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www.nationalrail.co.uk/

National Rail

National Rail website (opens in new window )

Level: expert

What is National Rail?

The national rail website is an extremely useful resource which enables you to check train times, book fares and see if there are any delays or maintenance.

How to use National Rail

On National Rails homepage you will find a variety of links, which will provide general information, and the option to register if you wish. However, as this website doesn’t display information brilliantly in WebbIE, it would be recommendable just to use the website to find train times, and then book fares, assistance etc over the phone, 08457 48 49 50.

This is mainly because, once you’ve requested information on a journey the results are visually displayed in a table, which WebbIE doesn’t support, you can work out the results, but, this isn’t as straightforward as it should be, for instance:

On the homepage, locate the form which asks for your journey details, you’ll need to enter your start and destination stations, select the date and time of departure and return if required, press search.

To find your journey results either search for the word "outward" or otherwise locate this section, it's about the 3rd Heading down.

If you arrow down from here you’ll see the times etc, they are displayed all on one line, and aren’t easy to remember what they correspond to, but basically, the line reads:

Time: the time the train departs

Place: going from, arriving at.

Arrival time

Duration

Number of changes.

Once you’ve done a few searches, it is possible to work out what each bit corresponds to.

If this time isn’t suitable, go down further and you’ll see a few more options, departing at different times.

Selecting more information – a link just below the journey details, will take you to a new page, where you can see more details on your journey, for instance where the train actually starts and ends, and set up alerts so that you’re notified if the train is delayed.

You can also choose to view ticket prices, this is fairly straightforward, you just choose the number of passengers and class of travel.

When you go to the next page you will be shown fare suggestions, these are radio buttons.

After this, however, there is currently nothing else you can do.

Generally, once you’ve chosen your ticket, you click buy, which will redirect you to the actual train company website to purchase, this, however isn’t currently working in WebbIE.

Recommendations

Whilst National Rail is useful to see times, frequency of trains and pricing, due to the unclear layout and the fact that you can’t actually complete a ticket purchase, it is advisable to only use this website as a reference point, and phone to book tickets.

By phoning, of course, you can also book assistance if required, but you’ll already be aware of the ticket cost and train times.

Navigation

National Rail may pose a few problems for the beginner, due to layout, especially regarding journey details, this is due to lack of table support in WebbIE.

Otherwise, the main sections are always under headings, and searching for specific words is useful on this site.

 

The Free Internet Cafe for the Blind & Visually Impaired, the first in the whole of Africa, which opens the World Wide Web, making The Gambia a leading light in Africa, with this technology by allowing free and total access to surf the net send and receive emails and for students to enhace their studies with the aid of this pioneering software. No more do they need to rely on a third party to read to them newspapers, magazines, books, letters and world wide information.