PRIV tickets on Lizzie Line

[diffarc]

What are the PRIV rules for travelling on the Lizzie line? For instance, am I able to buy a ticket:

1. From Tottenham Court Road to Slough (Core section to NR)
2. From Paddington to Liverpool Street (fully within core section)
3. From Paddington (Lizzie line platform) to Slough

 

[Watershed]

Do you have safeguarded facilities (i.e. you joined the industry before April 1996)? If not, do you work for a TOC or for Network Rail? This determines the Priv tickets available to you.

Whichever kind of facilities you have, you can buy a Priv-rate ticket for the third example. The Elizabeth line platforms at Paddington are treated as part of the above-ground National Rail station insofar as travel to/from the GWML (e.g. Slough) is concerned.

 

[Waterlemon]

If you work for a TOC get your RST Leisure discount put on an Oyster and you can commute on it as long as your journey uses the Lizzy line.

 

[diffarc]

Do you have safeguarded facilities (i.e. you joined the industry before April 1996)? If not, do you work for a TOC or for Network Rail? This determines the Priv tickets available to you.

Whichever kind of facilities you have, you can buy a Priv-rate ticket for the third example. The Elizabeth line platforms at Paddington are treated as part of the above-ground National Rail station insofar as travel to/from the GWML (e.g. Slough) is concerned.

Work for a TOC but non-safeguarded. Thanks for the clarification - I thought that might be the case.

If you work for a TOC get your RST Leisure discount put on an Oyster and you can commute on it as long as your journey uses the Lizzy line.

Will give this a go thanks!

 

[Horizon22]

If you work for a TOC get your RST Leisure discount put on an Oyster and you can commute on it as long as your journey uses the Lizzy line.

Will give this a go thanks!

One of the very few places you can do this now is at Elizabeth line ticket offices too and indeed, only at certain times.

 

[Haywain]

If you work for a TOC get your RST Leisure discount put on an Oyster and you can commute on it as long as your journey uses the Lizzy line.

Except that Oyster can't be used as far out as Slough, so to get to or from there would require breaking at an intermediate station to touch in/out. I would also advise caution if this is for travel to and from work as the Priv Oyster discount is a leisure facility and public fares or a Priv season should be used for residential travel.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 7 Aug 2025 ==

Will give this a go thanks!

There are a very limited number of stations where the discount can be added to Oyster, and a limited range of times. However, Ealing Broadway may well be appropriate for you.

 

[CyrusWuff]

There are a very limited number of stations where the discount can be added to Oyster, and a limited range of times. However, Ealing Broadway may well be appropriate for you.

You also need to register the Oyster card before the discount can be applied. If the Elizabeth Line staff insist on that meaning the Registered flag on the card needs to be set to Yes, rather than just registering it online, it may involve a bit of shopping around as not many LU staff are aware that it's possible to do a partial registration without setting a discount at the same time.

 

[High Dyke]

One of the very few places you can do this now is at Elizabeth line ticket offices too and indeed, only at certain times.

Here's the list, as shown in the RSTL travel information. Rail Staff Leisure Card holders (non-safeguarded)

image. Travel information for PRIV ticket holders

 

[Waterlemon]

I would also advise caution if this is for travel to and from work as the Priv Oyster discount is a leisure facility and public fares or a Priv season should be used for residential travel.

It's buried in the FAQ part of the website and not anywhere useful but it's the one case where you can commute on the 'Leisure' card.

 

[Belperpete]

Do you have safeguarded facilities (i.e. you joined the industry before April 1996)? If not, do you work for a TOC or for Network Rail? This determines the Priv tickets available to you.

Whichever kind of facilities you have, you can buy a Priv-rate ticket for the third example. The Elizabeth line platforms at Paddington are treated as part of the above-ground National Rail station insofar as travel to/from the GWML (e.g. Slough) is concerned.

How about for someone who is not safeguarded and doesn't work for a TOC or NR? Someone who has reciprocal priv travel facilities.

 

[Watershed]

Work for a TOC but non-safeguarded. Thanks for the clarification - I thought that might be the case.

In that case, your entitlement for the first and second journey scenarios is as follows:

1. From Tottenham Court Road to Slough (Core section to NR)

As mentioned by others, the best way of getting discounts within the 'core' section of the Elizabeth line is to use an Oyster card with the Priv "National Rail" discount set.

Unfortunately, as Slough is outside the Oyster area of validity, you have to touch in/out somewhere within the Oyster area when you switch between Oyster and the paper/smartcard ticket you're using for the remainder of your journey. That's likely to involve a degree of inconvenience.

Arguably, this would be best done at Paddington, as most trains have a slightly longer stop there. If you make sure you're in the ideal coach (3 or 7), you may just manage to make it back onto the same train after quickly walking up the short escalator, exiting the gateline with your Slough <-> London ticket, then touching back in with your Oyster card (or vice versa).

If you don't make it onto the same train, in the eastbound direction it wouldn't be long until the next one - which would start at Paddington, thus guaranteeing you a seat. In the westbound direction, I would suggest aiming for a Paddington terminator at Tottenham Court Road and then changing onto a Maidenhead/Reading train at Paddington.

Unfortunately if heading westbound in the evening peak, there is virtually no chance you're getting a seat at Paddington - and you may not even be able to physically get onto the train, such is the level of crowding a lot of the time.

