Contactless payment on trains and other ticketing questions

[SandG]

We are Americans, yet comfortable with the idea of taking a train to Southampton from London since we always fly in early.  We did this a couple of months ago, and I purchased "advance" tickets from Waterloo and saved a lot of money by doing so.  (The off-peak ticket was £41 and we bought "advance" for £9.2.)  But that was a direct train and it was easy for us to pick a specific train that we could easily catch from our hotel with a relatively small buffer time.
 

In August, we're cruising out of Southampton again but decided to stay in Windsor pre-cruise this time.  Getting to Windsor from Heathrow looks simple enough, but I'm puzzling over how much time I need to allow from Windsor to Southampton.  I've considered several routes, via London, Clapham Junction or Reading and believe Reading will be the best choice.  It's a quick ride on Great Western to Slough, and from there I can take the Elizabeth or Great Western to Reading and change onto a CrossCounty train to Southampton, which runs every hour.  I've poured over the train maps and schedules but have a few questions about using the different rail lines and what we'll have to do at each transfer station as a result.  I've been unable to find the answers, and hoping someone here can help out.
 

1) I read that I can use contactless payment from Windsor to Slough and Slough to Reading.  We used the "tapping in and out" with our credit cards on the underground and it worked great.  But how will this work on the trains on our route?  Do we have to tap out and back in again when we change at Slough and if so, do we have to exit the tracks area to do that?  Or can we just cross the platform from one train to another and tap out on Reading?  (I'm guessing we cannot do this because the "Single fare finder" on the TFL site does not tell me a fare for Windsor to Reading.  Also I've read about the "pink" readers but no evidence of one in Slough.)  Does it matter, and/or will it be the same price whether we take the Elizabeth line or the GWR line from Slough to Reading?
 

2) It looks like a ticket is required for the CrossCountry train from Reading to Southampton (which originates in Manchester).  Since we're reliant on catching/changing trains to get to Reading, I'm not confident in booking an "advance" ticket this time, but that's okay because the savings are not as big as they were on the Waterloo to Southampton trip.  Right now, their website shows that the advance ticket is £17.6 and off-peak is £24.3.  Can we do it the easy way (although slower) and wait to purchase tickets when we get Reading station, will we be paying this off-peak price or might it be even more money then?  If we wait, is there a risk of not getting onto the train because it's full?
 

3) To make things the easiest that day, can we just buy tickets for the whole journey (3 segments and 2 to 3 different train lines) at Windsor station?  I am aware of the option of buying all of the tickets with "trainline" but nervous about using a 3rd party agent in case of strikes.  That's another good reason to wait to buy tickets if it won't cost us much more money to do it that way this time.

4) Am I missing a better option or a better route?  I also considered getting ourselves back to Heathrow and taking the National Express Bus from there, but that will ultimately be slower.  I have no idea how expensive a private car hire or Uber to Southampton would be.

[Aulanis]

Hi - Its a minefield, but looks like you have done the "due diligence"  on this.

We have done waterloo to Soton  several times  advance fares were good.

I am therefore amazed at how much the standard fare and super off peak  fare

( which appears to be the one on offer) are now.  Advance is still cheap.

 

I think you will have noticed there are 2 stations in Windsor & Eton   Central & Riverside.

Services run by different companies.   Both have manned ticket offices at the moment.

My first thought to keep it simple was  to suggest  Windsor to Waterloo Waterloo to Soton

but if not using advance tickets that seems expensive.( to Me)

Next up is  your plan   W&E  > Slough>Reading> Soton.

 

You can book tickets with any company  This is a link to a suggested route on  Cross country trains    which is £71.20  for 2 pax.  These show as  off peak which are usually refundable

and also mean you could set off at 10am  11 am  or 12 am    so if first train was delayed or missed you could pick up later service on second/third train  at no extra cost.

https://www.buytickets.crosscountrytrains.co.uk/book/results?origin=dfb79efbaae393df35945001df8b3d5e&destination=4ec8cbc9b7487a526f2ffa5be9ff110a&outwardDate=2023-08-19T13%3A00%3A00&outwardDateType=arriveBefore&journeySearchType=single&passengers[]=1993-07-01&passengers[]=1993-07-01&directSearch=false&selectedOutward=QWMXoT0UwG8%3D%3AFg%2FHzRr8oq0%3D&temporalDirection=previous&transitDefinitionDirection=outward&paginationPriceDisplayed=false&searchId=48532b4e-fe81-40ba-83d9-8ce5cffe690c

 

As well as being able to buy all the tickets  at the station  you can buy them online and

pick up from a ticket machine in the station.  When you buy you will be given a number

to collect the tickets   which is different to the booking confirmation number.   You also

need the credit card you used to book with you.

