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Everything you need to know about booking Eurostar train travel across Europe

If you're already based in Europe, the iconic Eurostar train likely needs no introduction; if you're only visiting the continent, however, you may not be quite aware of the service or how speedy and convenient its connectivity is between the U.K. and mainland Europe.

If you're looking for an easy (and typically cheaper) alternative to flying in Europe , then Eurostar might be just what you're looking for. It provides easy access to several countries — if you're short on time during your vacation, you could opt to take a daytrip from London to Paris using this train service.

Keep reading to find out more about traveling on Eurostar, including how to book tickets and save on fares by using your points and miles . Plus, check out our in-depth overview of each fare type on the Eurostar .

Eurostar trains travel to several destinations

Eurostar began operating in 1994 and is one of Europe's most well-known high-speed train services. The train currently offers direct service to London; Paris; Brussels; Rotterdam, Netherlands; and Amsterdam.

Further connecting Eurostar services will take you to Antwerp, Belgium; Liege, Belgium; Dusseldorf, Germany; Duisburg, Germany; Essen, Germany; and Dortmund, Germany.

In addition to operating its own trains, Eurostar serves as a connecting rail service for other high-speed carriers to destinations like Disneyland Paris.

Related: 7 reasons why your next family vacation should be a train trip

What are the different ticket types for Eurostar trains?

The fare classes on Eurostar come in three tiers. The lowest and most affordable is Standard, which is the equivalent of coach or economy class with an airline.

Next up is Standard Premier, which is akin to premium economy. Finally, there's Business Premier, which is Eurostar's version of business class.

The fare classes are broken down as follows:

With regards to pricing, the cost of fares in Standard and Standard Premier fluctuates based on seasonality, peak periods and destination. Business Premier, on the other hand, remains fairly consistent year-round in terms of pricing. Eurostar tickets can usually be booked up to 330 days before your return travel date.

Generally speaking, if you're considering a trip from London onward, you can expect prices to fall somewhere within the following margins for a one-way trip:

If you're looking to snag a bargain, it's worth keeping your eye out for flash sales, which Eurostar regularly runs throughout the year, often with tickets for as little as 30 British pounds (around $38).

How do Eurostar trains compare to flying?

Compared to flying to your destination and transiting through European airports, traveling via Eurostar is much more low-stress.

The most obvious difference is the security experience, which, compared to that at an airport, is effortless, with no removal of liquids or large electric items. Although queues can mount up during busy periods, we've found that we're through security in under 10 minutes when we travel with Eurostar.

Check-in is similar to airport check-in in that you must show your ticket and passport at a desk or kiosk. London's St. Pancras International Station , however, is currently testing biometric face scans , which may make checking in even faster.

Regarding lounge access, it's worth noting lounges are only available at the St. Pancras, Paris Gare du Nord and Brussels Midi/Zuid stations.

If you're used to airline-run business-class airport lounges, you may need to lower your expectations somewhat here. Although comfortable and pleasant, the lounges are somewhat basic — don't expect too much in the way of food.

Related: The best lounges at London Heathrow — and how to get inside

On board the Eurostar, it's like most modern trains you may have taken at home. The differences between Standard Premier and Business Premier are nominal. You'll get slightly more legroom and a slightly more modern seat in both classes than in Standard.

What you're paying for in these classes is the luggage allowance and food service. If you don't deem either of those things a huge must-have, you'll be more than comfortable in Standard.

That said, the food service on the Eurostar is much better than on most airplanes and currently features a menu designed by the renowned Raymond Blanc. Champagne and coffee services are also served free of charge in Business Premier.

How to book the Eurostar train with credit cards

Travel on Eurostar, booked directly with Eurostar or through an online travel provider, should be coded as travel.

The following credit cards offer bonus points for travel expenses, along with strong welcome bonuses:

• Chase Sapphire Preferred Card : Earn 5 points per dollar on travel booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards and 2 points on all other travel purchases.
• Chase Sapphire Reserve : Earn 3 points per dollar on travel purchases.
• Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card : Earn 2 points per dollar on all purchases, including travel.
• Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card : Earn 2 points per dollar on all purchases, including travel.
• Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express : Earn 3% cash back on transit, including taxis, parking, tolls, trains and buses. Cash back is received in the form of Reward Dollars that can be redeemed as a statement credit or at Amazon.com checkout.
• Citi Double Cash® Card (see rates and fees ): Earn 2% on every purchase, with 1% cash back when you buy and an additional 1% as you pay for those purchases.

Related: 14 best travel credit cards

How to earn points and miles for Eurostar trains

Eurostar operates its own loyalty program named Club Eurostar. For every British pound spent (about $1.27), you will earn 1.2 points. This means you earn around 1 point per $1 spent.

Elite members receive the following points bonuses when booking:

• Avantage: 25%
• Carte Blanche: 50%
• Etoile: 75%

Eurostar tickets can now be booked through the Uber app , and you will earn 10% back in Uber credits on Eurostar bookings and National Rail train tickets in the U.K.

Additionally, you can earn 10% back when you purchase your coach tickets with the following U.K. operators: National Express and Megabus. If you decide to opt out of taking public transit, you can also hire a car from Avis, Hertz and other companies in your Uber app. When you book your trip, you'll receive £10 off (about $12).

You can also transfer 2,000 Accor Live Limitless points and receive 300 Eurostar points.

How to redeem points and miles for Eurostar trains

You can redeem 2,000 Club Eurostar points for a round-trip ticket in Standard class (or 4,000 points for a Standard Premier ticket), though these tickets are limited. For 1,000 more points, you can book any Standard or Standard Premier seats available.

A round-trip ticket can easily cost over $200 in Standard class (and double this at peak periods), making Club Eurostar points very valuable.

Business Premier tickets are available for 6,000 points round-trip for any available seat (saver-level space is not offered).

A one-way upgrade from Standard to Standard Premier is 600 points.

If you don't wish to redeem Club Eurostar points for train travel, you can transfer 500 Eurostar points and receive 1,000 Accor points .

You can redeem Virgin points through Virgin Red for the following Eurostar vouchers:

• 2,000 points for a 10-pound E-Voucher (about $12)
• 5,000 points for a 25-pound E-Voucher (about $31)
• 10,000 points for a 50-pound E-Voucher (about $63)
• 20,000 points for a 100-pound E-Voucher (about $126)

We would not recommend redeeming Virgin points in this way under any circumstances, as this will only give you a redemption value of 0.5 cents each, which is only one-third of our current valuation of Virgin points . You can obtain far more value from your Virgin points by redeeming through flights on Virgin Atlantic or partner airlines like Air France, KLM and Delta Air Lines.

Related: Virgin Atlantic Flying Club: How to earn and redeem points for maximum value

Bottom line

Eurostar's popularity boomed during the COVID-19 pandemic as travelers looked for ways to move around Europe without relying on airlines. As a result, Eurostar fares can be more expensive compared to flights with the same route. For short journeys like between London and Brussels, taking Eurostar is a much quicker and more relaxing experience, while on longer journeys like London to Amsterdam, the price can be similar.

If you want to travel within Europe and like the idea of keeping your feet on the ground, book in advance or redeem points and enjoy the stress-free Eurostar rail experience.

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Train travel UK & Ireland...

Train travel in europe..., train travel in asia..., train travel in africa..., train travel in america..., train travel in australasia, interrail or eurail gets you a special fare on eurostar.

Eurostar joined the Interrail & Eurail pass schemes in January 2017.

If you have an Interrail or Eurail pass you can use Eurostar between London & Lille, Paris, Brussels, Disneyland, Rotterdam & Amsterdam, but you must pay a special passholder fare.

These passholder fares have limited availability and are not always available on the busiest trains or dates, so you should check availability before buying a pass .

How much is the Eurostar passholder fare?

London to Lille, Brussels or Paris costs €30 in standard class or €38 in standard premier .

London to Rotterdam or Amsterdam costs €35 in standard class or €43 in standard premier .

This is one-way, a round trip is two one-ways.

About these fares

You qualify for a Eurostar passholder fare if you have an Interrail or Eurail global pass .  You don't qualify if you only have a one-country pass .

If you've a 2nd class pass you can only book standard class .  If you've a 1st class pass you can book standard or standard premier .

The passholder fare is the same for adults, seniors, youths & children.

Children aged under 12 must pay the passholder fare, even if they have a free Interrail or Eurail pass (but children under 4 travel free).

Eurostar passholder fares are non-refundable, but can be changed for €20 fee using the Manage booking section on www.eurostar.com .

If you have a flexi pass, the Eurostar journey must take place on one of your unlimited travel days.  But one pass day can cover a train from your home station to London, the Eurostar to Paris, Brussels or Amsterdam, then an onward train to (say) Cologne or Barcelona or wherever.

You don't need to have activated the pass to buy the Eurostar passholder fare, you only need to have bought a pass so you have a valid pass number.  Buying a passholder fare for a particular date does not commit you to using your pass on that day.  In fact, there is absolutely no connection between making a reservation and using your pass, they are entirely separate.  You can leave your pass un-activated, and if you so wish, later bin the passholder fare and use your pass on a completely different date and a completely different route, whatever.

See the Eurostar page for a guide to Eurostar's trains, classes, check-in procedures and journey.

Tip:   Remember to add the Eurostar journey to My trip and toggle it onto your pass (if using a mobile pass), or record the Eurostar journey in your hand-written travel diary (if using a hard copy pass) just as for any other train journey.

Remember that Eurostar's regular fares start at £78 return without a pass if you book well in advance and avoid busy days, so only buy a pass if the cheapest tickets have sold out, if you're using other trains before or after the Eurostar journey making it worthwhile.

Availability is limited ...

I strongly recommend checking availability before you buy a pass, as places for Interrail & Eurail passholders are limited.  You don't need a pass number to check passholder availability if you use the websites suggested below:

To check availability of Eurostar passholder places use the journey planner at www.raileurope.com or www.b-europe.com/EN/Booking/Pass .

 On Raileurope.com , click Add rail pass below the journey planner and select your pass type and class. 

