I just saved £30 on my train fare to friends in Yorkshire over Christmas. From a quoted price of £86 return I managed to pay for my journey for only £56. I did this by shopping around and breaking the journey up into single fare day tickets.

My journey involved three changes of trains so by breaking it down:

My experience

• A return quote from Dundee to Bingley in Yorkshire was £85.50.
• Breaking it down it became single ticket from Dundee to Bingley at £14 but coming home a single from Bingley to Dundee was to be £71.50 so still giving a total of £85.50. However! Knowing I had three changes of train for this journey I checked them out. I found out I would have to take a bus from Bingley to Shipley for the train but I can get a lift to Shipley station.
• Single day ticket from Shipley to York = £10.50 plus single day ticket from York to Dundee = £31.50 giving a total there and back of £56.

Tips to Getting the Best Deal

1. Start planning early. You can book up to 3 months ahead and the more notice you can give the bigger savings you can get.
2. Shop around. Two sites worth checking out are Nationalrail.co.uk and Thetrainline.com
3. Even then take the time to check if you can get it cheaper by buying two single tickets rather than one return ticket.
4. If you are going to have to change trains on your journey check out whether you can buy cheap day single tickets for each leg cheaper than buying one ticket for the whole journey.
5. If you are a student, have a family or are over 60 it is worth investing in a rail card. If your trip is likely to cost more than £60 or if you will take more than one journey during the year it is worth paying the £20 for the card.