Trains Liverpool to London Euston

JollyJules_2

Please can someone tell me the cheapest fares Liverpool to London Euston return going 22/7/11 have to be there by 11.30am returning 25/7/11 after 15.00. I have searched and the best I can do £242.00 which seems an awful lot of money. Also are there any discounts for my husband who is over 60?

Livingthedream

You can get some Advance singles but you have to travel by London Midland trains which take longer but cheaper;
Liverpool LS to London Eus 22/7 dep 07:04 arr 10:49 Advance single £18
London Eus to Liverpool LS 25/7 dep 15:46 arr 19:17 Advance single £18

So Return for £38 per person, also as these are advance tickets you must travel on booked trains.

As your OH is 60 he qualifies for a senior railcard, however, this will only benefit if you travel a few more times in the year.

Livingthedream

Forgot to say, the best way to find these fares is on the East Coast Website, enter your journey details, then on the left hand side click 'select a route' and tick 'via London midland trains only' and the click update.

Or ask at your local railway station.

JollyJules_2

I will check it out thanks for the info

paddedjohn

livingthedream wrote: »

you can get some advance singles but you have to travel by london midland trains which take longer but cheaper;
liverpool ls to london eus 22/7 dep 07:04 arr 10:49 advance single £18
london eus to liverpool ls 25/7 dep 15:46 arr 19:17 advance single £18

so return for £38 per person, also as these are advance tickets you must travel on booked trains.

As your oh is 60 he qualifies for a senior railcard, however, this will only benefit if you travel a few more times in the year.

sorry for being so finnicky but £18 and £18 is £36 return;)

Livingthedream

paddedjohn wrote: »

sorry for being so finnicky but £18 and £18 is £36 return;)

whoops, ran out of fingers and thumbs.

PS. finicky has only one 'n' in it by the way

island2

Have you checked railforums.co.uk ? They're usually good at finding odd rail fares.

dzug1

Well I can see advance fares with Virgin totalling about £120 each for your dates/times.

Or was your price for 2??

bb21

JollyJules wrote: »

Please can someone tell me the cheapest fares Liverpool to London Euston return going 22/7/11 have to be there by 11.30am returning 25/7/11 after 15.00. I have searched and the best I can do £242.00 which seems an awful lot of money. Also are there any discounts for my husband who is over 60?

How many people are travelling? Your husband qualifies for a Senior Railcard. Is anyone else travelling eligible for any railcards?

island2 wrote: »

Have you checked railforums.co.uk ? They're usually good at finding odd rail fares.

I see you've finally surfaced here too .

dzug1 wrote: »

Well I can see advance fares with Virgin totalling about £120 each for your dates/times.

Or was your price for 2??

I cannot find anything totalling exactly £242 for one return journey in Standard either. The closest I came to was combining two top-tier (Code BAO) Advance singles routed VWC & Connections giving £243.

OP, more information for the journey will be needed as advice given can be different depending on how many people were travelling and their possible entitlements. My initial take is this:

1) If you prefer to travel with Virgin Trains for a faster journey, I suggest that the absolute maximum you should pay is no more than the ticket below for a return journey:

Liverpool Stations - London Terminals
Off-Peak Return
Route Any Permitted
£70.00
(or with a Senior Railcard: £46.20)

This is a flexible ticket where you may travel on any train subject to the following restrictions into and out of London Euston:

Restriction : 2C

...

These restrictions apply
Monday to Friday. By any train
on other days.

...

DEPART: LONDON EUSTON
Between 0926 & 1500 (inc.) and
at or after 1845.

ARRIVE: LONDON EUSTON
Before 0720 or at or after
1129.

The first train after the morning restrictions into London is the 0904 London Midland service from Lime Street, changing at Crewe onto a Virgin service, and arriving Euston at 1138.

The last train on 25th July before the evening restriction is the 1440 Virgin service, changing at Crewe onto a London Midland service and arriving Lime Street at 1710, and the first train after the evening restriction is the 1907 Virgin service direct to Lime Street, arriving 2121.

However if you have a Senior Railcard, then these time restrictions do not apply and you can use any Virgin Trains service (but not London Midland), which is why it is important to know if everyone in the whole party is eligible for the discount.

Be warned that without a railcard, to travel on the restricted Virgin services, it will cost a whopping £261 for an Anytime Return :eek:.

2) If you do not mind a slower service, then there is a cheaper flexible ticket.

Liverpool Stations - London Terminals
Off-Peak Return
Route London Midland Only
£39.00
(or with a Senior Railcard: £25.75)

The time restrictions on this ticket is:

Restriction : SK
Mondays to Fridays

Valid on any London Midland
service scheduled to arrive
London Midland terminals at or
after 1000

Not valid for travel on
northbound London Midland
services timed to depart
London Terminals before 0845
or on any northbound London
Midland service timed to
depart any other station
before 0845.

...

You can only use London Midland services for the whole journey with this ticket, usually involving a change at Crewe.

There is no evening restriction and the morning restriction should be fine for you as you only need to arrive by 1130.

There are, of course, possibilities of obtaining cheaper Advance fares which restrict you to a specific train. However, should you miss your booked train, you will have to purchase a new flexible ticket. I don't tend to check the availability of these fares, however I'm sure that many on here are happy to help, such as the people above. The purpose of my post is to give you a guide as to how much to expect as the maximum. On intercity express routes, it is not uncommon sometimes to find that two Advance tickets actually cost more in total than the flexible return fare.