How passholder availability works :  Eurostar has dynamic pricing, managed using 'price buckets' like an airline.  There are around 12 buckets, let's say bucket 1 is the most expensive and always available as long as there are any seats at all left on that train, and price bucket 12 is the cheapest, available if you book months ahead for a wet Wednesday in February.

The Interrail/Eurail passholder fare is in the 3rd bucket down from top, bucket 3.  Which means availability is pretty good, even at short notice.

If you book in advance you'll usually find plenty of availability, but maybe not on the busiest trains on a Friday or Sunday afternoon.  If you book on the day of travel you'll often find availability on some trains, but not all trains, or perhaps on a few trains tomorrow but none today.

However, on busy dates, days and trains you'll find that buckets 1 or 2 are available for normal travellers paying cash, but bucket 3 is unavailable so no passholder places, even though the train isn't full.  Friday & Sunday afternoons are very busy and so is July & August.

Put another way, if the normal price shown at www.eurostar.com is £143 or less for a given train, €30 passholder places should be available.  But if the normal price is £160 or higher, there will be no passholder places on that train.

See for yourself!  Run an enquiry at www.raileurope.com or www.b-europe.com/EN/Booking/Pass to see what availability looks today, tomorrow, next week.

Tip:   I've known people turn up in Paris in July or August to find the next Eurostar with passholder places is in 3 days' time.  You can always catch a train to Calais or Caen and take a ferry back to Dover or Portsmouth, see the London to Paris by train & ferry page .  Or from Amsterdam or Brussels, use the Hoek-Harwich Stena Line service between Amsterdam & London .

Tip:   If there's no availability from London to Paris (or Paris to London), book London to Lille (or Lille to London) instead.  You can then use a French domestic train between Lille & Paris, either a direct TGV for a €10/€20 fee or TERs (with a change at Amiens or Aulnoye) with no fee.

How to buy a Eurostar passholder ticket

Option 1, buy at www.raileurope.com.

You can check availability of Eurostar passholder places on www.raileurope.com before buying a pass, as you do not need a pass number to run an enquiry and see availability.  Click Add rail pass below the journey planner and select your pass type and class, then run an enquiry.

You should see passholder fares at the prices listed above.  Only trains with passholder places available show up.

With a 1st class pass you can travel in either class.  With a 2nd class pass only standard class Eurostar tickets appear.

When you've bought a pass and have a pass number, you can buy your Eurostar passholder ticket here.  At the time I write this Raileurope charge no booking fee, just the Eurostar passholder fare.

You can print your Eurostar ticket or can show it on your phone, loaded in the Eurostar app.

Tip:   Booking usually opens 6 months ahead .  Eurostar trains can sometimes appear open for booking up to 330 days ahead, but you may find that no Interrail passholder places are available until less than 6 months before departure, if so don't panic, just wait!

Tip:   If it won't accept a mobile pass number, you can easily generate a pass cover number from your mobile pass number at www.eurail.com/en/book-reservations#/generatePassCoverNumber .

Tip:   Once you've bought your passholder ticket, you can choose better seats from a Eurostar seat map following the instructions here .

Option 2, buy at www.b-europe.com/EN/Booking/Pass

You can check availability of Eurostar passholder places on Belgian Railways website www.b-europe.com/EN/Booking/Pass before buying a pass because you do not need a pass number to run an enquiry and see availability.

With a 1st class pass you can travel in either class.  With a 2nd class pass only standard class Eurostar tickets will show up.

When you've bought a pass and have a pass number, you can buy your Eurostar passholder ticket here.

B-europe charge a €4 booking fee on the overall booking.  In option 2 below the fee is only €2, but per person not per booking.

You can print out your Eurostar ticket or can show it on your phone in the B-Europe app or Eurostar app.

Option 3, buy using the InterRail/Eurail reservations service

You can also make passholder bookings in the Interrail/Eurail Railplanner app on your phone - it's a useful app for offline timetable enquiries in any case, and mobile passes are displayed in this app.  Download it at www.eurail.com/en/plan-your-trip/rail-planner-app .

Tip:   Booking usually opens 6 months ahead .  Eurostar sometimes opens up to 330 days ahead, but you may find there are no Interrail passholder places until less than 6 months before departure, so don't don't panic, just wait!

Option 4, buy at the station or call Eurostar telesales

Eurostar passholder fares are available directly from the Eurostar ticket offices at London St Pancras , Lille Europe , Paris Gare du Nord & Brussels Midi , or by phone from Eurostar telesales on 03432 186 186 (UK) or +44 1233 617575 (overseas) but there may be a phone booking fee.  You will need your pass number.

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Rail staff purchasing Eurostar tickets

• Thread starter MuckyFingers
• Start date 2 Nov 2019

MuckyFingers

In order to purchase tickets with our discount applied do we as rail staff need to go to St Pancras in person or can we do so by another method. Also is anyone able to tell me what proof we need to take with us if this is the case? Cheers peeps  

RailUK Forums

Wallsendmag

Established member.

I bought some last month at STP I just took my Safeguarded Staff Travel cards , it is possible to use an agency but I was in KGX anyway.  

davetheguard

The Rail Delivery Group website gives the following phone numbers to order tickets on its staff travel pages. Booking fees apply. International Rail Ltd. 0333 003 0423 Rail Canterbury 01227 450088 Ffestiniog Travel 01766 515630 Two different levels of discount apply for staff travel on Eurostar: one for safeguarded staff and the other for non-safeguarded staff.  

Forum Staff

davetheguard said: The Rail Delivery Group website gives the following phone numbers to order tickets on its staff travel pages. Booking fees apply. International Rail Ltd. 0333 003 0423 Rail Canterbury 01227 450088 Ffestiniog Travel 01766 515630 Two different levels of discount apply for staff travel on Eurostar: one for safeguarded staff and the other for non-safeguarded staff. Click to expand...

That's hard for those who live up North then.  

gray1404 said: That's hard for those who live up North then. Click to expand...

BluePenguin

On moderation.

cheers guys for the replies il try phoning before i pop by.  

Mag_seven said: If you want the safeguarded discount (as opposed to the FIP discount) then I'm sure that can only be obtained at Eurostar booking offices. Click to expand...

Will the railways ever allow these tickets to be booked online? TfL have managed an online solution for Eurostar fares, not really open to abuse either like the Sleeper tickets were.  

RJ said: Will the railways ever allow these tickets to be booked online? TfL have managed an online solution for Eurostar fares, not really open to abuse either like the Sleeper tickets were. Click to expand...

TheAlbanach_

How you can get to to Paris, Lille and Brussels for as little as £35 with the Eurostar summer flash sale

E urostar has announced a flash sale for budget summer city breaks across continental Europe – but holidaymakers will have to act quickly.

The rail service now has tickets from just £35 each way for thousands of seats travelling between Paris , Lille, Brussels , London and the Netherlands .

Fares for £70 return journeys are live from today, Tuesday 16 July, until 11pm on Thursday 18 July.

The promotion will apply to most Eurostar trains for travel between 13 August and 23 October 2024, so those looking to pitch up in Paris after the Olympics – from 26 July until 11 August– are in luck.

The £35 standard class tickets are available for journeys departing London St Pancras International for Paris Gare du Nord, Brussels-Midi/Zuid, Lille Europe and Rotterdam.

This cheaper fare, usually from around £49 each way, will not be available from London to Paris on some dates including 17, 23 and 24 August.

Standard class tickets are refundable up to seven days pre-departure and include two 85cm bags and one piece of hand luggage with no weight or liquid restrictions.

Last month, The Independent’s travel correspondent Simon Calder said: “ Eurostar is now cutting fares from London to Paris in late July as British travellers shun the Games. Some fares have fallen by more than one-third in just two weeks.”

Francois Le Doze, chief commercial officer for Eurostar said in November: “We are preparing for more than one million passengers to travel with us to the French capital during these exciting and unforgettable events.

“We have released Eurostar tickets early to provide our customers with the best chance to plan their trip in the greenest way possible to support their Olympic and Paralympic teams, as well as their favourite athletes. We are very proud to be the official travel partner of Team GB and ParalympicsGB for the Paris 2024 Games.”

For more travel news and advice listen to Simon Calder’s podcast .

The Independent is the world’s most free-thinking news brand, providing global news, commentary and analysis for the independently-minded. We have grown a huge, global readership of independently minded individuals, who value our trusted voice and commitment to positive change. Our mission, making change happen, has never been as important as it is today.

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Updated - 11 August 2023

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The following questions and answers are provided to give the most likely generic response only and cannot cover every eventuality.  Where there is a difference between the answer on this page and the source documentation, then the source documentation will always take precedence.  Further information may be found on our other pages or by contacting us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Please select the FAQ Topic that you wish to view:

Employees of Train Operating Companies (TOCs)

Employees of other employers, retired/redundant employees, change of employment, change of details, acting on behalf of the employee or widow(er), adding a spouse/partner, adding a child dependant.

• Change in Family Circumstances

Staff Travel Card

Rail staff leisure card, rst online leisure card, status pass, season tickets, residential pass, international reduced rate card - fip card, international travel.

• Booking International Travel using your issued Facilities

TOC Specific Travel

Photo id cards, lost/stolen cards and replacements, reservations, transport for london, rst online refunds.

Once we have received your joiner information from your HR department, we will create a Rail Staff Travel record for you. Before we can issue any cards/passes to you will need to upload a photo of yourself to our website www.raildeliverygroup.com/rst/photo-upload. Select Rail Staff Leisure Card as the card you are applying for.

If you uploaded a photo within a few weeks of joining and have yet to receive any cards/passes, please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Once you have received your Rail Staff Leisure Card you can apply for facilities for your eligible family members.

The forms are available on our website at www.raildeliverygroup.com/rst/forms.

