Nationwide Rail Passes

[ReverendFozz]

Hey guys

Need some advice, I might be coming into a few quid this year if I win a personal injury claim I am pursuing and if I win, I am planning to embark on a little holiday for a few weeks and intend to do some travelling on the Railways, some ideas I am interested in is a UK wide rail tour, going to visit people I know from Message Boards and Facebook and I was wondering if it is possible to buy an all network pass to for a week or 10 days so I can move up and down the country, or I am planning to goto Normandy and travel to Berlin taking in World War II visitor attractions or another option is to goto the United States and travel from New York to Texas visiting the US Civil War Visitor attractions.

So I need to know where to start looking for the relevant tickets to travel, on the UK network, so:-

1. How much could expect to pay for an all network pass, I would be going to Aberdeen first, what restrictions are on these tickets, can I use the Sleepers or would that come with a supplement, can tickets of this nature be used in Northern Ireland as well or not

2. European Rail Passes, is there actually such a thing that would let me go from Normandy right through to Berlin and possibly Eastern Europe, I am guessing France is mostly SNCF and TGV, The Low Countries and Germany being mostly Deutsche Bahn, Thalys and Nederlandes Spoorwegen

3. The States, again is there such a pass for countrywide travel, I am guessing that would be Amtrak for that...

I understand No.2 and No.3 are probably better in an Internional Section, I have posted it here to save on multiple posts across the forum, as it is closely related to my first question.

This is not concrete yet, as I have to win my Injury Claim.

But any advice will be warmly welcomed and greatly appreciated

Fozz

 

[wintonian]

All Line Rover info is here or unofficially here

Last years pricing is:

rices - standard class
7 day ticket
adult: £450
child: £225
railcard: £297*

14 day ticket
adult: £680
child: £340
railcard: £448*

prices - first class
7 day ticket
adult: £680
child: £340
railcard: £448*

14 day ticket
adult: £1040
child: £520
railcard: £686*

Validity for both 7 & 14 day veritys is:

Subject to the restrictions shown below, the All Line Rail Rover (14 day) ticket allows unlimited travel on most National Rail services for 14 consecutive days.

It does not include the charge for seat reservations, where payable.

The All Line Rail Rover is valid for travel on:

ScotRail Caledonian Sleeper services in seated coaches (reservations compulsory) or in a berth with the payment of the appropriate supplement.
First Great Western Night Riviera Sleeper services in seated coaches (reservations recommended but not compulsory) or in a berth with payment of the appropriate supplement.
Ffestiniog Railway.


The All Lines Rail Rover is NOT valid for travel on Eurostar, Heathrow Express, London Underground, Docklands Light Railway and Croydon Tramlink, private railways (except Ffestiniog Railway) or on any shipping service.

Additionally it is also not available for travel on Heathrow Connect services between Hayes & Harlington and Heathrow.

The All Lines Rail Rover is NOT valid for boarding or alighting train services operated by CrossCountry, East Coast, East Midlands Trains, or Virgin Trains before 10:00 Mondays to Fridays at the following stations:

Birmingham New Street
Bedford
London Euston
London Kings Cross
London St Pancras International
Luton
Luton Airport Parkway
Milton Keynes Central
Stevenage
Watford Junction

No restrictions apply on Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays.

For European travel you would want a InterRail pass interrail.eu which comes in various verietys from 5 in 10 days to 22 days to 1 month and for all participating countries (apart from your own and Northern Ireland is counted as Ireland) or individual countries.

The USA I have no idea about as it's not somewhere I have ever considered going to.

 

[district]

Edit: Beaten to it!

You could purchase an All Line Rover, which have both a 7day and 14day option.

The All Line Rail Rover is valid for travel on:
ScotRail Caledonian Sleeper services in seated coaches (reservations compulsory) or in a berth with the payment of the appropriate supplement.
First Great Western Night Riviera Sleeper services in seated coaches (reservations recommended but not compulsory) or in a berth with payment of the appropriate supplement.
Ffestiniog Railway.

The All Lines Rail Rover is NOT valid for travel on Eurostar, Heathrow Express, London Underground, Docklands Light Railway and Croydon Tramlink, private railways (except Ffestiniog Railway) or on any shipping service.
Additionally it is also not available for travel on Heathrow Connect services between Hayes & Harlington and Heathrow.

The All Lines Rail Rover is NOT valid for boarding or alighting train services operated by CrossCountry, East Coast, East Midlands Trains, or Virgin Trains before 10:00 Mondays to Fridays at the following stations:
Birmingham New Street
Bedford
London Euston
London Kings Cross
London St Pancras International
Luton
Luton Airport Parkway
Milton Keynes Central
Stevenage
Watford Junction
No restrictions apply on Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays.

You can find out more about rovers in our new Fares & Ticketing Guide (section 5).

 

[radamfi]

I would recommend www.seat61.com for information on rail travel and passes outside the UK.

The main thing to be aware of is that you need to pay supplements for high speed trains in some countries (such as France, Italy and Spain), but not in others, although there might be a few exceptions.

 

[ReverendFozz]

Thanks for the replies guys, looks good prices, heres hoping I win my claim and get a settlement and can start planning my trip

Sent from my GT-P3110 using Tapatalk 2

 

[northwichcat]

Also note about mandatory seat reservations on some EU services. It won't be a case of just turn up at platform and sit anywhere you like.

 

[ReverendFozz]

Ah right, never knew that, will have to bear that in mind, would seat reservations be done at the same time as buying the rail pass or would I need to do that for each service I would plan to use

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[wintonian]

Ah right, never knew that, will have to bear that in mind, would seat reservations be done at the same time as buying the rail pass or would I need to do that for each service I would plan to use

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You would need to either do them at a stations or by contacting the relevant operator. However I believe some services outside of the UK, and Germany can be gone via bahn.com or outside of the UK and France possibly via SNCF. Services in some eastern block countries and Morocco I think have to be done through the local operator.

you will also want an up-to-date copy of the Thomas Cook European timetable
.
But this is all explained on Mark Smith website seat61.com

 

[island]

Normally the latter. But in France and Germany you can do them through TVMs normally.