Rail tickets in Britain, explained

No prices from us. Fares change by route, date and time. Use the National Rail journey planner (opens in new tab)²⁶ to see what applies to your journey. Railcard prices are quoted from the Railcard site on Oct 25, 2026.

Ticket types

National Rail's rule of thumb: the earlier you buy, the better the price, and the more a ticket is tied to a date and train, the cheaper it tends to be.¹

Children aged 5 to 15 get 50% off Advance, Off-Peak, Super Off-Peak and Anytime fares, according to National Rail.^2,3,4

Which ticket should I buy?

Our ticket helper asks a few questions and shows the rule that applies, quoted from the official pages above. It does not know the price of your journey, so always check the planner before you pay.

Split ticketing

Split ticketing means buying separate tickets for parts of one journey instead of a single through ticket, so that the total is sometimes lower. It is not guaranteed to be cheaper. One independent explainer sets out the main rule: the train must stop at the station where one ticket ends and the next begins, and you do not usually have to leave the train or change seats.⁷

We could not find a National Rail page on the subject, and the source above is a personal site that is not run by National Rail. Read the National Rail Conditions of Travel (linked from the buying a ticket page (opens in new tab)) before relying on it, and check how a split affects compensation with the train company.

Railcards

A Railcard is a discount card, digital or physical, valid for 1 or 3 years.⁸ Prices below are from Railcard.co.uk on Oct 25, 2026. All have conditions: most carry a minimum fare and time restrictions, so check them for your journey.

The full conditions for each, with links, are on the railcards page. National Rail also lists Regional Railcards with discounts of 1/3 to 50% in a specific area, including the Devon and Cornwall, Highland, Cambrian and Heart of Wales Line Railcards.⁹

Regional passes and BritRail

• Rover and Ranger tickets. Offered by many train companies for an area and a set number of days.⁶
• Wales. Transport for Wales says its Rovers and Rangers tickets let you get on and off its trains at your leisure, as unlimited travel passes. We read no pass price or the name of a specific pass, so check its tickets and fares page (opens in new tab).¹⁰ See our Wales guide.
• Scotland. ScotRail's site returned an access-denied error to our automated check, so we cannot say what its passes include or cost. Look at scotrail.co.uk (opens in new tab) directly. See our Edinburgh, Glasgow and Highlands guides.
• BritRail passes. BritRail sells passes for Great Britain, England, London Plus, the South West and South Wales, and Scotland (Spirit of Scotland), as consecutive-day or flexible passes. Only non-UK residents can buy one: anyone who has lived in the UK for the last six months or more is not eligible, and staff may ask for proof.^11,12 The passes cover National Rail trains, but not Eurostar, Northern Ireland, the London Underground, the Glasgow Subway, Manchester Metrolink or the Tyne and Wear Metro.^12,13 You can buy up to 11 months ahead; a paper pass must be validated at a ticket office before first use, and an unused pass can be refunded within 11 months minus a fee. Each adult or senior on a full BritRail, England or South West pass can take one child free.¹³ BritRail’s FAQ also notes you can get from Heathrow to King’s Cross on a pass without the Underground, by Elizabeth line to Farringdon and then Thameslink.¹³ We read no prices: check britrail.com (opens in new tab) and compare with buying tickets for your actual journeys.
• Interrail and Eurail Great Britain passes. Interrail (for European residents) sells a One Country Pass for Great Britain. Its conditions say you cannot buy a One Country Pass for the country you live in, Youth passes are for ages 12 to 27 and Senior passes for 60 and over, children aged 4 to 11 travel free on a Child Pass with an adult, and under-4s need no pass.¹⁴ Eurail sells the equivalent pass to people living outside Europe; its page redirected when we checked, so we state nothing from it: see eurail.com (opens in new tab).¹⁵
• Caledonian Sleeper Flexipass. A set of 10 single sleeper tickets valid for 12 months on all Caledonian Sleeper routes, according to the operator. See the sleepers section.¹⁶

Seat reservations

Some train companies offer free reservations, generally on longer journeys. You can normally reserve well in advance, often until 2 hours before the train (for early morning trains the last time is 16:00 the day before). Reservations are normally free if made when you buy your ticket.²¹

A reservation is compulsory with an Advance ticket, on overnight sleeper services, and on some bank holiday routes where you may only board with a reservation or boarding pass.²¹ You can also choose window or aisle, direction of travel and the Quiet Coach where the train offers them.²¹

Bikes and luggage

• Many operators allow bikes, and on some trains you must reserve a space before you travel. Check the policy of each train company on your journey.²²
• Folding bikes are welcome on all trains at no extra cost, with extra requirements on a few services such as a protective case on c2c and Stansted Express.²²
• Tandems are carried only on Avanti West Coast, Greater Anglia, LNER, and ScotRail (Glasgow to Oban only). Motorcycles, tricycles and bicycle trailers are not permitted.²²
• Luggage rules differ by operator. If you are disabled or have restricted mobility, staff can help with up to 3 items that one person can manage, if you ask through Passenger Assist or at the station.²³

Sleeper trains

• Caledonian Sleeper runs overnight from London Euston to Scotland, including Inverness and Fort William. For Inverness its page shows boarding at Euston from 20:30 and a timetable that runs 17 May to Dec 12, 2026.¹⁸ It accepts some railcards: the page says the 16-25, Senior and HM Forces Railcards give up to a third off Club Solo or Classic Solo rooms and seated products, while the 16-17 Saver and 26-30 Railcards give no discount on rooms or seated products.¹⁷
• Flexipass. The operator says a Flexipass is 10 single sleeper tickets, valid for 12 months on any Caledonian Sleeper route, with no refunds for unused tickets. It lists a Classic Flexipass at £2,500; check the page for the Club price and conditions.¹⁶
• Night Riviera Sleeper runs between London Paddington and Penzance.^19,20 See our Cornwall guide for the county. Reservations are compulsory on sleepers.²¹

Scenic railways

See our scenic railways itinerary. We have not read ticket rules for these lines, so check each railway's own site for tickets, times and whether a railcard or pass is accepted.

Great British Railways: what is changing

Great British Railways (GBR) is a planned state-owned company that will run most rail infrastructure and most passenger services in Great Britain, alongside devolved and open-access operators. Wikipedia (read Nov 1, 2026) says the Railways Bill to set it up was introduced in November 2025, cleared the House of Commons in June 2026 and is expected to receive royal assent in late 2026, with GBR expected to be operating within 12 months after that. You may already see “coming soon” GBR branding on some trains.²⁷

The ticket types and railcards on this page are as National Rail and Railcard.co.uk described them when we checked. If GBR changes how tickets are sold, these pages will change too, so check National Rail before you travel.

Help, disruption and refunds

• Passenger Assist lets you request help in advance for your whole journey, including help at the station, boarding, ramps and carrying up to 3 bags. Call 0800 022 3720 (option 1) or text 60083, or use the Passenger Assistance app or website.²³ Our accessibility statement covers this website; for step-free access in London see accessible London.
• Strikes and disruption. National Rail publishes travel updates and planned engineering work (opens in new tab). Check it, and your train company's own page, on the day you travel.²⁵
• Refunds and compensation. If your train is delayed or cancelled and you choose not to travel, an unused ticket can be refunded without fees by the original retailer. Compensation is claimed from the train company; schemes differ, and Delay Repay is a nationwide scheme.²⁴
• Between regions. Published fastest journey times for our region guides are on getting between regions, with a page for each route on train routes. Main stations: rail gateway stations.