Elizabeth Line Fares Announced

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Yesterday TfL released details of the fares to be charged on the Elizabeth Line when it starts operating at the end of this year.  They also confirmed fares for the second TfL Rail line from May 20th between Paddington and Heathrow.  This will become part of the Elizabeth line later on.

The big news is that Heathrow (TfL Rail) will be joining Heathrow (LU) in zone 6.  This means that travelcards will be valid as will all other TfL concessions (zip cards, freedom passes, etc).  The downside is that there will still be a premium to be paid for single fares to/from Heathrow (TfL Rail), but Oyster and contactless capping at the zone 6 level will limit the effect on return journeys and indeed on other travel within the zones that day once in London.

As for the rest of the line, fares in the central area will be the same as normal Underground fares.  This will extend westwards as far as Hayes & Harlington and West Drayton.  To the east Whitechapel and Canary Wharf are mentioned as being standard LU fares, but the press release is silent on further out.  Currently the fares to Harold Wood are the same in the peak but a bit more expensive off-peak.  It remains to be seen what fares will apply to/from Woolwich and Abbey Wood.

I’ll add more details on the actual fares in the coming weeks.

25 thoughts on “Elizabeth Line Fares Announced”

  1. I suspect the reason why the further reaches of the Elizabeth line still have issues to iron out with regards to revenue compensating GA (why LO and TfL Rail have those strange prices) and Southeastern, the latter like Southern when the ELL launched will have some revenue loss by passengers switching over from them at Abbey Wood and Woolwich.

  2. Will this mean a large increase for some TFL rail travellers that use a monthly ticket to Liverpool St only.
    For example a monthly ticket from Harold Wood to LST only is approx £184, so from December will this mean changing to an all Zones 1-6 monthly at approx £240?

    • Hi Kevin,

      No it shouldn’t. The season ticket prices for National Rail only into Liverpool Street will remain as they are.

  3. Hi Mike, how will that work if Harold Wood (&all other ex GA stations) are running TfL trains & run by TfL?

    At present the GA trains to Southend do stop there on but on Sundays only

    • Hi Kevin,

      Depsite TfL’s best efforts to say otherwise, Overground, TfL Rail and Elizabeth Line are all National Rail services and National Rail tickets are all valid on them. The DfT specified that point-to-point season tickets were not to be withdrawn when TfL took over the GA routes.

  4. Hi Mike,

    As a matter of interest, does this mean that my 60+ Oyster will be valid to Heathrow once TfL take over? And indeed to points further west once the full Elizabeth Line service is in operation?

    • Hi Alan,

      Heathrow yes, definitely. Points further west will need to wait for clarification. My gut instinct says yes, but ONLY on TfL (Elizabeth line) services.

  5. Hi Mike,

    Now that Oyster is valid on the “Heathrow Connect” do you know whether there are platform validators at Hayes & Harlington to allow passengers travelling from the far west to touch in on the way to Heathrow, or have they got to exit the station and come back in again (with luggage)?

    • Hi David,

      I’m not familiar with Hayes & Harlington but I can see no evidence of validators on the platforms on the pictures on the National Rail site.

  6. Cheers Mike – I hope that when the big re-building is completed that they think about this

  7. If I may help here with Hayes & Harlington details trains towards Paddington from the West arrive on platform 4 there are validators (not gates) at the exit to the station at the Western End or on the exit footbridge (rear of train but not coach 8) that you have to cross to platform 3 where the Heathrow trains depart from.
    There is a separate footbridge that has been recently installed (unsure whether in use yet) to cross the platforms but there are no validators located here.
    The zonal system starts at West Drayton one station further West so to be safe ensure your paper ticket is valid to Hayes.

  8. Currently only Ealing Broadway on that line has platform validators in place and then only between the tube and trains. I’d also note that TfL have significantly increased their staff presence at validators (in particular H&H) and are actively seeking fare evaders on the line between H&H / Heathrow and Paddington. I also hope they consider installing platform validators but all the upgrade blurbs only discuss the installation of ticket gates.

  10. If I can update the progress at Hayes and Harlington, platform extension work now means the whole 8 coach train fits the London bound platform with the rear stopping adjacent to the new cross platform footbridge.
    The validators I mentioned that were formally at the Station Approach exit to the town have now been moved from been adjacent on the platform to further back along the exit footpath near the temporary ticket office, this exit avoids using the stairs to exit the station via the original Station Road exit.

  11. Mike
    I’m a visitor to London and am a little confused, but I think I now have it! I’m travelling tube to Paddington then TfL Rail to Hayes and Harlington. I then have an off-Peak paper ticket to Reading. So, I touch in at Blackhorse Rd, out at Paddington; back in at Paddington TfL then out at H&H where I have to leave the train and wait for the next one while I locate the validators? I then do the opposite on the return journey? Am I correct?

  12. Heathrow Express says, that from september 2018 oyster and contactless will be accepted. Will it then part of TfL Rail ? Price ? Daily capping like TfL Rail to Heahtrow ?

    • Hi Thomas,

      We don’t know the price yet. It almost certainly won’t be included in capping though, much more likely to be like the Gatwick Express.

  13. Hello,

    I am trying to work out an efficient way of travelling between home near Ealing Broadway, to my work in Langley.

    I start my journey at Ealing Broadway, using my Oyster travelcard for zones 1-6. In order to use my travelcard (rather than buying a separate rail ticket which would mean me paying twice for a portion of my journey) currently I have to get off the train half way, at Hayes & Harlington. There are no validators on the platform, so I must go all the way into the main ticket hall to tap my Oyster, then go back to the platform and wait for the next train.

    There are still no validators on the platforms, and the station map doesn’t seem to tell you where they are.

    I know an older post talks about the validators, but I am not sure what the current situation is given that Crossrail is delayed for the next year. This must affect a lot of people, also those who use H&H to change for the Heathrow rail.

    Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated!

    • Hi Masiejane,

      If you are using a travelcard on Oyster then you don’t need to worry about touching out as long as the whole journey is covered. You can stay on the same train providing you have the ticket(s) to get from West Drayton to Langley.

      However, I think you are paying way over the price required. You can buy season tickets from outside the zones which include travel within two or more zones starting with zone 6. The quirk is that they can only be specified with the origin outside the zones, but they can be used the other way round. The price for a weekly travelcard from Langley to zones 3-6 is £44.80. Furthermore, if you only need to use the train between Ealing Broadway and Langley then a rail only season ticket is £41.30/week.

      Hope that helps.

  14. Hi Mike

    I have noticed something strange when my daughter was charged slightly less than expected for a recent journey from Bond Street to Dartford. As far as I can see, the fares from two future Elizabeth Line staions, Bond Street and Tottenham Court Road, to Dartford are being charged at £8 peak and £5.50 off-peak, but if I look at the 2019 fares they revert to the expected £9.40/£6.40. What makes it even stranger is that the 2018 fares in the opposite direction are still £9.40/£6.40. Is this some side effect of the non-start of the Elizabeth Line this month? Even if it is I can’t really make any sense of it as it looks like a non-tube NR1 fare.

    • Hi Nick,

      That is strange. It almost certainly is connected with the Elizabeth line, but you’re right, the fares do look strange. And I’ve not encountered different fares for the reverse direction before either (except when one is peak and the other off-peak of course).

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