Britrail Pass

[Andy in Germany]

I may be asking the wrong people here, but is a Britrail Pass valid between Heathrow and St. Pancras? I'm trying to plan my first visit to the UK in several years and I'm getting culture shock...

 

[Mike_P]

The exclusions unhelpfully say nor any other services not mentioned which implies it's not valid anywhere! Suggest you ask via customerservices@tfl.gov.uk.

 

[classic33]

From,
https://www.britrail.com/britrail-passes/eligibility-conditions-of-use/

"The BritRail Pass (First Class and Standard Class) allows travel on all scheduled trains of Participating Operators in Great Britain (or temporary replacement road services). BritRail Passes are valid on Gatwick Express, Heathrow Express and Stansted Express."

 

[Drago]

Don't worry about the culture shock. Mullets are back in fashion here so it will feel just like Germany, although little else will be as equally in ordnung.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I may be asking the wrong people here, but is a Britrail Pass valid between Heathrow and St. Pancras? I'm trying to plan my first visit to the UK in several years and I'm getting culture shock...

According to thetrainline it's valid on the Heathrow express, so that will get you to Paddington, but not on the tubes or other tfl services so you'll need to pay to get to St Pancras
https://www.thetrainline.com/trains/rail-passes/britrail-pass

 

[Sharky]

When I read the thread title, I thought it was going to be about some exhilerating climb in the German Alps!

Sorry, cant help with trains.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Many thanks for the assistance.

As @Dogtrousers says, Britrail Passes are not valid on the underground, which seems to defeat the object: why offer a railpass for the country if it doesn't include the main transport network of the capital city?

As we'd need the Underground to get from Paddington to Kings Cross. It was all getting too complicated and Younger Son found a flight that took us to Manchester.

We can catch a direct train from Manchester to York, and the train from Manchester-York is probably a better first impression of the country for Tinybug than the bowels of London. A Britrail pass is probably the cheapest and certainly the easiest way to do this.

I have to be able to prove non-residence though, which is an interesting idea.

 

[Mike_P]

We can catch a direct train from Manchester to York without having to deal with London, and the train from Manchester-York is probably a better first impression of the country for Tinybug than the bowels of London. hat said, a Britrail pass is probably the cheapest and certainly the easiest way to do this.

That's if one turns up

https://www.railadvent.co.uk/2023/0...of-transpennine-express-trains-cancelled.html

 

[Andy in Germany]

That's if one turns up

https://www.railadvent.co.uk/2023/0...of-transpennine-express-trains-cancelled.html

I saw that too, but my impression is that it's as much of a risk travelling into London and out again with strikes, delays, and goodness knows what else. At least this way we have a pass valid all day so we can catch the next train, and ultimately in the absolute worst case scenario my dad can drive from York to Manchester and pick us up.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Don't worry about the culture shock. Mullets are back in fashion here so it will feel just like Germany, although little else will be as equally in ordnung.

Mullets? Good grief, and I thought Germany was having a weird phase...

It's a little scary just how much has changed. To give you some idea, a Nokia mobile phone was still a status symbol when I left.

 

[chriswoody]

I have to be able to prove non-residence though, which is an interesting idea.

Why do you need to prove non residence? are you travelling on a British Passport?

I've travelled through Dover/Calais quite recently and I only have a British Passport, so I needed to travel on that, but also show my German personalausweis in order to prove my residency in Germany and that way my passport wasn't stamped with a 90 day visa. My wife and children travelled on their German passports and had no problems passing through, no stamps in their passports either.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Why do you need to prove non residence? are you travelling on a British Passport?

I've travelled through Dover/Calais quite recently and I only have a British Passport, so I needed to travel on that, but also show my German personalausweis in order to prove my residency in Germany and that way my passport wasn't stamped with a 90 day visa. My wife and children travelled on their German passports and had no problems passing through, no stamps in their passports either.

I'm guessing my German ID will suffice, along with my German driving licence, health insurance, bank card...

 

[chriswoody]

You do have a British passport though? You can no longer travel through the British border without a valid passport, be it German or British, identity cards are no longer valid for crossing. There was also a story in the paper the other day about Passports also needing to be valid for a certain period after the trip had ended, I'd need to look into that myself. Unfortunately it's all got a lot more bothersome and complicated.

 

[Dogtrousers]

As @Dogtrousers says, Britrail Passes are not valid on the underground, which seems to defeat the object: why offer a railpass for the country if it doesn't include the main transport network of the capital city?

As a Londoner I found that quite normal. Trains and tubes (and buses) are entirely different animals. Bu I can see how someone not living in that environment might find it surprising. But what might catch you out is the Overground - this looks like an ordinay train, is an ordinary train, but is run by Transport for London so probably wouldn't be included. Whereas an ordinary commuter train (in some cases running on the same line!) would be included. It won't be valid on the Manchester, Nottingham or Croydon trams either (to name three tram networks that come to mind)

Anyway, if you have a contactless credit or debit card, you can use these on the tube barriers so it's quite easy (if not free!)

Confusion works the other way: I went to Berlin by train recently. We spent ages wandering round the Hauptbahnhof in Berlin trying to find a machine to buy a ticket for the S-Bahn to our destination (there are very few in the main station itself, as they are actually on the S-Bahn platforms). Faffed around, got the tickets, got to the hotel and read the small print that said that S and U Bahn were included in our main train ticket. Doh!

 

[Mike_P]

Back to original query Britrail appears to be valid on the Elizabeth line https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/transparency/freedom-of-information/foi-request-detail?referenceId=FOI-1415-2223#:~:text=EU rail pass and Brit,date validation box to confirm

MTREL Staff Training specifies:

EU rail pass and Brit rail passes are valid on our services, however before they can be used, they must visit a ticket office where the first and last days of validity must be completed in full, the passport number must be recorded on the pass, and a station stamp must be stamped in the date validation box to confirm the dates the pass can be used, which is all completed by the ticket office colleague. If a signature is required, this must be completed by the customer. We do ask them to use discretion where customers are coming straight from the airport for example Heathrow to Hayes and Harlington.