Megatrain

Jurg

Is it just me, or are there no tickets for most of the train routes, been searching on their site for a train journey from Birmingham to Edinburgh some time in February or March and whatever date you put in it says there's no journeys available. Same for most other train routes on there. Plenty of seats on buses but I want to go by train!

dzug1

Train tickets get released rather later (??6 weeks??) than their bus tickets so I wouldn't expect March to be there yet. And if you are travelling at a weekend megatrain don't normally operate then

But having said that there does seem to be a shortage of tickets on that route even much closer ahead. Don't know why

zx2011

Megatrain only sell tickets for routes operated by East Midlands Trains and South West Trains.

A while back Megatrain sold tickets on some Virgin/Stagecoach routes but now that CrossCountry is now part of Arriva and not part of Virgin/Stagecoach.

dzug1

marcgr wrote: »

Megatrain only sell tickets for routes operated by East Midlands Trains and South West Trains.

A while back Megatrain sold tickets on some Virgin/Stagecoach routes but now that CrossCountry is now part of Arriva and not part of Virgin/Stagecoach.

They still have timetables on their website for the route OP wanted though, and the booking engine accepts a request for such a journey - just comes up no services. Something is plainly wrong there - the train advertised (0803 from Birmingham) is definitely a Cross Country service so it shouldn't be advertised.

RichyRich

marcgr wrote: »

Megatrain only sell tickets for routes operated by East Midlands Trains and South West Trains.

A while back Megatrain sold tickets on some Virgin/Stagecoach routes but now that CrossCountry is now part of Arriva and not part of Virgin/Stagecoach.

I was under the impression that the old "Virgin" routes offered were VXC but that the "Virgin" routes currently offered on megatrain are in fact VWC, still owned and operated by Virgin Rail Group.

Happy to be corrected, though!

To the OP, why not email megatrain and ask if yorur route will come available soon? Then at least you can plan to get a cheap "Advance" ticket for your jorurney.

Jurg

Thanks for your advice everybody. I called megabus/megatrain (first looking up the number on saynoto0870.com to get the call in my free mobile minutes - 01413329644). I was told by the sales advisor that those tickets won't be available until 19th January as they are waiting for the train operators to confirm the timetables. A friendly and prompt answer, and I'll be back on here next week to let you know if they were true to their word.

Jurg

Thanks everyone again. The tickets are up there now.

The only disappointment was that I was hoping to travel up on the Friday as the Megatrain site showed timetables for Monday to Friday, but the Birmingham to Edinburgh service only runs from Monday to Thursday. I booked two seats back from Edinburgh for the Wednesday at £1 each, and took advantage of some early advance singles to get up there via a couple of calling points to visit friends and family.