The Ticket Collector

So just what is “on time” when it comes to the Railway?

The term ‘on time’ normally means that a train arrives at the correct time publicised in a timetable - correct?
No, not on the railway its not.

When it comes to punctually - the figures which the Railway Companies print huge A1 posters and show off and say “hey look at us we have 98% punctually, blah blah” and which also determines your season ticket discount . You’d expect that when they say they have 98% that 98% of trains arrived at the destination at the timetabled time.
Wrong! The trains only have to arrive within 5 minutes of the timetabled time.

So the train arrives 5 minutes late and it is still on time! Even better is that long distance ‘intercity’ services have an extra 5 minutes allowance. So now the train can be up to 10 minutes and be still on time!

Now what the Railway Companies are getting wise to is that they can add extra minutes into the timetable here and there as ‘recovery time’. So if they are regularly failing the 10 minutes time the can always add extra minutes into the working timetable to compensate. Now what the Train Company would say is this ‘recovery time’ is to compensate for engineering works and speed restrictions.

When it comes to compensation for the trains running late, you have to be delayed by 30 minutes before you even get to start to get compensation. But what with the extra minutes being added here and there just how late is it in real terms?

These guys need your help.

Theres a really great website out there which the owners of are requesting your help.

Traindelays.co.uk is a great site which users submit details of what trains have been delayed across the whole of the UK. All you do is sign up and then enter the details of what train you were on, and how long it was delayed. The delayed train then becomes public for all to see.

The site states this at the top of their page.
TrainDelays.co.uk is a free service with the sole aim of bringing commuters together, enabling them to submit delays online as they occur and then help them make the claims by emailing a claim form.

All you have to do is ‘Register’ with us to start using this service and then express your frustration with your rail operator by submitting a delay and making that claim. Don’t let them get away with a shoddy service, the only way to make a difference is to hit their profits!

They are also looking for some volunteers to help them, most if not all of the Railway Companies post delays on their websites and Traindelays.co.uk is looking for a ‘champion’ to check a railway companies website and submit the relevent delays on the traindelays website.

If you think you can do it contact Chris at info@traindelays.co.uk

Just how do you get those ‘Cheap’ Fares?

We keep hearing on the media that Rail Travel is a rip-off and its cheaper to Fly, use the car blah blah. Well if you think about it the papers are more often right in some aspects but are bloody wrong in other ways.

It all comes down to how far in advance you want to travel. If you want to travel in say an hour then your screwed and must fork out for the most expensive ‘walk up’ fare. However did you know you were traveling in an hour 2 weeks ago?

Lets take a Return Journey from London to Newcastle standard class.

Now you have loads of different ticket options according to the Electronic National Fares Manual:
You could go just GNER, or you could go Virgin Trains only or if your feeling indifferent you could use both operators.

The Standard Any Trains ‘walk up’ fares are as follows:
Newcastle - London
Standard Open Return £224.00
Ah but this where the fun comes in, did you know that you can buy two seperate tickets for the same journey and as long as the train stops at that station where your two tickets finish/start?
Example:
Saver Return Newcastle to Peterborough £76.90
Standard Open Return Peterborough to London £33.50
Total £144.90

A Saving of just over £79, and its completly allowed as long as the Train your traveling on stops at Peterborough.

Booking in Advance

This is where the best savings start, but the catch is you have to book in advance and pray that you can get the cheap fare. Also you must stick to the trains your tickets say, or the ticket collector on the train will decide to charge you that full £224.00.
The Cheapest GNER advance ticket is £10.00 single, but to get this ticket you would need to book around 4 weeks in advance.
The Cheapest Virgin advance ticket is also £10.00 single, but to get this ticket you would need to book around 12 weeks in advance.

The further in advance you can book your tickets the better discounts and cheap tickets you can get, failing that you can always split the tickets as above.

Theticketcollector.co.uk can work out the cheapest route for you for a small nominal fee which goes towards the site running, click on the Route Planning link above, on our next site update.