You can reserve seats either by visiting a station or a rail-appointed travel agent, or by contacting our Customer Service Centre. Telephone reservations are only available when made in conjunction with a ticket purchase. When reserving, you will need to confirm the following details:

Start and finishing point of your journey
Date of travel (take care if your departure is soon after midnight)
Departure time of train
Number of seats required
You may be able to specify other preferences, such as direction of travel*, window seat, seats round a table or airline style with fold down table (where available)
First Class or Standard accommodation (if you do not specify class of travel it will be assumed that you require Standard accommodation).

*Customers should note that some trains reverse their direction of travel during the journey.

Names on seats

Your name can be included on your seat reservation label, if you wish, when travelling First Class or Standard with us.

Children

Seats may be reserved for children only if an appropriate child train ticket is held, even for a child under five where rail travel is normally free.

Compulsory reservations

On certain trains, for advance purchase tickets, seat reservations are compulsory and are available free of charge. Passengers may be refused access to the train if they do not have a reservation.

Travelling at peak holiday periods

Trains are usually extremely busy immediately before and after public holidays. Customers are advised to reserve seats as early as possible.