National Rail

Contact Details

Phone 08457 484950,
+44 20 7278 5240 outside UK

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk

Virtually all the trains in Britain are part of the National Rail network. This is a government-organized group of train operators which offer a well-integrated system of trains. This ensures that you can make journeys without having to buy a separate ticket for each leg, and that discount schemes such as railcards apply to all services. All the services share the double arrow logo which appears on the website and is displayed outside all stations.

Information about services

Train times, prices and real-time information about whether trains are running late is available for all trains on the National Rail network. Simply go to the National Rail website (listed above), or call the National Rail Enquiries line (number listed above). If you have a mobile phone with WAP you can also get the information by going to http://wap.nationalrail.co.uk.

The following operators are part of the National Rail network:

• GNER
• One
• Arriva Trains Wales
• c2c
• Central Trains
• Chiltern Railways
• Gatwick Express
• Heathrow Express
• Railair (this is actually a bus, but through tickets etc. are available)
• Hull Trains
• Merseyrail
• Midland Mainline
• Northern Rail
• Silverlink
• South Eastern Trains
• South West Trains
• Southern
• Thameslink
• WAGN (West Anglia Great Northern)
• Wessex Trains
• First Great Western
• Virgin Trains
• First Scotrail
• Transpennine Express

Tickets can be bought from a variety of locations. Wherever you buy them, the same ticket should always cost the same amount, so there is no discount for using the machines for example. The following are the normal places to get tickets:

• Ticket offices.

  All ticket offices at stations can sell tickets from any station to any station, though if there is a travel centre at the station you will most likely be directed there if you are not buying tickets for immediate use.

• Ticket Machines.

  Most stations also have one or more ticket machines. These generally allow you to buy tickets to any station, though usually only from the station you are at, and usually only for immediate use. Some simpler machines only sell tickets to other local stations and popular destinations. At certain stations, the machines can also be used to collect tickets which you have ordered over the internet.

• Travel Agents.

  Certain travel agents are "Rail-appointed Travel Agents" (they will have the double-arrow logo displayed in their window. They can sell tickets, but may not be able to provide the information you need for more complex journeys, and may have difficulty issuing more exotic tickets such as Rail Rovers.

• On the train.

  If you get on the train at a station with no ticket office and no machine, or where the machine is not working or does not sell the ticket you require, you can buy your ticket from the conductor on the train. If there is a "Permit to Travel" machine at the station where you get on the train, you should get one of these for a reasonable amount of money. Do not try to buy your ticket on the train if there is a ticket office or working machine selling the ticket you want, since you will almost always have to buy a more expensive ticket, and will quite often have to pay a fine as well.

• Internet and Telesales.

  All the train companies listed below have a telesales line and either their own internet service or a link to an independent service. The most comprehensive online service is thetrainline, which will allow you to check times and book tickets for the whole country (although there is a charge for using credit cards). This is good for advance purchases, but does not sell the full range of season tickets and rail rovers, so if you do not need to book in advance you are just as well off buying from the station

If you are making any significant number of journeys on trains, you might want to consider buying one of the following railcards (full details of them all are available from the National Rail website (see above).

• Young Person's Railcard

  If you are under 26 or a full-time student you can get a Young Persons Railcard. This costs 20 pounds, and is available at all ticket offices (you just need to provide two passport photographs, and a passport or UK photocard drivers license, or an ISIC if you are a student over 26). The railcard gets you a third off most walkup fares. This means that you can save the cost of the railcard and more on a single long distance journeys. In addition, using the card will let you use savers on Virgin trains even when they would normally not be allowed. There are some restricitions - not all advance purchase tickets get a discount, and for journeys starting before 10:00 on Mondays to Fridays there is a minimum price of about 10 pounds (except in July and August, for obvious reasons).

• Network Railcard

  This is available to anyone, and costs 20 pounds. It is only valid on journeys within the southeast of England (although this stretches all the way to Exeter - pick up a leaflet in most stations in the area for a map), but offers a third off walkup fares in the area. The main restriction is that a 10 pound minimum fare applies all day Monday-Friday. It is available at all ticket offices in the area.

• Other railcards.

  If you are disabled, over 60, or travelling as part of a family

Advance Purchase Tickets.

The cheapest way to buy tickets is usually advance purchase. Whatever name these have, they work in much the same way - you buy the ticket for a specific train (or set of trains), and if you are not travelling on that train the ticket is not valid. The only flexibility is if a late-running or cancelled train means you miss your connection - if this occurs, ask at the station before you just jump onto another train. The ticket can sometimes be changed or cancelled, usually on payment of an admin charge of about 10 pounds.

Some tickets must be bought at least a week before you want to travel, but most are available until 1800 the day before. Even so, there only a few tickets available on each train, so you should book them as early as possible. Most of the cheapest tickets are simple singles with various names such as Virgin Value, although in some places you can only get return tickets.

Ticket prices and availability on the National Rail website (see above). Try to be flexible about the time you travel to get the cheapest fares - there are usually more tickets available in the late evening and middle of the day. You can either buy tickets online and collect them from ticket machines at major stations, or buy them in person from the train station.

Walkup Tickets.

For short journeys, or if you want to buy a ticket on the day, you can pick from a range of different walkup tickets:

• Open tickets. These are the most expensive tickets. The returns cost around 50% more than the singles. They can be used on any train. The singles must be used on the date on the ticket, but the returns are valid for a month.
• Savers. This is the cheapest walk-up fare on most longer distance journeys. Return tickets usually cost very little more than singles. The outward journey (or single journey) must be completed on the date on the ticket. The return portion is valid for a month, and if you want you can stop partway - for example returning from Edinburgh to London you can stop off for a week in York. Saver tickets cannot be used on most rush-hour trains to and from London. Supersavers are available for a few journeys - these are like Savers but cannot be used on Fridays or Saturdays in summer.
• Business Savers
These are basically Saver tickets, but can be used on the rush hour trains. The cost is somewhere between the saver and open fare.
• Day singles, Cheap day singles, Day returns and Cheap day returns. Only usually available on short journeys. Return tickets often cost very little more than singles. If these are available they usually the cheapest ticket.