If you are applying for a spouse, partner or child for the first time, you need to supply a photo of them when applying. The forms you need are below:

• Add Spouse or Partner (online) (XX02a)
• Partner Declaration (XX03)
• Add Child Dependant (online) (XX02b)
• Child Declaration (online) (XX05)

You are not eligible to retain your national and international travel facilities in retirement. However, your TOC may allow you to keep your TOC specific card/pass. You should contact your HR department before you leave to discuss this with them.

You will need to return any outstanding cards/passes to RST. Please cut them into 4 and send us a picture of these by email with the name and number visible so these can be cancelled from your record.

If you are joining another TOC and have less than a month between leaving and re-joining you will need to send your TOC and Group passes back to RST by cutting them into 4 and sending a picture of these This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. You can keep your Rail Staff Leisure Card.

You will not be able to retain any of your staff travel facilities when leaving your current TOC employer.

You will need to return any outstanding cards, including those issued to your family members, to RST. When returning to RST please cut them into 4 and send us a picture of these by email with the name and number visible so these can be cancelled from your record.

We will be notified of the change to your grade by your employer. At this point we will contact you if we need to make any changes to your current facilities.

As a Safeguarded Employee you may be able to retain your national staff travel facilities if your employer confirms to us you have retired by age and you are eligible to receive your pension. This information has to come from them, and we cannot make any changes to your record without them advising us. If you are eligible we will be in contact with you regarding any travel facilities you may be eligible to receive and any that need to be returned for cancellation or exchanging.

You should complete our Retired Data Check form (XX12) on www.raildeliverygroup.com/rst/forms to ensure we have your most up to date contact details.

As a Safeguarded Employee you may be able to retain your national staff travel facilities if your employer confirms to us, you have been made redundant. This information must come from them, and we cannot make any changes to your record without them advising us.

If you are eligible we will be in contact with you regarding any travel facilities you may be eligible to receive and any that need to be returned for cancellation or exchanging.

You should complete our Retired Data Check form (XX12) on www.raildeliverygroup.com/rst/forms. to ensure we have your most up to date contact details.

If you are joining another TOC and have less than a month between leaving and re-joining you will need to send your TOC and Group passes back to RST by cutting them into 4 and sending a picture of these This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. You can keep your Staff Travel Card.

RST will need your new employer to complete the required forms to apply for travel for you. If there is a gap in service of a month or more you will need to provide proof of unemployment in the form of a current OCA41 letter from HMRC from the date you left your previous employer to the day you joined your new employer. This is needed so continuous service can be granted and enable you to continue to be a Safeguarded employee.

Please note that Transport for London (London Underground), Open-access operators such as Grand Central, Heathrow Express, Lumo and Hull Trains are not considered TOCs so cannot offer Safeguarded travel facilities.

It is best to check with RST in the first instance that the company you are joining will be able to offer you rail staff travel facilities. Just because a company in the rail industry has employees with rail staff travel facilities does not mean that safeguarded employees who join voluntarily are also eligible.

If they are not eligible to give you rail staff travel facilities, you will lose your eligibility to Safeguarded staff travel facilities. You will not be able to re-obtain these later, e.g. you will not get the travel facilities back when you reach your minimum pension age, retire or are made redundant.

As you are leaving the rail industry, unless you are eligible to retain your leisure travel facilities due to redundancy or retirement, you will lose your eligibility to Safeguarded staff travel. You will not be able to re-obtain these at a later date, e.g. when you reach your minimum pension age, retire or are made redundant.

It is best to check with RST in the first instance that the company you are joining will be able to offer you rail staff travel.

In terms of the level of travel, this all depends which company you are moving to, whether you meet the eligibility for a Status Pass there and whether your new employer has sufficient Status Pass quota to allocate one to you. You should discuss the level of travel they are willing to give you with them.

Holders of Blue Status Passes do not retain these when leaving one eligible employer to join another.

If you are eligible to retain your staff travel facilities in retirement or redundancy then you will be able to retain your Status Pass as well.

Once you have left, Status Passes will need to be cut into 4 and pictures sent to RST for these to be issued as the retired version.

If you have an Oyster Status Pass, a retired version will be ordered and once an image of the cut up active pass is received, we will post the retired version to you. Please note if you are aged under 50 the Oyster Status Pass will not be reissued until you reach 50 as per TfL’s rules. You should contact RST in this instance.

You should complete our Retired Data Check form (XX12) on our www.raildeliverygroup.com/rst/forms. page. This will allow us to keep in touch with you.

As a Safeguarded Employee you may be able to retain your national staff travel facilities if your employer confirms to us you have retired by age, and they are happy to pay any charges that may apply and you are eligible to take your pension. This information has to come from them, and we cannot make any changes to your record without them advising us.

If you are eligible, we will be in contact with you regarding any travel facilities you may be eligible to receive and any that need to be returned for cancellation or exchanging.

As a Safeguarded Employee you may be able to retain your national staff travel facilities if your employer confirms to us you have been made redundant or accepted voluntary severance and they are happy to pay any charges that may apply. This information must come from them, and we cannot make any changes to your record without them advising us.

Further information on this can be found under the section Leaving Railway Employment

If you are eligible to retain your staff travel facilities in retirement or redundancy and your employer is happy to pay any charges that may apply, then you will be able to retain your Status Pass as well.

If you have an Oyster Status Pass, a retired version will be ordered and once an image of the cut up active pass is received, we will post the retired version to you. Please note if you are aged under 50 the Ooyster Status Pass will not be reissued until you reach 50 as per TfL’s rules. You should contact RST in this instance.

If you were eligible to retain your travel facilities when you left the rail industry, then you would have kept them. If you aren’t currently receiving them then it is likely you weren’t eligible when you left. Even if the rules have changed they do not apply retrospectively.   Claiming your pension does not change your eligibility for travel facilities. Rules for pensions and travel facilities are completely different and you can be in receipt of one and not the other.

Resignation and dismissal are not reasons for leaving that entitle you to keep you travel facilities. Regardless of whether you are now claiming your pension this does not change your eligibility for travel facilities.

If you were eligible to retain your travel facilities when you left the rail industry, then you would have kept them. If you aren’t currently receiving them then it is likely you weren’t eligible when you left. Even if the rules have changed, they do not apply retrospectively.   Claiming your pension does not change your eligibility for travel facilities. Rules for pensions and travel facilities are completely different and you can be in receipt of one and not the other.

If you qualify for a Senior Railcard (see www.senior-railcard.co.uk  for eligibility - you do not have to purchase a senior railcard) and you have a Staff Travel Card that states that “Retired” or Widow/er, then you can take up to 4 children aged between 5 and 15 with you for a flat fare of £4.00 (single or return) per child.

In some circumstances, a TOC may choose to only offer single fares on a journey and not offer return fares, in which case the £4.00 flat fare can only be purchased as a single. In these cases the child will need a single £4.00 flat fare for each direction of travel on a return journey.

This is for travel in Standard class only and the children have to travel with you.

Proof of eligibility to purchase a Senior Railcard must be produced with your Retired Staff Travel Card when purchasing tickets.

If you change your hours, this will not impact the national rail staff travel facilities that you receive.

To notify us of your change of name please complete Employee Change of Name form xx25 available at www.raildeliverygroup.com/rst/forms.

You will need to supply a scan of evidence of your marriage or civil partnership certificate or copy of the deed poll. If you need one of your passes for residential or duty purposes, please attach a photo of the pass intact to the form and we will replace it without you sending it in to us. Please cut the leisure passes into 4 with the name and numbers showing and attach a photo of these with the form. We will then be able to reissue them.

Once you have the new residential/duty pass, you will then need to email us the obsolete one cut into 4 so it can be cancelled from your record. 

If you have not changed your passport name, then the FIP card should be kept until this is changed.

To notify us of your Dependant's change of name please complete Dependant Change of Name form xx26 available at www.raildeliverygroup.com/rst/forms.

With regards to your dependants passes these all need to be cut into 4 and attached to the xx26 form and then they will be reissued.

If your dependant uses a pass for education please attach a photo of the pass intact to the form and we will replace it without you sending it in to us. Once you have the new pass, you will then need to email us the obsolete one cut into 4 so it can be cancelled from your record. 

If your dependant has not changed their passport name, then the FIP card should be kept until this is changed.

RST will do its best to help with this. As individual circumstances vary, please email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

For addresses in the United Kingdom you can only notify us by completing the Change of Address form xx15 from www.raildeliverygroup.com/rst/forms

If you are a widow/er please fill in as much information as possible so it enables us to find your record.

If you live outside of the United Kingdom, please email us confirming your card number and old and new address.

Please complete the Change of Details form xx21 from www.raildeliverygroup.com/rst/forms

If you are a widow/er please fill in as much information as possible so it enables us to find your record

In this section

• How To - Avoid Form Rejections
• How To - Submit Online
• How To - Send by Email
• How To - Send by Post
• Conditions of Issue and Use
• Eligibility of Family Members
• Useful Information
• Where Can I Go and Restrictions
• Current Offers and Concessions
• Travel on TfL
• Photo Upload
• Other Contacts
• Privacy Notice

As a widow(er), your eligibility to retain staff travel facilities is through your dependency on your late spouse/partner.

As you have started a new relationship this dependency has ceased and you are no longer eligible, even if that relationship later ends.

A new relationship is classified as a marriage, civil partnership, or simply co-habiting in an arrangement that would consider the other person as your domestic partner.

You must inform RST immediately and cut your current staff travel facilities into 4 and send these to RST by email ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ) for cancellation.  Once staff travel facilities have been lost in this way you will not be eligible to regain them in the future

If you qualify for a Senior Railcard (see  www.senior-railcard.co.uk  for eligibility) and you have a Staff Travel Card that states that “Retired” or Widow/er, then you can take up to 4 children aged between 5 and 15 with you for a flat fare of £4.00 (single or return) per child. This is for travel in Standard class only and the children have to travel with you. Proof of eligibility to purchase a Senior Railcard must be produced with your Retired Staff Travel Card when purchasing tickets.

