strange peak/off-peak

Mike_320

Hi,

I was looking for a return ticket between Kettering and Dundee going on a saturday and returning on Monday morning (leaving around 6am). This as expected came up as a anytime ticket. I was therefore looking for other options by shortening the peak section of the journey and was surprised that on both nationalrail and tranline journey planners by returning to Leicester there was an option for off-peak. The same was true for Shefield but not Durham or Newcastle even though all the journeys on the monday would have the same peak section.

Has anyone came accross this before and if I did buy the off-peak return with destination of Leicester would it be accepted?

thelawnet

a Kettering Dundee off peak return is only valid after 0929
A Leicester Dundee off peak return is valid after 0459

if you bought a ticket from leicester you'd obviously need a ticket for kettering-leicester as well

note that it works out about £5 cheaper to buy tickets kettering - derby, derby - dundee instead.

elverson

Peak times are specific to the ticket depending on the origin/destination - there are not blanket "peak times".

Have you tried using TrainSplit? https://trainsplit.com/main.aspx

Mike_320

Thanks for your replies. I understand not having blanket peak times however the difference are completely illogical to me. Also the website linked is much better than others that I have looked at.

yorkie2

Mike_320 wrote: »

Thanks for your replies. I understand not having blanket peak times however the difference are completely illogical to me. Also the website linked is much better than others that I have looked at.

Rail fares are not logical. It is rarely good value to buy a through fare from your origin to destination.

I often buy a "loophole" ticket, which is priced by a more reasonable company, and start/finish short. For example Brighton to Southampton via Clapham Junction is cheaper than Clapham Junction to Southampton. This is generally allowed, except where it is made clear that it isn't.

Or I will buy a combination of cheaper tickets, each priced more reasonably than the through fare. This is known as "splitting" and is always allowed (providing your itinerary is valid, for the through journey, ie. you adhere to minimum interchange times when changing trains) and websites such as the one mentioned in the post above mine are excellent at identifying cheaper "splits".

In fact, that website is going to get even better in a few months time, as it is currently having some improvements made to it.

Overall the train companies rake in £millions of additional revenue every year from people paying much more than they need to. If you're on a budget, it's important to either use a site like the one mentioned above, or perform your own research to see if its cheaper to "split".

Valid fares will be accepted, and if you use a site like the one mentioned above, they have people who are able to help if you encounter a member of railway staff who breaks the rules (which is very unlikely) by rejecting your valid ticket and incorrectly charges you an excess fare.

jbuchanangb

What did you find? I looked up Kettering to Dundee on Saturday 4 March 9.23am returning at 6.04am on Monday 6 March, and seems you can do the trip for £161.56, being £144.20 for the tickets, and £17.36 as the 10% fee to trainsplit for finding you the fare. It says the walk-up anytime fare would be £317.80.

The above fare relies on advance tickets valid on specific trains. Ticketing is quite complicated.

There is a more expensive option at £182.62, much simpler ticketing, just off peak returns, splitting at Derby, and using different trains, but the arrival times in both directions are the same!