British train conductor here! You can book your tickets through trainline and they generally cover all the different companies without having to sign up to all the individual ones. Generally luggage racks are available on long-distance trains or ones that go via an airport (eg Gatwick Express). Book trains in advance to save money. No trains on Xmas Day and very limited service on 26th December (boxing day). I'd avoid travelling on Sundays if possible as it's a reduced service and can be pretty slow. Here in the UK the correct term is 'railway station' not 'rail station' or 'train station', but most people use the latter. Similar to calling the conductor a 'trainman' or 'ticketman' 😅 If you have your ticket on a mobile device, make sure it's charged up. Not all trains have chargers. Use the toilets in the stations rather than trains if possible as train toilets can get pretty gnarly. Feet on the seats is annoying. You do have quiet zones on some trains. If you're going to do a lot of travelling by train in the UK it might be worth looking at a BritPass. One thing I'd add is to not leave it to the last minute to get on the train. The doors close 30 seconds before the time of departure, and the later you get there, the less chance you have of finding a seat, and the more likely you'll be in the busiest carriage
@@yaowsers77 from google: You can use Oyster or contactless on the Overground. There are Oyster readers at both Euston and Watford Junction. You will need to purchase a ticket to use London North Western trains. They don't accept Oyster or contactless.
Train Driver here. When asking information about the train you wish to catch, tell us the ACTUAL station you want. I had an American gentleman getting on at Brockenhurst, ask if my train went to Waterloo, I replied "Yes it does". We got to Waterloo & he then barrated me as the train didn't stop at Clapham Junction! The train I was working was not booked to stop at Clapham Junction! If he had said Clapham before boarding, I'd have been able to tell him to change at Woking for a connecting service to Clapham Junction.
@@no_soy_rubio So Relatable, I take trains alot cause I love them! And Regional trains espically operators like, Northern they have loads of stops/ You could be on trains for 4 hours here even on Express trains there tends to be quite a few stops, or well at least from my experince!
I honestly love the fact you put a shot of London Euston Station when talking about the rush to platforms. London Euston is famous for people rushing for the train when the platform is announced. So much so that they now have signs that says "don't rush, everyone wants to get home in one piece" One tip I'd give is that not every train in the UK has the ability to charge mobiles/cell phones. So definitely have a power bank to charge your phone en route especially if you have your ticket on your phone, they don't accept that you have no battery as an excuse for not being able to show your ticket.
Great tips....an American here and I rode trains all across Scotland. I did look like a lost confused tourist my first day! But the railway station crew was always helpful and kind, even when it was early and I was frazzled, jetlagged and uncaffeinated. And it was true about the tiny villages and just the front carriages fitting on the platform.
When my family and I took a train ride from Northern Ireland to the Republic of Ireland last summer, we enjoyed the ride and the train service was excellent.
The traditional term is "railway station", not "rail station". Never heard that. With the increasing Americanisation of British English, a lot of people now say "train station". Both will be understood.
One thing I don't think Mark covered (unless I missed it) was that you can get a group discount on train tickets. I travelled with a party of 4 and the window ticket agents were very helpful in getting us the discounted group rates rather then paying 4 individual rates. In our case, one person did have to pay for all 4 group rate tickets (your party can pay back the purchaser). I also discovered the group discount taking the Heathrow Express, but was travelling alone. It might be worthwhile if arriving at LHR and going into the city as a group. Another don't: Dont expect your reserved seat to be unoccupied. You may have to ask the occupier to move.
Just a heads up about the first tip, you can buy tickets for ANY train operator using one train company's website, as it is them who sell the tickets and not National Rail. For example, if you have the Northern app or are using the Northern website, you aren't just limited to buying tickets on Northern trains. Rather, you can buy any train ticket with that one app, such as London to Brighton on Thameslink which have nothing to do with Northern whatsoever.
Yes! I bought most of my tickets (except the overnight Calendonia Sleeper) through LNER - for both LNER and other lines. Good to have all in one place.
I noticed that for a trip I am taking in February. The Avanti west coast site also listed LNWR, WMR and TfW trains as well, and their site isn't the best at relaying that, you could book a ticket thinking you're going to hop on an express Pendolino and then realize at the last minute that nope, you're in cattle class on a 350 doing stopping service all the way up to Crewe or Manchester.
For the Caledonian Sleeper between Scotland and London the bookings are available 12 months in advance - unlike for other companies where you can only do it 12 weeks in advance.
Another brilliant video from Wolter. Re: Railcards, if you buy a ticket online, say, using a Railcard, *always* ensure you take your railcard on the actual train journey because the "Revenue Protection" staff or ticket checkers are quite likely to ask to see that. And you could get a ££ hit if you don't have it with you
@@aaronhurst4379 I’ve definitely heard it used, railway station seems more common with older people, and often how it’s written on signage, but train station is by far the most common spoken term!
Lived in the UK my whole life and I’ve never heard anyone use the term “rail station”, I’ve always called it a train station but also hear people call it a railway station.
I found it helpful to check the news to see if there would be an "industrial action" (aka strike) on my day of travel, so I could make alternate plans if I needed to. If you're taking the train the day after a strike day, expect for them to have run out of some food items and be ready to have a second or third choice of meal if you're in first class. It never hurts to pick up some snacks before you board.
I really appreciate you discussing etiquette, ranging from volume of voice to patience and consideration, which is so rare lately. Thank you for kicking ass :)
A good thing to note also is that alternative to trains can be coaches, eg National Express/Megabus, worth checking these as well as trains as they can be a fraction of the price while not being too much slower depending on the route. Especially coming to/from London, there are buses going to every major town/city for £15 or less
I think that the coaches are alright, but I noticed that the train between London and York is definitely faster than the coach between London and York. But the coach is definitely cheaper if you want to save money
As an English person, I can confirm that there is a lot of good advice in this video! Another don't - don't expect to be able to travel across London on your train. For many journeys that are routed through England's capital, you'll need to get off at a terminus station then travel across the city by other means (often via the Underground railway network, known as the "Tube") to another terminus. There are quite a few termini in London!
To add to this, if your ticket is valid on the underground too, you'll see a wee cross on it, iirc beside the from destination. Looks sorta like this ✝️
Two things to remember about ticket pricing (especially when doing advance purchase), you may be offered a discounted ticket only available on the specific train you have a reservation for (companies operating express long-distance trains include free reservations) or what is called an 'anytime ticket' valid on any train on that route at a higher price, and there can also be 'split ticketing' which can be multiple tickets for one journey but at a further saving (but again restricted to the trains you chose at the time of booking). If you have accessibility issues, you can contact the train operator in advance to book assistance at the stations you are travelling from/to.
Railway Station is the normally used term. Another 'do not' is to forget to check the seat status and accidently sit in a reserved seat (it is very possible that it could be reserved from the next station meaning that you will have to move again when the train arrives at that station).
For local trains, you don't save much (if any) by buying in advance. It's the long distance journeys where there are big savings to be made. You can buy a physical ticket at the ticket office at most stations, and they will do advance bookings for you, too. There are almost no trains on Boxing Day (26th December) as well as Christmas Day.
when we went to the UK, we got a britrail pass, which is purchased by the day, either consecutive or nonconsecutive days. if you're planning to do a lot of train travel, it's worth looking into - and it also covers the Heathrow express from Paddington station. note that it is only available to people who aren't resident in the UK. also note you still have to sign up for tickets, for each trip - but the pass pays for them.
You can use trainline and that avoid having to book tickets from different companies website. Alternatively buying the tickets from a station (even if that is months in advance) will just give you the correct tickets.
We Brits don't 'ride' by train, we go on the train or travel by train. Some may take the train, but I think that's an Americanism. And I've always called it the railway station.
2:20 One exception - the Caledonian Sleeper . Booking window for that is an entire year in advance but personally most I've done it is probably around 2 months. They need it as the seats for the portion heading for Inverness are already sold out! can usually
I'd say this is all sound advice - although the thing about us not saying "train station" is inaccurate. We absolutely do say "train station", you'll also hear "railway station" sometimes, but I've never heard just "rail station" in my life.
Yes it is. It's my county town and a fascinating place to visit. The Roman remains and those from the middle ages are very interesting. Please note the town hall clock tower has only three clocks as according to the saying, the people of Chester won't give the Welsh the time of day, so there is no clock facing Wales.
Depending on how much you are going to travel and where, you might find a ranger or rover ticket good value. Day ranger tickets give unlimited travel (usually after 09:00 or 09:30 on weekdays) in a specified area. I often use the Cheshire Day Ranger, which covers well outside Cheshire, but there are others. Rovers are usually for a longer period, or 4 days out of 8 etc. These cover various areas. There are also tickets like the Greater Manchester Wayfarer, which offer rail, bus and tram travel for a day in a specified area.
