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Commuters can save money on expensive routes with new 'split ticketing' Trainline feature

Edinburgh, UK - Close-up of a train ticket from Edinburgh to London King's Cross, with the train waiting on the platform at Edinburgh's Waverley station in the background.
Passengers can save money on tickets from Edinburgh to London King's Cross (Picture: Getty)

A new rail scheme could save commuters a lot of money on train journeys.

Ticket provider Trainline will launch a feature called SplitSave that allows travellers to ‘split tickets’ on certain routes.

The service will enable commuters to purchase combinations of tickets, which will save them money and also allow them to remain on a single route without changing trains.

It is estimated the scheme could save people £340 million in total this year, which will come as a relief to passengers already feeling the squeeze after price hikes last week.

An advance single train ticket form Newcastle to Edinburgh.
There was another ticket price hike at the beginning of the year (Picture: Getty)

Trainline added the cost of a journey from Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston could be slashed by £80.10.

It also claimed a similar saving of £79.95 could be made by someone catching a train from Edinburgh Waverley to London’s King’s Cross.

Trainline CEO Clare Gilmartin said in a statement: “We’re passionate about helping our customers save as much money on train travel as possible and we think SplitSave is going to make a real difference.

“We’ve been working closely with our industry partners on this exciting new feature, as it represents another big step in our shared goal of getting more people to pick train travel over cars and flights.”

Rail Delivery Group COO Jacqueline Starr added: "We support any effort to improve how people buy tickets within the current fares structure, but ultimately these are only sticking plaster solutions on a system in need of major surgery."

Last week it was revealed Virgin Rail was planning to launch an online ticket-buying service to rival Trainline, which is the market leader.

The Times reported Virgin’s service will also offer savings through split ticketing.

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Some long-distance commuters saw the annual cost of getting to work increase by more than £100 on January 2 despite fewer than two-thirds of trains being on time last year.

Transport Focus director David Sidebottom said: “After a year of pretty poor performance in some areas, passengers just want a consistent day-to-day service they can rely on and a better chance of getting a seat.”

He urged passengers to “offset the cost of the fare rises” by claiming compensation for every eligible delay.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced a new fund will be created to support trials of more flexible fares across the country as part of improvements focused on “putting passengers first”.

The Trainline app is available on iOS and Android and covers 64% of routes.

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