a circle or in a box.kebab shop etc)

My First Class carriage was at the end of the train nearest the main concourse.

Mid journey, I had to change trains at Sárbogárd.  This important railway junction allows transfer from the main electrified lines to the non-electrified branch routes. The conductor on the first train calmly reminded me of  the change. Another English speaking tourist was so terrified of the change, he harassed the poor conductor three times, demanding reassurance that the process would be easy. Easy it was. The Budapest express swept into Sárbogárd where our Baja bound train was waiting. Before I realised it, the main line train had vanished and we were on board the branch line train, ready to go.

On Board: 7 out of 10

I was disappointed that I didn’t get to ride in one of MAV-Start’s brand new Red Trains (pictured).

My first train was an electric locomotive hauled train of older carriages. First Class had a 2/2 seat layout with middle aisle. Seats were roomy. Lavatory was acceptable but not brilliant.

The journey from Budapest to  Sárbogárd. was very fast and smooth. The second segment was much slower. I can see why it took me 3 hours 11 minutes to cover 140 kilometres. The poorly maintained track limited speed and the train got slower and slower. At one point, I felt I could have hopped out and run faster than the railcar. We were also lurching so much that I thought we were on the verge of becoming air borne.

The conductor on the Baja line kept me amused. Dressed in an ill fitting unwashed uniform, he wore an expression of extreme resignation. I wondered how many times he had ridden between Baja and Sárbogárd.

Entertainment: 0 out of 10

There was none. No magazines, no audio, no video and no wifi. There was no power available. The view from the windows was very pleasant. I appreciated that both trains had tables I could use for my laptop computer.

Meals-none

There was nothing available to eat on the trains. To keep me going for three hours, I had stocked up on snacks from the shops located under Delipu station. There was a bakery, fruit and grocery shop, kebab shop and more located there.

The Verdict

My rating: Overall 53%

Positives:  View, Price

Negatives: Slow trip, ticketing, no wifi

Would I do it again?   Yes

Related Posts:

Trip Report: Berlin ICE

German Train Delays

Trip Report: Train to Toodyay

The country that invented railways is about to go high speed. The UK has one high speed line HS1 between London’s St Pancras station and the Channel Tunnel, opened in November, 2009. This is about to change with approval of HS2 (High Speed 2) between a rebuilt London Euston Station and Birmingham. Don’t hold your breath. Opening date is set for 2026.

A second phase would have the line split at Birmingham with one branch running up to leeds and the other to Manchester. If Phase one will open 2026, phase two may not be in my lifetime?

The fastest travel time for London to Birmingham will fall to 49 minutes from 1 hour 12 minutes.

The critics of the scheme have noted that 400 houses will go, 21, 300 houses will be impacted by rail noise, the Chilterns, an area of outstanding beauty will have a rail line cutting through it, the time savings are not great and that it would not actually greatly reduce carbon emissions. All at cost of 26 billion pounds.

I love rail travel but wonder about this scheme.  The major benefits I see are a rebuild of the completely inadequate Euston station and much needed additional capacity to Birmingham as the existing lines are running out of room for more trains. The speed increase is almost an incidental benefit.

Of course, the whole scheme is years ahead of the USA and Australia both of which lack High Speed infrastructure.

Britain – Plan Set for Fast Trains – NYTimes.com.