Plan a rail journey in the UK or Europe with our Journey Planner

Our Journey Planner will show you all the available options to get you from A to B. Enter your departure and arrival stations and our clever tool will show you all the relevant info, including:

  • Train times
  • Direct and indirect services
  • Changes
  • Calling points
  • Ticket prices

Our timetable data is sourced directly from National Rail, so our Journey Planner only shows up-to-date, trustworthy information.

How to plan a journey

  1. Use our Journey Planner tool at the top of the page and enter your origin station or the general area where you’ll be starting your journey. If you put ‘London’, for example, a list of stations within the city will pop up. If you don’t know which station you need, select ‘London, Any’ and we’ll do the rest.
  2. Enter your destination below. If you’re going from city to city, you can select the ‘Any’ option again and we’ll highlight the cheapest tickets available for the journey on the next page.
  3. Select your date of travel and add a return journey if you like.
  4. Choose how many passengers you need tickets for.
  5. Add a Railcard if you have one.
  6. Hit ‘Get times and tickets’.
  7. We’ve selected the cheapest available ticket for your journey, if you’re happy with it, hit ‘continue’ and book your tickets.

Use SplitSave sorcery to save on average £13 per trip*

Did you know SplitSave breaks your journey into two cheaper tickets, so you save money without even trying?

Well, now you do. You can find split tickets on our app and website - just start a search today! 

Find out more about split tickets.

*Average saving for bookings from 1 March 2023 - 31 Oct 2023 comparing SplitsSave fare vs next cheapest fare available to a Trainline customer. Subject to SplitSave fares being available.

Can I use the Journey Planner for TfL services?

Underground trains

In the event that your trip requires a Tube journey between two mainline railway stations, the Journey Planner will factor in a Tube journey into the total journey time. However, you cannot purchase London Underground tickets on Trainline.

Overground trains

The Journey Planner allows you to check departure times and buy tickets for London Overground services. Simply enter your departure and arrival stations and we’ll do the rest.

Rail Planner on-the-go

Need to plan your train journeys while you’re out and about? Then download our mobile app (available for iOS, iPad and Android) to book your train tickets or find the latest live travel, platform or delay information at a glance.

For selected routes, you can also use Mobile Tickets, which means no more queuing at ticket collection machines and you’ll never need to panic over a lost paper ticket again.

Plan your next train journey with Trainline

We're experts at helping you to make planning rail journeys simple, quick and efficient. That’s why you can check live train departures, arrival times and fare details ahead of time – so you get where you need to be cheaply and smoothly.

By combining our train times journey planner with our extensive UK trains map, you’ll see exactly where you'll pass, what kind of train you'll take, and what you might see along the way. 

Use our search tool above to identify which trains run during peak, off-peak or super off-peak times so you can get the best deal.

Popular journeys by train

Whether you’re planning a trip to one of the UK’s major cities, trying to get to the airport or simply looking for inspiration, you can check out some of the most popular UK train journeys below.

JourneyFastest timeTrain operator
London to Bath1h 15mGWR, SWR
London to Edinburgh4h 17mLNER, Lumo, Avanti West Coast
Edinburgh to London4hLNER, Lumo, Avanti West Coast
London to Manchester2h 3mAvanti West Coast
London to Cardiff1h 47mGWR
Manchester to London2h 3mAvanti West Coast
London to Oxford44mGWR, Chiltern Railways
Milton Keynes to London32mAvanti West Coast
Stockport to London1h 54mAvanti West Coast
London to York1h 46mLNER, Grand Central Railway
Wolverhampton to London1h 46mAvanti West Coast
Gloucester to London1h 41mGWR
London to Leeds2h 12mLNER, EMR
Taunton to London1h 40mGWR
Carlise to London3h 19mAvanti West Coast
Edinburgh to Inverness3h 19mScotRail, LNER

Planning a European train trip?

Did you know you can use our Journey Planner to check for European train times too? That’s right, in just a few clicks you could be heading to the continent to explore entirely new places by rail. If you’re travelling in France, we’ll even show you how much Co2 you could save by choosing the train over air travel – meaning you can feel better about yourself while on your journey! To try it out for yourself, simply enter your origin and destination locations into our tool as you usually would, then choose a time and ticket type that suits you.

Still need to do that all-important research before you go? Check out our comprehensive country guides below.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I use Trainline's Journey Planner?

Using our Journey Planner is super-simple. Simply enter your departure and arrival stations into the "From" and "To" fields. Don't worry if you don't know which station to pick - you can also enter two city names and we'll show you all the possible routes between the two. The Journey Planner will show you the train times on your chosen day of travel, the number of changes, First Class options and - of course - the cheapest tickets!

Can I use the Journey Planner for European train journeys?

Yes, you can! Our clever tech works across 45 countries in Europe, meaning you can just as easily find train times for Rome to Milan as London to Manchester. We'll still show you the key info - train times, ticket prices, changes and First Class options. Where applicable, we'll also show you ticket conditions, such as refund and exchange rules.

How do I view coach options using the Journey Planner?

We'll show you train results by default in the Journey Planner, but it's simple to see view coach options. Simply click on the little coach tab above the search results and we'll show you all the coach services running between your chosen cities that day. Coaches are usually cheaper than trains so it's always worth a look if you want to save a few pennies.

Europe’s leading train and coach app

We help customers across Europe make more than 172,000 smarter journeys every day.