If you receive staff travel facilities as a Spouse/Partner through their record and providing that we have confirmation from them that you can act on their behalf (by phone, letter or email), then we will mark the record accordingly and can accept instructions from you. Any instructions that we receive from the employee should make clear the extent of the authority that has been provided, e.g. whether it is just for a specific period of time or enduring. We only accept this for paying for replacements cards/passes and reporting cards as lost. We cannot make any changes to the record, such as change of address.

If they are not able to give their consent in this way (e.g. owing to incapacity), then we will only be able to accept instructions from you if you can provide us with a copy of:

• a registered Power of Attorney showing you as their attorney, or
• a registered Deputyship showing you as their deputy, or
• a BF57 form issued to you as their appointee by the DWP (in respect of managing their state benefits).

If you receive staff travel facilities as a child dependant through their record, you are over the age of 18 and providing that we have confirmation from them that you can act on their behalf (by, letter or email), then we will mark the record accordingly and can accept instructions from you. Any instructions that we receive from the employee should make clear the extent of the authority that has been provided, e.g. whether it is just for a specific period of time or enduring. . We only accept this for paying for replacements cards/passes and reporting cards as lost. We cannot make any changes to the record, such as change of address.

We will only be able to accept instructions from you if you can provide us with a copy of:

• a registered Power of Attorney showing you as their attorney, or ·

If you receive staff travel facilities as a Spouse/Partner through their record and providing that we have confirmation from them that you can act on their behalf (by letter or email), then we will mark the record accordingly and can accept instructions from you.

Any instructions that we receive from the employee should make clear the extent of the authority that has been provided, e.g. whether it is just for a specific period of time or enduring. We only accept this for paying for replacements cards/passes and reporting cards as lost. We cannot make any changes to the record, such as change of address

We will require a photocopy of the Power of Attorney that has either been stamped by the OPG or signed by the donor, solicitor or notary that it is a true copy (per OPG instructions). o that we can make the necessary changes to the contact elements of our record.

With this we need confirmation of the employee or widow/er’s name and address and Staff Travel Card number

You can scan/take a photo of these documents and email them to us.  Please do not send original documents by post. We cannot accept links to view this online we need the full document online.

Once we have this, we will make the necessary changes so that all future correspondence is sent to you.

You cannot deal with RST if you do not have a registered Power of Attorney or Deputyship .

You can apply by using our Add Partner form which can be found on our forms page. Complete this form online and submit to us with a copy of your marriage or civil partnership certificate in JPEG or PDF format. A passport photo should also be uploaded to our website as we are unable to issue any cards and passes without this.

If you do not have a marriage certificate or civil partnership certificate then you will need to complete the xx03 Partner Declaration. This statutory declaration that you co-habit as a couple in a meaningful relationship must be sworn before, and witnessed by, a Solicitor or other authorised body who should first verify the supplied documentation proving that you are continuously and permanently living together in the same property. The guidance notes on the Partner Declaration list all the proofs of address we can accept. The form must be signed and stamped by the Solicitor or other authorised body.

Please remember that if you have passes already issued to a former Spouse, Civil Partner or Partner and they have not been returned to us or expired you should complete the xx24 form and attach a picture of them cut into four showing the name and number. If you cannot return these passes, you will have to wait until the final pass has expired before you can apply for your new Spouse or Civil Partner.

You will not be able to get staff travel facilities for your Partner as you do not live permanently and continuously at the same, single property.

In Great Britain, children up to the age of 5 can travel free of charge on the National Rail network, so do not need staff travel facilities.

If you intend to travel with them in Europe using FIP cards or Coupons then you may need to apply for them when they are 4 as certain countries begin to charge child fares from then

Once they need staff travel facilities, you can apply for a biological child, and also those who are adopted, step-children, fostered, under a special guardianship order, residence order or a Ward of Court.

Check they are eligible on the Eligibily of Family Members page of the RST website.

You can apply by using our Add Child form (xx02b). Complete this form online and submit with a scan or image of your child's full birth certificate (the one that lists parents names) or official document if they are under a special guardianship, residence order or ward of court and you should also include a current passport style photograph.

Once your child reaches age 18, we will require an annual Child Declaration form xx05 completed by you confirming their circumstances i.e. in full time education or living at home and earning under the current weekly limit. We will require evidence of this and may ask for further details.

The full birth certificate shows parents names to establish a link between yourself and/or your Spouse, Civil Partner or Partner to the child. Full birth certificates can be obtained from the authority that maintains the registrations of births. In England and Wales this is through the HM Gov website, or in Scotland through the National Records Scotland website.

Change of family circumstances

You can change your passes by completing form xx25 online and attaching pictures of your passes cut into four and a copy of the official document.

You can change the name on their passes by completing form xx26 online and attaching pictures of their passes cut into four and a copy of the official document.

RST can usually accommodate this so please email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for further information. Please attach any relevant documentation.

If you are separated from or no longer living with your spouse or partner, they will not be eligible for any facilities. You will need to complete form xx24 and attach pictures of their passes cut into 4.

If you can’t return these passes, RST will be unable to issue you with any facilities for a future Spouse, Civil Partner or Partner, and any of their children, until the all passes they hold have expired. In addition, you will not be able to replace these passes with us (for the current lost passes fee) so that these may be returned.

Generally, if your partner’s children are no longer living with you they are not eligible for any facilities. You will need to complete form xx24 and attach pictures of their passes cut into 4. However if they are still living with you please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with any further documentation to enable us to look into this.

You and your eligible family members can use your card for free and discounted leisure travel on National Rail services.

If you date a box this can be used on the date entered and up until midnight on the following day for free travel unless the second date is beyond the validity of the card.

If you do not have available boxes (or are not eligible for boxes), you can use the Staff Travel Card for staff discounted (priv rate) travel.

Use of the Staff Travel Card is subject to the Endorsement(s) printed on the front of the card and published staff travel restrictions.

On the front of the Staff Travel Card there is a line that specifies the Endorsement the holder is subject to when using their card. 

The endorsement list is as follows:

1 Not valid on Wightlink, Tyne & Wear Metro and Caledonian MacBrayne ships.

2 Not valid on Tyne & Wear Metro and Caledonian MacBrayne ships.

3 Not valid on Caledonian MacBrayne ship

5 Valid on National Rail and London Underground only

6 Not valid on Eurostar services.

8 Available also for First Class privilege tickets between former G.W.R. stations.

11 Valid on National Rail only.

NIL No Endorsements apply.

Before commencing a free journey, you must enter the day and month of the journey in ink in the first (or next available) box. Each box is divided into two sections on the card marked as “DAY” and “MTH”. Boxes must be completed using Arabic numerals, with zero in front of single digits i.e. 7 August should be written in as "07" in the DAY box and "08" in the MTH box immediately beneath it.

If you make a mistake, you should cross out the box and then date a new box beofre you travel.

Staff Travel Cards are valid from 1 April of one year until 30 June of the next year. New cards will be sent out to via employers or directly to home addresses towards the end of March each year. If you wish to use occasions of free travel between 1 April and 30 June, either the old or the new card can be used (assuming there are unused boxes on the old card). Only the new card can be used after 30 June.

You can date a box on the 30th June to use for free travel. You will not be able to use the dated box for free or travel on 1st July.

You can use your Staff Travel Card to purchase unlimited Staff Discounted (Privilege Rate) national rail tickets. The 75% reduction can be applied to day and period walk-up Anytime and off-peak fares. Time restrictions on off-peak tickets apply.

You cannot get Staff Discounted (Privilege Rate) on Advance Purchase tickets.

You can also purchase privilege rate tickets which include cross London travel on London Underground services to allow you to travel between two London terminals.

You must have a valid ticket before you start a journey.

If you wish to travel using a Staff Discounted (Privilege Rate) ticket, you must buy that ticket from RST Online, or a ticket office before you travel. It is not possible to buy them from ticket machines.

If the ticket office is closed and it is therefore not possible to purchase the Staff Discounted (Privilege Rate) ticket before you travel, then you must purchase it at the first available opportunity. This could be on entry to the platform, on the train, or when exiting at your destination.

If you are travelling from a station within a Penalty Fare area then you must obtain a permit to travel at the public rate in accordance with the Penalty Fare instructions displayed at the station.

If you have endorsement 11 then you cannot use your Staff Travel Card for any travel on LUL or DLR services.

If you do not have endorsement 11 you can use your Staff Travel Card for travel on LUL/DLR services as below:

• Limited free leisure travel on Inter available routes only by dating a box
• Unlimited Privilege Rate leisure travel on all LUL/DLR services by using an Oyster card with the Priv All Rail discount on it

If your Staff Travel Card has endorsement 5, 6 or 11 printed on the front if it, then it is not valid for discounted travel on Eurostar.

If your Staff Travel Card does not have endorsement 5, 6 or 11 printed on the front of it, then you may purchase reduced rate tickets for leisure use. These are cheaper than the FIP fares. More information is available at www.raildeliverygroup.com/rst/offers.html

Although Eurostar tickets can be purchased at London St Pancras on the day of travel, availability cannot be guaranteed and therefore it is advisable to obtain tickets in advance, either in person from Eurostar at St Pancras or via International Rail Ltd at www.bookmyrst.co.uk

Reservations on Eurostar services are compulsory. Reservations can be made in Standard Premier (1st class) by holders of 1st Class Staff Travel Cards only and Standard Class by all other Staff Travel Card holders.

No, and this would be deemed a travel irregularity. The only exception is if you have a retired Staff Travel Card and are aged 60 or over, in which case you can take up to four children aged 5-15 for £4.00 each.

You and your eligible family members who hold Rail Staff Leisure Cards can use these for discounted National Rail services for leisure travel only.

It cannot be used to buy daily tickets to get to work or a place of education.

The discount available is 75% of the walk-up fare. This discount applies to Anytime, and off-peak  (including Super Off Peak) fares. Time restrictions apply to off-peak tickets.

You can also get a discount on some Rover and Ranger tickets.

You cannot get a 75% discount on Advance Purchase tickets, as these are already heavily discounted. The agreement underwriting this non-contractual arrangement is reviewed annually by TOCs and may be withdrawn at any time.

