Planning a journey is easy, you can either enter a station's name manually by entering the first few letters and picking from the auto-complete list, pick from a list or recently used stations, or use the station finder to find the station nearest to your current location. In addition to specifying the date and time of travel, there are options for ticket type (single, return, open return), class of travel, number of travellers and railcards.
Results are presented in a list, allowing you to quickly see summary timing and pricing information, with toolbar buttons giving the option of showing later and earlier train times. Tapping on the journey summary opens a page showing the full details, including, where applicable, the details of any changes.
Other features of the app include the ability to save favourite journeys, making it easy to re-use common journeys and stations. There's also a handy 'next train home' shortcut, which finds the station nearest your current location and lists departure of time of the next trains to your home station.
To order tickets you'll need a thetrainline.com account, but sign up from the app is supported and is straight forward. Debit and credit card details can, optionally, be saved by the app, making subsequent ticket purchases faster. Tickets can be collected from self-serve ticket kiosks at more than 1,000 stations. When collecting tickets you'll need both the credit or debit card used to purchase the ticket and the order reference number.
The details of any tickets that you order using the app, including the reference number, are saved locally (my bookings). Similarly you can save searches (i.e. train journey times) for later use too. This means they are always available, regardless of whether you have a signal or not, which is particularly useful in rural areas (or if you happening to be going through a tunnel).
Previously, the best option for those looking for a train times app, was National Rail's official Rail Planner app. However, at £5.49 it is one of the more expensive Windows Phone apps. Rail Planner remains the best choice for power users, thanks to extra features like live train tracking, platform information and live departure boards, but it's great that there's now also a free option.
Marketplace description:
thetrainline.com is the UK’s leading independent train ticket retailer. Our mobile app helps you check train times (updated throughout the day) and ticket prices as well as buy train tickets for all train companies to all national rail destinations. You can buy train tickets up to 10 minutes before you travel – and collect from over 1000 stations.
thetrainline.com can be downloaded from the Windows Phone Marketplace for free.