 

One thing to remember is not to board a train that doesnt have touch in /out  WITHOUT tickets  as they dont like selling tickets on the trains  and the Penalty charge is £100!!

 

Maybe others who live locally and use those routes regularly will have some other ideas.

 

 

 

 

[fruitmachine]

1 hour ago, Aulanis said:

so if first train was delayed or missed you could pick up later service on second/third train  at no extra cost.

@SandG It's also worth noting that if you buy an 'end-to-end' ticket and there is a delay, I believe the refund compensation you get is based on your total delay at the end-point of your journey.

 

1 hour ago, Aulanis said:

 

You can book tickets with any company 

I like LNER.  It's a straightforward website and doesn't need a UK address to work.

[SandG]

20 hours ago, Aulanis said:

Hi - Its a minefield, but looks like you have done the "due diligence"  on this.

We have done waterloo to Soton  several times  advance fares were good.

I am therefore amazed at how much the standard fare and super off peak  fare

( which appears to be the one on offer) are now.  Advance is still cheap.

 

I think you will have noticed there are 2 stations in Windsor & Eton   Central & Riverside.

Services run by different companies.   Both have manned ticket offices at the moment.

My first thought to keep it simple was  to suggest  Windsor to Waterloo Waterloo to Soton

but if not using advance tickets that seems expensive.( to Me)

Next up is  your plan   W&E  > Slough>Reading> Soton.

 

You can book tickets with any company  This is a link to a suggested route on  Cross country trains    which is £71.20  for 2 pax.  These show as  off peak which are usually refundable

and also mean you could set off at 10am  11 am  or 12 am    so if first train was delayed or missed you could pick up later service on second/third train  at no extra cost.

https://www.buytickets.crosscountrytrains.co.uk/book/results?origin=dfb79efbaae393df35945001df8b3d5e&destination=4ec8cbc9b7487a526f2ffa5be9ff110a&outwardDate=2023-08-19T13%3A00%3A00&outwardDateType=arriveBefore&journeySearchType=single&passengers[]=1993-07-01&passengers[]=1993-07-01&directSearch=false&selectedOutward=QWMXoT0UwG8%3D%3AFg%2FHzRr8oq0%3D&temporalDirection=previous&transitDefinitionDirection=outward&paginationPriceDisplayed=false&searchId=48532b4e-fe81-40ba-83d9-8ce5cffe690c

 

As well as being able to buy all the tickets  at the station  you can buy them online and

pick up from a ticket machine in the station.  When you buy you will be given a number

to collect the tickets   which is different to the booking confirmation number.   You also

need the credit card you used to book with you.

 

One thing to remember is not to board a train that doesnt have touch in /out  WITHOUT tickets  as they dont like selling tickets on the trains  and the Penalty charge is £100!!

 

Maybe others who live locally and use those routes regularly will have some other ideas.

Thank you so much for the advice and taking the time to look at the options.  It's nice to have a second pair of eyes on these things.  Although I've used and enjoy the UK rail system several times before, it's always been on direct trains.

Because the Elizabeth line is part of the London transport system, I'd assumed that I would have to pay for that segment separately, and so I'd use my contactless credit as worked so well during our last trip.  I didn't think I could get a since ticket in advance from Windsor to Southampton when travelling via Elizabeth, but as you point out, the website will sell you that combination.

And yes, I was excited to find out that there was another train station in Windsor but as you noticed, the options from Riverside (I looked at Waterloo and Clapham) were a lot more money (almost double!) and there are two of us traveling that day.

I will look into pre-purchasing the tickets to save the extra time at the station.

[SandG]

19 hours ago, fruitmachine said:

@SandG It's also worth noting that if you buy an 'end-to-end' ticket and there is a delay, I believe the refund compensation you get is based on your total delay at the end-point of your journey.

 

I like LNER.  It's a straightforward website and doesn't need a UK address to work.

It's nice to hear from you again. You had kindly helped me out when I was trying to buy advance tickets from London - Waterloo to Southampton 2 or 3 months ago, but had been unable to create an account because of the USA address issue.  I did end up creating an account on LNER for that trip and received my tickets as files via email.  It worked out great, so I would definitely use them again. 

[SandG]

Hmm, I looked again at booking tickets from Windsor to Southampton, and they are very optimistic about our ability to change trains quickly, 11 minutes at each station. We're a couple over 65 with enough luggage for a 14 day cruise, which means that we'll be taking lifts.

