What company to use to purchase train tickets from Waterloo station to Southampton

[Globaliser]

13 hours ago, dickinson said:

How long is the train to Southampton Central?

 

Fast trains from London Waterloo to Southampton Central take roughly 1¼ hours.

[dickinson]

6 hours ago, PurpleTraveller said:

 

I just realised that I wrote coach station in my previous answer. It is a 10 to 15 minute walk or a 5 minute taxi ride from the Southampton train station to the Premier Inn West Quay.

 

Thank you!

[dickinson]

14 minutes ago, Globaliser said:

 

Fast trains from London Waterloo to Southampton Central take roughly 1¼ hours.

Thank you. Are trains labeled as fast as opposed to, I assume, ones with lots of stops?

Edited January 28 by dickinson

[mickeysgal]

1 hour ago, dickinson said:

Thank you. Are trains labeled as fast as opposed to, I assume, ones with lots of stops?

When looking at the time table it will say how long the journey is along with how many stops.

if you look at Trainline website for example, it lists London Waterloo to Southampton as 1.5 hours , 0 stops.

 

[Globaliser]

2 hours ago, mickeysgal said:

When looking at the time table it will say how long the journey is along with how many stops.

if you look at Trainline website for example, it lists London Waterloo to Southampton as 1.5 hours , 0 stops.

 

 

0 stops is very unlikely. On the current timetable, the fastest trains generally have 3 intermediate stops, and the other fast trains generally also stop at Clapham Junction. It actually looks like there aren't any slower trains in the current timetable, but IIRC there used to be a third train every hour that took about 15-20 minutes longer and called at more intermediate stops.

 

It's actually more important to check that there are 0 changes. There's generally no reason to choose a journey that requires you to change between London Waterloo and Southampton Central. The exception is if there are engineering works or there is disruption for some other reason, in which case things will by definition be out of the ordinary anyway.

 

But mickeysgal is absolutely right: before you book, you will be shown the journey time (or you will be able to work it out from the departure and arrival times). I think that for an occasional user there are few if any good reasons to use the Trainline to book, but that's already been covered earlier in this thread.

[always-on-vacay]

On 1/13/2024 at 1:52 PM, Eno said:

Looks like can purchase and pick up the tickets at the station.

Any experience using any of these?

We purchased tickets from London to Winchester (a stop on our way to Southampton) in April 2023 for travel in late August 2023.  I believe we bought them through GWR.  When we arrived at Waterloo station we discovered there was a labor strike that day.  No trains were going to Winchester.  We had not been notified.  Fortunately, there was a train stopping at a station 20 minutes by taxi from Winchester which we were able to take.  We were told to contact the company that issued our tickets:  they might issue a refund or pay for the cost of the taxi.  The amount we thought we might (or might not) receive in compensation did not seem to be worth the time or effort to pursue as we were on our way to a transatlantic crossing in two days.  So beware of the possibility of random labor strikes which you cannot predict months or even weeks in advance.  Also, we arrived at our hotel about 2-2 1/2 hours after we had planned to arrive.  This snafu did not drastically affect us, but if we had been going directly to Southampton the day of embarkation things might have been far more stressful.  

[Globaliser]

2 hours ago, always-on-vacay said:

So beware of the possibility of random labor strikes which you cannot predict months or even weeks in advance.

 

This is not true. In the UK, unions must give at least two weeks' notice of any strike. So even if you don't receive any notification, you can check for yourself two weeks before you travel.

[Cotswold Eagle]

1 hour ago, Globaliser said:

 

This is not true. In the UK, unions must give at least two weeks' notice of any strike. So even if you don't receive any notification, you can check for yourself two weeks before you travel.

And every Train Operating Company that I use has a banner across their website with details of forthcoming industrial action, so it's really very simple to check in advance, just as you would for flights. 

[mickeysgal]

On 1/28/2024 at 11:57 AM, Globaliser said:

 

0 stops is very unlikely. On the current timetable, the fastest trains generally have 3 intermediate stops, and the other fast trains generally also stop at Clapham Junction. It actually looks like there aren't any slower trains in the current timetable, but IIRC there used to be a third train every hour that took about 15-20 minutes longer and called at more intermediate stops.

 

It's actually more important to check that there are 0 changes. There's generally no reason to choose a journey that requires you to change between London Waterloo and Southampton Central. The exception is if there are engineering works or there is disruption for some other reason, in which case things will by definition be out of the ordinary anyway.

 

But mickeysgal is absolutely right: before you book, you will be shown the journey time (or you will be able to work it out from the departure and arrival times). I think that for an occasional user there are few if any good reasons to use the Trainline to book, but that's already been covered earlier in this thread.

Thank you - my apologies...I meant to stay changes, not stops.  

[blondietoo]

I use www.thetrainline.com

[runnersuzy]

We will have 2 full days in Southampton.  We want to go to Portsmouth Harbour Victory on 1 day and Osborne house on the other.  Can we just go to the train station or red ferry and buy tickets and buy  tickets at entrance of the 2 places.  I  know it costs more but will decide when we see weather forecast. 