Unless I missed it, you didn't mention Britrail passes (not the same as a Railcard). I always get a 15-day one when I go over, and save hundreds of dollars each time. Important tip: it's not available for UK residents, so you need to buy it before you leave your home country. Although you can make a free reservation if you know when you'll be travelling, you also have the option to hop on at the last minute for no extra charge and hope there's a seat available.
Britrail was great when I went. Just make sure to check with the ticketing agents to see if you can reserve seats. They’ll let you know if the service isn’t busy enough to require reserving seats but often the trains fill up and you may end up needing to stand.
A good tip is to understand that it is possible to pre-book seats on trains and to always check the digital display above the seat to make sure your seat has not been pre-booked as you will be asked to move and if it is a busy train that can be devastating. Also nobody calls it a rail station. We call it a train station.
on our trip, the displays were malfunctioning, and since one poor fellow didn't bother reading the seat assignment on his ticket, he was asked to move multiple times.
Some reservations are for part of the trains journey so if you are getting off before the reservation starts take the seat. Even if you are on after the reservation is going to be taken you may only have to move once if it is latter in the journey.
Many years ago, I had to travel from York to a town in Wales on a Sunday, which involved taking at least three trains. On the phone, a very patient rail agent described each of the transfers so clearly that I had no trouble at all, and all the trains were on time! I was impressed.
No don't do that. Trainline charges a commission on top of the fare. Buy from a train operating company, even if it isn't the one you're travelling on. Better still, use a service which splits the fare. There are a huge number of different ways to best enjoy your train journeys in Britain, whilst Wolter's advice is useful, it is far from comprehensive. If you want to find out more, I'd recommend you look read up the man in seat 61 for details.
What@@davidbennetts616 even if you're hear on a two-week break from the USA? It's far better to have all the stuff in the same place and carry the tiny extra charge than risk a considerable fine and criminal sanction for not having everything to hand.
Watch your luggage at stops. My friend had her large bag taken from the end luggage rack of the carriage a while back. I use a flexible bike lock to fasten my bags to the rack so I can rest easy.
That's ok as long as your luggage isn't blocking someone else's access to their bags. I nearly missed my stop a while back because I had to empty everyone else's bags off the rack to get at mine (and then replace them, obviously). If someone had employed a lock I'd have ben stuffed!
London Stansted Airport: Within the London area you can travel by swiping your bank card or your London Transport Oyster card. These options do not apply to Stanstead airport. Even though you can get through the barriers at London Liverpool street or Tottenham Hale (Victoria line) with the card mentioned before, These forms of payment are only available as far as Broxbourne (about 15 miles up the line). You will find you have no valid ticket at Stansted Airport and they have permanent revenue staff at the airport waiting to hand out expensive fines.
0:45 You can book tickets from anywhere to anywhere through National Rail Enquiries without needing to sign up to any number of different companies' apps
Hearing impaired advice: Don't be shy to ask for help. The PA is pretty useless in a lot of places because of the echo. Stick around the entrances to the platform, let a staff member know that you can't hear the announcements. When you're on the train, conductors are passing through, let them know where you're getting off (or your seatmate if you've struck up a conversation). Everyone is so helpful. Memorize the stop BEFORE yours so you can be ready when you pull out of the one before it. If you're with a friend, get two aisle seats where one is facing forward and one backwards. So you're facing each other across the aisle rather than side by side. Good for sign language.
Canadian tourist here: If you're visiting the UK from another country, don't forget to look online from your home country, for rail pass deals in the UK. There are a number of passes on offer from various websites (I used BritRail on my first visit) but they are only available to people outside of the UK. Some sites are geo-restricted so you can't use them from inside the UK, others need you to have a valid non-UK mailing address where they will send your pass. The deals can be very good, so look for them before you travel.
Most trains leave at the EXACT time shown..so a 7.39 train will actually start moving at 7.38 once the doors are closed. So get settled in early. It's not worth waiting at a Costa line cuz the barriers will close well before departure.
Another good thing to note is that on Sundays and Bank (public) holidays there's a much smaller schedule with a lot less wiggle room if you miss a connection or your train is late so I'd advise you to try not to plan any long journeys on these days!
In general, "station" without qualification is always a railway station. If you ask for directions to the station it means you want to catch a train. For other modes of transport, "bus station" and "coach station" are always qualified as such. If you say "train station", everyone will understand you, but it is unnecessary. "Railway station" is a formal term that nobody ever uses in normal conversation.
In the past buying a train ticket was a simple procedure and prices were standardised. Since privatisation the system is very confusing, tickets costing different amounts for the same destinations, fewer ticket offices, and different companies charging different amounts. Different costs for different times of day travelling, absolutely terrible, I now dread buying a ticket because every time I do, I meet someone else on the train who's paid less for it!!! I am saying this as a British person who's lived here most of my life, by the way! I have never bought an electronic train ticket because I have seen so many people being told that these are not valid when on the train or others whose phones haven't opened up and they have ended up without proof they had a ticket. I only get the old fashioned paper kind for this reason. We are ashamed that trains in the UK are such a mess. Bring back British Rail! Consider travelling by coach, the cost is a lot less than on the train (sometimes half as much or even less!). But again beware that the booking offices are closing and much of booking is now done either on line or by telephone. Again with wretched electronic tickets taking over from paper ones. At least coaches are clean and prices less confusing. You would see far more of the UK by travelling by coach but it takes longer to travel that way. Our coach stations are not usually like the Greyhound stations, i.e. they are usually in safe places. National Coaches is the main company but there are other bus companies too which operate regular services. (These differ of course from coach companies providing all inclusive tours.)
At the moment in Scotland there is no peak fare surcharge, all prices are the same with Scotrail no matter when you travel. They do not have that in England or Wales I think.
If you are planning to do a few trips check to see if there is a rail-rover ticket available. These can be a day or 4 out of 8 or 7 days. You can get ones that cover an area or the whole country.
Apart from in the bigger centres, many trains are scheduled to stop for 30 seconds, so be prepared to hop off when the train stops. A Canadian friend at the start of a walking holiday got off the train in Rhyl but the train set off again while her three companions were still aboard. A member of the station staff told her not to worry, they would be back in 19 minutes on the train from Abergele. They were and that time they got off promptly!
