In a bid to encourage families to travel by rail over autumn weekends and during the October half term, Grand Central Rail has revealed their best money-saving tips for family days out by train and has also launched a kid’s art competition.

The rail operator’s top money-saving tips for families travelling by rail are as follows:

• Always book direct with Grand Central in order to avoid hidden booking fees
• Get a Family and Friends Railcard before making your journey and save up to a third off rail travel for adults and a massive 60% off for children. The rail card costs just £30 for the year or £70 for three years and provides discounted travel for up to four adults and four children when travelling together. The Family and Friends railcard can bring savings for the average family of up to £150 each year.
• For families travelling with students or young adults, the 16-25 or 26-30 Railcard is a great idea and can provide them with up to a third off of tickets. Similar to the Family and Friends railcard, the 16-25 and 26-30 railcards are only £30 per year, or £70 for three years.
• Grand Central can provide further discounts for students on advance fares, with savings of up to 25% on Grand Central Advance fares for students who can save up to a massive 50% on tickets.  To find out more about travel discounts for students please click here.
• Booking in advance offers the cheapest tickets and are available to book up to 26 weeks ahead and can provide huge savings of more than 80% on Grand Central trains. As you would expect, tickets with such a huge discount are limited in numbers, so planning well ahead really does pay off, especially when it comes to half-term adventures and Christmas. Those who book ahead and need to change their plans are able to do so as changes can be made after purchase, however, changes can only be made ahead of the original departure date and time. Making changes may also lead to having to pay the difference if the new ticket is more expensive.
• Be in the know by finding out when the cheapest tickets are released by signing up for Grand Central email updates using the website.
• If you are not in a rush to get to your destination then being flexible with your travel can bring savings by looking at alternative travel times, especially during off-peak and weekdays.
• For those who fancy a treat, why not upgrade to first class by using Seatfrog to bid for discounted first-class seats.

As part of their family-focused initiative, Great Central has also revealed a kid’s art competition with a chance to win an art set and a First-Class Grand Central Rail family ticket for up to four people for any journey with the rail operator.

The competition encourages young people from all over the country to create a picture of their favourite family outing in the UK. The competition is easy to enter and requires a photograph of the artwork to be uploaded using the entry form on the Grand Central website.

Entry closes for the competition at midnight on Tuesday the 25th of October 2022.

Every entry will be reviewed by judges from Grand Central Rail and the winner announced publicly within 48 hours of them accepting the prize.

Further information about the competition including terms and conditions is available here: https://www.grandcentralrail.com/kids-artwork-competition

Luke Purcell, Marketing Manager at Grand Central Rail, commented: “The kids may be back to school, but at Grand Central, we’re huge advocates of weekend mini-adventures.

“It’s one of the reasons why we’re launching a very exciting competition and challenging children across the country to get creative and draw, paint, sketch, or even put together a collage of their favourite days out. We’d also like them to tell us a little bit about the things they’ve enjoyed seeing or doing the most as a family in the UK.

“The winner will be the lucky recipient of an art kit to help get their creative juices flowing this autumn, plus a first-class family train ticket for up to four people, to help you plan your next big day out along any Grand Central route!”