Rail Warrants

[whole diary]

[grahame]

In looking though ticketing options, I was reminded of Rail Warrants ... https://www.atocrailwarrants.org/the-rail-warrant-account.  ... I can recall being issued with one in the past (by a TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company)?) and what a 'fun' thing it was to exchange.   Are they still used for forces travel?

Rail Warrant Accounts

The Rail Warrant Account provides a service for a limited number of organisations allowing access to rail travel across the National Rail network.

Account holders receive an account invoice showing tickets issued along with confirmation of journey details, and payment for tickets is made by direct debit from the account holder’s bank account.

Rail warrants cannot be exchanged at London Underground ticket offices and cannot be used in Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland.

Eligibility

Rail warrant usage is now restricted to a limited number of organisations.

New account applications are considered only for organisations that have a specific requirement to issue rail warrants, such as purchasing rail travel for vulnerable people etc, where the usual account options would not be suitable.

[JayMac]

I believe the Armed Forces still issue them.

My one and only use of one was when I was 16 - to attend Royal Navy recruitment interview, medical and aptitude test.

[Ralph Ayres]

They're increasingly difficult to use with many ticket offices being closed. They really need to come up with a replacement system involving perhaps an account and collection from a ticket machine or loading on a smart card.

[ellendune]

They're increasingly difficult to use with many ticket offices being closed. They really need to come up with a replacement system involving perhaps an account and collection from a ticket machine or loading on a smart card.

They have! GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) have business accounts.  Our admin team at work order the ticket charged to the company account and I collect it from the machine. Simple!

[grahame]

They're increasingly difficult to use with many ticket offices being closed. They really need to come up with a replacement system involving perhaps an account and collection from a ticket machine or loading on a smart card.

They have! GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) have business accounts.  Our admin team at work order the ticket charged to the company account and I collect it from the machine. Simple!

Indeed - as long ago as when we did "Four in a Bed" tickets were booked for us to collect from a TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine) on our way out to our first mystery destination, and then onwards to the second one and home.   Any credit card and the 8 character code was enough to get the machine to spew out the tickets (and I think that was the point at which we learned our destination station!)

[Alan Pettitt]

A few years ago, I witnessed a guard on a Weymouth train sort out a released prisoner's warrant on the train and got the passenger to Bristol apparently without too much trouble.