How to buy your train tickets

Buy online

Buying train tickets online is all about convenience. You can plan and buy tickets for your journey and collect them as little as 2 hours after buying them.

Collecting your tickets is easy - you can collect them from self-service ticket machines at most National Rail stations and at all South West Trains stations except Beaulieu Road, Holton Heath, Longcross, Millbrook and Redbridge.

All you need is your booking reference (in your booking confirmation e-mail) and the card used to pay for the tickets.

Please note: Only the card used to purchase tickets online may be used for collection purposes from ticket vending machines. If your card is replaced between ordering tickets and the date of travel you must still use the old card for collection.

Tickets can be posted by First Class post to your card’s billing address for no additional fee. You should receive your tickets within 5 days.

You can also renew your season ticket online and it will be posted out to you by First Class post.

Buy by phone

Our Customer Service Centre staff have over 700 years of railway experience and are able to help you buy the cheapest ticket for your journey. You can contact our UK based team on 0845 6000 650 (option 2) from 0600 to 2200 daily.

They can sell you:

• Rail tickets for any National Rail journey, including PlusBus
• Railcards: 16-25, Senior, Family & Friends and Network Railcards
• Combined rail and entrance to top attractions such as Windsor Castle and Thorpe Park. You can find more information on our Special offers page
• Combined rail and ferry tickets to the Isle of Wight, Channel Islands, Ireland and the Isle of Man
• Caledonian Sleeper tickets between London and Scotland; Night Riviera tickets between London and Penzance
• Renewing season tickets, including car park season tickets

Tickets can be collected from a self-service ticket machines at one of our stations in as little as 2 hours after you book them. You can collect pre-paid tickets from self-service machines at one of these stations. We can also send tickets out by First Class post and you should allow 5 working days for delivery.

Self-service ticket machines

We have installed self-service ticket machines at most of our stations (except Beaulieu Road, Holton Heath, Longcross, Millbrook and Redbridge).

All self-service ticket machines accept payment by credit or debit card. At least one machine at a station will accept cash.

Self-service ticket machines can sell you:

• Tickets to most National Rail destinations, including Day Travelcards
• Railcard and child discounted tickets
• 7 Day season tickets
• Monthly season ticket renewals
• 'Tickets for tomorrow’, allowing you to buy Anytime tickets from 1500 with tomorrow’s date
• Daily car park tickets

You can also collect pre-paid tickets purchased online or through our Customer Service Centre at one at one of these stations.

At the station

If you prefer, our ticket offices can sell you the full range of tickets available for travel in Great Britain. You can find the opening hours here.