Just to point out that here in the UK you can buy *any* available ticket through *any* companies website (Except Eurostar) and the price won't vary across operators for the same ticket. All companies are required to offer access to ticketing across the whole system, which means that you only need to open one account with your preferred company and can buy any companys tickets through it. This means, for example, you can buy tickets for South Western Railway services using your existing Avanti West Coast account and website/app, and you don't need to open a new account with SWR. 😇 You don't have to have your ticket immediately in hand during the journey, but you *must* be able to present it when requested by a Guard (Conductor) or other authorised person. Keeping it in your purse or wallet is probably safest, and nobody will mind if it takes a moment for you to get it out to show it to the Guard. That said; If you _know_ you'll need your ticket soon (e.g: You can see the Guard checking tickets near you, or you're approaching the station barriers) getting it out and at the ready is considered good form to reduce delays. 👍 Penalty Fares: Be advised that on most routes - If you travel without a valid ticket, or travel with a ticket that's not valid for the train you're using (Or has been lost) - You may be subject to a *Penalty Fare* which can be up to £100,- (Less if paid within 14 days) or twice the cost of the full fare to the next station being called at, whichever is the higher. If in doubt; The easiest way to make sure your ticket is valid is to ask the Guard before boarding if this is possible, or seek out and ask staff on the train promptly if you're uncertain after boarding. Booking tickets: If you order tickets online or through an app, you'll normally be offered the choice of mobile or paper tickets. If you choose paper tickets you might need to specify which station you'll collect them from, you'll need the *same payment card you used to buy the tickets,* and the collection reference that will be shown to you after purchase and will normally be e-mailed to you to pick them up. You collect tickets from any self-service ticket machine that is in working order, using the _„Collect pre-paid tickets“_ option. Note that if you choose mobile tickets, your device *must* have sufficient battery available to last the duration of the journey as mobile tickets are only valid if they can be correctly displayed on your device. If your battery doesn't last long or you use a lot of energy-heavy apps, consider choosing a paper ticket to avoid difficulties. Railcards: These are normally available in one and three year versions for young persons, disabled, Veterans and couples, but I suspect there's also a tourists version which is aimed at visitors from overseas which is issued for 2-4 week periods. All railcards give a 33% discount on many fares (There are different restrictions/availability depending on the railcard type) and more details and applications can be made at any staffed UK ticket office. 🧑💼
Ahh, I'm getting homesick - thanks for a great report, Mark! Couple of things to add: Firstly, the Euston Stampede is the closest you'll get to Pamplona bull run, if you've a taste for energetic sports - marvellous, invigorating, great esprit du corps - but expect no mercy if you're in anything other than tip top athletic form. Secondly, oiks tend not to respect seat reservations. If you find somebody sitting in yours, their refusal to move will only last as long as it takes you to move their bag(s) elsewhere in the carriage, or onto the platform. Thirdly, if you're aged between 30 and 60, expect to be the victim of age discrimination. Everyone outside this group is eligible to purchase national railcards, due to their age. They'll then enjoy significant discounts, i.e. subsidised fares. Guess who provides some of that subsidy?! Incredible that such practices have continued in the UK for this long. Keep this in mind, if the bag you're ejecting belongs to a younger or older person! :P Finally - and as a lifelong train lover it galls me to say this - but don't overlook coaches. Fares and dependability have both moved in horrible directions thanks to labor unions and governmental incompetence; meanwhile the truly private sector provides vastly more affordable, reliable services on the UK's road network. National Express are the main operator but have several very good competitors. Safe travels! :)
Don’t forget delay repay, if your train is late or delayed you’re entitled to some or all of your money back. You can book tickets from any train operator for any other train operator, most allow you to add tickets to Apple/Google Wallets. Keep you phone charged. Staff in Ticket offices at train stations will always find you best deal on tickets for your route. Assisted boarding needs to be booked in advance where possible. For Intercity services especially on the East Coast, there are Open Access train companies which are quite often a lot cheaper like Lumo, Grand Central and Hull Trains. Buses are also very cheap at the moment, £2 fares anywhere on regional bus routes. Sheffield, Manchester, Nottingham, Edinburgh, West Midlands, Blackpool -& South London all have trams. Newcastle, Sunderland, Glasgow, Liverpool & London all have metro/underground rapid transit systems. Watch out for trains on South coast, some routes have trains that split part way through the journey, make sure you’re in the correct part of the train.
Online rail ticket agents (eg Trainline and others) sell advance single tickets. Only buy these if you are sure the ticket is for the exact journey you want to take: Catching any other train is not an option. I would be wary if your journey involves changing trains: If the first train is late, you may miss the connection and have to buy another ticket for the second leg to your journey. If you are going out and returning on the same day especially at weekends it is probably cheaper to buy a super off peak day return. This is probably the same price as a one way ticket, even cheaper if you have a rail card. In London and the Southeast of England you can buy a "Network card" for £30. This gives you and up to four passengers 25% off off-peak tickets in the area about 70 or 80 miles from London but has a minimum fare on Monday-Friday. There is no minimum fare at public holidays and weekends. This is good for trips to eg Cambridge, Oxford, Brighton, Portsmouth, Salisbury.
@@michaelz.7140 On split save tickets you generally have 2 tickets one for each leg. If the ticket is bought from a 3rd party (not the train company running the train) they do not.
@@Brrunoc1 ok on split save tickets with 2 different companies yes. but i had a ticket with a change of trains and it was one ticket. LNER from London to Edinburgh and then Scotrail from Edinburgh to Glasgow
When booking in advance, check the first-class ticket prices, as deals can be found, especially when booking 30 to 90 days in advance (except during holiday periods or on very busy routes). First class tickets usually gives you free tea, coffee, bottles of water and biscuits plus more comfortable seats.
I have back a return ticket for East Midlands trains on the Transport For Wales website, and downloaded it to the Transport For Wales app I have on my phone. I decided to do this, so that I could get Air Miles with British Airways. Also, when I have booked train tickets online, I have always been given the option to collect my tickets at the station from the ticket mechine, or to have them on my phone, or posted out to me. When I am deciding to to get the 2 together rail card, to find out if it is worth getting it, is to divid the fare by 3. To work out what one third of the fare is, as that is how much you save with that railcard. If I know I am doing a few trips on the train with the same person, I add the one third of the fare for all train trips together, to see if the savings add up to £15 or more for each person. To know if I am saving money, as rail cards cost £30 for the year or £70 for 3 years. I have seen sales on rail cards from time to time, that could mean that you can get it cheaper. Also Mark, do you have a video that looks at the different types of Rail Cards you can get in Britain? Also, do you know about Sail & Rail tickets? Which can be cheaper then buying a train ticket and ferry ticket, if you are traveling by ferry to Ireland or Neathlands, and taken the train to the ferry port, from any where in Britain. I don't know if any other ferry companies do the Rail & Sail tickets apart from Stena Line and Irish Ferries.
My biggest tip to any visitors here in the UK is Don't expect to pay a reasonable price for a train journey. You will get absolutely ripped off. Also don't expect to actually be able to get the train. They will either all be on strike, there will a replacement rail service due to engineering work, "cancelled due to inclement weather", or just "cancelled due to staff shortages"
Don’t travel (weekday) between the hours of 7 and 9 am and 4 and 6 pm unless you want to be packed on a train like a tin of sardines. Rush Hour traffic, it’s when people go to work. Saturday (if you time it wrong) you might find your in the presence of a bunch of travelling football fans. Do not engage (ie tell them to be quiet) if you are not willing to take banter or at worse threatening behaviour. Do not have on display the team rivals or the team they are playing that day football shirt.
No one in the UK calls it a rail station. Train Line app will get around head ache of multi apps, but you may miss out on cheap advance fares for mainline intercity routes
Good point at 09:59: definitely DON’T take a “Taxi” ride from anyone offering a “Taxi” just inside the station: the reason being these will almost certainly be uninsured, unlicensed “Taxis” who will rip you off big-time…definitely go to the taxi rank just outside the station… It’s rare for this to happen if you’re in a station of a large town, but it is quite common in some of the major cities, especially the major London stations…(e.g Paddington, Marylebone, Euston, Waterloo etc)
Best of all for any Americans or anyone from overseas normally used to flying rather than trains, don't worry about having to take your shoes off to go through security because you don't have to which is one of the best things about the train over flying. Oh and don't worry about having to drop off your luggage or wait at a carousel to collect it on arrival because you just take it on board with you and place it in the luggage racks either at the ends of the carriages or overhead (for smaller bags).
Awesome tips Mark! Specially regarding buying tickets. I vem though I’m experience travel I took an advice from a friend and waited to buy the tickets. When I got to buy it was so expensive that I decided to change the cities I would be visiting!
Nice tips and as a Brit make sense. One little thing. I'm pretty sure the English would say railway station, not rail station. Train station is used too. There are also terms that would be odd to Americans. On england trains "set down" at station, not stop. You "alight" from the train. In the country some station platforms are still referred to as Up and Down. Up is towards London and Down away from London. Subway is an underpass to reach the platforms. Trains stop on platforms not tracks. And trains have carriages, not cars.
Pedantic comment: in order for a train to 'set down' it has to 'stop' first. It's not either/or. And trains stop *at* platforms, not on them! (American and continental practice numbers the tracks on which trains run; British custom is to say 'platform' which strictly refers to platform face (an island platform will have two numbers).
@@infanfexpensive? Yes. There's no equivalent of a €49 Deutschland-Ticket and capacity is very limited so the government is hiking prices. Unreliable? No, except in certain areas. People in the UK assume that the grass is always greener. It might be greener in Switzerland but they have no idea how bad DB's ICEs are.
With regards to travelling on weekends, it may be best to avoid travelling on those days because you may end up having to go on a bus (rail replacement bus RRB) and take longer. At least journey planners should tell you that this journey will involve a bus. In some occasions, you may be able to travel on an alternative route or the train will get diverted. So the first thing is see if it you can avoid the RRB by taking either a different route or the same train but diverted. You may have to split tickets in this case. So to go from London (Liverpool Street/Kings Cross/St Pancras) to Norwich or Ipswich, you may have to buy a London to Cambridge ticket, followed by a Cambridge to Norwich/Ipswich one. My advice is taking the RRB is the last option (but its your choice, this is what I do). And delay repay - if you get delayed by at least 15 minutes, you may be able to claim from the company you travelled with, or that caused the delay. This is not do be confused with a refund, where you get the ticket price back because of a minimum 15 min delay or cancellation .
