Reservations are available on some trains and can normally be made from about 2 months in advance of the day of travel, up to about 2 hours before the train departs from its start point, or, for early morning trains, up to 1600 the previous evening.

You can reserve either by visiting a station or a rail appointed travel agent or by calling one of the telephone booking services listed in our Train Operating Companies pages.

Telephone reservations are only available when made in conjunction with purchasing a ticket.

When reserving you will need to confirm the following details:

• The starting and finishing point of your journey
• The date of travel (Take care if your departure is soon after midnight)
• The departure time of the train
• The number of seats required
• Direction of travel (customers should note that some trains reverse their direction of travel during the journey), window/aisle seat, seat in Restaurant Car (where available) seats round a table or airline style with fold down tray (where available)
• First Class or Standard accommodation (if you do not specify class of travel it will be assumed that you require Standard accommodation).

Return to top of page

Your name can be included on your seat reservation label, if you wish, when travelling First Class on Anglia Railways, GNER and Midland Mainline services or First Class and Standard on First Great Western, South West Trains, Central Trains and ScotRail and Virgin Trains services.

Return to top of page

If your journey involves changing between trains on which seats are reservable (including journeys crossing London or other major cities), through reservations on both services are available for a single fee (the higher value if different prices apply).

Return to top of page

Seats may be reserved for children, but for a child under 5 years of age a seat may be reserved only if an appropriate child rail ticket is held.

Return to top of page

Where trains are expected to be very busy, seat reservations are recommended for a comfortable journey and will be provided free of charge to holders of valid travel tickets.

Return to top of page

On certain trains, 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.

Return to top of page

Most long distance services after 1400 on Fridays and on Saturday mornings, also trains arriving in London on Sunday evenings and Monday mornings can be extremely busy.

Customers are advised to reserve seats in advance if planning to travel at these times.

Return to top of page

Trains are usually extremely busy immediately before and after Bank Holidays and in some cases access to trains is only by reservation and/or boarding pass. Customers are advised to reserve seats as early as possible.

Return to top of page