Significant changes have been made to the fare scales this year. Firstly, in March the special NR fares from Dartford and Swanley were abolished and incorporated into the standard NR fare scale for the late adopting operators. Secondly, the special fares for Anglia journeys ending at Liverpool Street NR became redundant at the same time. … Read more

Tomorrow (18th July) sees the opening of the new Barking Riverside station, at the end of the extension to the Gospel Oak to Barking line. While it’s tempting to go along and see what it’s like, I will be refraining from travel until later in the week in line with advice from both TfL and … Read more

A new entrance to Hackney Central has been opened on the Highbury bound platform from Graham Road. This means that many passengers joining or alighting from trains now no longer need to use the footbridge to enter or exit from the station. The new entrance is not step free (there wasn’t really any room), but … Read more

Rounding up some old news I can confirm that contactless PAYG went live at Bourne End, Cookham, Furze Platt and Marlow on Sunday 22nd May.  The news wasn’t particularly broadcast by GWR at the time, and TfL were concentrating on the opening of the Elizabeth line two days later. The fares to these stations are … Read more

A problem that has been reported in several places is the lack of validators in a key place at Custom House. As part of the new Elizabeth line station, a set of escalators has been provided from the DLR platforms up to the side gate into the Elizabeth line station. The problem is that no-one … Read more

The Elizabeth line may be futuristic, fast and convenient, but it’s fare structure is anything but simple. Historically there are three sorts of lines: National Rail charging Underground fares (eg C2C, GWR, LO), National Rail late adopters (eg Southeastern, SWRailway) and Underground or DLR lines. The National Rail fare scale applies to journeys using late … Read more

One thing that has quickly been noted is that people are getting charged incomplete journeys because they have taken too long in the system.  This is hardly surprising when we are all being urged to stop and admire the architecture in each station.  Although the maximum for a zone 1 journey is enhanced from the … Read more

One thing I’ve always strived to do with the fare finder on this site is to simplify the number of duplicate station entries. The TfL single fare finder lists Harrow & Wealdstone twice, for example, once as an Underground station and once as an Overground and National Rail station.  There is only one station and … Read more

The opening of the new Elizabeth line on Tuesday introduces a host of new interchange options. Many are within the stations while others are new out-of-station interchanges (OSIs) with nearby stations. This is what’s coming: Paddington: The new station is accessed from the Eastbourne Terrace side of the main station near platform 1.  Escalators and … Read more

So, my prediction post wasn’t as far out as all that. The announcement came two days early (and apparently it has been referred to the Electoral Commission as breaking Purdah rules) and the date itself is eight days later than predicted. The first public trains will run on Tuesday 24th May. On that day the … Read more