Great run down of a lot of the basics here- but a couple of things to add. You did show briefly the readout above some seats which stated whether they were available or pre-booked by someone. PLEASE take note of these to save embrarassment later when someone hoves up after you've settled in to demand their pre booked seat. It's one of the times Brits can become quite assertive! On some trains they don't have these displays, but attach cardboard tickets to a bracket in the top of the seat. Again take note! It may be that the seat is only booked for part of the journey, in which case you are free to take it outside that segment (details are on the cardboard marker or the electronic display). The other addition is that if accessibility is an issue for you, you can book 'Passenger Assist' up to 24 hours before you travel. (You can ask for it on arrival, but it may not be available if they are short staffed). Someone will meet you, take you to the train, help you with luggage, and put down a ramp if you need one to board the train. They then call ahead to your destination station. to ensure you are collected from the train.
Mark, as someone who is so well traveled, it's surprising that you don't know about Trainline. You can literally book almost any route in the UK using the app, and it also works in many countries on the continent. No need to use company websites, and the prices are almost identical to what the companies charge directly.
Buy snacks and drinks before you get inside the ticket barrier in stations. It's a captive market and you'll easily pay 60-70% more. You can often pick cheap meal deals up in the convenience stores nearby or on the concourses before you go through the barrier with a main, a snack and a drink for less than £5.
What I really have to say: the staff at the stations is fantastic! As I was travelling with paper Interrail tickets I always needed a member of staff to get through the ticket barriers. (The normal Interrails now have QR-codes). Everyone was extremely helpfull. Also in the trains, on the smaller lines there are sometimes trains with two destinations, before they separate the trains, the staff makes sure that everyone is in the correct part of the train by asking every passenger. So another Don't: don't be afraid of using the UK train services.
It's also worth checking out the prices for a 1st Class ticket. If purchased in advance, and particularly for "Off Peak" trains, 1st Class tickets can be very good value for money. Especially as on most (but not all) longer distance trains you may be entitled to complimentary Beverages & Snacks. You can make a great saving just by not having to pay for your coffee's & snacks on a long journey!
AS mentioned in the video .... there are no trains running on Christmas Day ... however, in addition to this, most trains don't run the following day (26th December/Boxing Day) either. There are a few exceptions, notably the London Underground, but in general things don't return to anything approaching "normal" until 27th December.
Fun fact about Chester. The majority of Chester FC's stadium is in Wales, the Anglo-welsh border goes through the car park. I think this is really cool
Be warned that in some of the smaller stations the shop or cafe can close really early and sometimes when the weather is freezing there is no waiting room!!! This can make travelling a not so fun experience sometimes!!! So be prepared👍👍
The difference in price booking early is because your ticket is valid for a certain train, like a specific time, called 'advance ticket'. Whereas buying on the day it’s just a off-peak single for example but you can take any train you like apart from rush hour
First don't: Don't use them because they're ruinously expensive. Second don't: Don't use them anywhere north of Greater London as they get progressively shitter.
I've lived in the UK for my whole life and never heard it being called a 'rail station', I have heard 'railway station' but I think most people use 'train station'. Other than that this is a great video.
Also be aware that engineering work takes place at weekends especially Saturday night into Sunday. Trains may be replaced by buses or diverted taking extra time. If you are from the US then consider a “Britrail” pass (only for non Uk and EU citizens, they have a different one) This covers every train, peak or off peaks, just remember to make seat reservations for long distances or the overnight sleeper trains
Beware if travelling by rail in wales expect delays cancellations galore and be prepared to stand especially on trains to Manchester from south Wales usually 2 coaches so usually rammed full services in the Cardiff area are usually very overcrowded and with plenty of delays and cancellations cancellations
If you want to travel back in time, don't forget we have a ton of preserved railways here from the steam age, even with Victorian and Edwardian locos. Some are accessible from the main network and many have appeared in feature films and TV. Each has its own website.
The Trainline app is really useful in finding the cheapest tickets, especially if travelling cross-country (and with different train operating companies)
Also, young people/students are super-smart at getting the cheapest tickets. Because often they don't own a car & are much more reliant, having a Student or Young Person's railcard. And being phone-app savvy. So talk to the "yoof" 🙂
A tip when booking in advance: always read the small print on the ticket as it may say "valid only on East Midlands Railway", as I got caught out by that, as it was not obvious, and also don't think older steam trains stop everywhere here,, as they are only for special tours, not normal train rides.
Great tips, as always. Something i do on trains here is if you are travelling with a connecting train make sure you leave enough time as some connections are short and although long delays are not common these days in my experience, some shorter delays definitely occur and i missed connections before. Definitely book early where possible as same day prices are expensive, more than driving especially if there is more than one person so thats biggest way to save. Trainline app should offer different companies tickets. Seems a few comments about “rail station”, dont worry in the Uk we will still know what you mean.
Loved the fact that you didn’t mention the heritage railways and I’ve lived in Britain all my life here and never herd rail station only train station station and railway station
All the train companies offer tickets for every other service so you don't have to go to the company you are travelling with. My favourite (website service at least) is Cross-country but they tend to send you PDFs for your phone by email. It is also very important to check that you know exactly what time you are booking for the advance fares as most of them are specifc to a certain service.
It’s definitely worth the loss of flexibility to book train tickets well in advance. You have to travel on those specific trains, but I went to Cambridge last year for around £20 round trip and York several years ago for about £30.
British train conductor here! You can book your tickets through trainline and they generally cover all the different companies without having to sign up to all the individual ones. Generally luggage racks are available on long-distance trains or ones that go via an airport (eg Gatwick Express). Book trains in advance to save money. No trains on Xmas Day and very limited service on 26th December (boxing day). I'd avoid travelling on Sundays if possible as it's a reduced service and can be pretty slow. Here in the UK the correct term is 'railway station' not 'rail station' or 'train station', but most people use the latter. Similar to calling the conductor a 'trainman' or 'ticketman' 😅 If you have your ticket on a mobile device, make sure it's charged up. Not all trains have chargers. Use the toilets in the stations rather than trains if possible as train toilets can get pretty gnarly. Feet on the seats is annoying. You do have quiet zones on some trains. If you're going to do a lot of travelling by train in the UK it might be worth looking at a BritPass. One thing I'd add is to not leave it to the last minute to get on the train. The doors close 30 seconds before the time of departure, and the later you get there, the less chance you have of finding a seat, and the more likely you'll be in the busiest carriage
Thankyou any help appreciated friend.
WOW! Real world insight. The best kind. Cheers.
i don't suppose you know if i can just tap in/tap out for a trip from euston station to watford? i'm going to the harry potter studio tour. thank you!
@@yaowsers77 from google: You can use Oyster or contactless on the Overground. There are Oyster readers at both Euston and Watford Junction. You will need to purchase a ticket to use London North Western trains. They don't accept Oyster or contactless.
@@Whoeverwhateverwhenever the services I work on don't have quiet zones so I can't answer that question I'm afraid
Brit here. We definitely do call it a train station, or railway station, but I've never heard "rail station".
Yes - I railway station, not rail station. Train station can be heard but it’s a terrible Americanism!
@@AlasdairMacCaluim Is it Americanism? You go to the station to get on a train. It’s logical.
Yep, railway station. But if anyone called it a train station it would be understood.
@@mylerwilson4879 That’s maybe the case but traditionally it was always Railway Station and train station is quite a recent import.
@@AlasdairMacCaluim I’m calling it train station, and Americans don’t even have trains
Train Driver here. When asking information about the train you wish to catch, tell us the ACTUAL station you want. I had an American gentleman getting on at Brockenhurst, ask if my train went to Waterloo, I replied "Yes it does". We got to Waterloo & he then barrated me as the train didn't stop at Clapham Junction! The train I was working was not booked to stop at Clapham Junction! If he had said Clapham before boarding, I'd have been able to tell him to change at Woking for a connecting service to Clapham Junction.
Best is 'where does this train go'
There's 33 stops sir, would you like me to list them all?
This goes for buses too
@@no_soy_rubio So Relatable, I take trains alot cause I love them! And Regional trains espically operators like, Northern they have loads of stops/ You could be on trains for 4 hours here even on Express trains there tends to be quite a few stops, or well at least from my experince!
5:34 I’ve lived in England my entire life and I have never heard it called a rail station - we call it a train station or a railway station
I honestly love the fact you put a shot of London Euston Station when talking about the rush to platforms. London Euston is famous for people rushing for the train when the platform is announced. So much so that they now have signs that says "don't rush, everyone wants to get home in one piece"
One tip I'd give is that not every train in the UK has the ability to charge mobiles/cell phones. So definitely have a power bank to charge your phone en route especially if you have your ticket on your phone, they don't accept that you have no battery as an excuse for not being able to show your ticket.
