TRAVELLING BY RAIL
Train Services from Europe:
Eurostar operates train services to London St. Pancras from Paris, Amsterdam, and Brussels. Eurostar tickets can be booked up to 120 days in advance of the journey. For more information about the Eurostar service, see: https://www.eurostar.com/uk-en/travel-info.
A journey planner is available at: https://www.nationalrail.co.uk. There is also a low-bandwidth, accessible alternative version of the site available at: https://traintimes.org.uk. Children under 5 years of age travel for free on most National Rail services.
Different parts of the UK rail network are operated by different train companies, and there are sometimes several companies operating on the same parts of certain routes. Please make sure you check your tickets carefully to ensure that you are permitted to travel on a particular service.
Depending on the cost and/or extent of rail travel that you are planning to undertake outside of London, you may save money by purchasing a Railcard. See https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/railcards. Railcards generally entitle the holder to a 33% discount on train ticket prices, though discounts may not always apply during peak travel times. Most railcards cost £30 per year, but are sometimes discounted by third-party sellers such as Trip.com (https://uk.trip.com/trains/uk/railcard-guide). If booking a ticket with a Railcard, you must ensure that you have access to the Railcard during the journey itself.
Many train operators offer special discounted ‘Advance’ tickets, which require customers to purchase tickets for a specific date/time. These are sold in limited numbers, and are usually made available 12 weeks ahead of the date of travel. Most Advance tickets remain available for purchase until the allocation has sold out, and may even still be available on the day of travel itself. Advance tickets can usually be combined with additional Railcard discounts. For more information, see: https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/tickets-railcards-and-offers/ticket-types/advance-tickets. The downside with Advance tickets is that they tend to be non-refundable, and often involve an additional fee to change the journey details, so are only recommended if you are confident that you will be able to travel at a particular date/time.
If your train journey is delayed by more than 15 minutes, you are usually entitled to apply for compensation. See https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/help-and-assistance/compensation-and-refunds for more information.