A typical National Rail (UK) train ticket, in this case the outward ('OUT') portion of a two part Standard ('STD') off-peak return ('OFF-PEAK R') from Queens Park in Glasgow to Norbiton, with a 16-25 Railcard ('Y-P') discount.
National Rail offers three broad types of ticket, which allow to choose between flexibility and value. In increasing order of cost per mile, tickets are classed as:
Advance - Buy in advance, travel on specific trains, available in limited numbers. Any unsold tickets which remain, will be withdrawn from sale at 18:00 the day before travel. - Cheapest Tickets
Off-Peak - Buy any time, travel 'off-peak' (outside certain busy times) - More Expensive Tickets
Anytime - Buy any time, travel any time - Most expensive tickets
Advance tickets are only sold as single (one-way) tickets. With the exception of suburban and commuter trains, the cheapest fares are almost always Advance tickets. These are released for sale in limited numbers approximately 12 weeks in advance, and must be used on the train specified on the reservation. They are not valid on any other train, and usually incur an administration fee plus difference in fare if you want to cancel or change them. To check how far ahead 'Advance' tickets are available, visit the National Rail Booking Horizons page .
When purchasing a less restricted off-peak or anytime ticket, note that return fares are normally only a small amount more than a single (one-way).
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Rail travel in the United Kingdom
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Rail travel in the United Kingdom - updated Apr 2024
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Rail travel in the United Kingdom Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