Great tips....an American here and I rode trains all across Scotland. I did look like a lost confused tourist my first day! But the railway station crew was always helpful and kind, even when it was early and I was frazzled, jetlagged and uncaffeinated. And it was true about the tiny villages and just the front carriages fitting on the platform.
When my family and I took a train ride from Northern Ireland to the Republic of Ireland last summer, we enjoyed the ride and the train service was excellent.
The traditional term is "railway station", not "rail station". Never heard that.
With the increasing Americanisation of British English, a lot of people now say "train station".
Both will be understood.
Wasn't it always called a train station?
@@andrewclark8630 No, not in Britain. It was called a railway station.
No @@andrewclark8630that's an Americanism.
@@davidj7201 Ok, obviously a very old one then!
Give it a rest about “Americanisms,” as if it something so negative. It comes off as snarky and condescending.
Advice when having a coffee in a London railway station. People WILL bump into you! Find a seat or a quiet corner to drink it safely.
One thing I don't think Mark covered (unless I missed it) was that you can get a group discount on train tickets. I travelled with a party of 4 and the window ticket agents were very helpful in getting us the discounted group rates rather then paying 4 individual rates. In our case, one person did have to pay for all 4 group rate tickets (your party can pay back the purchaser). I also discovered the group discount taking the Heathrow Express, but was travelling alone. It might be worthwhile if arriving at LHR and going into the city as a group.
Another don't: Dont expect your reserved seat to be unoccupied. You may have to ask the occupier to move.
I did not. Thanks for the add!
Just a heads up about the first tip, you can buy tickets for ANY train operator using one train company's website, as it is them who sell the tickets and not National Rail. For example, if you have the Northern app or are using the Northern website, you aren't just limited to buying tickets on Northern trains. Rather, you can buy any train ticket with that one app, such as London to Brighton on Thameslink which have nothing to do with Northern whatsoever.
Yes! I bought most of my tickets (except the overnight Calendonia Sleeper) through LNER - for both LNER and other lines. Good to have all in one place.
I noticed that for a trip I am taking in February. The Avanti west coast site also listed LNWR, WMR and TfW trains as well, and their site isn't the best at relaying that, you could book a ticket thinking you're going to hop on an express Pendolino and then realize at the last minute that nope, you're in cattle class on a 350 doing stopping service all the way up to Crewe or Manchester.
I went from Brussels to Edinburgh by Train (2 trains) it was absolutely beautiful.
How long did it take?
@@OscarOSullivan 2 hours by Eurostar from Brussels to London then 5 hours from London Kings Cross station to Edinburgh.
@@priscilabee583 And in London the station for the train from Brussels is just across the road from the station for the train to Edinburgh.
For the Caledonian Sleeper between Scotland and London the bookings are available 12 months in advance - unlike for other companies where you can only do it 12 weeks in advance.
Another brilliant video from Wolter. Re: Railcards, if you buy a ticket online, say, using a Railcard, *always* ensure you take your railcard on the actual train journey because the "Revenue Protection" staff or ticket checkers are quite likely to ask to see that. And you could get a ££ hit if you don't have it with you
The railway/train station point was incorrect, both terms are used.
Never heard anyone say 'rail station' in my life
@@aaronhurst4379 I’ve definitely heard it used, railway station seems more common with older people, and often how it’s written on signage, but train station is by far the most common spoken term!
Pedantic purists are the only ones who baulk at 'train station'.
Lived in the UK my whole life and I’ve never heard anyone use the term “rail station”, I’ve always called it a train station but also hear people call it a railway station.
I found it helpful to check the news to see if there would be an "industrial action" (aka strike) on my day of travel, so I could make alternate plans if I needed to. If you're taking the train the day after a strike day, expect for them to have run out of some food items and be ready to have a second or third choice of meal if you're in first class. It never hurts to pick up some snacks before you board.
Everytime 👍🏻
That happened to me on my last trip to the UK. Fortunately I was able to book bus tickets to travel to London.
True rail users know they can survive at least three hours without eating. Being on a train is not an excuse for a giant picnic.
I really appreciate you discussing etiquette, ranging from volume of voice to patience and consideration, which is so rare lately. Thank you for kicking ass :)
A good thing to note also is that alternative to trains can be coaches, eg National Express/Megabus, worth checking these as well as trains as they can be a fraction of the price while not being too much slower depending on the route. Especially coming to/from London, there are buses going to every major town/city for £15 or less
I think that the coaches are alright, but I noticed that the train between London and York is definitely faster than the coach between London and York. But the coach is definitely cheaper if you want to save money
Honestly, on some occasion its not much difference in terms of time between coach and train but in terms of price its much cheaper.
As an English person, I can confirm that there is a lot of good advice in this video!
Another don't - don't expect to be able to travel across London on your train. For many journeys that are routed through England's capital, you'll need to get off at a terminus station then travel across the city by other means (often via the Underground railway network, known as the "Tube") to another terminus. There are quite a few termini in London!
To add to this, if your ticket is valid on the underground too, you'll see a wee cross on it, iirc beside the from destination. Looks sorta like this ✝️
Two things to remember about ticket pricing (especially when doing advance purchase), you may be offered a discounted ticket only available on the specific train you have a reservation for (companies operating express long-distance trains include free reservations) or what is called an 'anytime ticket' valid on any train on that route at a higher price, and there can also be 'split ticketing' which can be multiple tickets for one journey but at a further saving (but again restricted to the trains you chose at the time of booking).
If you have accessibility issues, you can contact the train operator in advance to book assistance at the stations you are travelling from/to.
Railway Station is the normally used term. Another 'do not' is to forget to check the seat status and accidently sit in a reserved seat (it is very possible that it could be reserved from the next station meaning that you will have to move again when the train arrives at that station).
For local trains, you don't save much (if any) by buying in advance. It's the long distance journeys where there are big savings to be made. You can buy a physical ticket at the ticket office at most stations, and they will do advance bookings for you, too.
There are almost no trains on Boxing Day (26th December) as well as Christmas Day.
when we went to the UK, we got a britrail pass, which is purchased by the day, either consecutive or nonconsecutive days. if you're planning to do a lot of train travel, it's worth looking into - and it also covers the Heathrow express from Paddington station. note that it is only available to people who aren't resident in the UK. also note you still have to sign up for tickets, for each trip - but the pass pays for them.
How do they make you prove that you aren’t resident in the UK?
I had a Britrail pass. Amazing convenience!
@@frmcf they mail it to you.
You can use trainline and that avoid having to book tickets from different companies website. Alternatively buying the tickets from a station (even if that is months in advance) will just give you the correct tickets.
We Brits don't 'ride' by train, we go on the train or travel by train. Some may take the train, but I think that's an Americanism. And I've always called it the railway station.
I had the best trip to Scotland and south eastern England a couple years ago. I attribute that to the trains! Everything was so easy
2:20 One exception - the Caledonian Sleeper . Booking window for that is an entire year in advance but personally most I've done it is probably around 2 months.
They need it as the seats for the portion heading for Inverness are already sold out!
can usually
I'd say this is all sound advice - although the thing about us not saying "train station" is inaccurate. We absolutely do say "train station", you'll also hear "railway station" sometimes, but I've never heard just "rail station" in my life.
Chester is great. I lived there from age 4 to 17.
Yes it is. It's my county town and a fascinating place to visit. The Roman remains and those from the middle ages are very interesting. Please note the town hall clock tower has only three clocks as according to the saying, the people of Chester won't give the Welsh the time of day, so there is no clock facing Wales.
Chester is lovely, totally worth visiting.
@@fluffycloudsdogadventures yes indeed.
Great advice! My experience is that you can book tickets from 12 weeks ahead of travel.