Only the Reading to Southampton train has seat reservations, so my plan will be to take an earlier train from Windsor and Slough than what is ticketed to give us a little more buffer at the stations.  Since they are off-peak tickets, that should be okay, right?

Another question: The segment from Slough to Reading is serviced by both Elizabeth and GWR.  If we purchase tickets which uses the Elizabeth line but the GWR ends up the next train coming, can we use the same ticket to get on either? 

Also, I see we have the ability to reserve seats on the Cross country train to Southampton, but how does this work if we're booking off-peak tickets and can travel on any train?  What if someone takes a different train, how do their seats get released?  (Unassigned)

Sorry for all the questions but I like to be prepared on what to expect before I leave. 
 

[Aulanis]

This is getting a bit too in depth for me  and I wouldnt like to give you duff advice so

my suggestion is that you join this forum         damn its blocked !  anyway

google  railukforums      and  it should come up. They have a full  section on ticketing queries.

They have experts on there that collectively know everything about uk rail.

[Thejuggler]

The time to change trains will be in line with the maximum required at each stationo change platforms.  if they are giving 11 minutes between changes it is probably a 10 minute connection time station,

 

Rather than manage this yourself by taking other trains if you want longer connection times you can add time when searching for tickets and alternative timings will be given.

Edited July 3, 2023 by Thejuggler

[SandG]

On 7/2/2023 at 12:38 PM, Aulanis said:

This is getting a bit too in depth for me  and I wouldnt like to give you duff advice so

my suggestion is that you join this forum         damn its blocked !  anyway

google  railukforums      and  it should come up. They have a full  section on ticketing queries.

They have experts on there that collectively know everything about uk rail.

Thanks for that tip!  Doing a little searching on that website, it turns out that someone on that forum was asking questions that were somewhat similar to mine only 4 weeks ago.  It gave me a better idea of what to expect.  There is also a "RailUK Fares & Ticketing Guide" on the site with lots of good information, although it was a little outdated in places since it's from 2012.

[SandG]

4 hours ago, Thejuggler said:

The time to change trains will be in line with the maximum required at each station change platforms.  if they are giving 11 minutes between changes it is probably a 10 minute connection time station,

 

Rather than manage this yourself by taking other trains if you want longer connection times you can add time when searching for tickets and alternative timings will be given.

Thanks.  I did also notice that if I use the National Rail Journey Planner, it has an option to add extra transfer time.  So I can at least get it closer to what I want to do.  I do wish it had the flexibility of adding more time at a specific station instead of applying it to all transfers because I'd rather have more time in Reading station than tiny Slough, but it's better than nothing.

[Bill Y]

On 7/2/2023 at 4:06 PM, SandG said:

Hmm, I looked again at booking tickets from Windsor to Southampton, and they are very optimistic about our ability to change trains quickly, 11 minutes at each station. We're a couple over 65 with enough luggage for a 14 day cruise, which means that we'll be taking lifts.

Only the Reading to Southampton train has seat reservations, so my plan will be to take an earlier train from Windsor and Slough than what is ticketed to give us a little more buffer at the stations.  Since they are off-peak tickets, that should be okay, right?

Another question: The segment from Slough to Reading is serviced by both Elizabeth and GWR.  If we purchase tickets which uses the Elizabeth line but the GWR ends up the next train coming, can we use the same ticket to get on either? 

Also, I see we have the ability to reserve seats on the Cross country train to Southampton, but how does this work if we're booking off-peak tickets and can travel on any train?  What if someone takes a different train, how do their seats get released?  (Unassigned)

Sorry for all the questions but I like to be prepared on what to expect before I leave. 
 

We have made the journey from Slough to Southampton but not for a few years. It’s a simple journey, and you do not have to book a particular train, we bought tickets to Southampton at the Slough ticket office.

 

You probably know most of this, In the UK:-

 

Tickets are purchased before boarding the train and in most case before entering the platform (track)

 

There are normally different ticket prices on long distant trains, via London or not via London which is normally cheaper, I don’t know if Clapham Junction is classed as London or London is defined as a London terminus such as Waterloo.

 

If you are returning by train, a return ticket can be purchased for up to a month (30 days) for considerably cheaper then two single tickets.

 

I don’t know if there is any restriction on using a main line ticket on the Elizabeth line which I believe is a London Transport service, Also I have not used contactless outside of London and I would not think it would operate on Cross Country services

.

There are changes rumoured, return tickets may be withdrawn and talk of closing of ticket offices at stations.

 

People that use the trains regularly will no doubt be able to clarify, current practices.

