Smart Tickets

What are smart tickets?

Smart tickets are any kind of digital train ticket. You can load a smart ticket onto a smartcard, keep it on your mobile, or print it at home if you also prefer a physical copy to bring with you on your journey.

Benefits of smart tickets

You can’t lose a smart ticket – they are stored safely and can be easily accessed and managed. You save time by avoiding queues at the station, and changes, cancellations and refunds can be done at any time. You can also sign up to receive updates and alerts about your journey. Plus, going paperless helps the environment.

Types of smart tickets

There are 3 main kinds of smart tickets – smartcards, eTickets and mTickets.

• Smartcards are reusable, credit-card sized cards where you can store tickets. You can put multiple tickets on a single smartcard. You use your smartcard to tap on a reader to get into or out of a station. Check with your train company to see if they offer smartcards

• eTickets are digital train tickets that have your travel information contained in a barcode. They are emailed directly to you as a PDF. You can store your ticket on your device or print it

• mTickets are digital train tickets that have your travel information contained in a barcode. They are stored on your mobile phone, and accessed via an app – for example, your Apple or Google wallet, or a train company or ticket retailer app. They need to be activated before use

Where can I use smart tickets?

Across Great Britain; all train companies will have a smart ticketing option whether it is a product held on a barcode or smartcard.

National Rail Smartcard Manager app

The National Rail Smartcard Manager app lets you load, view and activate your smartcard tickets – all in one place.

• Download the National Rail Smartcard Manager app for your Apple device

• Download the National Rail Smartcard Manager app for your Android device