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I booked a train ticket to London Paddington with GWR. The booking confirmation however says London Terminals on top of London Paddington. Then there are words like this:

The following London stations are available for travel with the chosen ticket:

London Paddington (PAD) London Blackfriars (BFR) City Thameslink (CTK) London Cannon Street (CST) London Charing Cross (CHX) London Bridge (LBG) London Waterloo East (WAE) London Victoria (VIC) Vauxhall (VXH) London Waterloo (WAT)

Travel is not permitted to any other London Stations with this ticket

Does this mean that I can travel to any of these stations with my ticket without paying anything extra? If this is true, what should I do upon my arrival at Paddington if for example I would like to go to London Bridge station? I have never been to any railway stations in London other than Paddington, but London Bridge would be closer to my destination.

My ticket is Super Off-Peak Return if this is relevant.

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Except for a few special cases, a ticket to London Terminals is only valid until you reach your first of the London Terminals. It is almost never valid by tube.

As explained on the National Rail Enquiries website in the London Terminals section

Tickets issued for travel to/from London usually show 'London Terminals' as the destination/origin rather than naming a specific station. This is because the ticket is valid to more than one London Terminal station provided it’s on any reasonable line of route. Tickets can only be used on National Rail services. For example, a ticket from Brighton to London Terminals is valid to Victoria, Waterloo (changing at Clapham Junction), London Bridge, Blackfriars and City Thameslink or Charing Cross Waterloo East or Cannon Street (changing at London Bridge). It would not be valid to, for example, London Euston or Paddington as this would not be on the line of route and would involve crossing London using another mode of transport.

If you want to get from Reading (or further west) to London Bridge on a London Terminals ticket, going via Paddington is not allowed. To go Reading - Paddington - London Bridge, you need to buy a ticket to London Zone U1, eg this Reading ticket, which includes the onwards tube journey.

Alternately, if you're determined to get yourself to London Bridge on your current ticket... You can route yourself on the Reading to Waterloo train, and change at either Clapham Junction, or (post-August) Waterloo + Waterloo East. Either way it'll be a lot lot slower, but your ticket would be valid via this slow route to London Bridge.

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  • Yes, I am travelling from the west, but why is London Paddington listed with London Bridge?
    – adipro
    Apr 26, 2016 at 12:07
  • Because it's a valid station for the ticket, but only if you don't take the underground. If you want to take the underground, you need to buy the more expensive ticket to London Zone U1 rather than London Terminals
    – Gagravarr
    Apr 26, 2016 at 12:09
  • Are you sure your route to London Bridge is valid? The only direct trains between Clapham Junction and London Bridge seem to be Southern suburbans via Crystal Palace, which is a bit of a detour. On the other hand, the relevant map (WX) in the Routeing Guide shows just a straight line between Clapham Junction and a generic "London" node, so perhaps it would work ...
    – hmakholm left over Monica
    Apr 26, 2016 at 12:54
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    @HenningMakholm I've checked with the experts on the Rail UK Forums, and they've confirmed it's valid Reading-Clapham-London Bridge, or Reading-Waterloo-Waterloo East-London Bridge, both of those being train-only routes (no tube allowed)
    – Gagravarr
    Apr 26, 2016 at 16:04
  • @Gagravarr You can definitely change at Clapham Junction to reach London Bridge. I'm surprised you could change at Waterloo (via Waterloo East) given that is one of the terminals mentioned on the ticket. I wonder if you could change at CLJ and use London Overground to reach one of the other lines (technically not the tube).
    – abligh
    Apr 26, 2016 at 18:50

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