Can I reserve a seat for my train journey?
You can reserve seats on almost all long-distance trains. Here’s a quick guide to what you can and can’t reserve:
Sometimes, during special events or busier periods, reservations might not be offered.
Operator | Seat reservations? | Additional Information |
Avanti West Coast | Yes | |
c2c | No | |
Caledonian Sleeper | Yes | Reservations are compulsory |
Chiltern Railways | No | |
CrossCountry | Yes | |
East Midlands Railway | Yes | Only on trains between Sheffield/Nottingham and London |
Eurostar | Yes | Reservations are compulsory |
Gatwick Express | No | |
Grand Central | Yes | |
Great Northern | No | |
Great Western Railway | Yes | Only on trains to/from London. Reservations on the Night Riviera sleeper train are compulsory |
Greater Anglia | No | |
Heathrow Express | No | |
Hull Trains | Yes | |
LNER | Yes | |
London Northwestern Railway | No | |
London Overground | No | |
Lumo | Yes | Reservations strongly recommended |
Merseyrail | No | |
Northern | No | |
ScotRail | Yes | Long-distance services only |
South Western Railway | No | |
Southeastern | No | |
Southern | No | |
Stansted Express | No | |
Thameslink | No | |
TransPennine Express | Yes | Except on local services Leeds – Huddersfield and Huddersfield – Manchester |
Transport for Wales | No | |
West Midlands Railway | No |
You can click here to find out more about seat reservations with our handy guide.
Where a reservation is available, we’ll always let you reserve a seat, providing that the train is not so busy that there are no seats left.