National Rail (NR) is the trading name licensed for use by the Rail Delivery Group, a group representing passenger train operating companies (TOCs) of England, Scotland, and Wales. The TOCs run the passenger services previously provided by the British Railways Board, from 1965 using the brand name British Rail. Northern Ireland, which is bordered by the Republic of Ireland, has a different system. National Rail services share a ticketing structure and inter-availability that generally do not extend to services which were not part of British Rail. The brand has a dedicated website referred to as nationalrail.co.uk. Its brand name used to be 'National Rail Enquiries' denoted by the nomenclature 'NRE'. While today it is more commonly referred to as 'National Rail' by news and media, it is still known by the initials 'NRE'.
In the railway system of Great Britain, a train operating company (TOC) is a railway undertaking operating passenger trains under the collective National Rail brand. TOCs have existed since the privatisation of the network under the Railways Act 1993.
Gatwick Airport railway station is on the Brighton Main Line in West Sussex, England. It serves Gatwick Airport, 26 miles 47 chains (42.8 km) down the line from London Bridge via Redhill. The platforms are about 70 metres (230 ft) to the east of the airport's South Terminal, with the ticket office above the platforms and station entrances and exits directly connected to the terminal. The station is also connected to the airport's North Terminal by the Airport Shuttle people-mover. Gatwick Airport was the busiest station in South East England region from 2017 to 2018. There have been two stations at Gatwick, sited about 0.85 miles (1.37 km) from each other. It is the busiest station in both West Sussex and South East England, and the sixth busiest station in the UK outside of London.
Rail Settlement Plan (RSP) is a division of the Rail Delivery Group in the United Kingdom. It provides a wide range of common services to the UK's train operating companies and third-party providers of information and retail services. It was founded in 1995.
Welham Green railway station serves the village of Welham Green in Hertfordshire, England. It is 15 miles 50 chains (25.1 km) measured from King's Cross on the East Coast Main Line.
Welwyn Garden City railway station serves the town of Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire, England. It is 20 miles 25 chains from London King's Cross on the East Coast Main Line. Train services are currently provided by Thameslink and Great Northern.
The National Location Code (NLC) is a four-digit number allocated to every railway station and ticket issuing point in Great Britain for use with the ticketing system on the British railway network. They are used in the issue of tickets and for accounting purposes. They are a subset of the NLCs created by British Rail, which are based on four "main" digits plus two supplementary digits.
Tickets issued from British Rail's APTIS system had a considerable amount of detail, presented in a consistent, standard format. The design for all tickets was created by Colin Goodall. This format has formed the basis for all subsequent ticket issuing systems introduced on the railway network – ticket-office based, self-service and conductor-operated machines alike.
The Network Railcard is a discount card introduced in 1986 by British Rail, upon the creation of their Network SouthEast sector in parts of Southern England.
The Ascom EasyTicket is a railway ticket issuing system used in Britain, consisting of a series of self-service (passenger-operated) machines at railway stations. Having been introduced in 2003 on a trial basis by several Train Operating Companies (TOCs) at various stations, the system did not spread into common usage, and most machines have since been removed.
Ascom B8050, usually known by the name QuickFare, is an early example of a passenger-operated railway ticket issuing system, consisting of a series of broadly identical machines installed at British railway stations from 1989 onwards. The machines allow passengers to buy the most popular types of ticket themselves, without having to go to a booking office, and are therefore useful at unstaffed, partly staffed or busy stations. All QuickFare machines have been replaced by more modern technology.
The Scheidt & Bachmann Ticket XPress system is a passenger-operated self-service railway ticket issuing system developed and manufactured by the German systems development and production group Scheidt & Bachmann GmbH, based in the city of Mönchengladbach. Since the first trial installations in 2003, seven train operating companies (TOCs) in Great Britain have adopted the system as their main passenger-operated ticket vending method, while four others have installed machines at certain stations on their networks. More than 1,500 machines are in place across the country, and more than 850 stations have one or more. Machines can accept cash and/or payment cards and can sell most National Rail tickets.
Avantix Mobile ("AVB") is a portable railway ticket issuing system used across the British railway network from 2001 to 2017.
APTIS was the Accountancy and Passenger Ticket Issuing System used on the British Rail/National Rail network until 2007. It was originally called "Advanced Passenger Ticket Issuing System" as it was being developed at the time of the Advanced Passenger Train.
Cubic FasTIS is the latest TIS introduced to the UK National Rail Retailers. The prototype was piloted at Chiltern Railways High Wycombe station from April 2005, the second pilot machine was deployed at Banbury station. Following successful piloting, both Northern Rail and Chiltern Railways selected FasTIS to replace their APTIS fleet.
The Family and Friends Railcard is an annual rail travel discount card for use in Great Britain by adults travelling with at least one child. Cards valid for either one or three years can be purchased at a cost of £30 for one year or £70 for three. It is one of the discounted and concessionary fare schemes available on Britain's railway network to people who either belong to particular groups or who are willing to buy tickets ahead of the date of travel. Before 18 May 2008 it was known as the Family Railcard, but the name was changed to reflect the fact that discounted travel is not restricted to adults and children who are related.
Tribute is one of the older generations of ticket issuing systems introduced to ticket offices by British Rail during the mid-1990s, prior to the privatisation of the network. PC-based, it is one of several systems trialled with the aim of replacing the aging APTIS system. The original systems was developed by British Rail Business Systems, and was first installed at London St Pancras on 21 January 1994. By April 2005, around 250 terminals were in use Following privatisation, development and support was provided to the train operating companies (TOCs) by SchlumbergerSema, until they were bought by Atos in 2004.
Avantix B8070, more commonly known as Avantix MultiTicket was a passenger-operated railway ticket issuing system, installed at British railway stations from 1999 onwards. The machines were available as upgrades to the Ascom B8050 Quickfare or as new builds.
In 2014, a new design was introduced for train tickets issued on the National Rail network in Great Britain. The pre-2014 design was similar to the APTIS design introduced in 1986 by British Rail.
The Luton DART is an airport rail link in Luton, Bedfordshire, England, which connects Luton Airport Parkway station and Luton Airport using a Cable Liner automated people mover system. DART is an acronym for Direct Air–Rail Transit. The line, which opened in March 2023, replaces the shuttle bus service, with the aim of reducing road congestion and reducing journey times from London St Pancras to the airport terminal to 32 minutes.
