Interrail inbound. Connections from St. Pancras

[fandroid]

Had a real struggle today trying to get onward connections from St. Pancras on my inbound Interrail journey.

It refused a planned journey from St. Pancras to London Bridge. I actually wanted to get to Waterloo East for London Waterloo and Basingstoke. When I entered Waterloo East as a destination it gave a journey from Charing Cross with public transport suggested as the connection from St. Pancras. In the end I blagged my way through the Thameslink barriers and travelled as intended.

Any thoughts as to why it can't give a sensible (and valid within Interrail rules) connection from the main inbound London gateway?

 

[rvdborgt]

It refused a planned journey from St. Pancras to London Bridge.

What is "it" and what do you mean by "refused"?

I actually wanted to get to Waterloo East for London Waterloo and Basingstoke. When I entered Waterloo East as a destination it gave a journey from Charing Cross with public transport suggested as the connection from St. Pancras. In the end I blagged my way through the Thameslink barriers and travelled as intended.

Any thoughts as to why it can't give a sensible (and valid within Interrail rules) connection from the main inbound London gateway?

The Rail Planner app currently has a problem to show journeys within London from or to certain stations. Although I do get some results for London St Pancras to London Waterloo East, some of which look like the correct journey with a change in London Bridge. But you can always add a train manually and you always have to ask to be let through the gates (almost?) anywhere in the UK because they're still not programmed to recognise the standard pass barcodes.

 

[sng7]

You can just manually add the trip into the app, it doesn't have to display in the jounrey search for the interail pass to be valid.

 

[rvdborgt]

You can just manually add the trip into the app, it doesn't have to display in the jounrey search for the interail pass to be valid.

Indeed. The Rail Planner app journey planner is just a database that helps to find trains to add to the pass. It was and is incomplete. It does not refuse anything.

 

[NCT]

A slight side point - I believe Spanish Cercanias journeys also need to be manually added to the pass as those trains tend not to be in the app database and Interrail is valid on those services - is my understanding correct?

 

[StephenHunter]

Interrail is only valid on Thameslink, Elizabeth line and Overground. Frankly, it would be easier just to use contactless.

 

[rvdborgt]

A slight side point - I believe Spanish Cercanias journeys also need to be manually added to the pass as those trains tend not to be in the app database and Interrail is valid on those services - is my understanding correct?

That is correct. Renfe can't be bothered to share the Cercanías timetables, so they don't show up anywhere.

 

[fandroid]

Interrail is only valid on Thameslink, Elizabeth line and Overground. Frankly, it would be easier just to use contactless.

It was just a challenge for me to do it entirely with the Interrail Pass. Also, with a heavyish wheeled case, the bigger trains across London, plus the better access to lifts and escalators rather than steps were an attraction.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 11 Aug 2025 ==

You can just manually add the trip into the app, it doesn't have to display in the jounrey search for the interail pass to be valid.

I see the "add manually" option now I'm home and with no immediate need to travel. It's in plain text and not highlighted so didn't stand out on the screen. All knowledge for next time - which is already being planned!

 

[JB_B]

IMX the planner won't find journeys to/from "London St Pancras International" to/from Thameslink or MML destinations ( for Sheffield it suggests an interesting diversion via Harwich and Rotterdam.) It works fine if you just use "London St Pancras".

 

[fandroid]

IMX the planner won't find journeys to/from "London St Pancras International" to/from Thameslink or MML destinations ( for Sheffield it suggests an interesting diversion via Harwich and Rotterdam.) It works fine if you just use "London St Pancras".

I did try the latter station name. It still wouldn't give a direct route to London Bridge. Hilariously, when I entered Waterloo East as the destination instead, it inserted London Charing Cross as the starting point, overriding London St. Pancras. Almost as daft, I'd left the Charing Cross to Waterloo East as a saved journey on the app and when I entered London Waterloo to Basingstoke for my next leg, it said "overlapping journeys"!

Perhaps it needs a lesson in London railway geography!

