This is an issue many people will be able to relate to, and surely harms the appeal of rail travel as an alternative to less sustainable modes of transport. But it is a problem easily solved, writes TP’s news editor Steve Dale.

Split ticketing – where a journey is divided into two or more consecutive legs to reduce the price – has been available for a number of years on various specialist sites, but has not been widely promoted.

That changes this week when established rail ticket vendor Loco2 introduces a split ticketing function to its offer, known as ‘Pricehack’. It claims to have developed the most powerful algorithm currently available to work out the cheapest combination of tickets.

This comes several months ahead of the expected launch of a similar service by Virgin trains, while the rest of the industry is thought to be between three and five years behind.

“We are striving to promote rail travel,” says Loco2’s head of product management Jérôme Berrou. “But unfortunately in the UK in the past few years it has been difficult for the customer to be really satisfied with the quality of service and with ticket prices.

“Our main goal here is to make it easy for everyone and propose a fare that is adapted to the customer’s situation,” he tells TP Weekly News.

The Pricehack feature, he explains, means that customers buying rail travel through the company will be offered the option of a split ticket, if the price is cheaper than for a single journey. The company takes a small commission from the money saved.

For those who feel uneasy about using some of the less mainstream split ticketing services out there, this ought to bring a feeling of legitimacy to split ticketing and unlock cost savings for the mass market.

“I am confident that we will disrupt the market,” says Jérôme. “But how much? Let’s see.” He adds: “We will always try to optimise the algorithm because train operators are frequently changing their fare range, and we have to be able to adapt to that.”

However this begs the question, why haven’t operators that claim to be serious about improving their customer service moved to introduce a service like this already?

In fact, the Rail Delivery Group is now looking to go even further by calling for a fully reformed fares system which would mean passengers benefit from a guarantee that they will pay the lowest fares for their journey, without needing to split tickets. The proposal has been made in a submission to the current Williams Rail Review.

If the goal is to promote rail travel as a serious alternative to the private car, it makes perfect sense to provide potential customers with the confidence that they will not over pay on fares.

But Jérôme is not worried about what this would mean for Loco2. “We know our competitors are also talking about doing this and train operators are thinking about fare reforms, but it will take time,” he says. “If the industry is changing, it will be good for customers and we will adapt.”

So does Pricehack actually work? The company says that the best savings are likely to be found on long distance journeys of over two hours. It claims, for example, that a trip from Swansea to Perth, booked six weeks in advance, is made cheaper by almost £40 compared to ticket splitting competitors, and around £150 cheaper than a full price ticket.

I had to try it out for myself. A few days after meeting with Loco2 I was due to travel from Tonbridge in Kent to Edinburgh (look out for a feature appearing in the next edition of TP).

Sure enough, to arrive into Scotland’s capital for 1pm you can make a saving of around £55 using Pricehack. But the cost of a round trip is still significantly higher than flying, so I travelled by EasyJet.

(Photograph: Network Rail)