The best ways to save with railcards

The cost of train tickets keeps going up, but there are ways to save. We’ve rounded up all the railcards you can use to cut costs.

train leaving london
(Image credit: © Getty Images)

The cost of train tickets has spiralled in recent years. However, it’s possible to save a third on ticket prices with railcards.

The problem is, the railcard system is very complex. National Rail says it sells nine main railcards. That seems mad by itself: how many ways do we need to get a discount? Yet once you include all those that only give discounts in some regions, the total rises to around 30.

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Cris Sholto Heaton

Cris Sholto Heaton is an investment analyst and writer who has been contributing to MoneyWeek since 2006 and was managing editor of the magazine between 2016 and 2018. He is especially interested in international investing, believing many investors still focus too much on their home markets and that it pays to take advantage of all the opportunities the world offers. He often writes about Asian equities, international income and global asset allocation.

Cris began his career in financial services consultancy at PwC and Lane Clark & Peacock, before an abrupt change of direction into oil, gas and energy at Petroleum Economist and Platts and subsequently into investment research and writing. In addition to his articles for MoneyWeek, he also works with a number of asset managers, consultancies and financial information providers.

He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and the Investment Management Certificate, as well as degrees in finance and mathematics. He has also studied acting, film-making and photography, and strongly suspects that an awareness of what makes a compelling story is just as important for understanding markets as any amount of qualifications.