CHESTER-LE-TRACK LTD
   

This information is Copyright Chester-le-Track Ltd. 2002 Version 2.1 You do not need permission to reproduce this information provided that the source is credited as "Information copyright Chester-le-Track Ltd, your local National Rail station wherever you are."


Updated April 2002.
Next Update June 2nd, 2002.


As well as running a busy website, Chester-le-Track operates a real railway station at Chester-le-Street on the East Coast Main Line from London to Edinburgh. We're the only small station between Newcastle and the London suburbs, midway between Newcastle and Durham, and the only station which is independent of the big operators.

This Guide starts with some general tips on getting best value rail tickets, based on our knowledge of the rail system, then some details about us and the various rail operators. Feel free to cut and paste from this web page to a word processor or wordpad to read later off-line, or email this text to friends. If you're web browsing, bookmark us now at "http://www.chester-le-track.co.uk"

If anyone in the rail industry objects to the information given in this guide, please put any comments in writing by post or email to us, or phone internal 03 82195. We will happily correct any factual inaccuracies. We will not compromise on telling customers how to use the system to save money.

 
TIPS FOR RAIL PASSENGERS (based on Frequently Asked Questions at our station)
 
1. You do not have to book in advance to travel by train in Britain. Except in certain urban areas where "penalty fares" apply, you do not even have to have a ticket until you get on the train. It is preferable to buy a ticket from the ticket office, where there is one, before you board the train.

2. Having a ticket does not guarantee you a seat, unless one is booked in advance on routes where reservations are possible, generally the longer distance services. Lead retailing stations such as ours at Chester-le-Street sell tickets between any stations, but the range may be smaller at local stations which do not have access to the reservations system for advance purchases. WE SELL EVERYTHING!

3. There are many types of ticket, which broadly fall into two types: "walk on" and "advance purchase". Advance purchase (AP) tickets may be bought from about ten weeks ahead of the return journey date, and bookings close 14, 7, 3 or the day before the outward journey depending on the ticket type. The more you book ahead, the cheaper the ticket, but the more restrictive. AP tickets involve travel on specific trains outward and return, and the cheapest are no changes, no refunds. AP tickets have names such as Virgin Value, Apex, Daypex, SuperAdvance and Bargain Returns.

4. If you turn up and go, you can purchase a "walk on" type ticket which can be bought until train departure time, and (except in penalty fares areas) on the train from the conductor. Such tickets may also be issued in advance, when you can get seat reservations for specific journeys, generally free of charge. Walk On tickets have names such as Savers, SuperSavers and Open Single and Open Returns. The Open tickets are the most expensive but can be used on any train using the appropriate route. Savers are cheaper than Open tickets, but are often not available at peak times, particularly on the outward journey into London. SuperSavers are cheaper still, but have greater time restrictions and are not valid at all on Fridays, on Saturdays in July and August and over Easter and the Christmas/New Year period.

5. If you can book in advance, cheaper fares are available for longer distance journeys. There is no fares advantage in buying tickets on local trains in advance, but you may do so if you wish.

6. It is wise to book as soon in advance as you can, since although a Virgin Value 7 day ticket may be bought up to seven days in advance of the outward journey, the quota of seats may all be sold before that. Therefore, for example, booking 15 days in advance, the cheapest Virgin Value 14 day ticket may be sold out, and the 7 day ticket, and you might only be able to purchase a Virgin Value 3 day ticket. If this is sold out, there may be an Apex (7 days in advance) available on the same route, or you will have to purchase a Saver ticket instead.

7. Is the range of fares complicated? Yes, but that's what we're here for, to guide you through the maze. Bear in mind there is not a standard structure across the country, so not all types of fares are available for every journey - thank goodness for that! For some short journeys there is only a single, a day return and a cheap day return (starting after 0900 for example). Every simplification would involve removing a bargain for somebody, and whilst train companies will not drop fares across the board to the lowest level they offer, they are quite willing to sell seats at discounted prices to people travelling at off-peak times, to fill otherwise empty trains.

