Please follow Government advice

We encourage you to buy your ticket in advance online for minimal contact.  There are ticket offices and ticket machines available at our stations should you need to use them. Please use contactless where possible, but cash will be taken. Reservations are not required on Stansted Express trains.

Please be aware that travel restrictions and local circumstances linked to the coronavirus pandemic may be different in Wales or Scotland, so if you are travelling to destinations in the devolved nations, please check details before you travel.

View Government guidance:

• Wales
• Scotland
• Northern Ireland

Before you travel

• Do not travel if you have any COVID-19 symptoms, self-isolating as a result of coronavirus symptoms, sharing a household or support bubble with somebody with symptoms or if you’re clinically extremely vulnerable and cannot shield during your journey and have been advised by the NHS test and trace service that you should self-isolate. Please refer to the NHS website for more information.
• Buy your ticket online or on your phone before you get to the station preferably, so that you minimise your time at the station.
• Although we encourage you to buy your ticket in advance, you do not need a seat reservation. Please remember to socially distance when choosing a seat whilst on the train and not sit facing another person.
• We’re providing details of the busiest trains, so please check this information using our less busy trains tool.

When Travelling

• Wear a face covering on our trains and at our stations. This is mandatory unless you're exempt. Failure can mean a maximum fine of £6,400.
• Follow all Government advice and NHS hygiene guidance
  • Wash your hands
  • Cough or sneeze into your elbow or tissue -and throw tissues in the bin.
  • There are liquid soap dispensers available at our stations and on-train toilets and hand sanitisers available at all of our stations which have a ticket office. Please bring your own hand sanitiser if it isn't available at your station.
• Comply with our queueing and one-way systems.
• Sit apart from others on the train and spread out throughout the carriage. Sit near a window if possible. Follow instructions about how you can keep your distance - listen to announcements on our trains, read posters and follow floor markings at stations.
• If you need to buy a ticket at the station, please use contactless payment.
• Don't leave rubbish on the train or at a station, unless it's in the bin so that our cleaners can spend more time cleaning than litter-picking. If you're wearing a face mask or gloves, please don't discard them on the train or at our stations.
• Listen to our staff, they're trying to keep us all safe.
• Stand back and let people off the train before you board. Use all available doors and move down the train. Please get on and off the train as quickly as you can.
• Don't congregate at the front of the train on the approach to Liverpool Street.
• Only one person in a lift at a time please.

Other important information

• If the last train is full and you are unable to board it, or train service disruption causes you to miss a scheduled connection for the last train, we will seek to provide replacement transport to get you to your destination station. Please contact a member of station staff or use the customer information contact facility available at the station (usually via the ticket vending machine) to seek assistance.

• In the interest of your safety, when stations or trains are at full social distancing capacity, station teams may at times prevent customers from entering the station, platform or from boarding a specific service if social distancing is being severely compromised. If this occurs during service disruption, our control teams will decide on a train by train basis whether to remove scheduled stops to reduce the impact on social distancing as best as possible.

• You should not board trains that you feel are too full and that you feel may therefore not be safe to travel on. Instead, you should wait for another train or speak to a member of staff.

• The government has made the wearing of face coverings mandatory, unless exempt, in England on trains and at stations/transport hubs. Anyone not wearing a face covering who isn't exempt, is liable to receive a £200 fine for a first offence which will double at each offence with a maximum fine of £6,400 from the police or TFL view more information.
• For a list of exemptions view the Government website
• A face covering vending machine can be found at London Liverpool Street station and many of our staffed statins may provide you with one if needed.

• Our ticket refund policy changed on 4 January 2021.  View current policy.

• Train services to and from Stansted to London Liverpool Street operate half hourly Monday to Sunday, with 3 trains an hour at certain times of the day Monday to Friday. You can find out more with our Journey Planner.
• All of our ticket offices are open and normal ticket office hours apply.

You are temporarily able to remove your face covering to eat and drink on the train or at stations, as long as you social distance and replace your covering when finished.

• Our food and drink retailers may not be open, so remember to bring a bottle of water and any food you may need for your journey.

• All station toilets are open as per normal opening times. For more information on station facilities, please view our station station information.
• All waiting rooms are open as per the normal opening times.

• If you can, please book assistance in advance of your journey, either before 10pm the night before or 12 hours before you wish travel.  Sometimes it may not be possible to book in advance, in which case assistance will be available from station staff. 
• The call centre opening times have temporarily changed due to COVID-19. You can contact the assisted travel line Monday to Friday between 8am-8pm and 9am-5pm at weekends on 0800 028 2878 (free of charge) or via Textphone and Minicom: 18001 0800 028 2878.
• If you need to request assistance outside of these times for travel the next day only, please call 0800 0223720.
• Alternatively, you can submit a request online.

We recognise that travelling during COVID-19 is stressful, particularly for disable people who may be worried about the availability of assistance. We want to reassure you that we're still operating passenger assistance but it may be a little bit different from pre-pandemic times to keep you and our colleagues safe. Following guidance below will help keep us all safe and you moving.

• Staff and customers are required to wear a face covering unless medically exempt.
• If you need to lip read, please indicate to the member of staff who will step back and safely remove their face covering.
• Staff will maintain a safe social distance until required to provide assistance, please respect that. We recognise that some disabilities such as visual impairment makes social distancing very difficult.
• If staff need to make contact with you, your luggage or mobility device they will sanitise their hands prior to contact and afterwards.
• Please ensure you've sanitised your hands if you need to make contact with a member of staff i.e. you're being guided.
• If you need to use a station wheelchair, we will sanitise it prior to use and ask you to face forwards whilst we push it.
• If a member of staff is laying a ramp, please provide them with the space to do so safely.
• If you have any questions about your journey, please contact our assisted travel team for advice.
• If your journey is for travel beyond the Stansted Express services on other operators’ services, please book 24 hours before travelling so we can meet their notice period requirements.

We also can provide turn up and go assistance to those who haven’t pre-booked.