London Rail services complementing the Underground

Although the railways are run by separate companies to the London Underground the level of integration has stepped up a lot in recent years. The overall regulation, fares and ticketing for buses, Underground, DLR and London suburban trains are managed by a central government body called Transport for London (TfL) chaired by the Mayor of London.

The London public transport system is divided up into zones that radiate from the centre. Nearly all the hotels and the main sights are in Zone 1. Heathrow Airport is in Zone 6 and the furthest zone out is Zone 9.

The majority of visitors will only travel in the two most central zones 1 and 2, but some tourist attractions like Hampton Court, Kew Gardens, Wimbledon and the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London - The Making of Harry Potter are in the outer zones.

The Tube and Rail Map has the stations and their zones marked.

The fare you are charged whether by Underground or rail is determined by which zones you travel between, rather than individual stations. Some stations like Turnham Green are in two zones, you use whichever zone for these stations is most beneficial in working out your fare.

For public transport within London kids under 11 travel free without a ticket.

The notable exception is any train service run by a national railways company where only kids under 5 travel free..

Railway services (and by this we mean not London Underground lines) that are part of the DLR, Overground or TFL Rail networks are not part of the national railways run services.

Very crudely national rail service trains operating routes within London where kids between 5-10 do not travel free are those that run out of Paddington, Marylebone, Fenchurch Street, London Bridge, Blackfriars, Charing Cross, Waterloo and Victoria stations.

The Oyster card is a permanent reusable electronic ticket which is topped up from time to time by its owner. Londoners have their season tickets loaded onto Oyster cards as well and there are passes for one weekly and monthly durations. All can be loaded onto the one electronic Oyster card.

You can use Oyster cards on all of London's public transport, Underground, buses, Overground, DLR, suburban rail services and some river services.

Travelcards are an alternative to Oyster cards. Travelcards are valid on the same modes of transport as Oyster cards but are unlimited travel passes for a fixed flat fee. Travelcards are available for 1 and 7 days, 1 month and 1 year durations.

Oyster cards - more details

Travelcards - more details

There is a manned ticket office at all rail stations, though less busy rail stations may have restricted opening hours. The ticket offices accept credit and debit cards.

Next to the manned ticket offices are always at least one bank of automatic ticket machines. You can buy tickets based on the zone system for within London or tickets to any railway station in Great Britain from railway ticket offices.

You can buy day return tickets at any London suburban train station and beyond to Central London and pay a supplement for a Travelcard that covers the centre of London to be included in the ticket. If you travel after 9.30am, Monday to Friday, or anytime at weekends and holidays the Travelcard is cheaper as the Travelcard bundled enjoys the off-peak discount.

For fares and timetables use the 'Trainline' website where you can also order tickets for delivery to your home address. This facility includes International addresses, though there is a fee.

Digital tickets

Two types of digital ticket are available: etickets and mobile tickets. An eticket comes as a PDF attached to an email, which you can either open from your email or in the Trainline app.

Mobile Tickets are just like etickets, except you can only open them directly in our app and you need to ‘activate’ the ticket before you use it. Mobile Tickets can’t be shared or used on more than one device.

You can scan them directly form your phone with no need to print.

You can use digital tickets for the majority of UK train journeys. Some stations may not have ticket gates for you can scan your phone, but you can always just show a member of staff instead and they’ll let you through. You can also use etickets across Europe.

Paper tickets

You have three options:

• Collection from machine at station: collect just 15 minutes after booking. For some bookings you'll need to use the card you paid with to collect your tickets. 
• Second Class post: Your tickets will be sent out within 24 hours. This option is only available if your travel date is at least seven days after your booking date.
• Next Day Delivery: Book before 15:00 and you’ll get your tickets by 13:00 the next working day, except bank holidays and public holidays. If you book on the weekend, you’ll get your tickets by Tuesday. Some postcodes have restrictions.

The railways sponsor a hugely popular and long running promotion that allows those people using the train to visit leading attractions to get two people admitted for the price of one.

When visiting London you can you can get 2 for 1 admission to many of London's major sights including the Tower of London. The full list is very long and covers all of Great Britain. If you have train tickets to London and you are doing some sightseeing it's a worthwhile promotion to look into.

Railways 2 for 1 promotion - more details