8. The best fares offers generally occur during the week (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) and on Saturdays avoiding major sporting events where supporters are travelling. Bargains are most difficult to find (but not impossible) on Fridays for the outward journey and Sunday for the return journey. If you want a cheap fare, consider going on a Saturday and returning on a Monday, or try to travel early on Friday and back on the last train on Sunday. Don't expect cheap fares if you want to go outward after work on a Friday early evening and back on Sunday afternoon when long distance trains are at their busiest!

9. You can book with us if there is time to post a ticket to you. We recommend three days minimum, not counting Sunday. If you want to collect from our station, you can call any time in opening hours, but if you want to collect from another station you must ring the Telesales operation for that train operating company. Our internet sales partners at Qjump.co.uk offer collection from a range of stations, none in the north-east yet, but we are hoping to be one.

10. If you are issued with an APTIS (credit card sized) ticket which is either blue for advance purchase tickets or orange for walk on tickets, the date shown on the ticket will be the outward date of travel. If you book a return ticket you will get two tickets (one marked OUT and the other RTN) and the same date will appear on the return ticket as the outward. This is simply because the system only prints the start date and for many tickets (Open Return, Saver and SuperSaver) the return date does not have to be specified and you can come back on any date within one month of the outward journey. On Advance Purchase tickets, where the return date has to be specified, this is handwritten on the reverse with your reservation details.

11. You can increasingly add on journeys by bus at the end of your journey, or a trip on the Tyne and Wear Metro, Sheffield Supertram, Croydon Tramlink etc. Details of all of these options are in the RailLinks Guide which is kept at railway stations. Don't be surprised if the bus driver has not seen one before: they are not very well promoted at present.

12. Railrovers provide a way of saving fares if you are making many journeys in a short time. Click on the RailRovers link towards the bottom of our home page.

13. You are perfectly entitled (under condition 17 of the National Rail conditions of Carriage) to save yourself money by booking more than one ticket for your journey. For example, there is no Cheap Day Return from Newcastle to Leeds, but if you are travelling after 0900 you could buy a Cheap Day Return from Newcastle to York and then another from York to Leeds. The two fares together will work out cheaper than the SuperSaver or Saver fare from Newcastle to Leeds. If you are using tickets in combination, you must ensure the train stops (in both directions) at the station where you change from one ticket to another. You don't need to change trains, or even seats, and can even request a seat reservation all the way through. And since everything stops at York, the example given is no problem.

14. We are full of good ideas. Let's give you a few examples based on the Newcastle to London route. Instead of paying £163 for a Standard Open Return from Newcastle to London, which is the only walk on fare available for travel before 0744 Monday to Friday, why not buy a ticket from Edinburgh where the Saver Return is valid on any train in both directions and costs £82.80 The train you use must, of course, come from Edinburgh, e.g. the 0722 from Newcastle. Or why not nest two Leisure First tickets together, to enable you to travel First Class at half the price and still travel when you want. Or book Standard Class but ensure you book a train with a Restaurant Car for an excellent meal in First Class accommodation for much of your journey. Or buy a ticket from the London end where the return half can be used on any train and keep that for your next trip south within a month. That way you can travel at Saver fare rather than Standard Open fare. We ought to point out that tickets are theoretically not transferable between people even though there are no photocards involved and nobody takes any record of whom a ticket is issued for. We are sure you get the drift. Also, when travelling with the outward portion of a Saver or SuperSaver ticket the unused return half must also be held, which of course it would anyway.

15. If you've got this far, hopefully you are interested in saving yourself some serious money. Read on through our Friendly Guide and why not email it to a friend?
 
INTRODUCTION
 
The UK has a very comprehensive rail system which now carries more people on more journeys than in its so-called heyday before the Beeching cuts of the 1960s. Railways in the UK are growing in use as a response to traffic congestion on the roads. This guide is to introduce you to Chester-le-Track, a north-east based company set up to help people access the rail network and obtain the best available advice and fares for journeys throughout the UK. This guide is written, we hope, in plain English. If you find anything about it difficult to follow, or feel something is missing, PLEASE do let us know. We are experts who are trying to make a complicated subject simple - we would like to know if we can do better. We have tried to present a complicated subject in a coherent way. Parts in italics like this can be skipped by the general reader, since at times we try to explain not only the what but the why. If you couldn't care less about the why, skip the italics!
 
