Fare advice Edinburgh to Rhyl

[tickethelp]

Hi there,

I am looking for advice. I am looking to travel between Edinburgh and Rhyl. Out on the 25 April return on Sun 27 April.

The return leg is looking at taking 2 hours longer with an additional change at Carlisle with no option to reserve seats from Carlisle.
Just curious of the reason. Traveling with young children, any advice on alternatives without changing dates.

Hope it’s ok to ask a second question. When will tickets be available for sale edin to Manchester airport for this July.

Thank you in advance

 

[Mcr Warrior]

@tickethelp. Welcome to the forum.

Looks like there's engineering work / rail replacement buses operating North of Carlisle on Sunday 27th April 2025.

Engineering works: Preston / Lancaster and Carlisle / Glasgow Central | National Rail

Buses replace trains between Carlisle and Glasgow Central / Edinburgh on Sunday 27 April. See details of routes affected by planned engineering works, including when they take effect, alternative timetables, advice for alternative travel, including info about engineering work and why it is...

www.nationalrail.co.uk

Extract..

Engineering work is taking place between Carlisle and Carstairs, closing some lines.

Can anyone advise as regards the OP's follow-up question(s)?

 

[tickethelp]

Thanks for getting back so quickly.

Would traveling via York be a viable alternative/cost effective?

 

[Haywain]

Would traveling via York be a viable alternative/cost effective?

You would need split tickets for that as no through tickets are available. That effectively rules out flexible return tickets. Trainsplit might offer you reasonable value if you use the options to specify different routes out and return.

Hope it’s ok to ask a second question. When will tickets be available for sale edin to Manchester airport for this July.

They (TPE) are currently open to the end of June, so sometime in the next 4 weeks or so.

 

[Dirty_Mac]

Would traveling via York be a viable alternative/cost effective?

I found this itinerary, but it's 45% more expensive and 39 minutes slower than going via Carlisle.

15:54 Rhyl - Manchester Oxford Road
17:39 Manchester Oxford Road - Sheffield
19:21 Sheffield - Edinburgh

Results | RailUK Tickets

TrainSplit is a free service that makes it easy to find the cheapest train tickets for your journey.

tickets-beta.railforums.co.uk

Alternative itineraries are even slower or require even more changes (such as going from Manchester Piccadilly to Manchester Victoria). I'd say sticking with the rail replacement bus is your best bet.

 

[JBuchananGB]

Using fastjp.com and a departure time of 09.06 brings up several choices to reach Edinburgh at 15.59 via York, but the best arrival time via Carlisle is 16.23. At least via York avoids the buses.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Splitting the journey at Warrington allows flexible fares via Carlisle or York, so you could go one way and back the other.
Off-peak returns: Edinburgh-Warrington £134.30, Warrington-Rhyl £23.30. Both essentially valid on any train.
eg Friday: Edinburgh 1052 Warrington BQ 1341/1417 Rhyl 1526 (Avanti/TfW)
Sunday: Rhyl 0906 Manchester Picc 1045 cross to Victoria 1137 Newcastle 1410/1424 Edinburgh 1559. (TfW/TPE/LNER)

On the Sunday, both the WCML and and TP routes are crippled with major engineering work.
Tram/bus/walk/taxi across Manchester.

 

[Watershed]

Thanks for getting back so quickly.

Would traveling via York be a viable alternative/cost effective?

Unfortunately, all of the Off-Peak/Anytime fares from Edinburgh to Rhyl are routed "via Carlisle", so you can't travel via York. Although the Advance fares don't have the same restriction (they are generally restricted by operator instead), travelling via York also isn't allowed as it isn't a "permitted route".

Although there are ways of getting around this, such as buying a ticket from Berwick-upon-Tweed, there are various disadvantages to this (e.g. you'd need to buy an extra single from Berwick to Edinburgh for the return journey) and overall, a cheaper option would be to buy a combination of tickets, i.e. "split tickets".

Splitting at Warrington Bank Quay as per @LNW-GW Joint 's suggestion above makes sense. Edinburgh to Warrington tickets arer available either as "via Carlisle" or "via York". You can buy the cheaper one ("via Carlisle") and then pay an 'excess fare' costing half the difference to change the return portion to "via York". This allows you maximum flexibility whilst avoiding the rail replacement buses on the WCML.

 

[kieron]

Splitting the journey at Warrington allows flexible fares via Carlisle or York, so you could go one way and back the other.
Off-peak returns: Edinburgh-Warrington £134.30, Warrington-Rhyl £23.30. Both essentially valid on any train.
eg Friday: Edinburgh 1052 Warrington BQ 1341/1417 Rhyl 1526 (Avanti/TfW)
Sunday: Rhyl 0906 Manchester Picc 1045 cross to Victoria 1137 Newcastle 1410/1424 Edinburgh 1559. (TfW/TPE/LNER)

Sadly, Edinburgh-Warrington tickets aren't valid via Newton-le-Willows and York.

I'd probably also shuffle the return legs about a bit to avoid the walk in Manchester. Something like:
1. 09:06–10:21 Rhyl–Newton-le-Willows
2. 10:35–11:20 Newton-le-Willows–Manchester Victoria
3. 11:37–13:05 Manchester Victoria–York
4. 13:17–15:59 York–Edinburgh

According to the schedule, trains 3 and 4 should both use the same platform in York, but it may not work out like that on the day. The trains would use the same platform at Northallerton or Durham, but fewer trains stop at those.

The tickets for this could be:

A. Edinburgh–Earlestown off peak return route "via Carlisle" £104.40
Used for Edinburgh–Warrington Bank Quay outbound (so not the final section to Earlestown), and trains 2, 3 and 4 on the return.

B. Warrington–Rhyl off peak return £22.40
Used outbound, and for part of 1.

C. Warrington–Earlestown anytime day single route "TfW only" £3.90
Used for part of 1. TfW run every Warrington–Earlestown train that day, so there would be no benefit to buying an "any permitted" ticket.

D. Change of route for ticket A to "any permitted" £14.95
Used for 3 and 4. This can be bought at a ticket office or on the train, but not online. There's no penalty for buying on the train. The price should be half of the difference in price between (in this case) a "via Carlisle" off peak return and an "any permitted" one.

Total £145.65

 

[tickethelp]

Sorry for the late response. I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has posted. Your advice and research is much appreciated.