Troubleshooting a failed search
If your search fails there are a few things you can do to troubleshoot it.
- 1
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Check the booking horizon
- 2
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Choose "Any Station"
If the city you're travelling to has more than one train choose an "any station" option to maximise your potential of getting results.
Most searches fail because booking isn't open yet and if that's the case, you will usually be invited to
set a booking alert.
Some services aren't eligible for booking alerts however, so you should check
this Help article for a list of the most popular services and rough dates for when these will be. If your journey includes more than one train, bear in mind that they may have different booking horizons.
- 3
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Adjust your departure time
If you aren't sure of the timetable, search for trains departing in the morning from 7 AM as this will return the most results.
- 4
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Split your search
- 5
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Check for engineering work and other disruptions
If you are searching for a particular connection or overnight train, it can help to add an extra hour or two to accommodate for transfers and check-in, if required. For example, to catch a night train from Paris you will need to leave London mid-afternoon to have enough time to change trains.
For popular journeys, we'll usually suggest a recommended route e.g. London to Nice goes via Paris. For more complex journeys e.g. those that cross multiple borders, require an overnight stop or use a night train, it is sometimes necessary to split your search.
You can do this by
adding a "via' station or simply running two searches. Just make sure to leave enough to change trains.
If you think that trains should run on the route you're searching for, your search is within its booking horizon and you've tried adjusting the departure time, etc, it is possible that trains aren't available. There are several possible explanations:
- Engineering works may be scheduled on your preferred dates. Check our delays and disruptions articles to see if we are already aware of scheduled disruption or contact us to carry out some research.
- Some trains don't run every day or have amended timetables on the weekend which disrupt journeys that are possible on weekdays. Try searching on dates either side or even a week later, to see if the route is feasible at other times.
If you are still can't find any results, Please click here to contact-us and include a link to your failed search if possible as this will allow us to respond faster.