Chester-le-Track is not an operator of trains, nor a travel agent. We are a station agent, based at a small railway station on the East Coast Main Line, Britain's fastest railway, half way between the cities of Newcastle and Durham. This is the town in which the Bible as first translated into English - something else complicated made simple here in Chester-le-Street. But we're not on the street, we're on the track, hence the name. We operate the station as a service to the local community, on behalf of Arriva Trains Northern (formerly Northern Spirit) which operates the trains which call at the station. Chester-le-Street station was opened in 1868 and was unstaffed for over 10 years until its reopening in 1999. We have a real waiting room, ticket office, toilets and coffee machine! Our Tannoy works, too!

Chester-le-Track is a privately owned limited company which has an agency for tickets on the former British Rail network, National Express, Primrose Coaches, Go-North East and London Transport. We can be contacted by calling in person, by phone, by fax, or by e-mail. Don't send us ticket enquiries by email though: it's much quicker to pick up the phone. Our website is at www.chester-le-track.co.uk, and www.nationalrail.com and www.british-rail.com and www.railticket.com and so on. Our mission is simple: to be the best little railway station in Britain.
 
Britain's extensive railway network has been privatised by breaking it up into constituent parts in recent years. That means the ownership has passed from the state to a range of private companies. The new system is regulated by the Office of the Rail Regulator and the Strategic Rail Authority. There are 25 different rail operating companies in Great Britain. In Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland Railways is still state-owned, and is part of Translink which also includes the Province's bus operators, Citybus in Belfast and Ulsterbus throughout the rest of Northern Ireland. We have a particular specialism in tours to Northern Ireland so we are delighted to be able to offer tickets to Northern Ireland too. In the Republic of Ireland, Iarnrod Eireann operates the railways: we can book for them too, but only for journeys to Irish stations, not from or within Eire.

You can visit the websites of all the train operating companies from our Rail Companies (for the 25 companies in ATOC - the Association of Train Operating Companies) and Rail Links pages (for other rail companies), which we keep up to date unlike many information providers. Let us know if you find any broken links, by emailing anylex@lineone.net. Even mistakes@rails.co.uk will find us!
 
 
SERVICES INTO THE NORTH EAST
 
The north east of England is served by three of the 25 railway operating companies. These are GNER for Scotland and London, Virgin for Cross Country country and Arriva Trains Northern for TransPennine and local services. Only Arriva trains actually stop at Chester-le-Street.
 
1) Great North Eastern Railway GNER, owned by Sea Containers, operates fast electric trains between London and Scotland which pass non-stop through Chester-le-Street. All of these trains stop at Newcastle, and about half at Durham. From Chester-le-Street, however, it is easy to change to southbound GNER trains at Darlington, where you simply get off the train from Chester-le-Street and wait on the same platform for the following train towards London. GNER rarely cancel trains and the customer service is invariably excellent, with good on-time performance.

2) Virgin Rail, owned by Virgin and Stagecoach, runs diesel hauled (mostly InterCity 125) cross country trains from Newcastle and Durham which speed through Chester-le-Street on their way north towards Edinburgh and Aberdeen, and south via Leeds or Doncaster to Sheffield, Derby, Birmingham, Cheltenham, Bristol, Exeter and Penzance, or Oxford and Bournemouth etc. Whilst working hard to improve performance, Virgin's cross country timekeeping is poor by comparison to GNER. Whilst trains are rarely cancelled, they often run late, and afternoon trains south from the north-east are particularly vulnerable to delays on the incoming northbound service. Having said that, there are far more cross country trains than there used to be, and the fares are generally cheaper with the introduction of Virgin Value tickets. First Class service is of similar comfort levels to GNER, but restaurant cars are non-existent and customer service is in practice not well-rated. It sure beats driving cross country in a car. As above, it is easy to change trains at Darlington for journeys to and from the south.

3) Arriva Trains Northern (before that Northern Spirit and Regional Railways North East), is owned by Arriva plc based in Sunderland. They run local trains within the north east, and the express Trans-Pennine trains between Sunderland/Newcastle and Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool. There are direct trains from Chester-le-Street to Manchester Airport and Liverpool Lime Street via York and Leeds.
 

