Time lag between NRE advance ticket booking horizon page update and tickets actually on sale

• 23 Sep 2026

• #1

J

James H

Established Member

Joined

25 Jun 2014

Messages

1,549

I regularly book tickets for my weekly commute on SWR as soon as advances go on sale.

The NRE horizons page is usually updated on a Wednesday

Advance Booking Dates | National Rail

Find out the farthest travel dates in the future it is possible to book Advance tickets and reserve seats today.

www.nationalrail.co.uk

but I can't usually book tickets till the Friday

Why such a time lag between the NRE page being updated and the tickets actually being on sale? It makes a nonsense of the NRE page if it doesn't actually correspond to what's on sale.

 

Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in

R

RailUK Forums

• 23 Sep 2026

• #2

A

Adam Williams

Established Member

Joined

2 Jan 2018

Messages

3,640

Location

Warks

It shouldn't be a manually maintained NRE page at all, this should be electronic data that provides the real-time status of inventory that has been released, distributed to retailers to use.

RARS team weren't interested in progressing it when I suggested that, though.

 

• 23 Sep 2026

• #3

Haywain

Veteran Member

Joined

3 Feb 2013

Messages

24,856

James H said:

The NRE horizons page is usually updated on a Wednesday

but I can't usually book tickets till the Friday

Click to expand...

Are you booking through the SWR website? If so, have you tried other websites to see if the same limitation applies?

 

• 23 Sep 2026

• #4

S

soccermad

Member

Joined

2 Mar 2008

Messages

188

Location

Derbyshire

Adam

Just for the uneducated , what is RARS please ?

 

• 23 Sep 2026

• #5

A

Adam Williams

Established Member

Joined

2 Jan 2018

Messages

3,640

Location

Warks

RARS is the shiny new (well, less new now) "Rail Availability and Reservation" system

 

• 23 Sep 2026

• #6

J

James H

Established Member

Joined

25 Jun 2014

Messages

1,549

Haywain said:

Are you booking through the SWR website? If so, have you tried other websites to see if the same limitation applies?

Click to expand...

No, not using the SWR website.

I have checked LNER, Trainsplit and Uber but it's always several days after the NRE page is updated that tickets for the furthest out week become available on any of those apps/sites.