Today only - Cheap peak time rail travel on East Coast route

yorkie2

GrandCentral are now operating their full service between Sunderland, stations to York and then non-stop to London, and are now going to introduce a supplement on their peak trains (0646 Sunderland to London in the morning and 1650 from London in the evening Monday-Friday). The supplement is being introduced tomorrow. It's still cheaper to pay the supplement than going with NXEC though.

However, if you buy a ticket today, then you do not need to pay the supplement! See http://www.grandcentral.trainsfares.co.uk/Buy_Tickets/matrix/display_ticket_terms.asp?ticket_type=GTR&coded_promo=GCENTRAL note the wording "PLEASE NOTE: Customers booking prior to 10th March 2008 will not be subject to the supplement"

The price for Sunderland-London is £69 return, and from York-London it is £64 return, and that's valid at peak time any day within a month. The cheapest ticket at peak times on National Express is £122 from York.

This is NOT an advance purchase ticket, it's a fully Open ticket, the conditions state "Outward and Return portions of a return ticket can be made within one calender month" which means you could buy a ticket for tomorrow, but decide not to travel and use it next week instead without any penalty.

OK, so it's no use to leisure passengers who want those cheap £10 singles 2 months in advance, but it may be of use to people who go to London on business at short notice.

dmg24

So it's not really cheap then is it?