Some stations are only served by one operator. Numerically, this is the majority. Most bigger towns and cities on more than one line will be served by several operators, e.g. Carlisle which is served by Virgin, Arriva Trains Northern, and Scotrail. Liverpool Lime Street is served by no less than seven different train operating companies. Normally, the system works to give you choices for your journey, and except for certain bargain tickets, tickets will be valid on the services of all appropriate operators. On one line, where three companies compete over the same route, must passengers choose a particular operator: between Gatwick Airport and London there is a choice of three: Gatwick Express, non-stop to Victoria, Connex South Central running slightly slower and the cheapest trains also into Victoria and to London Bridge. The third is Thameslink, which runs across London to north and south, and provides the best links for people making journeys to and from the north-east since it runs to King's Cross Thameslink, 200 yards from King's Cross.

The railway infrastructure is owned and maintained by Railtrack, a formerly a FT-SE 100 company, but put into administration by the Government (effectively renationalising it), which maintains the track, signalling, co-ordinates access to the network and owned the freehold of the land and stations. Railtrack are our landlords at Chester-le-Street station, but all but a few of the largest stations are operated by the rail operating companies, e.g. Newcastle and Durham are staffed and run by GNER as the main operator. Northallerton and Sunderland are run by Arriva Trains Northern.
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There are about half a dozen other stations in the UK staffed by other small companies like ours, although most are run by the local communities to house tourist information centres and other facilities: we serve a world-wide market. There are many preserved railways around the country too, some of which are destinations which can now be booked through to on our system, by means of add-on tickets.

 
 
BOOKING TICKETS AT CHESTER-LE-TRACK
 

Booking in Person
We welcome personal callers. Our booking office are Monday to Friday 0730 to 1800 hours, and Saturday 0730 hours to 1300 hours. We issue tickets on the spot, using electronic ticketing technology. We open Bank Holidays from 0730 to 1300, are closed 25 and 26 December and open only until 1300 in the quiet period from Christmas to New Year.

We welcome telephone callers booking tickets. If you just want information by phone, call national rail enquiries 24-hours at local call rate on 08457 484950. If you know what ticket you want, and have a credit card ready, you can place an order with us by telephone on 0191 387 1387. Our 24 hour answerphone is checked regularly, and if we are not busy dealing with personal callers at the station, we shall deal with your call in person. You can have tickets posted to you or collect in person.

We are delighted to receive orders by post or fax for tickets. If you know what ticket you want, we can mail it out same day with payment accepted by Visa, Mastercard, Delta, Switch or American Express. We can only send tickets to the cardholders address. You can send cheques by post either with, or once we confirm the price for your order.

We do not welcome enquiries by e-mail. The reason is quite simple: if it's a short email it will not give us enough information to identify the best deal, and if it is a long one you are better picking up the phone and speaking to us direct, or, for enquiries 24 hours, to National Rail Enquiries on 08457 484950. We have had occasions where two or three emails have gone back and forth and we still send out the ticket to be told (usually by phone because by then it's important) the customer has a Railcard they never mentioned before! Take it from us, it's easier when we can ask you questions interactively, or you can try our online booking service, currently provided by Qjump.

Please note we are here to provide a service to customers, not spend ages planning complicated itineraries or ticketing plans which you have no intention of booking. Accordingly, we cannot afford staff time helping railway enthusiasts around the world - or at the counter - planning journeys they don't intend to make. If you want complicated journeys planned, we offer a fee-based service. There is a standard charge of £10 for quotations, which is deducted from the fare when you book your tickets with us. You will appreciate we are not going to do all the work getting you the best fare which you go and buy somewhere else. We are a business, not a charity!!

We have exhibition boards at the station and this guide to help you through the ticketing system. We will have the major fares available on display on the walls in the office, in this guide and on the website. We want to make information widely available with the aim of informing the customer to buy the most appropriate ticket for his/her journey.