 

[DanielB]

The error regarding overlapping journeys has nothing to do with geography, but with overlapping times. Very annoying when you are able to catch a delayed earlier train in Germany for example, as you'll need to remove a train from your pass to be able to add the delayed one.
Also the app is very sensitive for the exactly correct spelling of stations to be able to find them and it won't find trains that are missing in the timetable of the app (and instead suggest public transport outside the pass network indeed). Had a similar thing in Basel last week.

 

[rvdborgt]

The error regarding overlapping journeys has nothing to do with geography, but with overlapping times. Very annoying when you are able to catch a delayed earlier train in Germany for example, as you'll need to remove a train from your pass to be able to add the delayed one.

You can also enter the overlapping journey manually.

Also the app is very sensitive for the exactly correct spelling of stations to be able to find them

The offline planner is, but the online planner (online is default now in the app) seems to be less sensitive about it and seems to do a fuzzy search.

 

[DanielB]

You can also enter the overlapping journey manually.

Never knew, and obviously slighty less convenient to do when in a hurry to actually catch that train.

The offline planner is, but the online planner (online is default now in the app) seems to be less sensitive about it and deems to do a fuzzy search.

I did however, whilst online, require some trying to find the BLT tram stop near my hotel in Basel in the app. But that might also have to do with tram stop names being a bit more complicated than station names (and having a comma in them).

 

[TinTin56]

The QR code on the Interrail app, is more a carte blanche authority to travel in paid for countries on a given day. It doesn't change when you add train journeys. We travelled all the way down to Sofia last year and I don't recall any inspection of the itinerary anywhere, they just scanned the QR code. We did try and and keep the itinerary up to date, but doubt it is really essential. Others may have a different experience.

 

[rvdborgt]

The QR code on the Interrail app, is more a carte blanche authority to travel in paid for countries on a given day. It doesn't change when you add train journeys. We travelled all the way down to Sofia last year and I don't recall any inspection of the itinerary anywhere, they just scanned the QR code. We did try and and keep the itinerary up to date, but doubt it is really essential. Others may have a different experience.

It is mandatory, just as it is for the paper travel diary. Inspection isn't often, but it does occur. The stats of the mobile pass (trains added to the passes) are used to distribute the pass sales revenue.

 

[43096]

It is mandatory, just as it is for the paper travel diary. Inspection isn't often, but it does occur. The stats of the mobile pass (trains added to the passes) are used to distribute the pass sales revenue.

The paper travel diary is now utterly pointless as it is not actually used for anything.

 

[Tester]

The paper travel diary is now utterly pointless as it is not actually used for anything.

Indeed it isn't, but I presume it remains mandatory to discourage its use.

 

[DanielB]

It is mandatory, just as it is for the paper travel diary. Inspection isn't often, but it does occur. The stats of the mobile pass (trains added to the passes) are used to distribute the pass sales revenue.

Indeed, I've actually had ticket inspectors validating the pass was mine by asking for name and destination. So they'll actually see that otherwise asking for a destination is not very useful. (Obviously in Switzerland, where they take the ticket check more serious anyway. Though they checked a lot less and certainly less thorough this year)

 

[STINT47]

I had a mobile pass inspected the other day in the Netherlands and they checked both my journey history and passport.

This is very rare with most times the QR being scanned only. It did however appear that the check was being done by some sort of revenue protection operation as several people went through checking tickets all wearing body cams.

I've found that your passport is hardly ever checked. Journey history is done more frequently amongst the smaller operators. Arriva in the Netherlands always seem to check but perhaps this is due to them wanting g their share of the revenue?

On a side note the journey planner could not locate any Eurostars yesterday. I put in Brussels Zuid to St Pancras International but got no results so added it manually. Very strange.

 

[rvdborgt]

On a side note the journey planner could not locate any Eurostars yesterday. I put in Brussels Zuid to St Pancras International but got no results so added it manually. Very strange.

The cause might have been a bad internet connection. The Rail Planner app doesn't handle that very well. Without internet, it will use its offline database.
Can you find Eurostar now?