When travelling on Great Britain's railway network, you'll often end up travelling into, out of, or across London. When you book tickets through TrainSplit we'll try to sell tickets which cover all parts of your journey, including any travel you may need to do between London stations to get to your final destination.
Some tickets include the cost of a cross-London transfer within their cost, other tickets offer a single or return journey within specific London fare zones, and some will provide unlimited travel on all modes of transport within the listed fare zones.
Cross-London transfers
If your journey involves travelling across London to connect with another National Rail service, your ticket will usually include the cost of this transfer on London Underground, DLR, Elizabeth Line or Thameslink services between the relevant station.
Your ticket will show a cross (✠) or dagger (†) marker if it includes this transfer:
If you're taking the Tube or Elizabeth Line, insert your paper ticket into the ticket barrier slot (orange side up) and it will read your ticket, give it back to you, and the barrier will open to let you through. If you have an issue with the automated barriers, just speak to a member of TfL staff and show them your ticket.
You can only make one continuous cross-London journey using tickets with this marker. If you want to leave the London Underground, DLR, Elizabeth Line or Thameslink part-way through your transfer between stations, you'll need to continue your transfer at your own expense.
Which stations can I transfer between?
Cross-London transfers can only be made between specific stations within London. For a full list of stations, please check National Rail's Travelling in London page. We've included a list of stations below, accurate as of 16 March 2025.
Click to view the full list of cross-London transfer stations
- Abbey Wood
- Aldgate
- Amersham
- Baker Street
- Balham
- Bank
- Barking
- Battersea Power Station
- Blackfriars
- Blackhorse Road
- Brixton
- Canada Water
- Cannon Street
- Charing Cross
- Ealing Broadway
- Edgware Road
- Elephant & Castle
- Embankment
- Euston
- Euston Square
- Farringdon
- Finsbury Park
- Greenwich (DLR)
- Highbury & Islington
- Kensington Olympia
- Kentish Town
- Kings Cross St Pancras
- Lancaster Gate
- Lewisham (DLR)
- Limehouse
- Liverpool Street
- London Bridge
- Marylebone
- Moorgate
- Old Street
- Paddington
- Queens Park
- Richmond
- Seven Sisters
- Shadwell
- Shepherds Bush
- Southwark
- Stratford
- Stratford International (DLR)
- Tottenham Hale
- Tower Hill
- Upminster
- Vauxhall
- Victoria
- Walthamstow Central
- Waterloo
- West Brompton
- West Ham
- West Hampstead
- Whitechapel
- Wimbledon
- Woolwich Arsenal (DLR)
- Woolwich (Elizabeth line)
Crossing London at night
If you're making a journey late at night, or in the early hours of the morning, then cross-London services may not be running. We'll make this clear at the time you book with us by showing a "Transfer" in your itinerary instead of "Tube" or similar.
In these cases, you may need to pay for your own travel across London out of pocket, either via TfL's Night Bus network or by taxi.
London Travelcards
Travelcards offer unlimited travel on London Underground, DLR, Tramlink, Elizabeth Line and any train operators within the fare zones stated on the ticket. They also provide unlimited travel on all London Buses no matter which zone(s) the Travelcard covers.
In some cases, split tickets make it cheaper for us to sell you a London Travelcard instead of a through ticket across London with only one cross-London transfer. In these cases, simply use your Travelcard to make your journey across London as you would with any other cross-London ticket.
You can identify a Travelcard by looking for the Transport for London roundel at the top of the ticket, alongside the word "Travelcard":
Types of Travelcard
Travelcards can be split into two categories known as "inboundary" and "outboundary".
Inboundary Travelcards are issued from a station within the London fare zones for unlimited travel from that station's zone to one or more other zones. Day Travelcards are available as either Zones 1-4, Zones 1-6 or Zones 1-9.
Outboundary Travelcards combine a day return ticket between a station outside of London's fare zones and the boundary of the fare zone(s) on the ticket and unlimited travel within the stated London fare zones. Day Travelcards are only available as Zones 1-6.
Route restrictions
Some outboundary Travelcards may state a specific route that must be followed such as "Thameslink only". This route only applies when outside of the area covered by the Travelcard. When you reach a location covered by your Travelcard, you no longer have to follow this restriction.
For example, if you had a "Thameslink only" Travelcard for Zones 1-6, you could travel between East Croydon (Zone 5) and London Victoria (Zone 1) on Southern, but if your journey is leaving the London fare zones you'd need to travel on Thameslink.
Time restrictions
Anytime Travelcards can be used at any time from midnight of the date shown on the ticket until 04:30 on the day after expiry. Any other type of Travelcard (such as Off-Peak or Super Off-Peak) is valid only after 09:30 on Monday-Friday, but are valid at any time on weekends and bank holidays.
Similar to route restrictions, the time restrictions of the Travelcard dictated by the two-letter code stated at the time of purchase (and on the front of newer-style Travelcard tickets) only applies when outside of the zonal area covered by the Travelcard. Within the zones shown on the Travelcard, the anytime/09:30 rule mentioned above applies.
Tickets to London Underground/DLR Zones
As well as cross-London tickets and Travelcards, it's also possible to buy tickets to specific London Underground zones. These tickets let you travel into London (usually to a London Terminal) then continue onward to a London Underground or DLR station within a specific fare zone. Like a cross-London ticket this only covers a single journey, but you can start or end this journey at any Underground or DLR station within the fare zones shown on the ticket.
Every station you pass through on your London Underground or DLR journey must be within the zones listed on your ticket. For example, if you're travelling from a Zone 2 station to another Zone 2 station, but travel through Zone 1, your ticket must be to "London Underground/DLR Zones 1-2". A ticket only to Zone 2 would not be valid for this journey.
These tickets will often be sold as part of a set of split tickets as they can be cheaper than one through ticket which includes your journey across London. Plus, since they're typically priced at the cost of the ticket to London and a journey on TfL, you can sometimes lower the price of a journey to London with a journey on the Tube with a Railcard.
While most "London Underground Zone X" tickets allow you to travel all the way into a London Terminal and continue on the Underground, some tickets require you to change to the Underground enroute into London at stations such as Ealing Broadway or Kew Gardens. Make sure you check the route of your particular ticket before travelling.
Tickets to specific London Underground/DLR Zones will not show a Transport for London Roundel at the top to differentiate them from Travelcards which allow unlimited journeys within the stated zones. These tickets are also valid on the Elizabeth Line between Paddington and Abbey Wood/Stratford only, but are not typically valid on London Overground.
Oyster and Contactless
Last, and some might say least, the staples of Oyster and Contactless can take you everywhere within Zones 1-6 and well beyond with under-development extensions to the system. TrainSplit offers an advanced search option to exclude all cross-London tickets from results (unless they're cheaper!) if you'd prefer to travel using your Oyster or Contactless payment card.
Contactless doesn't offer Railcard-discounted fares and, while this is coming in the future, there is no publicly-known timeframe for its launch. For Oyster, you can add your 16-25, 26-30, Senior or HM Forces Railcard to your Oyster to get a 1/3 discount for off-peak pay-as-you-go travel, or all-day for Disabled Railcard holders. You'll need to register your Oyster online first, then visit a TfL station where staff will be able to apply the discount at a ticket machine.
If you're travelling around London in the evening, it's worth noting that Oyster and Contactless will charge peak fares between 16:00 and 19:00 Monday to Friday but an Off-Peak Travelcard will still be valid during this time.