When you’re planning a quick trip out of Nottingham for the weekend it can be tempting to just load up your car and go. Sounds so much easier than going for a train – until you hit the congested motorway that is! So why choose to sit in your car feeling frustrated when you could be relaxing while you whiz away on a train?
Great savings available
There are many different ticket options available that make train travel a little bit more affordable. Regular travellers can take advantage of season tickets which can save you up to a third on the cost of buying tickets everyday. The National Rail website has a brilliant season ticket calculator so you can work out how much your ticket will cost – and how much you’ll save! Click here to calculate your costs.
There are absolutely loads of other offers available – from special carnet tickets to London that give you 10 journeys for the price of 9 to an East Midlands Ranger, which gives unlimited travel on local trains in the East Midlands area. Click here for more special offers.
Even if you can’t bag yourself a bargain if you can travel off peak you’ll find that your tickets are cheaper and you’ll have more space to stretch and enjoy the ride.
Reliable and regular
At last check East Midlands Trains – the main provider of services to Nottingham – said their trains were running at an impressive 90.9% punctuality, and they are committed to making things even better. From using hi-tech swanky watches (”atomic” watches that are accurate to the second – click here to find out more) to introducing new timetables they’re doing all they can to get you there faster.
The new timetable has increased the frequency, and cut the journey times, of some of the most popular routes from Nottingham. There are now more trains to Derby and later trains to London and Leicester, as well as several new services including a direct train to Leeds, run by Northern Trains.
And the Office of Rail Regulation has approved £9.8 million to make upgrades to the signalling and tracks, which should see journey times cut further and even more services added. (That’s on top of a whopping £55 million to transform the station itself into a sleek, modern transport interchange! For more details on these exciting proposals click here.)
So many places to go
The train can take you all over the country as well as on your daily commute. There are excellent links locally, nationally and even internationally! Trains to London run directly into the fantastic St Pancras International, and you just have to swap platforms to catch the Eurostar to the continent.
There are already so many places to go – and new services have been added recently. When the transformation of Nottingham Station is complete you may find there are even more services!
Time to relax
When you have a choice between hopping in your car or heading down to the train station it can be tempting to take the car. Stop for a minute though – consider the hassle of getting caught up in traffic jams, the time (and money!) it can take to find a parking spot and unexpected frustrations like roadworks and coping with bad drivers, and suddenly the car doesn’t seem like the easy option. Instead you could be sat on a train watching a film, reading a book or having a nap ready to hop off the train relaxed and refreshed.