You can use your Rail Staff Leisure Card to purchase unlimited Privilege Rate Leisure national rail tickets. You must have a valid ticket before you start a journey.

You can buy them in advance online from RST Online.

You can also buy them from any National Rail station ticket office. If the ticket office is closed or there is no ticket office  then you must offer to pay it at the first available opportunity. This could be on entry to the platform, on the train, or when exiting at your destination. By doing so there is no question that you are trying to travel without paying. If you don’t offer to pay, then you could be accused of fare avoidance and risk a Travel Irregularity.

If your journey starts in a Penalty Fare area, and you are not able to buy a ticket, then you must obtain the same authority to travel as a member of the public, following the instructions provided by the TOC at that station.

The Rail Staff Leisure Card is not valid on London Underground or Dockland Light Railway services. 

However, if you have a ticket with (+)  it means you can use the London Underground to connect with another London Terminal. However, if you wish to  continue  your journey by Underground you will have to purchase another ticket or use Pay as you go 

You can buy tickets for your family members who hold a valid Rail Staff Leisure Card.

Network Rail will advise you on how to opt into the scheme. They will notify Rail Staff Travel once you have confirmed you would like to opt in. You must upload a passport-style photo of you before we can issue your RST Online Leisure Card at www.raildeliverygroup.com/rst/photo-upload

You must ensure you select ‘Network Rail - RST Online Leisure Card’ as the product.

Once we have your information and photo, your rail staff travel record will be complete.

You should receive your RST Online Leisure Card within 8 weeks of uploading your photo. We will email you once it has been posted, confirming  details of how to register for RST Online so you can buy your reduced rate tickets.

Employees can apply online at www.raildeliverygroup.com/rst/forms.html#family to add your family to your record.

• To add a Spouse or Partner use form (XX02a). If you do not have a marriage certificate or civil partnership certificate you will also need to complete a Partner Declaration form (XX03)
• To add a Child Dependant use form (XX02b). For any child who is aged 18 or over you will also need to complete a Child Declaration form (XX05)

As part of applying for a family member you will need to upload a photo along with the form.

You should receive your RST Online Leisure Card within 8 weeks of uploading your photo. We will email you once it has been posted, confirming  details of how to register for RST Online so you can buy your reduced rate tickets.

You and your eligible family members who hold RST Online Leisure Cards can use these for discounted travel on certain National Rail services for Standard class leisure travel only.

Your RST Online Leisure Card is not valid for staff discounted (priv rate) tickets on Caledonian Sleeper, Elizabeth Line, London Overground, Grand Central, Hull Trains or Eurostar services. You must not purchase tickets from RST Online for use on these operators’ services.

It cannot be used to buy daily tickets to get to work, or a place of education or any form of duty travel i.e. to work meetings.

These tickets can only be purchased via your RST online account and not at the station or on the train. These can be purchased on the day or in advance.

You must have a valid ticket before you start a journey. If not, then you could be accused of fare avoidance and risk a Travel Irregularity.

It is not possible to buy discounted (priv rate) tickets at the Ticket Office, or from ticket machines.

The RST Online Leisure Card is not valid on London Underground,  Dockland Light Railway, London Overground or Elizabeth Line services. 

You cannot purchase privilege tickets for to travel on the following operators:

• Arriva Rail London (London Overground)
• Caledonian Sleeper
• Elizabeth Line
• Docklands Light Railway
• Glasgow Subway
• Grand Central 
• Hull Trains
• London Underground
• Tyne and Wear Metro
• All other light rail and tramway systems in Britain

You can only buy tickets for your family members who hold a valid RST Online Leisure Card.

You cannot buy staff discounted (priv rate) tickets for any person who does not hold a valid Rail Staff Leisure Card. This will result in the permanent withdrawal of all travel facilities (including all family members) and risks disciplinary and / or legal action (including prosecution).

To request any replacement card or pass, you must submit either

• Lost or Damaged Cards (XX35)
• Replacement of Faulty or Stolen Cards (XX34) Via the below link www.raildeliverygroup.com/rst/forms

You will also need to pay a replacement fee if the card is lost or damaged.

We will charge Network Rail for the cost of providing the RST Online Leisure Card to you and any eligible family members. (there is one charge regardless of the number of family members). This is a taxable benefit so any queries on this you should email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Once you leave (for any reason) you are not eligible to retain the RST Online Leisure Cards. You will need to cut yours and your family members passes into 4 and send a picture of these with the name and number showing to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

For any queries regarding the scheme you should email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Active members of staff who hold a Status Pass, can use this for residential and leisure travel.

Gold and Silver Status Pass holders can use the pass:

• on the National Rail Network,
• on the inter-available London Underground/Docklands Light Railway services, and
• on the services of additional carriers which are specified on the pass (determined when you started working and part of the industry you work for).

Blue (Regional) Status Pass holders can only use their passes within the geographical limits that are specified on the pass.

You cannot use any status pass for business/duty travel as part of your employment. This includes travel to meetings and travelling to different work locations.

Your active Status Pass must be returned to be replaced with a retired version after you have left employment. This retired version is valid for leisure travel only.

You will be contacted via email or letter to advise you of this. Once you have left please cut your current status pass into 4 and send us a picture of this to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with the name and number showing so the retired pass can be issued.

Retired employees can use their Status Passes for leisure travel only.

You cannot use a retired status pass for residential or duty travel even if you then take up further employment

A Spouse or Partner who holds a Status Pass can use this for leisure travel only.

It cannot be used for getting to and from work or for any business travel as part of their employment.

A dependant child who holds a Status Pass can use this for leisure or educational travel only.

It cannot be used for getting to and from work. 

The photo on your Status Pass should be updated every 10 years for adults and every 5 years for child dependants

The Staff Travel Card provides free travel on some services which do not accept Status Passes (such as London Tramlink and Windermere Lake Cruises).

The Staff Travel Card is also required to obtain the flat fare for accompanied children when the employee is retired and aged 60 and over.

The Staff Travel Card can also be used for discounted travel on Eurostar, P&O Ferries, heritage and leisure railways. None of these organisations recognise the Status Pass for these discounts.

A discounted season ticket is available to Safeguarded and TOC employees:

• For residential travel from their nearest home station to their nearest work station.
• Children of eligible employees to travel to their place of education from their nearest home station (including term time addresses) to the nearest station to the educational establishment.
• Retired Safeguarded Employees and their eligible children for educational travel provided documentation is shown this.
• In exceptional circumstances a spouse/partner may be eligible for a season ticket for educational purposes. Please contact RST for more information.

If you are purchasing your season ticket via RST Online, then you can purchase the following:

• 7-day season ticket
• Flexi Season Ticket (can only be loaded onto an RST Season Smartcard and if your starting station is outside of the Greater London Area)
• Regular Monthly, Annual or a ticket for any duration between these dates

If you are purchasing your season ticket from a station, then you can purchase the following:

• Flexi Season Ticket (can only be loaded onto a TOC-issued smartcard)
• Monthly, Annual or a ticket for any duration between these dates

If your season ticket journey is wholly within London and only a Travelcard fare is available for this journey, then it is not possible to purchase this via RST Online as we are unable to

retail these fares. You will need to purchase this season ticket in person from a station.

Flexi Season Tickets are only available in Standard Class and there are no mileage discounts available for Safeguarded cardholders.

Eligible employees who hold an RST Online Smartcard are eligible for a Continuous Authority Season Ticket (CAST); if it is your first time applying, you will need to submit a season ticket on form xx01 www.raildeliverygroup.com/rst/forms at least 7 days in advance at www.raildeliverygroup.com/rst/forms . After this, you will then be able to purchase a season ticket via your RST Online account at any time and you would no longer need to continue submitting a form each time.

To fulfil your season ticket to an RST season smartcard and you do not hold one please apply at www.raildeliverygroup.com/rst/forms on form xx42 when applying for your season ticket. 

If your journey is on the Elizabeth Line then please see the FAQ below before applying.

Eligible employees can apply for a season ticket on form xx31 at least 7 days in advance at www.raildeliverygroup.com/rst/forms

If their journey is on the Elizabeth Line then please see the FAQ below before applying.

For some journeys on the Elizabeth Line priv rate Season Tickets are not available.

Where your residential journey starts or ends at an Elizabeth Line station between Paddington and Abbey Wood only, you have to use an Oyster Card with the priv discount set on it for commuting. The examples of this are below:

• If travelling between an Elizabeth Line station on the west side of London where Oyster is accepted (from West Drayton and then all stations towards London), and your journey is ending at Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon, Liverpool Street, Whitechapel, Canary Wharf, Custom House, Woolwich or Abbey Wood
• If travelling between an Elizabeth Line station on the east side of London where Oyster is accepted (from Brentwood and then all stations towards London), and your journey is ending at Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon, Liverpool Street, Whitechapel, Canary Wharf, Custom House, Woolwich or Abbey Wood

Please note that Priv Oyster is only valid for residential travel on the Elizabeth Line section of your journey as above. If you also travel on other National Rail services as part of your commute, you must hold a valid season ticket, residential pass or TOC specific pass for that element. You cannot use your Oyster card for this journey.

If your residential journey does not include the central core, so Slough to Paddington or Brentwood to Liverpool Street, then you must apply for a priv-rate Season Ticket in the usual way.

All eligible employees can get a discounted season ticket for use on National Rail services.

If you hold a Staff Travel Card, your season ticket can cover journeys on London Underground and Docklands Light Railway.

The home station is the one that is nearest to your permanent place of residence.

Where there are no services from your nearest station when you start or end a shift, but there are from a station reasonably near to your home, this can be considered by RST. In these circumstances, full details must be provided in the notes field when you make your application.

You must choose the station that is nearest to the work location you travel too most frequently.

For those who hold RST Online smartcards and purchase their season tickets via RST Online, the minimum period is 7 days and the maximum period is 1 year.

For those who purchase paper season tickets from stations, the minimum period is 1 month, the maximum period is 1 year.

However, you can have this for any period in between these two i.e. 3 months 5 days.

