It’s time to start thinking about your next national rail journey – because tickets have just gotten much cheaper! Millions of tickets for UK rail journeys have had their prices slashed by as much as half of the price in a rail sale this week.
Kicking off today (January 23), ‘The Great British Rail Sale’ will run until January 29 and applies to all sorts of routes across England and Wales between January 30 – March 15, 2024.
The ‘Great British Rail Sale’ first (and least) reared its head back in 2022 as part of an initiative to get people back to using public transport. An estimate from the Great British Railways Transition Team suggested that “the first Great British Rail Sale in 2022 saw passengers save around £7 million on rail tickets and encouraged around 70,000 adults who had not travelled by train since the COVID-19 pandemic to take a trip.”
And this year, the sale is back to get even more people to see our beautiful country – by way of train.
Great British Rail Sale discounts
Millions of tickets have been discounted by up to 50% across thousands of routes. Heck, you can even get a cut-price ticket to cross the border into Scotland! The discounts apply to select advance and off-peak rail tickets. Examples of the discount ticket deals in the rail sale include:
- Portsmouth to Penzance: £43 £21
- Birmingham to Bristol: £30.60 £15.30
- Manchester to Leeds: £8.60 £4.30
- Leicester to Sheffield: £7.30 £3.60
Worried your plans will be scuppered by a strike? Rail operators are doing their best to make sure you’re not caught out. They will not be offering sale tickets for days when previously-announced strikes might impact their services.
Said Transport Secretary, Mark Harper:
The return of the Great British Rail Sale is good news for passengers, following the success of the previous sale which saw passengers benefit from around £7 million in savings on their travel costs.
With discounts on more than a million tickets, there’ll be plenty of opportunity to connect with friends and family and explore great destinations across the country – I hope passengers make the most of this sale and choose to travel by rail.
The cut-price tickets are on sale now. Head to The Rail Delivery Group to see an up-to-date guide to help you find the best deals. Tickets are also available directly through ticket retailer websites.