 
Some places are easier to get to than others. Places like Milton Keynes are a real pain from the north-east, and, frankly, are better served by coach direct from Chester-le-Street. Other places, like Leeds, Huddersfield, Manchester (Piccadilly and Airport) and Liverpool are served by direct trains. You can change trains en route at Darlington for stations to London, and Penzance via Birmingham. Going north, changing at Newcastle gives you access to direct trains to Inverness, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow, and west to Carlisle and beyond to Stranraer for Belfast and the whole of Northern Ireland. Changing again at Carlisle gets you into the Lake District.

The Midlands as a whole is accessed by changing at Darlington and again at Leeds, or Sheffield, or Derby or Brimingham depending on your destination, and the whole south-west is available via Bristol. Central Southern England can be reached via London or via Birmingham, with London generally being quicker, and by using Thameslink from King's Cross places like Gatwick and Brighton can be reached direct without needing to use the Underground at all. Wales is reached either via Manchester for the north, or Birmingham for the south. For East Anglia, change at Darlington and Peterborough, which also has connections for places like Leicester. The rest of the Home Counties are better reached by changing in London and using transfers between the various main line terminals.
 
When you book a ticket, you are subject to the National Conditions of Carriage. You can ask us for a copy in person or click here. Whilst most rail passengers have probably never seen a copy, you have a right to see one since your ticket will be issued subject to these conditions. That's why we make it available on our website. Chester-le-Track can book and issue tickets throughout the British railway system. You do not have to be starting or finishing your journey at Chester-le-Street, nor anywhere else in the north-east. Whilst we can issue tickets from Newcastle to London, we can book from Sunderland to East Croydon (by Arriva Trains Northern, GNER and Thameslink, or by tube and South Central) if you prefer, or even from Boldon Colliery to Haydons Road, small stations at each end. We have an agency for London Transport, so whilst all stations can book you to London terminals, we can book you on to any tube station in London. We sell London Travelcards for adults, families, in all variants. (We don't stock zone 2-6 tickets in any quantity simply because we've never been asked for one ever)

There is a wide range of railway tickets: our job is to help you find the right one for you. For example, the cost of a standard class return by GNER from Newcastle to London and back varies from £33 to £163 for what you might think is the same product. Time is money, though, and morning business trains to London are more expensive than travelling later in the day. Business users can't usually commit to using a particular trains in advance, in case their plans change. Leisure travellers, for whom cost is more important, are more prepared to book in advance and travel at times when less business people want to travel. It's no longer true to say trains are quiet at less popular times. Trains are busy most of the time: it's just that the fares people pay are much less on some trains than others.
 
 
HOW TO GET THE CHEAPEST FARE
 
You may be wondering...Why don't people in the rail industry know everything about discounted fares? The answer is quite simple. They don't have to pay the fares. Anyone who has worked in the rail industry for any time gets free travel. Consequently, they don't have to negotiate their way round the various discounted fares structures from the customers point of view. The people who run Chester- le-Track are rail customers who don't get free travel, and who have to pay their own fares. The stationmaster has to pay his own fares (although he does get local free travel with Arriva Trains Northern).

Our whole attitude to finding the best fare is therefore somewhat different to many dyed-in-the-wool railmen! This section is about how to get the cheapest fare, not the best value for money. For example, there are weekend upgrades to first class available with some fare categories which means you can travel first class for less than the cost of many standard class fares. We will happily advise on how to get the best first class deals, which can cut the cost by half. First class upgrades are not available in conjunction with the cheapest fares.

1) Do you need to be able to use any train, or can you travel out of peak hours?
* if you want to travel off-peak (Monday to Friday 0900-1530 and after 1800) fares are generally cheaper than if you want to use any train any day
* If you can, avoid travelling out or back on Fridays to travel more cheaply if you can. This is the busiest day of the week, with business and commuter traffic taking seats also wanted by leisure travellers going away for the weekend. Sunday is also busy but there's no significant business or commuter traffic. Of course, there are also fewer trains too so those that are running are busy.
* Discount fares are also unavailable on Saturdays in high summer, i.e. when people are going on holiday. Families travelling together, however, can still use family railcards to buy a discounted Saver fare which is available cheaper than the undiscounted SuperSaver fare which is not available on Fridays or Summer Saturdays.

