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ACP Rail

I plan on buying a rail pass for my little group of seniors. Rick Steves links to ACP Rail. I've calculated point-to-point tickets vs a rail pass and believe the savings are good. Has anyone used ACP Rail? Their website is quite unassumming but since Rick recommends it, its should be all right, correct?

Posted by
34357 posts

I've never heard of ACP rail and I worked in the British rail industry for decades.

I know nothing bad about them, but I know nothing of them.

The official rail information website is National Rail https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ which has planning for journeys from any station to any other station across the country, using all the rail companies and their information and giving it to you in an understandable way. They also have detailed information about facilities on stations, delays, diversions, incidents and actual running time.

Once you have chosen which train you want they will send you to the train company operating that train for ticket sales. Be aware that every train company can sell tickets for any other, at the same price. No extra charge involved.

Posted by
2634 posts

You may like to consider Group Save but beware of the not before 9.30am rule - which does not apply if each person buys a Senior Railcard.https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/tickets-railcards-and-offers/saving-money/group-travel/

Also note that on some journeys, it is cheaper to split the ticket & the national rail website does not tell you this. This site does come up with 1 split:>https://www.buytickets.scotrail.co.uk/

These sites also come up with splits (if cheaper) but charge commission on amount saved:> https://trainsplit.com
https://www.traintickets.com/?/

Posted by
8507 posts

Scotrail does not charge commission on Split tickets so they are the site which should always be used for such tickets.

The other two companies are external companies to the rail industry (ie- not rail companies). Why on earth pay commission to them when Scotrail do it for free?

To actually answer your question ACP are the US vendor for Britrail passes. Whether or not a pass makes sense ultimately depends on whether you want to retain flexibility (just hop a train when you like) or if you are willing to commit to the far cheaper Advance train specific fares ahead of time.
If you do the latter then Britrail is massively less likely to be a good option. If you are relying on the RS fare charts for your math, they take no account of Advance Fares- often now on many routes they are available (despite their name) until minutes before travel.

Trainline are another Britrail vendor-probably for a commission.

Britrail gives a 15% senior discount, any UK railcard gives 33%.

If you are a group, rather than buying a senior railcard each for £30 (soon to be £35) you could look at buying Two Together Railcards for £30/£35 for the two of you (another saving).
On Two Together you can't travel before 0930 on a weekday (any time weekends) but then you can't travel before 0930 in London and the South East on a senior railcard either on a weekday (to protect commuter revenue)