Coffee places near train stations:
Chester (City Road, CH1 3DR)
Liverpool (Central Station, Ranelagh Street, L1 1QE)
Lancaster (Station Road, LA1 5NL)
Manchester (Victoria Station Approach, M3 1WY)
Manchester (Piccadilly Station, M2 4PX)
Liverpool (Lime Street, L1 1JG)
Warrington (Bank Quay Station, WA1 1LW)
Sheffield (Sheaf Street, S1 2BP)
Wakefield (Railway Station, WF1 1XP)
Liverpool (South Parkway Station, L19 5NE)
Doncaster (Railway Station, DN1 2PE)
Derby (Railway Station, DE1 2RU)
York (Railway Station, YO24 1AB)
Wolverhampton (Railway Drive, WV1 1LE)
Nottingham (Nottingham Railway Station, NG2 3AQ)
Darlington (Railway Station, DL1 4AA)
Lincoln (Railway Station, LN5 7EZ)
Durham (Railway Station, DH1 4RB)
Leicester (Platform 3, LE2 0QB)
Retford (Platform 1, DN22 7DE)
Gloucester (Railway Station, GL1 1DE)
Perth (Railway Station, PH2 8RT)
Norwich (Railway Station, NR1 1EF)
❤
Depending on how much you are going to travel and where, you might find a ranger or rover ticket good value. Day ranger tickets give unlimited travel (usually after 09:00 or 09:30 on weekdays) in a specified area. I often use the Cheshire Day Ranger, which covers well outside Cheshire, but there are others. Rovers are usually for a longer period, or 4 days out of 8 etc. These cover various areas. There are also tickets like the Greater Manchester Wayfarer, which offer rail, bus and tram travel for a day in a specified area.
Unless I missed it, you didn't mention Britrail passes (not the same as a Railcard). I always get a 15-day one when I go over, and save hundreds of dollars each time. Important tip: it's not available for UK residents, so you need to buy it before you leave your home country.
Although you can make a free reservation if you know when you'll be travelling, you also have the option to hop on at the last minute for no extra charge and hope there's a seat available.
And Interrail passes (for EU and UK residents) or Eurail passes (for others) also exist for the UK but cannot be used in the country of residence.
Britrail was great when I went. Just make sure to check with the ticketing agents to see if you can reserve seats. They’ll let you know if the service isn’t busy enough to require reserving seats but often the trains fill up and you may end up needing to stand.
A good tip is to understand that it is possible to pre-book seats on trains and to always check the digital display above the seat to make sure your seat has not been pre-booked as you will be asked to move and if it is a busy train that can be devastating.
Also nobody calls it a rail station. We call it a train station.
on our trip, the displays were malfunctioning, and since one poor fellow didn't bother reading the seat assignment on his ticket, he was asked to move multiple times.
Some reservations are for part of the trains journey so if you are getting off before the reservation starts take the seat. Even if you are on after the reservation is going to be taken you may only have to move once if it is latter in the journey.
Many years ago, I had to travel from York to a town in Wales on a Sunday, which involved taking at least three trains. On the phone, a very patient rail agent described each of the transfers so clearly that I had no trouble at all, and all the trains were on time! I was impressed.
NOT ANYMORE
Rail travel in Wales as awful especially in the Cardiff area my local service to Cardiff has 3 hour gaps between trains on a Sunday
Important tip. Buy your tickets online from Trainline. Also advance booking saves you money.
And use their app to store your tickets and railcard. And then wonder why the search can't remember that you've bought a railcard!
No don't do that. Trainline charges a commission on top of the fare. Buy from a train operating company, even if it isn't the one you're travelling on. Better still, use a service which splits the fare. There are a huge number of different ways to best enjoy your train journeys in Britain, whilst Wolter's advice is useful, it is far from comprehensive. If you want to find out more, I'd recommend you look read up the man in seat 61 for details.
What@@davidbennetts616 even if you're hear on a two-week break from the USA? It's far better to have all the stuff in the same place and carry the tiny extra charge than risk a considerable fine and criminal sanction for not having everything to hand.
Watch your luggage at stops. My friend had her large bag taken from the end luggage rack of the carriage a while back. I use a flexible bike lock to fasten my bags to the rack so I can rest easy.
That's ok as long as your luggage isn't blocking someone else's access to their bags. I nearly missed my stop a while back because I had to empty everyone else's bags off the rack to get at mine (and then replace them, obviously). If someone had employed a lock I'd have ben stuffed!
@@carolineskipper6976 It’s ok, I wasn’t born yesterday. 😁
@@eddiebruv You'd be surprised how often people don't think around unintended consequencies of their actions (or maybe you wouldn't ;) )
London Stansted Airport: Within the London area you can travel by swiping your bank card or your London Transport Oyster card. These options do not apply to Stanstead airport. Even though you can get through the barriers at London Liverpool street or Tottenham Hale (Victoria line) with the card mentioned before, These forms of payment are only available as far as Broxbourne (about 15 miles up the line). You will find you have no valid ticket at Stansted Airport and they have permanent revenue staff at the airport waiting to hand out expensive fines.
Yep, the so-called 'Stansted Express' is a nightmare and puts this country to shame!
0:45 You can book tickets from anywhere to anywhere through National Rail Enquiries without needing to sign up to any number of different companies' apps
Hearing impaired advice: Don't be shy to ask for help. The PA is pretty useless in a lot of places because of the echo. Stick around the entrances to the platform, let a staff member know that you can't hear the announcements. When you're on the train, conductors are passing through, let them know where you're getting off (or your seatmate if you've struck up a conversation). Everyone is so helpful. Memorize the stop BEFORE yours so you can be ready when you pull out of the one before it. If you're with a friend, get two aisle seats where one is facing forward and one backwards. So you're facing each other across the aisle rather than side by side. Good for sign language.
Canadian tourist here: If you're visiting the UK from another country, don't forget to look online from your home country, for rail pass deals in the UK. There are a number of passes on offer from various websites (I used BritRail on my first visit) but they are only available to people outside of the UK. Some sites are geo-restricted so you can't use them from inside the UK, others need you to have a valid non-UK mailing address where they will send your pass. The deals can be very good, so look for them before you travel.
Most trains leave at the EXACT time shown..so a 7.39 train will actually start moving at 7.38 once the doors are closed. So get settled in early. It's not worth waiting at a Costa line cuz the barriers will close well before departure.
Another good thing to note is that on Sundays and Bank (public) holidays there's a much smaller schedule with a lot less wiggle room if you miss a connection or your train is late so I'd advise you to try not to plan any long journeys on these days!
In general, "station" without qualification is always a railway station. If you ask for directions to the station it means you want to catch a train. For other modes of transport, "bus station" and "coach station" are always qualified as such. If you say "train station", everyone will understand you, but it is unnecessary. "Railway station" is a formal term that nobody ever uses in normal conversation.
In the past buying a train ticket was a simple procedure and prices were standardised. Since privatisation the system is very confusing, tickets costing different amounts for the same destinations, fewer ticket offices, and different companies charging different amounts. Different costs for different times of day travelling, absolutely terrible, I now dread buying a ticket because every time I do, I meet someone else on the train who's paid less for it!!! I am saying this as a British person who's lived here most of my life, by the way! I have never bought an electronic train ticket because I have seen so many people being told that these are not valid when on the train or others whose phones haven't opened up and they have ended up without proof they had a ticket. I only get the old fashioned paper kind for this reason. We are ashamed that trains in the UK are such a mess. Bring back British Rail!
Consider travelling by coach, the cost is a lot less than on the train (sometimes half as much or even less!). But again beware that the booking offices are closing and much of booking is now done either on line or by telephone. Again with wretched electronic tickets taking over from paper ones. At least coaches are clean and prices less confusing. You would see far more of the UK by travelling by coach but it takes longer to travel that way. Our coach stations are not usually like the Greyhound stations, i.e. they are usually in safe places. National Coaches is the main company but there are other bus companies too which operate regular services. (These differ of course from coach companies providing all inclusive tours.)
At the moment in Scotland there is no peak fare surcharge, all prices are the same with Scotrail no matter when you travel. They do not have that in England or Wales I think.
If you are planning to do a few trips check to see if there is a rail-rover ticket available. These can be a day or 4 out of 8 or 7 days. You can get ones that cover an area or the whole country.
Apart from in the bigger centres, many trains are scheduled to stop for 30 seconds, so be prepared to hop off when the train stops. A Canadian friend at the start of a walking holiday got off the train in Rhyl but the train set off again while her three companions were still aboard. A member of the station staff told her not to worry, they would be back in 19 minutes on the train from Abergele. They were and that time they got off promptly!
Just to point out that here in the UK you can buy *any* available ticket through *any* companies website (Except Eurostar) and the price won't vary across operators for the same ticket. All companies are required to offer access to ticketing across the whole system, which means that you only need to open one account with your preferred company and can buy any companys tickets through it.
This means, for example, you can buy tickets for South Western Railway services using your existing Avanti West Coast account and website/app, and you don't need to open a new account with SWR. 😇
You don't have to have your ticket immediately in hand during the journey, but you *must* be able to present it when requested by a Guard (Conductor) or other authorised person. Keeping it in your purse or wallet is probably safest, and nobody will mind if it takes a moment for you to get it out to show it to the Guard. That said; If you _know_ you'll need your ticket soon (e.g: You can see the Guard checking tickets near you, or you're approaching the station barriers) getting it out and at the ready is considered good form to reduce delays. 👍
Penalty Fares: Be advised that on most routes - If you travel without a valid ticket, or travel with a ticket that's not valid for the train you're using (Or has been lost) - You may be subject to a *Penalty Fare* which can be up to £100,- (Less if paid within 14 days) or twice the cost of the full fare to the next station being called at, whichever is the higher.
