Stagecoach Group has extended its innovative budget rail service, megatrain.com, to key routes operated by East Midlands Trains.

megatrain.com, which offers some of the lowest fares on the UK rail network for decades, is giving passengers the chance to purchase travel on the East Midlands Trains mainline route from just £1 (plus 50p booking fee).

Around 3,500 megatrain.com seats will be offered on the East Midlands Trains network every week.

Tickets are on sale from 10 December 2007 for travel from Wednesday 2 January 2008 on services to London, from Sheffield, Chesterfield, Derby, Nottingham, Loughborough and Leicester.

David Horne, East Midlands Trains Commercial Director, said: “We’re very excited to be launching the successful megatrain.com concept on our services. megatrain.com has become well renowned for providing high-quality, excellent value rail travel, and we are extremely pleased that passengers in the East Midlands will be able to take advantage of these low cost fares.”

megatrain.com, which is already been a success at the Group’s South West Trains operation, is an easy-to-use, ticket-less product that can be purchased from the megatrain.com website or through the telephone booking centre. For more information on East Midlands Trains services, visit the website at eastmidlandstrains.co.uk.

A total of 16 stations on the South West Trains network already provide megatrain.com fares, with around 3,100 megatrain.com seats booked each week. More than 250,000 passengers have used the service since it was launched in November 2005.

megabus.com, Stagecoach’s market-leading low-cost inter-city coach service, connects around 40 destinations across the UK and carries more than two million passengers a year.

Earlier this year, Stagecoach integrated the megabus.com and megatrain.com travel sites, allowing customers to access both coach and rail options in one easy search. The online retailing system gives visitors access to around 500 daily departures to more than 50 locations across the UK from just £1*.