We have introduced Continuous Authority Season Tickets (CAST), so you will only need to submit a new form (giving at least 7 days’ notice) if it is the first time you are applying for a season ticket. After this, you will then be able to purchase a season ticket via your RST Online account at any time and you would no longer need to continue submitting a form each time. If you change your home address or work location and you require a change in journey for your season ticket, you would then need to submit a new form in order for us to update our records and we can then add your new season ticket to be purchased via your RST Online account.

If you opt to purchase your season ticket via RST Online you will receive an email advising you to login to your account to do so.

If you wish to purchase this from the station then the approved form will be attached to the reply email. You can then take this and your photo ID card to the station and that will be sold to you.

Once approved the form will be attached by return email. You can then take this and their photo ID card (if applicable) to the station and that will be sold to you.

Your application will be processed and sent back to you within 7 days of the start date.

If there are any queries with your application, we will email you to get further details.

If you have purchased your season ticket via RST Online, then you will need to log into RST Online and then select ‘Your account’, then select ‘Your Bookings’. From here, it will provide you with the option to request a refund on an eligible Season Ticket/Flexi Season Ticket. Please follow the instructions provided in order to submit the refund request.

If you have purchased your season ticket in person from a station, then please submit the Refund Form XX11 which you can find here www.raildeliverygroup.com/rst/forms.html#other

Once you have purchased a ticket and chosen smartcard as the method of fulfilment you will need to allow at least 15 minutes for the ticket to be available for collection. You will need to download the National Rail Smartcard Manager app onto your smartphone. Open the app and click ‘Load Tickets’, then tap your smartcard onto your smartphone and this should make a ‘beep’ sound, which means that your season ticket has been loaded onto your smartphone, but is not yet activated. Please note that you will still need to activate your season ticket and this can only be done on the start date of your season ticket (i.e. the first day of travel on your season ticket).

You will need to open the National Rail Smartcard Manager app and click ‘View and activate tickets’. Tap your smartcard onto your smartphone and this should then make a ‘beep’ sound which means that your season ticket has been activated and is ready for use at station barriers.

It is important that your season ticket has been loaded and activated onto your smartcard via the National Rail Smartcard Manager app. If this has not been done, then it is considered the same as travelling without a valid ticket and may lead to a travel irregularity.

Residential Passes are only available to Active Safeguarded Employees and BTP employees who meet the eligible criteria.

It is not available to Non-Safeguarded Employees, Retired Safeguarded Employees and family members.

You can only get a Residential Pass if the distance between your nearest home station to nearest work station is less than the mileage allowances you are eligible for.

If your residential journey exceeds the mileage limit you will not be issued a residential pass, we will approve a form for you to purchase a Privilege Season Ticket  which includes a reduction for the free travel element.

You do not need a Residential Pass if you work for a TOC and you have a Card issued by them that covers your journey or a reciprocal travel arrangement with another TOC.

Eligible employees can apply for a residential pass on form xx01 at least 7 days in advance at www.raildeliverygroup.com/rst/forms

Please ensure you upload a passport photograph to our website www.raildeliverygroup.com/rst/photo-upload as we are unable to issue this pass without a photograph.

The Residential Pass is for travel to work between the stations printed on the front.

It will operate the barriers on the locations stated on the pass and may be used at intermediate stations along the route but may not operate the barriers at these locations.

You can also use it for leisure travel on the route specified unless it states otherwise.

The FIP Card is a product that allows a discount on full public adult fares on many rail and shipping carriers in Europe.

Eligible Active Staff who receive national, leisure and residential travel can apply for this after 1-year continuous service for them and their dependants.

If when you retired, you did not complete 11 years’ service you would not be eligible for the FIP Card.

You can keep your Active FIP cards for six months from your retirement date. After that they must be returned to exchange for the retired versions.. They can be cut into 4 and a picture of these sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Both active and retired FIP Cards give 50% discount across the FIP members. Active Staff receive 75% for the following FIP Members:

• SNCB (Belgium)
• SNCF (France)

Both Active and Retired receive 75% off the following FIP members:

• CIE (Ireland)
• NIR (Northern Ireland)

A FIP Card issued to a child gives them a discount on the adult fare not on the public child fare.

The ages at which the public child fare is available vary from country to country. This information is available in the Travel Tips for Europe Guide www.raildeliverygroup.com/rst/where-can-i-go.html#Europe.  

RST will issue children FIP cards from the age of 4.

Eligible Active Staff can apply for coupons and FIP cards after 1-year continuous service for them and their eligible dependants.   Retired Safeguarded Staff who are eligible must have completed a minimum of 11 years of continuous service at the date of retirement to receive coupons.

Please complete the xx09a form (https://www.raildeliverygroup.com/rst/forms)and the card will be issued for you and all eligible family members

Please complete the xx09b (employee only form) or xx09c (family member form) forms as applicable from https://www.raildeliverygroup.com/rst/forms   If you do not hold a FIP card, then this will be issued at the same time.  You do not need to complete another form for this.   If you large number of coupons, you will need to email us an itinerary before the coupons can be issued.

Yes, there are FIP discounted fares available if you hold a current FIP Card.   If you are safeguarded and hold a Staff Travel Card (without endorsements 5,6,11) there are special fares available.   The Eurostar FIP and safeguarded fares and how to book are in documents on the Offers and Concessions page of this website. https://www.raildeliverygroup.com/rst/offers

There is no arrangement with Eurotunnel for an exchange of staff travel so there are no discounts available with any staff travel facilities.

We need to receive your application a minimum of 3 weeks before your travel date if you complete the online form. Postal applications need to be sent 3 weeks in advance. This is to allow us to issue and print the Coupons and despatch them in time for your indicated travel date

Coupons are issued and sent out approximately 2 weeks before the outward travel date on your form. You will receive an email response once these are sent out. One of the reasons for this is that under the FIP Regulations we are unable to replace Coupons that are lost, stolen or damaged.

Each International Coupon is issued for 3 months. However, if the Coupon start date is any date in December it will expire on the 31st March the following year.

Each date written into a box on the International Coupon will permit free travel on that day, together with free travel up to midnight on the following day.

The date in each box must be entered as DD/MM/YY with leading zeros for single digit dates e.g. 7 August 2017 is entered as 07/08/17.

Please go to our Where Can I Go guide and this will show which coupons you and your family are eligible for   Each FIP member agrees a different level of travel for each other's members.

From the date of retirement, you will be eligible to receive a special 9 and 45 month allocation of coupons. These provide an element of your Active quota over the first 9 and 45 months of your retirement in addition to your Retired allocation.   Please note the date of travel has to be before the end dates of your 9- and 45-month date end to get coupons from these quotas. If you are unsure regarding these dates or the quota remaining, please email RST who can advise.   During the first 9 months after your retirement date you may apply for any coupon not already issued from your Active allocation in the period from 1st January in the year of your retirement until your retirement date. In addition to your 9 month allocation your 45 month allocation allows the issue of a single coupon for each FIP carrier that would provide an Active Coupon for you during the 45 months from your retirement date.(Please note that where an Active allocation allows 2 Coupons, then the 45 month allocation will only provide 1 Coupon.)   The same allocations apply to your dependants although it is restricted to those carriers who grant free coupons to Spouse/Partners and dependent children

If you are Safeguarded staff, you may be eligible for travel in other countries. You will need to go to the Where can I go page on our website www.raildeliverygroup.com/rst/where-can-i-go.html#WhereCanIGoSG to check available countries and complete the xx09d form at least 6 weeks in advance.

Booking International Travel using your issued facilities

RST have an agreement with International Rail to make European bookings to those with rail staff travel facilities.

They can help you with booking travel in the following countries:

• Belgium (including Netherlands crossborder services)
• Czech Republic.
• Netherlands
• Switzerland

(Please note that the arrangements for booking domestic journeys within France on SNCF services changed early in 2024. These can now only be booked directly with SNCF. The details of how to contact SNCF are in the pages on France in the Travel Tips for Europe guide).

They can also help with FIP tickets on Eurostar and Thalys services.

To book, email them at  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  or visit the website  www.bookmyrst.co.uk

You must make your booking at least three weeks before you intend to travel.

All queries will be responded to but please note that International Rail will always prioritise enquiries with the closest travel dates, so if your enquiry is for travel in several weeks’ time, you may need to wait up to 7 business days before you hear back from them.

Some  Travel Agents in Britain  are able to retail FIP products. These are:

• Ffestiniog Travel - 01766 515630
• Trainseurope - 0135 470 5098 or 0135 466 0222 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  (please enclose images of your FIP cards to prove eligibility. Trainseurope can also retail the safeguarded fares for Eurostar, please enclose images of your Staff Travel Card).

Booking FIP products in Travel Agents' international retailing systems is much more complex than booking public rate tickets. European railways have different booking thresholds and quotas for FIP products and can change these thresholds and quotas without prior notice to Travel Agents. Booking itineraries to cover more than one railway company is difficult.

Travel Agents will do their best to accommodate your booking enquiry, but they reserve the right to refuse to deal with rude and abusive employees, and those making speculative enquiries.

Where incidents of employee rudeness or abusive behaviour to Travel Agents are reported to Rail Staff Travel, it will be referred to the employer to consider disciplinary action.

Other carriers which are able to book FIP fares on their own service are listed here please refer to the Where Can I Go Guide  www.raildeliverygroup.com/rst/where-can-i-go

We recommend you book Eurostar FIP bookings in advance. These can be done in person at London St Pancras from staff at the Welcome Host podiums.  You will need to present FIP cards for all family members you wish to book for.

Alternatively you can book through International Rail by either emailing them at  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  or visit their website  www.bookmyrst.co.uk You must make your booking at least three weeks before you intend to travel.

A TOC specific pass is one issued by your company to travel on their services or another TOC they may have a reciprocal arrangement with.

Details on reciprocal arrangements can be obtained from your HR as RST do not hold an extensive list of these.

