A train ticket is a
ticket issued by a railway operator that enables the bearer to travel on the operator's network or a partner's network. Tickets can authorize the bearer to travel a set itinerary at a specific time (common for long-distance railroads), a set itinerary at any time (common for
commuter railroads), a set itinerary at multiple times, or an arbitrary itinerary at specific times. The last two categories are often called ''passes'': the former is often sold as a discounted block of trips for commuters; the latter is often sold to vacationers, such as European
Eurail
The Eurail Pass, introduced in 1959 and formerly known as Europass or Eurorail Pass, is a rail pass which permits travel through 33 European countries on nearly all railroads and several shipping lines. The Eurail Group, based in Utrecht, is re ...
passes.
In some countries, like Italy, and some
local railways in Germany, conductors are not used. Instead passengers are expected to validate tickets in a special stamping machine before entering the train. A system of coupons that are validated with a special machine exists on the
Mumbai Suburban Railway
The Mumbai Suburban Railway ( Marathi: मुंबई उपनगरीय रेल्वे) (colloquially called local trains or simply locals) consists of exclusive inner suburban railway lines augmented by commuter rail on main lines ser ...
where combinations of coupons of denominations are used to get the corresponding ticket value.
There may or may not be a conductor later on double-checking that correct tickets are actually held. Yet further systems are possible, for example in Japan, the
London Underground
The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England.
The ...
and in local traffic in
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...
, the platforms are blocked by
turnstile
A turnstile (also called a turnpike, gateline, baffle gate, automated gate, turn gate in some regions) is a form of gate which allows one person to pass at a time. A turnstile can be configured to enforce one-way human traffic. In addition, a ...
s, forcing the acquisition of a ticket before entering the platform.
Some train tickets are available with an option to add bus travel at either end of the train ticketed journey, as part of a wider transport network. For instance, the
Plusbus scheme in the United Kingdom offers bus travel on an integrated ticket for an additional fee. In Germany, most long-distance train tickets include a "city ticket" valid on the public transit system of origin and destination. This is automatically included at no extra charge in all tickets purchased by
BahnCard holders and is indicated on the ticket.
History
Early tickets were similar to a form of currency issued by individual railroads, sold by agents and collected by
conductors who were audited by the railroad to be sure ticket inventories matched reported passenger earnings. As continuous travel over several connected railways became common, Coupon tickets with serrated portions for each railway company might be issued at the origin of travel and sequentially collected by conductors of the railways providing travel to avoid the necessity for purchasing additional tickets at each transfer point.
Seat checks
In the US, a conductor may also provide the passenger with a ''seat check'' — another voucher indicating how far the passenger may travel on the system — or attach it over the seat also punched by the conductor showing the passenger's destination, along with conductors organizing train seating by destination during boarding. Some systems (
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada. ...
, for instance) have two-part tickets that permit the passenger to retain a cancelled
ticket stub; others (the
New Jersey Transit
New Jersey Transit Corporation, branded as NJ Transit, and often shortened to NJT, is a state-owned public transportation system that serves the U.S. state of New Jersey, along with portions of New York State and Pennsylvania. It operates bu ...
and
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (abbreviated MBTA and known colloquially as "the T") is the public agency responsible for operating most public transportation services in Greater Boston, Massachusetts. The MBTA transit network ...
commuter rail systems, for instance) do not. Seat checks are changed frequently to ensure that passengers cannot retain and reuse them from journey to journey. (Conductors typically collect checks before stops to prevent this.)
Electronic ticketing
Increasingly,
electronic tickets are being used as replacements for paper tickets. Amtrak, as of June 30, 2012 offers electronic tickets on all train routes which have QR codes to identify the ticket's validity and can be printed out or shown to a conductor on a
smartphone
A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whi ...
or
Apple Watch
Apple Watch is a line of smartwatches produced by Apple Inc. It incorporates fitness tracking, health-oriented capabilities, and wireless telecommunication, and integrates with iOS and other Apple products and services. The Apple Watch was rel ...
screen. Similar systems are used by
Eurostar
Eurostar is an international high-speed rail service connecting the United Kingdom with France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Most Eurostar trains travel through the Channel Tunnel between the United Kingdom and France, owned and operate ...
,
Chiltern Railways
Chiltern Railways, formally The Chiltern Railway Company Limited, is a British train operating company that has operated the Chiltern Railways franchise since July 1996. Since 2009, it has been a subsidiary of Arriva UK Trains.
Chiltern Rail ...
and
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...
Smart ticketing
Great Western Railway in the UK.
In India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
, an SMS
Short Message/Messaging Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text ...
sent by the Indian Railways
Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tota ...
, along with a valid proof of identity is considered equivalent to a ticket.
Gallery
File:OnlineTicket DeutscheBahn 200dpi.png, An online purchased train ticket issued by Deutsche Bahn
The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder.
describes itself as the ...
in Germany.
File:SRT online ticket.jpg, An online purchased train ticket issued by State Railway of Thailand
The State Railway of Thailand (SRT) ( th, การรถไฟแห่งประเทศไทย, abbrev. รฟท., ) is the state-owned rail operator under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Transport in Thailand.
History
The SRT wa ...
.
File:Bedford Stations SMART.PNG, A return ticket issued in United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...
.
File:Seat Check on Amtrak Acela Train.jpg, Seat check on an Acela
The ''Acela'' ( ; originally the ''Acela Express'' until September 2019) is Amtrak's flagship service along the Northeast Corridor (NEC) in the Northeastern United States between Washington, D.C. and Boston via 13 intermediate stops, inclu ...
Express train.
File:Long_Island_Rail_Road_(LIRR)_seat_check.jpg, Seat check on back of seat of the Long Island Rail Road
The Long Island Rail Road , often abbreviated as the LIRR, is a commuter rail system in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County on Long Island. With an average week ...
.
File:Seat_Checks_on_NJ_Transit_Train.jpg, Seat check on headrest of an NJ Transit
New Jersey Transit Corporation, branded as NJ Transit, and often shortened to NJT, is a state-owned public transportation system that serves the U.S. state of New Jersey, along with portions of New York State and Pennsylvania. It operates bu ...
Bombardier MultiLevel Coach
The Bombardier MultiLevel Coach is a bi-level passenger rail car manufactured by Bombardier for use on commuter rail lines. The first units were delivered in 2006 and deliveries (in various orders) continued to 2014.
Overview
There are 643 o ...
, note the special clip on the headrest for the seat check.
File:Pennsylvania Railroad passenger seat check.jpg, Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...
passenger seat check, c. 1960
See also
* CIV (rail travel), European train rules
* Edmondson railway ticket, format of printed ticket
* National Rail Conditions of Travel
The National Rail Conditions of Travel (NRCoT) is a contractual document setting out the consumer's rights and responsibilities when travelling on the National Rail railway network in Great Britain. These replaced the National Rail Conditions of ...
, UK
* Rail pass A rail pass is a pass that covers the cost of train travel in a certain designated area or areas within a certain period of time. It is contrasted to a point-to-point ticket in that it allows the holder unlimited travel, within the pre-designated a ...
* Reservation against Cancellation, India
References
Further reading
* Dobrzynski, Jan. ''British railway tickets'' (Bloomsbury, 2013).
* Fairchild, Gordon. ''Local Tickets of Global Lands'' (Barteld Publishing 2008),
{{DEFAULTSORT:Train Ticket
Fare collection systems
Tickets