Trainline 2000

I was behind someone in a ticket queue the other day, who said that he had tried to buy a ticket online and ended up going to the train station to buy it due to being frustrated by the whole experience of using thetrainline.com to buy his ticket. I have some sympathy for his plight. With ticket prices soaring on our trains, the best value is to be found online - how easy, therefore, is it to book in advance on the web? The trainline is a website which should let you buy a train ticket from any train company in the country. However, in practice, whether due to the heavy volume of traffic, or ... more

We've tried the Megabus, the coach and what used to be my most frequent mode of travel, the train. My usual place of travel is Bristol and up until recently London to see my partner and I always use 2 different websites to book tickets. One being the Virgin website and this one, trainline. Checking other trains websites and booking through them is not always worth it as they use trainline as well! In this particular review I'll be concentrating on the use of the website rather than the prices as those are an issue for the train companies and National Rail, not trainline. Trainline don’t give ... more

I recently bought train tickets online to Newcastle for a business trip. I found the whole experince of purchase and collection of the tickets at my local railway stationeasy and straight forward. The train journey was on time,quick and efficient. Altogether the experience was good and I will definitely use both the train and online booking again for these type of journeys which are both business and pleasure. It has been some time since I travelled any long distances on the train but my experience would encourage me to use this service more for longer journeys as oppossed to flights. I will ... more

This is about the most civilised way of buying a train ticket that I have come across. The site is extremely easy to operate, as there are only 8 steps involved. One specifies the departure and destination stations; dates and preferred times of travel for both outward and return journeys. If a single ticket is required one simply leaves the return details out. The next step takes a few moments to find train times around those entered and one is then presents with a list of times around those entered as well as an option to look for earlier and later trains. One then enters the number of people ... more

Tried today to book tickets Kings Cross to Newcastle. Long process compared with Airline booking sites (for example) - badly needs improving and modernising - takes longer than booking direct with GNER by phone (very good service) and much more expensive. Extremely poor site - hence I booked by phone and saved £203 compared with the comparable best price available on Trainline. Should be renamed Painline! It is also worth noting that CIAO requires the reviewer to enter marks for the train service covering all sorts of areas such as comfort, safety, punctuality and other areas relevant to ... more