Advance Tickets Latest Purchase Times

Advance tickets are usually the cheapest way to travel by train, and generally go on sale 12 weeks before your date of travel. You have to travel on the train you’re booked on, but you get a much cheaper price by foregoing flexible travel times.

But how late can you buy an Advance ticket before you travel? The deadline used to be 18:00 on the day before travel, but many train companies now allow you to buy an Advance ticket much later than this, even on the day of travel itself.

Every train company that sells Advance tickets has its own deadlines. This can vary depending on whether you buy your ticket direct with the train company, from an online retailer, or from a station.

To find out the last possible time you can buy your Advance ticket, see the information for your train company below:

• Avanti West Coast: 60 minutes before the trains starts its entire journey

• Caledonian Sleeper: No details

• Chiltern Railways: 18:00 day before travel

• CrossCountry: 15 mins before travel

• East Midlands Railway: End of day before travel

• Grand Central: 4 hours before departure

• Great Western Railway: 18:00 day before travel

• Greater Anglia: 10 minutes before departure

• Hull Trains: Day before travel

• London Northwestern Railway: End of day before travel

• LNER: 10 minutes before departure

• Northern: 15 minutes before departure on some routes

• ScotRail: 2 hours before departure

• South Western Railway: End of day before travel

• Southern: 18:00 day before travel

• TransPennine Express: 15 minutes before departure on some routes

• Transport for Wales: 18:00 day before travel

• West Midlands Railway: End of day before travel 

These times are subject to change. Please check retailer websites for latest updates.