Children ride for just £1 with the Chiltern Family Travelcard

The ticket fare itself is regulated and identical whether bought from Trainline, the operator's own website or a station ticket machine. Trainline charges a small booking fee on most transactions to cover the aggregator service, which is disclosed clearly before payment. Some operators (LNER, Avanti, GWR etc.) don't charge a booking fee on their own sites — Trainline's value is the single journey planner, Split Save tool and multi-operator comparison.

Split Save is Trainline's feature that finds cheaper combinations of tickets for the same journey. It splits a single trip into two or more tickets covering different legs — you stay on the same train throughout, but each leg is priced as a separate ticket, often adding up to less than a single through-ticket. Savings are displayed automatically at search and Trainline handles the ticket management.

Yes. Trainline supports all major UK Railcards (16-25, Two Together, Family & Friends, 26-30, Senior, Disabled Persons, Veterans) during booking and applies the Railcard discount to eligible off-peak fares. You can buy or renew most Railcards directly on thetrainline.com. Always carry your Railcard when travelling so it can be checked during the journey.

Mobile e-tickets load into the Trainline app and can be scanned directly at the ticket gates or shown to the guard — no need to collect at a station machine. They're available on most UK journeys and many European operators (SNCF, Trenitalia, Renfe and others). Some journeys, especially split-ticket or certain European advance fares, may still require collection at a station — this is shown clearly before purchase.