2) Do you want to travel with any train operator, or restrict yourself to one?
* if you want full flexibility of using any train, by any operator, valid on any train any day, these tickets generally cost more * one some routes there is only one operator of direct services, so it doesn't matter. For example, going to London you will invariable travel by GNER. On a journey to Nottingham from Newcastle, for example, you could find yourself on any of five operators.
* if you are willing to use the services of one operator only, these tickets generally cost less This is because if you buy a ticket from Newcastle to York, e.g. a Saver ticket, the revenue is split between Northern Spirit, GNER and Virgin. This split is based on the number of services and seats provided, and enables each individual passenger to use any train he or she chooses, on which a Saver ticket is valid. However, if you are willing to commit to use the services of one operator, special promotional fares are available on many routes, e.g. GNER sometimes offer a £20 returns throughout their routes which is only valid on their trains where GNER get all the revenue. If you travel on an operator-specific ticket and try to use another operator's train, your ticket is not valid and you may find yourself having to pay much more, as if you had no ticket.

3) Can you booking in advance, or do you need to go straight away?
* The cheapest fares are operator specific, date and journey specific, and booked a minimum of 14 days or 7 days in advance. This is the Virgin Value or Bargain Return or Apex, only available on some routes. Quotas of tickets on certain trains may be very small, or even non-existent at black-out (i.e. busy) times. However, you can book through to any station in the UK using a Bargain Return where available and another ticket for the rest of your journey. For example, from Newcastle to, say, Brighton, we can book you a Bargain Return from Newcastle to London, and a normal ticket for the rest of the journey if you can commit to a certain date and time in both directions for the longest leg. The two separate tickets will be substantially cheaper than a through ticket to Brighton.

There is no such thing as standby fares on railways. A large number of passengers book on the day of travel. The best fares are available if you book in advance, preferably 14 or 7 days in advance, but there are bargain fares available on many routes until 1800 hours the day before you travel. Occasionally, special fares are available on late evening trains, e.g. if you start your journey after 2000 hours which is the only time there are lots of seats for sale. GNER has in previous summers offered a cheap single after 2000 as a walk on fare anywhere on its route if you wait until 2000 hours to start your journey. Coming north, that means leaving London at 2200, arriving in Newcastle at 0119, but it IS cheap! Alternatively, get to Peterborough to pick up the 2000 ex London at its first stop after 2000.

4) Can you get any railcard discounts?
In order to encourage people to travel by rail, various discounts are available as follows:
Children under five travel free

Child fares: available for any child 5-15, no railcard required, normally half price except on certain bargain tickets where no further discounts are available

Young Persons Railcard and Student railcard: originally marketed for students, this card is available for any young person under 26, and now available for full-time students of any age

Family railcard: Once purchased, the family railcard gets discounts for adults travelling with children (they don?t even have to be your own - you can save money by agreeing to borrow a child to travel with you). Even if you have a baby who normally travels free, it's worth getting a family railcard if you travel regularly with the baby to get a reduction off your own fare. Without travelling too far, you can save the cost of a family railcard in one journey.

Adults in the south east: Some regular rail users in the north-east of England hold Network Cards, valid for 33% discounts of rail fares in the south east. This is to encourage adults who might use cars to use trains off-peak. You even get a discount off all zones Travelcards. People who travel regularly to and from the south east, no matter where they live, can get one of these (unfortunately we cannot sell these from Chester-le-Street.)

Forces Railcards: Serving members of HM Forces can have a railcard for discounted journeys when paying for themselves. At other times travel is usually by warrant.

Senior Citizens Railcards: Older people can get discounts on both standard AND first class fares with a railcard
 
 
TICKET CHOICES

The choices for Newcastle to London, in ascending order of fare. Fares are the same from Durham. We give this information to give a general indication of the relative levels of fares, which will apply throughout the network. Not all fares are available to all destinations.

