Could Carnet tickets be saving you money on trips to London?

Let’s admit it, we all like to save money where we can. So, if you are travelling regularly to or from London using a Grand Central train service, then there might be ways to reduce the amount you pay on each journey.

Carnet (or multi-buy) tickets are sold as a bundle of 10 single tickets, which you can use as and when you need them. These will be especially useful for business travellers, who don’t always know their travel plans in advance.

What are the benefits for me?

The main benefit of carnet tickets is that they offer significant savings compared to buying an Anytime or Off-Peak ticket. If you buy a bundle of carnet tickets, each one will work out much cheaper than if you buy your tickets on the day of travel. If you run your own business or are self-employed, then these savings could make a big difference to your monthly outgoings.

Not only do carnet tickets save money, but they also save you time. There is no need to queue up to buy tickets when you arrive at the station. Simply fill in the date of travel on the top of one of your carnet tickets and be ready to show it to the conductor when they pass through the train.

Finally, carnet tickets give you complete flexibility. You can decide when you need to travel, and you can also share your carnet tickets with colleagues if they need to travel with you or instead of you – they are completely transferable.

Sounds great! How do I buy them?

Carnet tickets can be bought by calling Grand Central reservations on 0345 603 4852 (select option 2, then option 2). You can call up anytime between 9.30am and 4.30pm, Monday to Friday, excluding Bank Holidays. You can also buy Carnet tickets at any train station with a manned ticket office (you can find a list of these on our website).

Once you have bought a bundle of Carnet tickets, they will be posted to you via First Class post and will arrive in approximately five working days. Once received, they must be used within six months of purchase, so make sure you will be able to use them during this time period.

As Carnet tickets are so flexible, they don’t include a guaranteed seat reservation on a particular train. Once you have chosen your Grand Central train, however, you are able to contact our customer relations team on 0345 603 4852 (select option 3, then option 1) and they will try to reserve you a seat for that journey, subject to availability.

Carnet prices do vary, depending on the destination and arrival station, therefore, please check online for the latest Carnet prices.