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Railcard

Is it worth buying a railcard?

I am hoping to go to Durham University next year which is 300km from home. I only plan on travelling back for Christmas, Easter and the summer. Is a railcard a waste of money or will it save me money?

What is the best railcard to buy?
Calculate it yourself, it really isn't that difficult.

There are only a handful of rail cards, what rail card are you eligible for?

I would recommend booking using an app with a split-fair function. It may save you a significant amount of money.

An explanation of split-fair: Travelling from A to C costs 5x. The train line between A and C passes through station B. Travelling from A to B costs 1x, travelling from B to C costs 2x.
Reply 2
Original post by glassalice
Calculate it yourself, it really isn't that difficult.

There are only a handful of rail cards, what rail card are you eligible for?

I would recommend booking using an app with a split-fair function. It may save you a significant amount of money.

An explanation of split-fair: Travelling from A to C costs 5x. The train line between A and C passes through station B. Travelling from A to B costs 1x, travelling from B to C costs 2x.


The usual term for this is "split ticketing". You do need to be careful with this -- it's not enough that the train passes through station B, it actually has to stop there. (You don't need to get off the train.)
Original post by o.eng
Is it worth buying a railcard?

I am hoping to go to Durham University next year which is 300km from home. I only plan on travelling back for Christmas, Easter and the summer. Is a railcard a waste of money or will it save me money?

What is the best railcard to buy?


Hey!

I had a 16-25 railcard and it helped me save a lot on train tickets throughout the semester. Although you're only planning on travelling home at Christmas, Easter and the summer, you might end up using it if you decide to go home during your first semester.

It's also good to have one if you plan on making any trips with your flatmates or friends to different cities! So it would be useful to have a railcard :smile:

Hope this helps :smile:

Melissa- Student Ambassador
Reply 4
Original post by University of Strathclyde Student Ambassador
Hey!

I had a 16-25 railcard and it helped me save a lot on train tickets throughout the semester. Although you're only planning on travelling home at Christmas, Easter and the summer, you might end up using it if you decide to go home during your first semester.

It's also good to have one if you plan on making any trips with your flatmates or friends to different cities! So it would be useful to have a railcard :smile:

Hope this helps :smile:

Melissa- Student Ambassador

That's really helpful, thank you! :smile:
Original post by o.eng
That's really helpful, thank you! :smile:

No problem at all :smile:

Melissa- Student Ambassador
Original post by o.eng
Is it worth buying a railcard?

I am hoping to go to Durham University next year which is 300km from home. I only plan on travelling back for Christmas, Easter and the summer. Is a railcard a waste of money or will it save me money?

What is the best railcard to buy?

Hello!

Ever since my first year at university I have used the 16-25 rail card which has been so useful! I bought the 3 year railcard as it worked out to be cheaper. I live around a 3 hour train journey away from home when I'm at uni so being able to save 1/3 on the cost of the ticket has really helped! I would definitely recommend :biggrin:

Sam- Official Student Rep :smile:
arent railcards a little outdated and offensive nowadays?
The santander 4 year railcard with a student account is a better deal than buying one.

You don't have to stay with santander for your full degree if you don't want to (and you only have to pay in £500 a term to keep the account if you do want to stay with them)
Reply 9
Original post by University of Portsmouth Student Rep
Hello!

Ever since my first year at university I have used the 16-25 rail card which has been so useful! I bought the 3 year railcard as it worked out to be cheaper. I live around a 3 hour train journey away from home when I'm at uni so being able to save 1/3 on the cost of the ticket has really helped! I would definitely recommend :biggrin:

Sam- Official Student Rep :smile:

Wow, I didn't realise it could save that much! Thank you for the advice!
Reply 10
Original post by Anonymous
arent railcards a little outdated and offensive nowadays?

I wouldn't think that saving money is outdated haha, why would it be offensive?
Reply 11
Original post by PQ
The santander 4 year railcard with a student account is a better deal than buying one.

You don't have to stay with santander for your full degree if you don't want to (and you only have to pay in £500 a term to keep the account if you do want to stay with them)

Oh, I didn't realise you could get a deal like that with Santander, thank you for sharing! Do you know if there's a limit on how many student bank accounts you can open?
Love railcards.

I visit home (or used to) twice a year: once at Christmas, once in Summer, and the tickets (a return) would run for around £50. That's 100 a year in costs just from that, for 3 years that's 300, and saving 33% saves me 100. the card is £70 so thats a 30 saving.

But I used rail for a lot more (local travel, visiting places, going to London/Inverness/Mallaig/Oban/god-knows-how-many-other-places

Tbf the railcard has probably saved me at least a few hundred in travel costs.
Reply 13
Original post by Callicious
Love railcards.

I visit home (or used to) twice a year: once at Christmas, once in Summer, and the tickets (a return) would run for around £50. That's 100 a year in costs just from that, for 3 years that's 300, and saving 33% saves me 100. the card is £70 so thats a 30 saving.

But I used rail for a lot more (local travel, visiting places, going to London/Inverness/Mallaig/Oban/god-knows-how-many-other-places

Tbf the railcard has probably saved me at least a few hundred in travel costs.

I didn't realise that trains are so accessible in terms of shorter travel. To be honest, I haven't really used trains as a form of transport so this is all very new to me, but you have definitely convinced me that it's worth it! What railcard did you use?
(edited 2 years ago)
Original post by o.eng
I didn't realise that trains are so accessible in terms of shorter travel. To be honest, I haven't really used trains as a form of transport so this is all very new to me, but you have definitely convinced me that it's worth it! What railcard did you use?

16-25.

The rails are a great way to travel. I live in Scotland, and I can get to the Highlands in 4-5 hours from Edinburgh with a return ticket for ~£50-60 with a railcard, which is fantastic: the ride is great, smooth, and is itself an experience. That's why I love rail :P
Reply 15
Original post by Callicious
16-25.

The rails are a great way to travel. I live in Scotland, and I can get to the Highlands in 4-5 hours from Edinburgh with a return ticket for ~£50-60 with a railcard, which is fantastic: the ride is great, smooth, and is itself an experience. That's why I love rail :P

Thank you for your advice!
You can also travel to other places obvs. Like Berwick-upon-Tweed (like 100 miles away) is something like £10 return ticket if you're lucky at finding a ticket, which I usually am.

Glasgow is similarly cheap if you're lucky. Galashiels for me is also really cheap. Honestly rail is such a great way to travel
One thing to consider is that you can generally book train tickets 8-13 weeks in advance fir very cheap. So. 1/3 off that is less. So do sone based on advanced booking too.

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