If in doubt; The easiest way to make sure your ticket is valid is to ask the Guard before boarding if this is possible, or seek out and ask staff on the train promptly if you're uncertain after boarding.
Booking tickets: If you order tickets online or through an app, you'll normally be offered the choice of mobile or paper tickets. If you choose paper tickets you might need to specify which station you'll collect them from, you'll need the *same payment card you used to buy the tickets,* and the collection reference that will be shown to you after purchase and will normally be e-mailed to you to pick them up. You collect tickets from any self-service ticket machine that is in working order, using the _„Collect pre-paid tickets“_ option.
Note that if you choose mobile tickets, your device *must* have sufficient battery available to last the duration of the journey as mobile tickets are only valid if they can be correctly displayed on your device. If your battery doesn't last long or you use a lot of energy-heavy apps, consider choosing a paper ticket to avoid difficulties.
Railcards: These are normally available in one and three year versions for young persons, disabled, Veterans and couples, but I suspect there's also a tourists version which is aimed at visitors from overseas which is issued for 2-4 week periods. All railcards give a 33% discount on many fares (There are different restrictions/availability depending on the railcard type) and more details and applications can be made at any staffed UK ticket office. 🧑💼
Ahh, I'm getting homesick - thanks for a great report, Mark! Couple of things to add:
Firstly, the Euston Stampede is the closest you'll get to Pamplona bull run, if you've a taste for energetic sports - marvellous, invigorating, great esprit du corps - but expect no mercy if you're in anything other than tip top athletic form.
Secondly, oiks tend not to respect seat reservations. If you find somebody sitting in yours, their refusal to move will only last as long as it takes you to move their bag(s) elsewhere in the carriage, or onto the platform.
Thirdly, if you're aged between 30 and 60, expect to be the victim of age discrimination. Everyone outside this group is eligible to purchase national railcards, due to their age. They'll then enjoy significant discounts, i.e. subsidised fares. Guess who provides some of that subsidy?! Incredible that such practices have continued in the UK for this long. Keep this in mind, if the bag you're ejecting belongs to a younger or older person! :P
Finally - and as a lifelong train lover it galls me to say this - but don't overlook coaches. Fares and dependability have both moved in horrible directions thanks to labor unions and governmental incompetence; meanwhile the truly private sector provides vastly more affordable, reliable services on the UK's road network. National Express are the main operator but have several very good competitors. Safe travels! :)
Don’t forget delay repay, if your train is late or delayed you’re entitled to some or all of your money back.
You can book tickets from any train operator for any other train operator, most allow you to add tickets to Apple/Google Wallets. Keep you phone charged.
Staff in Ticket offices at train stations will always find you best deal on tickets for your route.
Assisted boarding needs to be booked in advance where possible.
For Intercity services especially on the East Coast, there are Open Access train companies which are quite often a lot cheaper like Lumo, Grand Central and Hull Trains.
Buses are also very cheap at the moment, £2 fares anywhere on regional bus routes.
Sheffield, Manchester, Nottingham, Edinburgh, West Midlands, Blackpool -& South London all have trams.
Newcastle, Sunderland, Glasgow, Liverpool & London all have metro/underground rapid transit systems.
Watch out for trains on South coast, some routes have trains that split part way through the journey, make sure you’re in the correct part of the train.
Brilliant as always Wolter!
Thank you 😀
Online rail ticket agents (eg Trainline and others) sell advance single tickets. Only buy these if you are sure the ticket is for the exact journey you want to take: Catching any other train is not an option. I would be wary if your journey involves changing trains: If the first train is late, you may miss the connection and have to buy another ticket for the second leg to your journey. If you are going out and returning on the same day especially at weekends it is probably cheaper to buy a super off peak day return. This is probably the same price as a one way ticket, even cheaper if you have a rail card. In London and the Southeast of England you can buy a "Network card" for £30. This gives you and up to four passengers 25% off off-peak tickets in the area about 70 or 80 miles from London but has a minimum fare on Monday-Friday. There is no minimum fare at public holidays and weekends. This is good for trips to eg Cambridge, Oxford, Brighton, Portsmouth, Salisbury.
if one leg is late and its on one ticket, they should have the obligation to bring you there.
@@michaelz.7140 On split save tickets you generally have 2 tickets one for each leg. If the ticket is bought from a 3rd party (not the train company running the train) they do not.
@@Brrunoc1 ok on split save tickets with 2 different companies yes. but i had a ticket with a change of trains and it was one ticket. LNER from London to Edinburgh and then Scotrail from Edinburgh to Glasgow
When booking in advance, check the first-class ticket prices, as deals can be found, especially when booking 30 to 90 days in advance (except during holiday periods or on very busy routes). First class tickets usually gives you free tea, coffee, bottles of water and biscuits plus more comfortable seats.
I have back a return ticket for East Midlands trains on the Transport For Wales website, and downloaded it to the Transport For Wales app I have on my phone. I decided to do this, so that I could get Air Miles with British Airways. Also, when I have booked train tickets online, I have always been given the option to collect my tickets at the station from the ticket mechine, or to have them on my phone, or posted out to me. When I am deciding to to get the 2 together rail card, to find out if it is worth getting it, is to divid the fare by 3. To work out what one third of the fare is, as that is how much you save with that railcard. If I know I am doing a few trips on the train with the same person, I add the one third of the fare for all train trips together, to see if the savings add up to £15 or more for each person. To know if I am saving money, as rail cards cost £30 for the year or £70 for 3 years. I have seen sales on rail cards from time to time, that could mean that you can get it cheaper. Also Mark, do you have a video that looks at the different types of Rail Cards you can get in Britain? Also, do you know about Sail & Rail tickets? Which can be cheaper then buying a train ticket and ferry ticket, if you are traveling by ferry to Ireland or Neathlands, and taken the train to the ferry port, from any where in Britain. I don't know if any other ferry companies do the Rail & Sail tickets apart from Stena Line and Irish Ferries.
My biggest tip to any visitors here in the UK is
Don't expect to pay a reasonable price for a train journey. You will get absolutely ripped off.
Also don't expect to actually be able to get the train. They will either all be on strike, there will a replacement rail service due to engineering work, "cancelled due to inclement weather", or just "cancelled due to staff shortages"
Don’t travel (weekday) between the hours of 7 and 9 am and 4 and 6 pm unless you want to be packed on a train like a tin of sardines. Rush Hour traffic, it’s when people go to work.
Saturday (if you time it wrong) you might find your in the presence of a bunch of travelling football fans. Do not engage (ie tell them to be quiet) if you are not willing to take banter or at worse threatening behaviour. Do not have on display the team rivals or the team they are playing that day football shirt.
No one in the UK calls it a rail station. Train Line app will get around head ache of multi apps, but you may miss out on cheap advance fares for mainline intercity routes
Good point at 09:59: definitely DON’T take a “Taxi” ride from anyone offering a “Taxi” just inside the station: the reason being these will almost certainly be uninsured, unlicensed “Taxis” who will rip you off big-time…definitely go to the taxi rank just outside the station…
It’s rare for this to happen if you’re in a station of a large town, but it is quite common in some of the major cities, especially the major London stations…(e.g Paddington, Marylebone, Euston, Waterloo etc)
I loved the UK trains so convenient and people are so helpful.
Best of all for any Americans or anyone from overseas normally used to flying rather than trains, don't worry about having to take your shoes off to go through security because you don't have to which is one of the best things about the train over flying. Oh and don't worry about having to drop off your luggage or wait at a carousel to collect it on arrival because you just take it on board with you and place it in the luggage racks either at the ends of the carriages or overhead (for smaller bags).
I prefer the system in Switzerland where your luggage goes separately to your hotel!
Awesome tips Mark! Specially regarding buying tickets. I vem though I’m experience travel I took an advice from a friend and waited to buy the tickets. When I got to buy it was so expensive that I decided to change the cities I would be visiting!
Nice tips and as a Brit make sense. One little thing. I'm pretty sure the English would say railway station, not rail station. Train station is used too. There are also terms that would be odd to Americans. On england trains "set down" at station, not stop. You "alight" from the train. In the country some station platforms are still referred to as Up and Down. Up is towards London and Down away from London. Subway is an underpass to reach the platforms. Trains stop on platforms not tracks. And trains have carriages, not cars.