The following holders of staff travel facilities are required to carry a valid Photo ID Card when travelling:

• an active member of staff who has a Staff Travel Card or a season ticket, and does not have a TOC specific pass that has their photo on it
• the Spouse, Partner, or dependant child over 16 of an active member of staff using a Staff Travel Card or season ticket who does not have a TOC specific pass that has their photo on it

Generally retired employees and their eligible family members do not need a Photo ID Card unless one is needed to accompany a TOC or group specific card.

A Photo ID Card can be obtained free of charge at any staffed National Rail ticket office. You will need to take a passport sized photo and ask for a public ID Card.

You will need to complete a Replacement Form (see forms ) before we can replace any cards / passes. This should be submitted online.

If you need to pay for a replacement, we will enable the payment to be made through RST Online.  You must pay the fee within one month of submitting the form or you will need to re-submit the form.

There is a replacement fee of £15.00 per card that has been lost.

You will need to complete a Replacement Form (see forms ) before we can replace any cards / passes.

As the cards have been stolen, then you will need to provide the crime reference number on the form.

If the crime reference number is verified then the replacement cards and passes will be reissued free of charge.

You will need to complete a Replacement Form (see forms ) before we can replace any cards / passes. This should then be submitted online.

A damaged or defaced card is chargeable as a replacement, if you need to pay for a replacement, we will enable the payment to be made through RST Online.  You must pay payment within one month of submitting the form or you will need to re-submit the form.

There is a replacement fee of £15.00 per card that has been damaged/defaced.

You will need to check with the station barrier staff that the SmartCard is actually faulty (i.e. it could be the gates that are faulty instead). If they agree that it is the SmartCard that is faulty, you will need to submit a Replacement form (see forms ) online.

You should take a photo of both sides of the card, and attach an image when submitting the form. IIf we view the photo and it is believed the card is damaged you may be contacted to pay a replacement fee before a new card is issued.

Once the replacement Smartcard has been received, you will need to cut the faulty card into four with the card number visible, and send an image to RST. If you fail to do this it may impact on you receiving new cards and passes.

If you have not received a card for either yourself or any eligible family members, then you need to let us know. Please e-mail us and include your full address and details of which cards you have and have not received.

If you have moved address and not let us know, you will need to pay for replacements if you are unable to retrieve them from your old address.

If we have sent the cards to the correct address and they are lost in the post, the following rules apply:

• If you report non-delivery of the replacement card within 1 month of the expiry of the old card, we will issue a replacement for free.
• If you report non-delivery of the replacement card more than 1 month after the expiry of the old card, a replacement fee will apply.

Non-delivery of cards must be reported by written confirmation from you by e-mail or Royal Mail. 

You can pay through RST Online using a Visa or Mastercard credit or debit card. We do not accept American Express. 

You must pay payment within one month of submitting the form or you will need to re-submit the form.

The replacement fees for lost cards are written into the rules, terms and conditions of all products (except international Coupons which cannot be replaced if lost under FIP rules).

These have been agreed by all TOCs, Employers and the DfT. They are to cover the administration costs involved in reissuing travel facilities.

When replacing a lost Staff Travel card, we use a calculation to determine the number of boxes on the replacement card. This is based upon the month that the replacement was first notified to us (assuming payment is made within a reasonable period from this date).

A pro-rata calculation is the fairest means of defining the number of boxes that might remain on the card.

Seat Reservations can now be done via your  RST Online account.

This can be done if you are buying a ticket and a seat reservation is possible or if you are travelling using a dated Staff Travel card or Status Pass.

If you haven’t received details of how to register, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with RST Online as the subject and confirm your name and address.

Alternatively, you can take your Staff Travel Card, Rail Staff Leisure Card or Status Pass to any booking office where they will be able to make a seat reservation for you. Please ensure you check the latest staff travel restrictions first. www.raildeliverygroup.com/rst/where-can-i-go.html#Restrictions

Yes, you can get a discount set on an oyster card, but this is for leisure travel on National Rail services only. This includes the Elizabeth Line and London Overground services.

You and your eligible Dependants can get a discount on an Oyster Card if your Staff Travel Card does not have endorsement 11 on it.

You need to have a standard Oyster card and register it with TfL. Once you have this complete the TfL Privilege Oyster Application form (see forms ). Once authorised by RST, take the form together with your Staff Travel Card and Oyster card to a London Underground station, where a member of staff in the booking hall can set the Privilege rate discount on your Oyster card. You will need to ask the TfL staff to set the ‘Priv All Rail’ discount for staff and child dependants and ‘Priv All Rail N’ discount for spouses/partners.

The discount expiry date will match that on your Staff Travel Card. When you get a new Staff Travel Card you will need to update the Privilege discount on your Oyster card. Just take your new Staff Travel Card to a LU station and ask staff to update the ‘Priv All Rail’ discount. You do not need to contact Rail Staff Travel each year.

If you don’t update the discount each year, once the discount expires, you will be charged the full pay as you go fare instead of the Privilege rate fare

Remember to carry your Staff Travel Card with you when using the Privilege Oyster card, as proof of entitlement.

You can contact them by:

• Using the  online feedback form  and following the links
• Phone on 0343 222 1234
• Writing to TfL Customer Services, 14 Pier Walk, London SE10 0ES

RST Online is a new website which allows eligible active and retired rail employees and their eligible family members to plan a journey, buy priv discounted train tickets online and make seat reservations for journeys across the National Rail network.

www.railstafftravel.com

Full price tickets can also be purchased if you are travelling with people who are not in receipt of rail staff travel facilities.

Employees/retired employees who are eligible for free travel  can also use it to make seat reservations.

It can also be used for making payments for replacement cards/passes.

We will send you a unique one-time passcode via email once we have received your details from your employer and issued your rail staff travel facilities. Please check your Junk and Spam folder in case you can't see it in your Inbox.

This passcode (which you should copy and paste into the relevant box) will allow you to complete registration on the website and create an account with an email and a password of your choice.

Please avoid using first names or surnames as part of the password as this will prevent you from registering.  Passwords will need to be a minimum of 8 characters long. They should contain a mix of upper and lower case letters, include at least 1 number and 1 special character (such as ! or $), but  please avoid using space £#

Yes, as long as the family members receive rail staff travel facilities through you, then you can use RST Online to book priv rate travel for them.

Yes, an employee can request that family members who receive rail staff travel facilities through them  are setup with their own online account.

You can find form XX40 - Request Access for Family Members on the RST Forms page  to request a separate RST Online account.

The season or flexi season ticket must first be authorised by Rail Staff Travel as per the existing process.

You can find the relevant form on the RST Forms page

No, you will not be able to add a ticket purchased from RST Online to an existing Smartcard.  However once we can offer Season Tickets online you will be able to add your priv discount Season Ticket to an RST Season Smartcard.

Yes, you can also buy leisure rail tickets (singles/returns) at the public rate on RST Online while buying your priv rate ticket(s).

Yes, you can use RST Online to plan your journey and book tickets with reservations (where available). 

No, you would need to request this separately via Passenger Assist. This can be done via phone, an app or email. You can find more details at http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/passengerassist 

You can pay using Visa, Mastercard and Maestro.

Yes, sleeper bookings are available to purchase on RST Online.

Yes you can. Currently reservation only bookings are not available in mobile view so you must use the desktop version of RST Online.  

Please remember to cancel any reservation only bookings that you are not going to use.

This will not be possible for tickets purchased on RST Online.

No, you will receive a unique one-time passcode which allows you to register with a different email address if you wish.

Please note that updates about tickets bought via RST Online will be sent to the email address you have registered with RST Online.

Priv discounts are available across the National Rail network in Great Britain. This does not include Eurostar or international travel.

Also, through journeys to and from the Isle of Wight cannot be booked as a single ticket, as there is no priv discount on Wightlink.

Unless you hold the RST Online Leisure Card (which can only be used online), you can still purchase your priv tickets at the station. RST Online is an additional option for those holding the Staff Travel Card or Rail Staff Leisure Card. 

Yes, you can do this via ticket machines at the station (where available).

Yes, you can get leisure tickets sent to your email address as an e-ticket, for routes and TOCs which accept them.

If your ticket includes the Cross London marker, then it will not be available as an e-Ticket.

Yes, RST Online will provide the option to reserve a bike space where it is available at the station during the ticket purchase process.

For RST Online Enquiries, please contact:

• Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Phone: 0330 123 3872

If your enquiry is about rail staff travel policy, replacement travel passes or privileged season ticket approvals, please visit RST Contact details

If your ticket is eligible for a refund, you can request one by selecting the My Account option, then select Your Bookings, then click on View against the ticket booking you wish to refund. You will see a list of the possible options in the drop-down against 'I would like to'.

To check if your ticket is eligible for a refund, please see the National Rail Conditions of Travel .

If you decide not to use your ticket then you can apply for a refund through RST Online by logging into your account or by calling us on 03301233872.

When you log into RST Online, click on “Your Account”, or “Your Bookings”, then find the ticket/booking you wish to refund, click “View”, and select “I would like to Refund Journey” from the drop down list, then “Go”. Then follow the instructions on the screen.

You are required to submit your refund within 28 days of your ticket expiry date. Failing to do so will mean your refund request will be rejected and funds will not be returned.

If you have to send your tickets back to us, we advise you to do so via a guaranteed delivery service, such as Royal Mail Special Delivery or Recorded Delivery, as we cannot be held liable for any tickets lost in transit to us. We regret that the postage and packaging costs cannot be refunded. Please send your tickets to:

Refund Administrator RST Online Web Support PO Box 6136 Wolverhampton WV1 9RL

From receipt it will take up to 28 working days to process your refund and it may take a further 5 days for any credit to appear on your statement.

The amount of refund that you are due will depend on the ticket purchased and the terms and conditions of that ticket.

We charge an administration fee of £10 per booking.

If your train is delayed or cancelled and you choose not to travel, your unused ticket can be refunded without any fees.

To be eligible for a refund due to a disruption or cancellation you are required to collect written confirmation from the train company that operated your particular service at the time of the disruption/cancellation. It is your responsibility to first contact the train company to request written confirmation.

