London to Scotland Megatrain.com Tickets and Routes

Cheap Mega Train Route to Scotland from London via Birmingham

Updated September 2011

Looking for £1 Megatrain fares to London? Find cheap rail tickets for all Mega train routes in UK including megatrains in Scotland.

Looking for the cheapest way to get from London to Scotland by Megatrain? Megatrain UK (part of Mega Bus UK) offer low-cost train travel on many UK routes. Although there is no direct Megatrain route from London to Scotland you can still benefit from the very cheap Megatrain tickets by splitting the journey as follows:

From London to Scotland combined Mega train/Coach route

1. Take the cheap Megatrain from London to Birmingham.
2. Change in Birmingham where you travel onwards to Edinburgh or Glasgow by taking either the Megatrain (only to Edinburgh) or National Express direct coaches (to both Glasgow and Edinburgh).

Find tickets for all Megatrain routes from / to London

From Scotland to London combined Mega train/Coach route

1. Travel from Edinburgh or Glasgow to Birmingham by taking either the Megatrain (only from Edinburgh) or National Express direct coaches (from both Glasgow and Edinburgh).
2. Take the cheap Megatrain to London from Birmingham.

How practical is Megatrain from London to Scotland instead of direct coach?

In certain circumstances it would be far cheaper and more convenient to take Megatrains from London to Scotland even if you have to change in Birmingham. However in practice, the infrequency and timing of the second leg of the journey from London to Scotland could mean that it is impractical or downright impossible.

You are better off travelling London - Scotland by direct coach using Megabus UK (cheapest option) or National Express UK Coaches. Or look at the detailed Megatrain route London - Scotland below.

How long does it take to get from London to Scotland with Megatrain.com?

First leg of journey with Megatrain from London to Birmingham

The first leg of the journey from London to Scotland (Megatrain from London to Birmingham), takes around 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 25 minutes, with fares from as low as £1 for a single journey plus a booking fee of 50p per transaction.

Mega train tickets for all UK routes including London - Birmingham route.

Travelling with Megatrain only on second leg of the journey to/from Scotland

Mega trains from Birmingham to Edinburgh take approximately 4 hours. However, we checked a wide selection of dates in the next two months and we were only able to find a very infrequent Megatrain service operated by Virgin Trains.

We were also unable to find any route from Birmingham to Glasgow although there is a service from Glasgow to Birmingham which also takes around 4 hours.

The cheapest tickets we could find for single Megatrain tickets were £5 to Edinburgh and £3 from Glasgow.

Travelling from London to Scotland using Megatrain for the first leg of the journey and National Express for the second leg

If you travel by National Express for the second leg of the journey from London to Scotland it takes anything from 7 hours 20 minutes to around 9 hours to travel from Birmingham to Edinburgh.

The trip from Birmingham to Glasgow by National Express coaches varied from between 6 hours and 10 minutes to 8 hours and 30 minutes for a direct journey.

The cheapest National Express fares we could find for the second leg for a single ticket were £12.50 to both Edinburgh and Glasgow (although on the dates we checked the faster routes were also far more expensive).

How much does it cost to travel from London to Scotland on the Megatrain?

These journey times and cheap prices mean that in theory you can travel:

• With Megatrain UK from London to Scotland for as little as £6 for a single ticket and in just over 5 hours (plus connection times)
• With Megatrain to Birmingham and then the National Express coach onwards to Edinburgh or Glasgow for as little as £13.50 for a journey time of around 7 hours 20 minutes to over 10 hours (plus connection times).

Book National Express tickets and Megatrain tickets.