1. From Paddington to Liverpool Street (fully within core section)

You can either use Oyster with the Priv "National Rail" discount set (this is cheapest and valid for either leisure or commuting purposes), or buy a special Priv-rate paper fare valid only on the Elizabeth line core section (Paddington-Abbey Wood). The latter costs £1.75 single/£3.50 return and is only valid for leisure travel.

How about for someone who is not safeguarded and doesn't work for a TOC or NR? Someone who has reciprocal priv travel facilities.

It depends very much on the precise details of the reciprocal travel facilities, i.e. which employer gave them.

 

[trek]

It's buried in the FAQ part of the website and not anywhere useful but it's the one case where you can commute on the 'Leisure' card.

I wasn't aware of this and it's interesting to note.

Although the example from the East contradicts itself regarding Liverpool Street as an end point...

Unfortunately, as Slough is outside the Oyster area of validity, you have to touch in/out somewhere within the Oyster area when you switch between Oyster and the paper/smartcard ticket you're using for the remainder of your journey. That's likely to involve a degree of inconvenience.

You can either use Oyster with the Priv "National Rail" discount set (this is cheapest and valid for either leisure or commuting purposes), or buy a special Priv-rate paper fare valid only on the Elizabeth line core section (Paddington-Abbey Wood). The latter costs £1.75 single/£3.50 return and is only valid for leisure travel.

It depends very much on the precise details of the reciprocal travel facilities, i.e. which employer gave them.

It has been suggested on other groups that perhaps tickets such as Slough - Zone U1* London would be valid as long as the Underground itself is not used by a non-safeguarded RST Leisure Card holder, and some ticket offices have been known to sell this (including Elizabeth Line ones).

As far as I am aware though RST Online will not sell this ticket to a non-safeguarded user and I personally am not convinced of it being correct either (although if it were it would certainly make things a lot easier).

I would also more generally note that most Elizabeth Line stations in the central section, including Tottenham Court Road, do not have ticket offices and are unable to sell the correct ticket as far as I am aware. Whether you can convince gateline staff there of your general right to purchase a ticket at the first avaliable opportunity (in this case probably Slough) I would be much less certain, although Farringdon (when the ticket office there is closed) and the Moorgate end of Liverpool Street are more aware of this.

 

[yorkie]

It has been brought to my attention that some people with PRIV facilities have been wrongly denied travel from certain stations served by Elizabeth Line (XR) where the gateline staff are under the TfL umbrella, especially LU.

This is a particular problem at stations such as Stratford when the ticket office is closed; some staff claim that a full fare ticket must be purchased, which is wrong.

If anyone experiences problems, please do ensure you submit an official complaint, and also post on the forum.

 

[splashoutradio]

Just to add a little more confusion to the already confusing world of staff travel... Non-safeguarded NR staff, using the online leisure PRIV card, are not eligible for travel on the Elizabeth Line, except when crossing London between Liverpool Street and Paddington on a ticket containing the Cross-London marker.

 

[Haywain]

Just to add a little more confusion to the already confusing world of staff travel... Non-safeguarded NR staff, using the online leisure PRIV card, are not eligible for travel on the Elizabeth Line, except when crossing London between Liverpool Street and Paddington on a ticket containing the Cross-London marker.

I'm not sure where you have got this from but I am pretty sure it's wrong, unless there has been a recent change. I no longer benefit from having Priv travel facilities, but when I did I was able to use a Priv discounted Oyster on the core section of the Elizabeth line and be charged the relevant reduced fare (sample journey: Farringdon to Bond Street). Without validity on the Elizabeth line core that would have been charged at the public rate. I have also used a Priv discounted Oyster at the outer reaches of the Elizabeth line to and from Farringdon.

 

[Watershed]

I'm not sure where you have got this from but I am pretty sure it's wrong, unless there has been a recent change. I no longer benefit from having Priv travel facilities, but when I did I was able to use a Priv discounted Oyster on the core section of the Elizabeth line and be charged the relevant reduced fare (sample journey: Farringdon to Bond Street). Without validity on the Elizabeth line core that would have been charged at the public rate. I have also used a Priv discounted Oyster at the outer reaches of the Elizabeth line to and from Farringdon.

I think @splashoutradio is talking about non-safeguarded Network Rail staff, who gained leisure travel facilities in one of the post-Covid pay deals. However they only get an RST Online Leisure card, which has reduced validity compared to the Rail Staff Leisure Card. Amongst other limitations it can only be used to buy tickets online through the RST Online portal as the name suggests.

Crucially it's also not valid on TfL services (Underground, Overground or Elizabeth line - with the aforementioned cross-London exception) or open access operators (except Heathrow Express and Lumo).

 

[splashoutradio]

I'm not sure where you have got this from but I am pretty sure it's wrong, unless there has been a recent change. I of the Elizabeth line to and from Farringdon.

I think @splashoutradio is talking about non-safeguarded Network Rail staff, who gained leisure travel facilities in one of the post-Covid pay deals. However they only get an RST Online Leisure card, which has reduced validity compared to the Rail Staff Leisure Card. Amongst other limitations it can only be used to buy tickets online through the RST Online portal as the name suggests.

Crucially it's also not valid on TfL services (Underground, Overground or Elizabeth line - with the aforementioned cross-London exception) or open access operators (except Heathrow Express and Lumo).

Apologies, I don't think I explained myself very well. Yes, I was referring to non-safeguarded travel for NR staff. The full details for which are here: https://www.raildeliverygroup.com/rst/guides.html#RSTOnlineLeisure