Trainline: Train travel Europe

Review by eFreeware

Trainline is a free app from the developer of the same name that handles train and bus bookings across the UK and Europe. It sits in the Maps & Navigation category, but its job is closer to a ticket counter than a map: you search a route, compare operators, and buy the ticket inside the app. With more than 10 million installs and a 4.8 average from over 932,000 ratings, it is one of the better-established options in this space.

The main reason to consider it is coverage. Instead of checking one rail company's site and then another's, you compare options from 260 train and bus companies in a single search. That matters most for journeys that cross a border or involve more than one operator, where the alternatives are several separate bookings and several separate tickets.

One search across hundreds of operators

The core experience is a route search that returns both rail and coach options. The developer lists partners including Eurostar, Avanti West Coast, GWR, National Express, SNCF, Deutsche Bahn, ÖBB, SBB, Trenitalia, Italo, Renfe, Alsa and Flixbus, among many others, so a search can surface operators you might not think to check individually. Prices are shown in a choice of currencies: USD, GBP, EUR, AUD, CAD, CHF and SEK.

Payment is handled in the app through Amex, Google Pay, PayPal and the usual credit and debit cards. Tickets are digital, which removes the paper part of the process, and the developer says you can skip station queues on selected routes by buying on your phone. That last point is worth reading carefully, because it applies to selected routes rather than everywhere.

There is also a price calendar for comparing fares across dates, which is the kind of tool that helps when your travel day is flexible. If your dates are fixed, the same search still works, but the calendar's value drops.

Buying late, and changing your mind

Trainline supports both advance booking and same-day purchases, with tickets available up to 15 minutes before departure. That window is genuinely useful for anyone whose plans firm up late in the day, though it depends on the route and the operator having seats left.

For anyone booking a trip they might need to abandon, that is a meaningful option to weigh against the ticket price.

You can save plans and hold tickets for up to 7 days. That suits the stage of a trip where you have settled on a route but not on a departure time. Loyalty and discount cards can be added for benefits on UK rail services, Eurostar, SNCF, Thalys and Renfe, which is a small but real convenience if you already hold one of those cards.

Live information while you travel

Booking is only half of what the app covers. Live updates and timetable tracking show how your train is running, while Crowd Alerts flag how busy it is. For anyone who has stood on a platform guessing whether a delay will affect a connection, the tracking side is arguably as valuable as the booking side.

There are also blogs and popular route ideas to browse. That is a soft feature rather than a planning tool, and it won't replace a proper guidebook, but it can be a reasonable starting point when you know roughly where you want to go and not much else.

Support is handled by phone. The app was first released in December 2010 and was last updated in September 2026, with the most recent notes describing bug fixes and performance work rather than new features.

What the free download involves

The app is free and carries ads. It does not offer in-app purchases, so the money side of things is the tickets themselves rather than anything you buy inside the app.

The trade-off with a booking app of this scope is that you are relying on the operator data it pulls together. Treat the Best Price Guarantee as marketing rather than a promise about every fare on every route.

That is normal for a reseller, but it is the sort of detail worth checking at checkout rather than assuming.

Best suited to cross-border and multi-operator trips

This app makes most sense for travelers whose journeys involve more than one country or more than one company. If you are booking a single domestic trip on a single operator, the operator's own service may be just as direct; the value here comes from comparison and from having everything in one place.

It also suits people who book close to departure, given the same-day window, and anyone who prefers digital tickets over collecting paper ones at a station. Frequent travelers who hold loyalty or discount cards get a little extra from being able to store them alongside bookings.

For occasional travelers planning a longer European route, the combination of a price calendar, saved plans and live tracking covers most of what the planning and travel stages need. The app is aimed at people who want to compare before they commit rather than book blind with a single carrier.

A practical booking tool for European rail and coach travel

Trainline is worth installing if your travel plans involve comparing operators or crossing borders, where its breadth of coverage does the most work. The free download, digital tickets and live tracking make it a reasonable default for planning a European trip, and the same-day booking window helps when plans move late.

The caveats are straightforward: ads are present, and the promotional discount has conditions attached. Treat the marketing language about best fares as a claim to verify at checkout rather than a guarantee.

For a single short domestic journey with one operator, the app is more machinery than you may need. For anything involving multiple companies, multiple countries or a flexible date, it is worth having on your phone.

What's new in version 415.0.0.182623

The little things matter Bug fixes and changes to some of our tech should make our app snappier than ever.