7.3 London Underground & DLR
7.3.1 Cross-London transfer
Single and return tickets for National Rail journeys that require the customer to travel between two different National Rail stations in London will often include validity on Underground and/or DLR services via any reasonable route to enable customers to make this transfer.
Subject to the through journey being made, tickets are valid to enter the Underground/DLR system at Aldgate, Amersham, Baker Street, Balham, Bank, Barking, Blackfriars, Blackhorse Road, Brixton, Canada Water, Cannon Street, Charing Cross, Ealing Broadway, Edgware Road, Elephant & Castle, Embankment, Euston, Euston Square, Farringdon, Finsbury Park, Greenwich, Highbury & Islington, Kensington (Olympia), Kentish Town, King's Cross St. Pancras, Lancaster Gate, Lewisham, Limehouse, Liverpool Street, London Bridge, Marylebone, Moorgate, Old Street, Paddington, Queen's Park, Richmond, Seven Sisters, Shadwell, Shepherd's Bush, Southwark, Stratford, Stratford International, Tottenham Hale, Tower Hill, Upminster, Vauxhall, Victoria, Walthamstow Central, Waterloo, West Brompton, West Ham, West Hampstead, Whitechapel, Wimbledon, or Woolwich Arsenal. Interchange is also permitted between the two stations in Hammersmith.
It is permitted to finish your transfer short at any Underground station in zone 1 or at any intermediate Underground/DLR station on a reasonable route. If you choose to do this, no further Underground/DLR travel is permitted with that ticket; you will need to purchase an additional ticket if you wish to continue by Underground/DLR. If you are doing this, it is unlikely your ticket will work in the gates, and will need to be presented to staff to allow you to exit.
A † (cross) symbol appears at the start of the 'route' on your ticket to indicate that it has been encoded to operate the Underground/DLR ticket gates. Lack of this symbol does not necessarily mean your ticket is not valid for travel on the Underground.
Minimum connection times apply when crossing London. Online journey planners incorporate these times into any itinerary, however if planning the journey yourself, you may want to consider the minimum times, as shown on the chart below. In many cases, it is possible to complete the transfer in a significantly shorter amount of time than the minimum connection time.
Chart sourced from National Rail Timetable, available on the Network Rail website.
7.3.2 Through single/return tickets
It is possible to buy a through single or return ticket from many National Rail stations to an Underground or DLR station, although it will usually be cheaper to buy a ticket for the National Rail portion of your journey and use Oyster Pay As You Go on the Underground/DLR. Such tickets will need to cover all the zones your journey will travel through on the Underground. For example, if travelling from Northampton to Brent Cross, the ticket will need to be valid in zones 1, 2 and 3 as the journey undertaken by Underground will cover these three zones.
Tickets will print as a standard single/return, with the destination showing the letter 'U' followed by the zones the ticket is valid in. For example a ticket valid in zones 1-3 will be include U123, and a ticket valid in zones 2-6 will include U2356.
7.3.3 National Rail tickets valid on Underground/DLR
National Rail single, return and season tickets also have validity on London Underground or DLR services if listed below. These are known as 'Interavailable routes.' If this applies, tickets are only valid to enter/exit the Underground/DLR system at the station(s) listed. Note that any route restriction still applies, for example a ticket routed 'Not Underground' or 'FCC Only' would not be valid as appropriate.
National Rail tickets valid between (<>) the following stations also have validity on London Underground/DLR services, as described for each flow below.
Note that tickets are
NOT valid at intermediate stations unless specified otherwise.
(
The list below can be downloaded as a PDF attachment)
- Amersham <> Harrow-on-the-Hill (and intermediate stations)
- Valid between Amersham and Harrow-on-the-Hill (and intermediate stations) on LU.
- Barking <> West Ham
- Valid between Barking & West Ham on LU.
- Barking <> London Terminals
- Valid between Barking Tower Hill on LU (intermediately at West Ham ONLY);
- Valid between Limehouse & Tower Gateway on DLR.
- Finsbury Park <> Highbury & Islington
- Valid between Finsbury Park & Highbury & Islington on LU.
- Finsbury Park <> Kings Cross
- Valid between Finsbury Park and King's Cross St. Pancras on LU (intermediately at Highbury & Islington ONLY);
- Valid between King#s Cross St Pancras and Moorgate on LU (intermediately at Old Street ONLY)
- Harrow & Wealdstone <> Queen's Park (and intermediate stations)
- Valid between Harrow & Wealdstone and Queen's Park (and intermediate stations) on LU.
- Harrow-on-the-Hill <> London Terminals
- Valid between Harrow-on-the-Hill and Baker Street on LU.
- Queen's Park <> Zone U1 and beyond
- Valid between Queen's Park and Zone 1 and beyond on LU.
- Richmond <> Stratford and intermediately at any North London Line station
- Valid by any reasonable route combination of LU services.
- Seven Sisters / Tottenham Hale / Walthamstow Central <> Zone U1 Londn
- Valid between Seven Sisters / Tottenham Hale / Walthamstow Central and any station in Zones 1 to 3.
- Stratford London <> London Terminals
- Valid between Stratford and Liverpool Street on LU.
- Upminster <> Barking
- Valid between Upminster and Barking on LU.
- West Brompton <> Willesden Junction
- Valid between West Brompton and Willesden Junction (via Paddington) on LU.
- West Hampstead Thameslink or Kentish Town <> London Thameslink (St. Pancras, Farringdon, City Thameslink, Blackfriars, London Bridge or Elephant & Castle)
- Valid between West Hampstead / Kentish Town and King's Cross St. Pancras, Farringdon, Blackfriars, London Bridge or Elephant & Castle on LU (but NOT where tickets are routed 'FCC ONLY', 'LDN NOT UND' or 'NOT UNDERGROUND')
- West Ruislip <> South Ruislip
- Valid between West Ruislip and South Ruislip on LU.
7.3.4 Validity to Moorgate and Old Street
If a National Rail ticket, with a destination/origin of London Terminals is valid into/out of King's Cross, then it is also valid for travel for a direct journey between King's Cross St. Pancras and either Old Street or Moorgate only. Break of journey is not permitted.