The danger of having “a helpful explanation” that extends to six parts is that people think the subject is complicated. In reality, it is complicated, but when getting nationalrail.com’s trainsplit software to do the hard work, split ticketing becomes very simple indeed.
You can have the tickets downloaded to your mobile device, or printed out as orange credit card sized ticket by a self-service ticket machine. Personally, I prefer to have the latter as physical tickets to show to on-board inspection staff and to put through the gatelines. Other people may prefer to have them on their phone, and are welcome to offer their experiences on this blog, but I like to have the physical tickets sorted in the right order, with the current one on top, held together with a paper clip.
Making your Journey
In the month of July 2021 I made three long distance journeys using split tickets. These were from Chester-le-Street (my local station), or Durham (my nearest large station) to:
• Oxford (Oxfordshire) via Birmingham – split into 8 tickets
• Whaley Bridge (Derbyshire) via Huddersfield and Manchester – split into 6 tickets
• Welwyn Garden City (Hertfordshire) via East Coast Main Line – split into 2 tickets
In each case, tickets were either off-peak returns, or advance purchase singles or a mixture of the two. For Huddersfield to Whaley Bridge I had an off-peak return which was (quite improbably) split at Disley which is only three stations or ten minutes ride from Whaley Bridge. This allowed me to break my journey which was good because I was able to walk along the canal towpath which runs close to the railway to the next station at Furness Vale and rejoin the train service there. There are no reservations on these local trains, so I would not normally be able to buy an Advance ticket, but if one had been issued I could not have broken my journey.
Likewise, on the train journey to Welwyn Garden City, I travelled outward to my destination and alighted, as planned, at Welwyn Garden City. I then took the bus 724 to Watford, which was my final destination and much cheaper than travelling into London and then back out again. My return ticket, two days later, was an Advance one, using a local train from Welwyn to Stevenage and joining the LNER train there at 1528. However, I had the opportunity of a visit to Knebworth House, Knebworth station being the next one to Stevenage. I was coming on the bus 724 from Watford, and alighted this time at Hatfield, one further stop south than Welwyn.
It was 0949 when I boarded the train from Hatfield, so I was hardly making a connecting journey for the 1528 from Stevenage.
Accordingly, I bought a single fare from Hatfield to Stevenage (£7.70) which entitled me to break my journey at Knebworth for five hours, then start again at 1504 from Knebworth into Stevenage and on to my booked train. As it happens there are no barriers at Knebworth and the small station is not manned in the afternoon, so perhaps I could have just bought my ticket from Hatfield to Knebworth and used the ticket from Welwyn Garden City going north to cover the trip from Knebworth. Which strictly would not be allowed, but who was to know?
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On every journey, I presented my ticket at the gatelines, and when requested on the train. At each inspection, and there were not many, train staff were perfectly used to seeing split tickets, and I just presented the relevant one for that part of the journey. No trouble at all. Because what you’re doing is quite legal, and as long as the train calls at the station where you swap from one ticket to another, you are unlikely to have any problems. Let me know if you do.
For train times and prices, look no further than nationalrail.com