Edited July 8, 2023 by Bill Y

[SandG]

On 7/8/2023 at 2:08 PM, Bill Y said:

We have made the journey from Slough to Southampton but not for a few years. It’s a simple journey, and you do not have to book a particular train, we bought tickets to Southampton at the Slough ticket office.

 

You probably know most of this, In the UK:-

 

Tickets are purchased before boarding the train and in most case before entering the platform (track)

 

There are normally different ticket prices on long distant trains, via London or not via London which is normally cheaper, I don’t know if Clapham Junction is classed as London or London is defined as a London terminus such as Waterloo.

 

If you are returning by train, a return ticket can be purchased for up to a month (30 days) for considerably cheaper then two single tickets.

 

I don’t know if there is any restriction on using a main line ticket on the Elizabeth line which I believe is a London Transport service, Also I have not used contactless outside of London and I would not think it would operate on Cross Country services

.

There are changes rumoured, return tickets may be withdrawn and talk of closing of ticket offices at stations.

 

People that use the trains regularly will no doubt be able to clarify, current practices.

Thank you Bill, I'm glad to hear from someone who has done the trip from Slough to Southampton that it will be a straightforward trip. 
 
We are getting transportation from the cruise ship back to Heathrow, so only a one-way trip is needed.

You're right, there is no contactless ticketing on CrossCountry, and I have decided to buy that segment in advance for some piece of mind.  I could have saved a little more money getting an "advance" fare but it wasn't a big savings, so I got the off-peak one to be safe.  (We took a train from London Waterloo to Southampton in early May and the off-peak price was £41 but advance fare was £9.20!  That time I booked the advance fare since there were 4 of us on that trip.)

[SandG]

Thanks everyone, you have all been so helpful.  It is 5 weeks before our journey and we have decided to book our rail tickets today.  To review, we are going from Windsor -> Southampton, and I decided to go by way of Reading as this was a fairly inexpensive route compared to the other options, especially when purchasing off-peak tickets (£24.3 for RDG to SOU).  I'd considered getting advance tickets for £17.6 but that not such a big savings and I'm glad to have some flexibility if needed.  I also feel good that we have reserved seats on that train, because it originates in Manchester and there are a few cruises leaving both that day and the next (ours).
 

I did flip back and forth several times between saving myself any hassles and purchasing a ticket for the entire route vs. booking just the CrossCountry train (RDG->SOU).  It turned out that ticketing the whole route ended up just a little more expensive than using the contactless payment from Windsor to Reading, so I booked only the CrossCountry train on their website today (no UK address required, just like LNER!).  I've worked out a flexible schedule that will give us 40 to 70 minutes in Reading, so we'll be exiting the train area there anyway to grab some lunch.
 

So now we are all set with transportation because we will be using some OBC to pay for the transfer to Heathrow after the cruise.  Thanks all again; if I remember to do it, I'll report back here on how it all went.

[Bill Y]

On 7/13/2023 at 7:45 PM, SandG said:

Thanks everyone, you have all been so helpful.  It is 5 weeks before our journey and we have decided to book our rail tickets today.  To review, we are going from Windsor -> Southampton, and I decided to go by way of Reading as this was a fairly inexpensive route compared to the other options, especially when purchasing off-peak tickets (£24.3 for RDG to SOU).  I'd considered getting advance tickets for £17.6 but that not such a big savings and I'm glad to have some flexibility if needed.  I also feel good that we have reserved seats on that train, because it originates in Manchester and there are a few cruises leaving both that day and the next (ours).
 

I did flip back and forth several times between saving myself any hassles and purchasing a ticket for the entire route vs. booking just the CrossCountry train (RDG->SOU).  It turned out that ticketing the whole route ended up just a little more expensive than using the contactless payment from Windsor to Reading, so I booked only the CrossCountry train on their website today (no UK address required, just like LNER!).  I've worked out a flexible schedule that will give us 40 to 70 minutes in Reading, so we'll be exiting the train area there anyway to grab some lunch.
 

So now we are all set with transportation because we will be using some OBC to pay for the transfer to Heathrow after the cruise.  Thanks all again; if I remember to do it, I'll report back here on how it all went.

Glad that you are sorted.

As you know there are two stations in Windsor the Central (GWR) the one for Slough is in the centre of the town the other one Riverside as the name suggests is down by the river. When you arrive in slough one stop end of the this line Platform 1 you will normally have to cross to platform 4 via a footbridge from the adjacent platform 2, the main footbridge in the middle of this platform does not have any lifts, If you continue to the far end of platform 2 there is another footbridge with lifts. At Reading if you need to use a footbridge there are lifts. At Southampton Central use the platform 4 exit for taxis to the cruise terminal it’s a shorter distance from this exit. Bon voyage.