Once you have received written confirmation from the train company, log into “Your Account” or “Your Bookings”, find the ticket/booking you wish to refund, click “View”, and select “I would like to Refund Journey” from the drop down list, then “Go”. From the “Reason for Refund” drop down, select “Service disruptions & cancellations”. Then follow the instructions on the screen. You will have to submit the written confirmation from the train company along with the tickets.

You have 28 days after the ticket expiry date to provide us with your tickets and confirmation to be eligible for a refund.

 If you are seeking a refund for a disrupted or cancelled service and the ticket you wish to refund was purchased for less than £10 you will not be able to submit it online, instead please call our customer service team on 0330 1233 872 .

Refunds must be claimed within 28 days of the ticket’s expiry date. The expiry date depends on the terms and conditions of the ticket you have purchased. To check the terms and conditions of your ticket, log into “Your Account”, click on the booking for which you require a refund, then select “I would like to View Full Details” from the drop down. The conditions relating to the tickets will be displayed by clicking on “Terms & Conditions”.

If you selected postal delivery, you can cancel your tickets in RST Online before you receive them. You will be asked to return the tickets once you have received them. Your refund will not be processed until we are in receipt of the tickets.

If you selected the self-service ticket machine and have not collected your tickets, you can apply for a refund in RST Online without having to collect the tickets, if you wish to refund the complete booking. The money will be transferred back into your account automatically. If you only wish to refund some of the tickets in your booking, you will have to collect the ticket from the self-service ticket machine first

Once your refund has been processed we will send you an email to confirm the amount credited to your bank account. NB: From receipt of the confirmation email, it may take a further 5 days for this credit to appear on your statement.

We process all refund requests within 28 days from either receipt of your tickets (for tickets posted), or from submitting your refund claim online (for tickets collected at the station). Once a refund has been processed it can take a further 5 days for the credit to appear on your statement. If your card statement is due within the next few days you may not see the credit until the following month’s statement. In this case you can check whether the money has been credited to your account by contacting your card issuer

No. The Staff Travel scheme Conditions of Issue and Use require you to carry your Rail Staff Leisure Card or Staff Travel Card if travelling with a staff discounted ticket. If you do not have the Rail Staff Leisure Card or Staff Travel Card  with you at the time your ticket is inspected you will be liable to pay the difference between the price paid for your ticket and the full non-discounted fare. You will not be entitled to a refund of this charge even if you can provide a copy of the Rail Staff Leisure Card or Staff Travel Card  at a later date.

If your tickets haven’t arrived in the post, please call our customer service team on 03301 233 872.

We'll let you know by email the reason we have rejected your refund, however this is usually because your ticket has been stamped as used, or because you've scanned your eticket

If you are travelling and experience a delay arriving to your destination due to a cancelled or delayed service, you may be able to claim compensation from the train company you are travelling with.

Compensation will depend on:

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What we know about CrowdStrike’s update fail that’s causing global outages and travel chaos

A faulty software update issued by security giant CrowdStrike has resulted in a massive overnight outage that’s affected Windows computers around the world , disrupting businesses, airports, train stations, banks, broadcasters and the healthcare sector.

CrowdStrike said the outage was not caused by a cyberattack, but was the result of a “defect” in a software update for its flagship security product, Falcon Sensor. The defect caused any Windows computers that Falcon is installed on to crash without fully loading.

“The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed,” said CrowdStrike in a statement on Friday . Some businesses and organizations are beginning to recover, but many expect the outages to drag on into the weekend or next week given the complexity of the fix. CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz told NBC News that it may take “some time for some systems that just automatically won’t recover.” In a later tweet , Kurtz apologized for the disruption.

Here’s everything you need to know about the outages.

What happened?

Late Thursday into Friday, reports began to emerge of IT problems wherein Windows computers were getting stuck with the infamous “blue screen of death” — a bright blue error screen with a message that displays when Windows encounters a critical failure, crashes or cannot load.

The outages were first noticed in Australia early on Friday, and reports quickly came in from the rest of Asia and Europe as the regions began their day, as well as the United States.

Within a short time, CrowdStrike confirmed that a software update for Falcon had malfunctioned and was causing Windows computers that had the software installed to crash. Falcon lets CrowdStrike remotely analyze and check for malicious threats and malware on installed computers.

At around the same time, Microsoft reported a significant outage at one of its most used Azure cloud regions covering much of the central United States. A spokesperson for Microsoft told TechCrunch that its outage was unrelated to CrowdStrike’s incident .

Around Friday noon (Eastern time), Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella posted on X saying the company is aware of the CrowdStrike botched update and is “working closely with CrowdStrike and across the industry to provide customers technical guidance and support to safely bring their systems back online.”

What is CrowdStrike and what does Falcon Sensor do?

CrowdStrike, founded in 2011, has quickly grown into a cybersecurity giant. Today the company provides software and services to 29,000 corporate customers, including around half of Fortune 500 companies, 43 out of 50 U.S. states and eight out of the top 10 tech firms, according to its website .

The company’s cybersecurity software, Falcon, is used by enterprises to manage security on millions of computers around the world. These businesses include large corporations, hospitals, transportation hubs and government departments. Most consumer devices do not run Falcon and are unaffected by this outage.

One of the company’s biggest recent claims to fame was when it caught a group of Russian government hackers breaking into the Democratic National Committee ahead of the 2016 U.S. presidential election. CrowdStrike is also known for using memorable animal-themed names for the hacking groups it tracks based on their nationality, such as: Fancy Bear , believed to be part of Russia’s General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate, or GRU; Cozy Bear , believed to be part of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, or SVR; Gothic Panda , believed to be a Chinese government group; and Charming Kitten , believed to be an Iranian state-backed group. The company even makes action figures to represent these groups, which it sells as swag .

CrowdStrike is so big it’s one of the sponsors of the Mercedes F1 team , and this year even aired a Super Bowl ad — a first for a cybersecurity company. 

Who are the outages affecting?

Practically anyone who during their everyday life interacts with a computer system running software from CrowdStrike is affected, even if the computer isn’t theirs. 

These devices include the cash registers at grocery stores, departure boards at airports and train stations, school computers, your work-issued laptops and desktops, airport check-in systems, airlines’ own ticketing and scheduling platforms, healthcare networks and many more. Because CrowdStrike’s software is so ubiquitous, the outages are causing chaos around the world in a variety of ways. A single affected Windows computer in a fleet of systems could be enough to disrupt the network. 

TechCrunch reporters around the world are seeing and experiencing outages, including at points of travel, doctors’ offices and online. Early on Friday, the Federal Aviation Administration put in effect a ground stop, effectively grounding flights across the United States, citing the disruption. It looks like so far the national Amtrak rail network is functioning as normal. 

What is the U.S. government doing so far?

Given that the problem stems from a company, there isn’t much that the U.S. federal government can do. According to a pool report, President Biden was briefed on the CrowdStrike outage, and “his team is in touch with CrowdStrike and impacted entities.” That’s in large part because the federal government is a customer of CrowdStrike and also affected.

Several federal agencies are affected by the incident, including the Department of Education , and Social Security Administration, which said Friday that it closed its offices as a result of the outage.

The pool report said Biden’s team is “engaged across the interagency to get sector by sector updates throughout the day and is standing by to provide assistance as needed.” 

In a separate tweet, Homeland Security said it was working with its U.S. cybersecurity agency CISA, CrowdStrike and Microsoft — as well as its federal, state, local and critical infrastructure partners — to “fully assess and address system outages.”

There will no doubt be questions for CrowdStrike (and to some extent Microsoft, whose unrelated outage also caused disruption overnight for its customers) from government and congressional investigators. 

For now, the immediate focus will be on the recovery of affected systems.

How do affected customers fix their Windows computers?

The major problem here is that CrowdStrike’s Falcon Sensor software malfunctioned, causing Windows machines to crash, and there’s no easy way to fix that. 

So far, CrowdStrike has issued a patch, and it has also detailed a workaround that could help affected systems function normally until it has a permanent solution. One option is for users to “reboot the [affected computer] to give it an opportunity to download the reverted channel file,” referring to the fixed file.

In a message to users , CrowdStrike detailed a few steps customers can take, one of which requires physical access to an affected system to remove the defective file. CrowdStrike says users should boot the computer into Safe Mode or Windows Recovery Environment, navigate to the CrowdStrike directory, and delete the faulty file “C-00000291*.sys.”

The wider problem with having to fix the file manually could be a major headache for companies and organizations with large numbers of computers, or Windows-powered servers in datacenters or locations that might be in another region, or an entirely different country.

CISA warns that malicious actors are ‘taking advantage’ of the outage

In a statement on Friday, CISA attributed the outages to the faulty CrowdStrike update and that the issue was not due to a cyberattack. CISA said that it was “working closely with CrowdStrike and federal, state, local, tribal and territorial partners, as well as critical infrastructure and international partners to assess impacts and support remediation efforts.”

CISA did note, however, that it has “observed threat actors taking advantage of this incident for phishing and other malicious activity.” The cybersecurity agency did not provide more specifics, but warned organizations to stay vigilant.

Malicious actors can and will exploit confusion and chaos to carry out cyberattacks on their own. Rachel Tobac, a social engineering expert and founder of cybersecurity firm SocialProof Security, said in a series of posts on X to “verify people are who they say they are before taking sensitive actions.”

“Criminals will attempt to use this IT outage to pretend to be IT to you or you to IT to steal access, passwords, codes, etc.,” Tobac said.

What do we know about misinformation so far?

It’s easy to understand why some might have thought that this outage was a cyberattack. Sudden outages, blue screens at airports, office computers filled with error messages, and chaos and confusion. As you might expect, a fair amount of misinformation is already flying around , even as social media sites incorrectly flag trending topics like “cyberattack.”

Remember to check official sources of news and information, and if something seems too good to be true, it might just well be.

TechCrunch will keep this report updated throughout the day.

TechCrunch’s Ram Iyer contributed reporting.

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