Detailed fare details for London to Scotland by Megatrain/National Express

• Single tickets from London to Birmingham with Megatrain cost from just £1 although these tickets are strictly limited and you should book up to 12 weeks in advance to be able to take advantage of these really cheap fares. Expect to pay between £3 and £9 for London to Birmingham tickets booked at shorter notice
• Single tickets from Birmingham to Edinburgh on the Megatrain cost from £5 on a first come first served basis, however this service only operates on very limited dates and times
• Although we could not find any Megatrain service from Birmingham to Glasgow we found an infrequent Megatrain service running from Glasgow to Birmingham costing from £3
• There is a standard handling charge of £0.50 per booking for all Mega train tickets, and each fare is calculated by adding two single tickets together.
• Single tickets from Birmingham to Edinburgh on National Express cost from around £12.50 if booked in advance, rising to around £52 for one of the direct buses on a faster schedule. A return ticket works out cheaper on some routes, at around £25 to £60.
• Single tickets from Birmingham to Glasgow on National Express cost from around £12.50 to £52.00. Return tickets from Birmingham to Glasgow on National Express work out more cost effective than single tickets and cost from around £25 to just under £60.00

NOTE: All London to Scotland Megatrain services are run by Virgin Trains on behalf of Megatrain UK.

Mega Train Times from London to Scotland

There are regular Megatrain services from London to Birmingham, with around 5 to 7 services per day, and you would have little problem finding your way there - and at a very cheap price.

However, the lack of scheduled trains on the second leg of the journey from Birmingham to Edinburgh or Birmingham to Glasgow means that unless you are very flexible, you are unlikely to be able to make a suitable onward connection. We checked both onward services on several dates across the next two months and found that:

• There is a Megatrain which runs from Birmingham to Edinburgh once per day early in the morning on four mornings per week - but we could only find one week in the whole period when the service operated, plus the fact that it leaves so early in the morning means that you are unlikely to make a suitable connection
• We were unable to find any Megatrain service from Birmingham to Glasgow for the whole of the period, although there was one Glasgow to Birmingham option once per day on certain dates

This means that while the Megatrain looks like the cheapest option, it is unlikely to be a good choice due to the infrequent schedules. However, we do recommend checking Megatrain.com for your chosen travel dates in case additional services are published.

Travelling from London to Scotland on the Megatrain and National Express

We also checked whether you could save time and/or money by taking a Megatrain service as far as Birmingham and then hopping on the National Express to Edinburgh or Glasgow. While the Megatrain part of the journey is very cheap, the relatively high prices and long journey times of the National Express leg means that you are unlikely to save much money or time by splitting your journey this way.

You are better off travelling London - Scotland by direct coach using Megabus UK or National Express.

• One way tickets from Birmingham to both Edinburgh and Glasgow cost from £12.50 for a single ticket on the dates we checked. Added to the cost of the Megatrain from London to Birmingham, the cheapest fare you are likely to find is around £13.50 plus any transaction fees. This actually works out more expensive than some of the lowest prices we found for a London to Edinburgh or London to Glasgow which could cost from just £12.50 for a single ticket on National Express and £5.50 for a single ticket on Megabus UK.

So, it is unlikely that you would save any time by splitting your journey either.

• Adding the length of the train journey from London to Birmingham to that of the second leg to Scotland, you would gain little by splitting the journey into two legs and it could even take longer
• Plus you have to take into account the fact that you will have a wait between connections and that the bus station as Birmingham is also a good ten to twelve minute walk from the train station

Conclusion on taking travelling by Megatrain from London to Scotland

Having spent considerable time comparing prices and schedules on several dates over the next two months, we could find absolutely no benefit in taking the Megatrain from London to Scotland. However, schedules and prices change and we do recommend that you at least take a look at this option when planning your journey as you could save money on the journey if you could find suitable connecting trains.

We recommend:

• Coaches: London to Edinburgh with National Express Coaches with prices starting from £12 for single journeys - the cheapest way to travel to Edinburgh comfortably. Or try Megabus for even cheaper tickets.
• Cheap flights: London to Edinburgh and Edinburgh to London with prices from around £50 return.

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Tourists have problems with the name of Edinburgh. There are hundreds of ways people write it and the most common writings include 'edinburg', 'edinborough', 'edimburgh', 'edinbourgh', 'ediburgh', 'edinbugh', 'edinboro', 'edingburgh', 'edinbrugh', 'edimburg', 'edinburugh', 'edingurgh', 'edinbrough', etc.

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