Pedantic comment: in order for a train to 'set down' it has to 'stop' first. It's not either/or. And trains stop *at* platforms, not on them! (American and continental practice numbers the tracks on which trains run; British custom is to say 'platform' which strictly refers to platform face (an island platform will have two numbers).
Thank you for being so nice about the most expensive and unreliable railway system in Europe.
😊
Me as a German thinking: is more expensive and unreliable than here even possible 🤔
@@infanfexpensive? Yes. There's no equivalent of a €49 Deutschland-Ticket and capacity is very limited so the government is hiking prices.
Unreliable? No, except in certain areas. People in the UK assume that the grass is always greener. It might be greener in Switzerland but they have no idea how bad DB's ICEs are.
With regards to travelling on weekends, it may be best to avoid travelling on those days because you may end up having to go on a bus (rail replacement bus RRB) and take longer. At least journey planners should tell you that this journey will involve a bus. In some occasions, you may be able to travel on an alternative route or the train will get diverted. So the first thing is see if it you can avoid the RRB by taking either a different route or the same train but diverted. You may have to split tickets in this case. So to go from London (Liverpool Street/Kings Cross/St Pancras) to Norwich or Ipswich, you may have to buy a London to Cambridge ticket, followed by a Cambridge to Norwich/Ipswich one. My advice is taking the RRB is the last option (but its your choice, this is what I do).
And delay repay - if you get delayed by at least 15 minutes, you may be able to claim from the company you travelled with, or that caused the delay. This is not do be confused with a refund, where you get the ticket price back because of a minimum 15 min delay or cancellation .
Great run down of a lot of the basics here- but a couple of things to add.
You did show briefly the readout above some seats which stated whether they were available or pre-booked by someone. PLEASE take note of these to save embrarassment later when someone hoves up after you've settled in to demand their pre booked seat. It's one of the times Brits can become quite assertive! On some trains they don't have these displays, but attach cardboard tickets to a bracket in the top of the seat. Again take note! It may be that the seat is only booked for part of the journey, in which case you are free to take it outside that segment (details are on the cardboard marker or the electronic display).
The other addition is that if accessibility is an issue for you, you can book 'Passenger Assist' up to 24 hours before you travel. (You can ask for it on arrival, but it may not be available if they are short staffed). Someone will meet you, take you to the train, help you with luggage, and put down a ramp if you need one to board the train. They then call ahead to your destination station. to ensure you are collected from the train.
Mark, as someone who is so well traveled, it's surprising that you don't know about Trainline. You can literally book almost any route in the UK using the app, and it also works in many countries on the continent. No need to use company websites, and the prices are almost identical to what the companies charge directly.
you are charged a commission to use trainline dont use then
Not just trainline - if you go on any train operating company (TOC) website you can book tickets for services from the other TOCs.
eurorail card is also valid in the UK
You can call it a train station although usually railway station. Never rail station, that’s weird.
Opposite round here. We can both agree ' rail station ' is rarely ( I have never heard it ) to never said.
Buy snacks and drinks before you get inside the ticket barrier in stations. It's a captive market and you'll easily pay 60-70% more. You can often pick cheap meal deals up in the convenience stores nearby or on the concourses before you go through the barrier with a main, a snack and a drink for less than £5.
Mark I've always called the place you board a train a train station.
What I really have to say: the staff at the stations is fantastic! As I was travelling with paper Interrail tickets I always needed a member of staff to get through the ticket barriers. (The normal Interrails now have QR-codes). Everyone was extremely helpfull.
Also in the trains, on the smaller lines there are sometimes trains with two destinations, before they separate the trains, the staff makes sure that everyone is in the correct part of the train by asking every passenger. So another Don't: don't be afraid of using the UK train services.
It's also worth checking out the prices for a 1st Class ticket. If purchased in advance, and particularly for "Off Peak" trains, 1st Class tickets can be very good value for money. Especially as on most (but not all) longer distance trains you may be entitled to complimentary Beverages & Snacks. You can make a great saving just by not having to pay for your coffee's & snacks on a long journey!
AS mentioned in the video .... there are no trains running on Christmas Day ... however, in addition to this, most trains don't run the following day (26th December/Boxing Day) either. There are a few exceptions, notably the London Underground, but in general things don't return to anything approaching "normal" until 27th December.
Don't forget Ranger and Rover tickets. The All Line Rover would be ideal for someone wanting to tour the whole of the UK.
Fun fact about Chester.
The majority of Chester FC's stadium is in Wales, the Anglo-welsh border goes through the car park. I think this is really cool
Rail Station? Never heard anyone call it that. Railway station perhaps, train station often.
Be warned that in some of the smaller stations the shop or cafe can close really early and sometimes when the weather is freezing there is no waiting room!!! This can make travelling a not so fun experience sometimes!!! So be prepared👍👍
There are often pubs close to stations where you can sit if you buy a drink. Some you can take children into during the day and early evening.
The difference in price booking early is because your ticket is valid for a certain train, like a specific time, called 'advance ticket'. Whereas buying on the day it’s just a off-peak single for example but you can take any train you like apart from rush hour
First don't: Don't use them because they're ruinously expensive.
Second don't: Don't use them anywhere north of Greater London as they get progressively shitter.
Was worried about the trains on my first trip to Britain. But man those train station employees are amazing. Way better than my American experiences.
I travel through Chester train station almost every day. Surprised I didn't bump into you!
I've lived in the UK for my whole life and never heard it being called a 'rail station', I have heard 'railway station' but I think most people use 'train station'.
Other than that this is a great video.
Exactly, you can say either of them
It's officially a railway station but yea hardly anyone uses that
In York I was having a beer at the trackside bar thinking I could easily find my train. I couldn't, and was dashing all around. I barely made it.
Also be aware that engineering work takes place at weekends especially Saturday night into Sunday. Trains may be replaced by buses or diverted taking extra time. If you are from the US then consider a “Britrail” pass (only for non Uk and EU citizens, they have a different one) This covers every train, peak or off peaks, just remember to make seat reservations for long distances or the overnight sleeper trains
I've never heard "rail station" being used haha. Train station, the station, or just the name of the station is far, far more common.
Beware if travelling by rail in wales expect delays cancellations galore and be prepared to stand especially on trains to Manchester from south Wales usually 2 coaches so usually rammed full services in the Cardiff area are usually very overcrowded and with plenty of delays and cancellations cancellations
If you want to travel back in time, don't forget we have a ton of preserved railways here from the steam age, even with Victorian and Edwardian locos. Some are accessible from the main network and many have appeared in feature films and TV. Each has its own website.
The Trainline app is really useful in finding the cheapest tickets, especially if travelling cross-country (and with different train operating companies)
5:35: Don't you mean railway station? Why can't you call it a train station? We do call it a train station as well here in the UK.
I remember when me and my Mum were in Preston train station trying to get our train home and at the last minute the platform changed from 3c to 1
Also, young people/students are super-smart at getting the cheapest tickets. Because often they don't own a car & are much more reliant, having a Student or Young Person's railcard. And being phone-app savvy. So talk to the "yoof" 🙂
A tip when booking in advance: always read the small print on the ticket as it may say "valid only on East Midlands Railway", as I got caught out by that, as it was not obvious, and also don't think older steam trains stop everywhere here,, as they are only for special tours, not normal train rides.
Great tips, as always.
Something i do on trains here is if you are travelling with a connecting train make sure you leave enough time as some connections are short and although long delays are not common these days in my experience, some shorter delays definitely occur and i missed connections before.
Definitely book early where possible as same day prices are expensive, more than driving especially if there is more than one person so thats biggest way to save.
Trainline app should offer different companies tickets.
Seems a few comments about “rail station”, dont worry in the Uk we will still know what you mean.
DON'T - Get a train out of Liverpool after 8pm on a weekend without expecting it to be like a rowdy pub.
Loved the fact that you didn’t mention the heritage railways and I’ve lived in Britain all my life here and never herd rail station only train station station and railway station
All the train companies offer tickets for every other service so you don't have to go to the company you are travelling with. My favourite (website service at least) is Cross-country but they tend to send you PDFs for your phone by email.
It is also very important to check that you know exactly what time you are booking for the advance fares as most of them are specifc to a certain service.
It’s definitely worth the loss of flexibility to book train tickets well in advance. You have to travel on those specific trains, but I went to Cambridge last year for around £20 round trip and York several years ago for about £30.
Thanks Mark