Since we started publishing this information at the launch of our website in February 1999, GNER have started issuing a useful Ticket Information and Fares Guide, which codifies this information from all north east stations.
If price is all you think about, the cheapest return ticket to London from Newcastle is with Virgin. It is £25 return and railcard and child discounts are available. So far, so good. BUT Virgin do not run direct to London and you have to change in Birmingham. It takes 5-6 hours, with a change, arriving in London Euston, and must be booked 14 days in advance. We never sell any, but the Stationmaster has tried it himself, and if you REALLY want the cheapest, this is it. There is a First Class equivalent for £80 which must be booked a minimum of 3 days in advance, but still takes the same time.
The rest of these fares are with GNER which takes about three hours. The first group of fares are Advance Purchase where you get reserved seats of specified trains Bargain Single and Bargain Return (formerly known as Super Apex which required 14 day advance booking). £33 for the return and £23 for the single. Only available as a product to London, it's now a 7 day advance ticket, where you specify outward and return journeys and commit to travel on those trains in both directions. No changes, no refunds.

DayPex. £31 return. For day return journeys, every day but not on early business trains. Book by 1800 hours the day before, commit to travel on specific trains in both directions, no changes, no refunds. No single available, but of course it's not compulsory to come back! No railcard discounts, but there is a child discount.

Apex. £46. For any journey, book by 7 days ahead, commit to travel on specific trains in both directions, limited changes and only 50% refund if you cancel. No discounts for children / railcards. The single is only £1 cheaper than the return.

First Class Daypex. £52. Like Daypex, but only available for travel Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays. (GNER does not generally like to discount its first class product) Book by 1800 hours the day before, commit to travel on specific trains in both directions, no changes, no refunds. No single available, but of course it's not compulsory to come back! No railcard or child discounts. Apex stands for Advance Purchase Excursion, borrowed from the airline industry by British Rail as it then was.

Super Advance. £59. For any journey, book by 1800 the day before outward travel, commit to travel on specific trains in both directions, limited changes and refundable up to booking deadline. Discounts are available for children and railcard holders, which usually brings the price down below Apex tickets. The single is only £1 cheaper than the return.

First Apex. This ticket type is not available on the East Coast Main Line, but where available is like an Apex in First Class, for Apex conditions see above. If it were offered, the First Apex fare from Newcastle to London would be about £90 return but GNER do not discount their first class fares in this way.

Leisure First. £122.50. Generally like a SuperAdvance in First Class. For any journey which involves a Saturday night away, book by 1800 the day before outward travel, commit to travel on specific trains in both directions, limited changes and refundable before outward journey. This is a GNER only product (other train operators offer First Apex instead or something else). Discounts are available for children and Senior Railcard holders, but not for Family and Young Persons railcards which don't give discounts in First class. The remainder of the fares are "walk on" fares, which can be bought in advance with free seat reservations, or can be bought on the day, even on the train. GNER staff earn commission for selling tickets so they will never refuse you, especially if it's an expensive fare! "Walk on" fares are refundable less an admin. fee of £5 if you do not travel, and even if you have reserved a seat you are not obliged to use that train. You can return any time within a month except as shown below for SuperSavers.

(No longer available on the London route, used to be priced at £75. Available on other routes not priced by GNER or Virgin.)
SuperSaver. £75. You can't travel in either direction on a Friday at all, nor over Christmas/New Year, nor Saturdays in July and August.

Saver. £79. Valid for outward journeys on and after the 07.44 from Newcastle. Before this you need a Standard Open (£163), or use one of our special deals which GNER don't talk about. Return any time or train within one month - very flexible and not much more than a SuperSaver.

SuperSaver with Weekend First - at weekends this creates a cheap way of travelling First Class Saver with Weekend First - ditto. Note there are no restrictions on using Savers on Saturdays or Sundays.

Full Fare Standard Open Single and Return - fully flexible £81.50 single or £163 return

First Class Single and Return - fully flexible. £122.50 single or £245 return. Executive Day Return: Special packages are available on GNER for business trips which are slightly cheaper than full First Class fares and involve meals and London Underground travelling Zones 1 and 2.

Ask for full details of the meal options. Upgrades to first class are available Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays only by paying a supplement of £10 or £15 depending on distance.