[Eno]

Just back and the train from Waterloo Station to Southampton central couldn’t have been easier. Walked from the park plaza Westminster to Waterloo station with luggage in about 10 mins or so.  Boards show all departures and what platform the train will arrive on. We got to the station early to find our way around but was very easy.  Luckily our Sunday train not impacted by any strikes occurring before and after Sunday.  Took a cab to the room2 hotel and the next morning walked over to the cruise terminal. Cab ride was 10 pounds (for three of us with luggage). Cab was more than the train ticket.  Easiest embarkation ever. Was on the ship and eating lunch by 11:30

[Mary Louise]

What time would you recommend to take the train to Southampton? Once in Southampton, how do you get to the cruise port?

[Globaliser]

7 hours ago, Mary Louise said:

What time would you recommend to take the train to Southampton?

 

There's usually a train every 30 minutes and it takes about an hour and a quarter. So basically, whenever you like during the morning or around lunchtime, so long as it departs after you get out of bed and arrives before check-in closes for your cruise.

[Mary Louise]

1 hour ago, Globaliser said:

 

There's usually a train every 30 minutes and it takes about an hour and a quarter. So basically, whenever you like during the morning or around lunchtime, so long as it departs after you get out of bed and arrives before check-in closes for your cruise.

Thank you

[Eno]

We took the train the night before and stayed at the room2 hotel.  Our ship was at the ocean terminal berth 46 so walked from the hotel across the street to the terminal. Our train on the Sunday was 1:40 some were 1:25 just depends on the stops.  Took a cab from the station to the hotel there were cabs lined up 

[mrfeeto]

On 1/13/2024 at 4:59 PM, Globaliser said:

 

All of the companies that you name are actually other National Rail train operating companies. Almost every fare on every National Rail service will be sold by any of these TOCs, and they don't charge booking fees. In addition, many/most of them will deliver the tickets to you as a PDF via email, so you don't even need to pick up physical tickets at the station. I personally buy more tickets via LNER than via any other TOC, but I do have accounts with Avanti and GWR too.

 

FWIW, your spelling of "Southampton" is correct. This can help with searching.

So this is confusing... From what I've seen, it's a SWR-branded train you board that operates between Waterloo and Southampton, not LNER. So since they're all part of National Rail, LNER is able to sell tickets on SWR trains and for some reason doesn't have the UK-only account limitation? 

[gumshoe958]

1 hour ago, mrfeeto said:

So this is confusing... From what I've seen, it's a SWR-branded train you board that operates between Waterloo and Southampton, not LNER. So since they're all part of National Rail, LNER is able to sell tickets on SWR trains and for some reason doesn't have the UK-only account limitation? 

Welcome to the crazy world of Britain’s railways!

 

Ticketing is extremely complicated and not at all customer friendly with a bewildering array of options - sometimes dozens of different fares for exactly the same train. 

 

But to cut a very long story short, different lines are run by different operators, all of which sell tickets for any journey by any operator to try and ensure there’s a joined-up national network. So yes, LNER will sell you a ticket for SWR even though you’ll never set foot on an LNER train.

Why some operators accept bookings from overseas and others don’t, who knows. But it’s silly and unhelpful and feels very regressive in the era of Apple Pay and Google Pay.

 

 

Edited May 6 by gumshoe958

[Globaliser]

6 hours ago, mrfeeto said:

From what I've seen, it's a SWR-branded train you board that operates between Waterloo and Southampton, not LNER. So since they're all part of National Rail ...

 

It's not just branding. SWR is a completely different company from LNER. They're only "part of National Rail" in the sense that they both belong to what used to be called the Association of Train Operating Companies, which is now part of the Rail Delivery Group. The members of the group will each sell almost all tickets for any train operated by any group member, as well as through fares that require travel on more than one company's trains.

 

5 hours ago, gumshoe958 said:

Why some operators accept bookings from overseas and others don’t, who knows. But it’s silly and unhelpful and feels very regressive in the era of Apple Pay and Google Pay.

 

If I had to guess, it would seem less likely to be a deliberate decision not to accept overseas customers, and more likely that it's simply a website/database construction/security limitation that the company sees no commercial need/imperative to resolve. The number of customers who can only give a non-UK address and must register an account in order to book a ticket in advance for SWR trains is probably negligible, particularly given the nature of SWR's network, passenger and fares mix. It's different for (say) LNER which basically only operates long-distance trains on which advance booking is important for a large proportion of customers.

 

5 hours ago, gumshoe958 said:

Welcome to the crazy world of Britain’s railways!

 

Ticketing is extremely complicated and not at all customer friendly with a bewildering array of options - sometimes dozens of different fares for exactly the same train.

 

It's exactly the same as airlines, driven by very similar commercial imperatives.

[Lena11033]

Sorry piggy backing off of this as I need to book a train coming back from Southampton to London - cruise is coming from Norway and time listed is 7am. I know they have to clear before letting people disembark but what's a safe time to book a train for?

 

Last time I did it I booked the cruise a couple of weeks out so didn't have time to plan and if possible would rather save money with tickets. I remember it being quick getting off the ship and quick to the station.

[gumshoe958]

6 hours ago, Lena11033 said:

Sorry piggy backing off of this as I need to book a train coming back from Southampton to London - cruise is coming from Norway and time listed is 7am. I know they have to clear before letting people disembark but what's a safe time to book a train for?

 

Last time I did it I booked the cruise a couple of weeks out so didn't have time to plan and if possible would rather save money with tickets. I remember it being quick getting off the ship and quick to the station.

If you’re among the first off the ship and carrying your own luggage you should be fine with a 9am train. In fact you’d probably make an 8.30am, but best not to rush.

 

Port to station is only 5-10 minutes by cab.