How To Get Your Train Tickets

Find all the information you’ll need about the different ways you can collect your tickets. From e-tickets sent straight to your phone, to paper tickets you can pick up at the station – there’s something to suit everyone


Getting your ticket

The easiest way to get your ticket is as an E-ticket. You can save this to your device and have it on hand ready for our staff or barriers at the station. But, if needs be, there are other ways of getting your ticket:
Here’s some handy info to help decide what works best for you.

*Please note that e-tickets aren’t available on every journey – the available options will change depending on the train you’re booking.

E Ticket

E-tickets sent straight to your device

  • Safely stored in your email and Avanti West Coast account
  • You can now amend your Advance tickets fee free via our website or app - for more information click here to view our change your journey page
  • Available on any Advance or Anytime/Off-Peak ticket when travelling with Avanti West Coast and selected operators
  • Sent straight to your device (view them in your account, in our app)
  • Must be activated before your journey
  • Cuts out the paper, which is great for our planet and means you’ve nothing to lose*

*Although, please don’t lose your device or you’ll need to buy a new ticket as well as a new phone.

Paper Ticket

Paper-tickets collected from a ticket machine at the station

There are ticket machines in all of our stations. You’ll usually find them by the Ticket Office.

Once you’re at the station, find a ticket machine and insert the card you used to buy your tickets. Then, simply enter your 8-character reference and we’ll print them off on the spot.

You’ll receive your 8-character reference when you buy tickets online or over the phone. If you booked online, you’ll find the reference in your booking confirmation email. If you can’t find the email, don’t worry, you can always log into My Account to retrieve it.

Tickets are made available for collection two hours after you book.

SmartCard

Load your ticket straight onto a Smartcard

We’re planning to completely cut out paper where we can, that’s why we’ve created our very own Smartcard. It’s a faster, easier and safer way to buy, renew and travel with a train ticket.

You can order yours online and load a new ticket onto your new Smartcard in one fell swoop. For more information, visit our Smartcard page.

Paper tickets posted to you via:

Getting your ticket FAQs

What are e-tickets?

Why are e-tickets sometimes not available for my journey?

Fare for everyone

If you're travelling on one of our trains, you must have a ticket that's valid for travel on that service. To make it fair for everyone, there are different ticket types available and our team are onboard to help with any queries.

Find out more

Revenue Fare For Everyone Icon