Train passengers can save up to £176 on return train tickets with new split journey tool
TRAIN passengers could save up to £176 using a new ticket splitting tool that's launched this week.
Just plug your journey into the and it will calculate in a few seconds whether you could save by splitting your journey into different tickets.
National Rail's rules state that two or more tickets can be used for any one journey as long as the train stops at the stations where you change from one ticket to another - and you don't even have to get off the train.
TrainTickets told us one of the biggest savings it's seen is a whopping £175.68 on a standard return from Newcastle to London.
This journey should have cost £330 but TrainTickets.com slashed 53 per cent off the price by bringing the journey down to £154.32, including its 10 per cent fee.
That's because it found the rail user could save by buying separate tickets from Newcastle to Northallerton and then from Northallerton to London Kings Cross - and the same on the return leg.
And you don't have to buy the tickets separately either, you can do that in one transaction on the site as it's a licensed seller of National Rail tickets.
How much will I save?
How much you'll save depends on the journey.
But TrainTickets says 45 per cent of its users have saved money on their rail fares by buying split tickets, with customers saving £20 per journey on average across single and return fares.
Is there a catch?
While it's free to use TrainTickets to check for journey information and ticket prices, you will have to pay a fee of 10 per cent of any savings made.
So if you save £100 by splitting your journey you'll be charged a £10 fee, and likewise if the site finds you'll save £1 then a 10p fee will be applied, for example.
But there aren't any booking or transaction fees and you won't be charged a fee if no savings can be found.
How does the tool compare to others?
Splitting train journeys isn't new and there are other tools out there that will help you to do this.
When we had a quick search on Google, the main sites that came up were Trainsplit.com, which also runs other websites including SplitMyFare.co.uk and SplitTicketing.com.
All of these sites take a 10% cut of any saving you make in the same way as TrainTickets.
How much can I save by splitting my train tickets?
WE compared the cost of two ticket splitting websites against National Rail to see how much you can save:
Single from Birmingham New Street to Penzance at 6.42am on October 8
National Rail
Cost: £166.90
SplitMyFare
Full price ticket: £166.90
Split ticket price: £84.37 - including £9.17 fee
Saving of: £82.53 - after £9.17 fee
TrainTickets
Full price ticket: £166.90
Split ticket price: £86.17 - including £8.97 fee
Saving of: £80.73 - after £8.97 fee
Single from Ipswich to Bath Spa at 4.43pm on October 12
National Rail
Cost: £47.80
SplitMyFare
Full price ticket: £47.80
Split ticket price: £43.93 - including 43p fee
Saving of: £3.87 - after 43p fee
TrainTickets
Full price ticket: £47.80
Split ticket price: £45.73 - including 23p fee
Saving of: £2.07 - after 23p fee
Single from York to Edinburgh at 12.31pm on November 6
National Rail
Cost: £22.10
SplitMyFare
Full price ticket: £22.10
Split ticket price: £20.08 - including 23p fee
Saving of: £2.02 - after 23p fee
TrainTickets
Full price ticket: £22.10
Split ticket price: £20.07 - including 22p fee
Saving of: £2.03 - after 22p fee
You also need to watch out for separate booking fees as while SplitMyFare and TrainsSplit have no booking fees, SplitTicketing charges a £1 fee.
When we plugged in three example journeys on National Rail, SplitMyFare and TrainTickets to see which came out cheapest, SplitMyFare came out top on two of the three journeys.
On the third journey, TrainTickets came up trumps - see the box above for more on this.
TrainTickets.com founder Adam Cable told The Sun that different train ticket operators can route passengers differently through the rail network - especially when it's a long or complicated route.
So it's best to try a number of sites before you buy to see which comes out tops. It's also worth checking if you can buy the separate tickets directly from train operators to avoid the "saving" fee charged by split ticketing sites.
Mr Cable added: “People are quite rightly frustrated with the high price of train travel.
"Our website uses brand new technology to rapidly uncover the huge savings that can be made by buying split tickets, instead of single fares."
More on money
Another way to save is with a railcard. There's a new 16-17 railcard offering half price train tickets.
While there's also a new railcard for those age 26-30.
And here are eight ways commuters can beat rail fare price hikes.
Take a look at The Sun Vouchers to see if you can get extra savings with voucher codes for hundreds of retailers.
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