A word for Regular travellers... Season tickets for point to point travel are available for all commuter flows for periods of 7 days, one month and any period up to one year. Savers : You can use these tickets on any operator's trains and they attracts discounts for railcard holders. There are black out dates and times: Savers cannot be used on certain peak trains. SuperSavers, where still available, cannot be used on more peak trains, and not at all on Fridays or summer Saturdays. However, you CAN use the RETURN PORTION of a London-end Saver to go down on early morning trains from Newcastle, at a time when the full fare is payable for a journey starting in Newcastle. We can issue London-end tickets (i.e. outward journey from London to Newcastle, return from Newcastle to London) and you can use the outward portion when travelling north on one day, and the return half on your next journey down. The ticket is valid for a month, e.g. a ticket outward issued for or on 15 January must be used for the return no later than 14 February. Of course, the return half cannot be used before the outward portion, so don't try this. The outward portion is valid on the date shown on the ticket (which can be issued in advance but does not have to be), and the return half for up to one month. Regular travellers usually buy tickets from the London end and its perfectly in order to buy them from us before you go to London.

And now for something REALLY clever: Nesting tickets is quite legal too. If you're travelling, say, two weeks apart, and can commit to using trains at fixed times, you can save pounds. Leisure First offers half price return travel to certain destinations if you spend a Saturday night away. With a little planning, and a commitment to use specific trains, you can book the outward journey of the first trip and the return journey of the second trip on one Leisure First ticket, and the return journey of the first trip and the outward journey of the second trip on another Leisure First ticket, booked from the other end. Of course, we can book both tickets for you, up until 1800 hours before the day of travel. Net result? Two journeys for the price of one. Holders of Excel cards for regular First Class travellers) can do even better since they can buy two Leisure first tickets for the price of one: quarter price travel.

Don't forget:
If you're going to London, we stock the full range of London Underground tickets and Travelcards to get you properly ticketed before your arrival at King's Cross. We sell at the same prices as at the tube station, but your real saving is in time on arrival in London where you can just go direct to the tube train.

Our PRICE PROMISE guarantee to you:

We aim to sell you the best value ticket for your journey. Accordingly, we will never be knowingly undersold. You have to give us a chance, though, to get you the best fare:

* You have to let us know if you hold, or want to buy, a railcard to get additional discounts. We can sell you a railcard at the appropriate rate

* If you ask for a flexible ticket, it's no good getting an operator-specific one more cheaply later - we could have done that for you.

* If you see a lower fare advertised, that doesn't mean the ticket is available at the times you want it. That's why we ask you to buy the lower priced ticket to prove it was available.

* Charter trains stands outside the national fare structure. These are whole trains hired by a company or tour operator, and it does not appear in the timetable of scheduled services). We sometimes run our own charter trains, exclusively for people booked on that train and date, and we'll let you know if we have a charter going, which we do several times a year. Other charters vary in price, and cannot normally be booked through any rail station ticket office. If booking a charter, remember these can be slower than normal trains and sometimes are run by old coaching stock, pulled by diesel locomotives rather than electrics.

* If you want to make lots of journeys a RailRover might be a better option, where the total cost of a RailRover is cheaper than the sum of the parts.

If you think you've been sold less than the best deal, buy the better deal and let us know about it!

We know there is a slight possibility that, despite our advanced market intelligence, we might miss out on the best fare once in a while. We want to know when that happens. If you bring in a cheaper ticket to do the same job, we can properly investigate what has been issued so we can match it in future. But to prove you could really buy it cheaper, you must buy it. Anyone can quote hypothetically available fares which are not actually available to go when you want!!

Finally, a word on Special Offers* Coupon promotions on leaflets and in newspapers are commonplace. We do them ourselves. If you can redeem the coupon at your local station, you can redeem it at Chester-le-Track. However, if there's a specific place to which applications need to be sent or telephoned, we cannot offer it. Example: Much as we would like to, we cannot book GNER Excel 2-for-1 Leisure First tickets, but neither can any GNER station. Members of Excel, the club for regular GNER travellers, can only book on one exclusive telephone line. It's a good offer, and we'll tell you about it if its relevant to you.

We'll even help you find the special offers: for example if there's a special deal on packets of Corn Flakes, look for a great pile of packets in our station (by arrangement with Kwik Save down the road). You might get sick of the cereal, but you can always give it away! This is a dynamic document: fares are subject to change, and we'll always try to keep you abreast of developments. Please let us know if anything is difficult to understand, and we'll try to make it better!