Where can I buy cheap train tickets?

Q Can you recommend the best websites for cheap train tickets, please?

Joy D

A With rail fares rising across the nation today, yours is a timely and pertinent question.

First, I avoid sites, such as Trainline, that charge fees on top of fares. Looking a month ahead, a London Euston to Manchester single costs £24 at Virgin Trains, but 75p more through Trainline – a 3.1 per cent rise, the same as Wednesday’s average fare increase. All the UK train operators will sell you any ticket in Britain without any additional fee; they (like Trainline) collect commission on online sales.

But in the case of Virgin Trains it is well worth booking direct, because of the automatic delay-repay system. If your train is half an hour late or more, the train operator is aware, and you will automatically see the appropriate amount of compensation paid to your credit or debit card.

Another key long-distance operator which makes it worth booking direct is London North Eastern Railway, which provides free wifi throughout the journey. A direct booking also makes you eligible to bid online for a first-class upgrade via SeatFrog.

When planning trips on East Midlands Trains (EMT), connecting London St Pancras with Leicester, Nottingham, Derby and Sheffield, I always check Megatrain – owned by Stagecoach, which also runs EMT. For a London-Derby journey next Monday, there is plenty of choice at around £30 return on Megatrain, while the cheapest I can see through the EMT website is £54. Note, however, that the normal railcard discounts do not apply.

Finally, for some longer or more convoluted journeys – especially when you do not have the chance to book in advance – it is worth tapping your journey details into one of the many “split ticket” websites (searching for that term will find you plenty). For example, for an on-the-day trip from Axminster to Clapham Junction I was able to save a fiver by “splitting” the trip at Basingstoke. All you need to ensure is that the train you plan to catch stops at the point where your journey is split, then buy one ticket from A to B and another from B to C. But that is most easily done at the station, because you will not need to pay any fees.

Every day our travel correspondent Simon Calder tackles a reader’s question. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder