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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Travel
Milo Boyd

Train expert's easy hack helps you find unreserved seats before your train arrives

Train travellers can skip the queues to get onboard while others wait for their platform to pop up in the departure board.

Chelsea, who provides travel tips to her followers via Cheapholidayexp, has shared what she describes as her "most used travel hack".

Speaking from the busy forecourt of a train station, she explains how an app called Realtimetrains helps you get ahead of the crowds.

Rather than waiting, neck craned upwards, to see when and which platform your train will roll into, you can log into the website to get accurate information before it's shared with the broader public.

Chelsea said it was her most used travel hack (@cheapholidayexp/Instagram)
The tip does away with standing cluelessly on the forecourt (@cheapholidayexp/Instagram)

You can also find out which carriages have unreserved seats in them, to avoid waiting at the wrong point of the platform only to find there are no seats.

"I’ve lost count how many times this has helped - it’s probably my most used travel hack," Chelsea explained.

"It's the hack that no one wants you to know. I almost don't want to tell you.

"When you're due to get a busy train and you don't have seat reservations and so you have to beat all these people to get to the platform first, there's this website which will tell you which platform before it departs."

Users of the website can submit their train details, including station and when it's due to leave.

Realtimetrains then tells you when it will actually arrive, what platform it will come into, and other information such as whether it has a guard.

"I would say it works about 95% of the time, but please keep refreshing to make sure it doesn't change," Chelsea said.

The app is perfect for stations such as Euston in London, where a large throng of tired looking passengers can often be seen waiting for their platform to be listed.

This week a train travel expert has shared their top tips for heading down the tracks in a cheap and stylish way.

Over the weekend it was announced that train travel to Heathrow Airport from London would get considerably more expensive as Transport for London attempts to recoup some of its pandemic losses.

On top of that, ticket prices are expected to rise significantly next year as inflation soars above 10%.

Iain Griffin, founder and CEO of rail ticketing app Seatfrog , has offered some advice for those looking to get cheap tickets amid a grim economic backdrop.

“Whether you’re planning a UK staycation or using the train to get to the airport for holidays further afield, there are so many ways you can make the train travel experience that little bit easier, cheaper and more enjoyable," he said.

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