Teens travelling by train alone - what contingency planning is sensible?

[TheBlackCatWithTheWhiteSpot]

2 DD’s age 16 and 13 would like to go and stay with grandparents in the summer holidays.
Grandparents have recently moved to the coast, we have not visited yet.

DC want to travel alone by train. It would be one train to our nearest city, which they are used to getting independently. Then a long distance train, 2 hours or so. Then change at another quite big station to another local train, 3 or 5 stops depending on if it’s a fast or slow train, grandad will meet them at the station.

I’m sure they will manage fine if all the connections work. Will try and book trains with plenty of time for changing platforms, and make sure they have booked seats. Just trying to work out best contingency plan for if any trains are delayed/cancelled/ connections missed. Are there any apps that can help with this sort of thing? How do you prepare your teens for more complicated, unfamiliar journeys?

I'd just make sure they can use the National Rail app to look up when their next train is if they miss a connection. Also can be good for looking up what platform your next train is on if it's tight, so they can run for it.

Make sure they understand to check ticket validity if they miss a connection, also that some trains can take a lot longer than others so if they miss the second train, it's not always a matter of getting the next train to their next changing point because a later train might get there quicker, but they might not be able to use it due to the ridiculous way that tickets work.

EG, when travelling between Leeds and Manchester, there are Transpennine Express trains and Northern Rail trains.

If you have a certain type of ticket, it is only valid on Northern Rail trains and there are frequently inspectors on the Transpennine Express trains checking tickets and issuing fines to anyone who doesn't have a (more expensive) ticket for the (faster) TPX train. Not made easy due to there being several ticket types with similar names and you only find out which tickets are valid on which trains by drilling down into the small print and cross referencing validity codes. Despite being one of those people who generally understands things and at least skims the small print, I've frequently lost the will to live trying to work all this out.

Perhaps they should ask for help if some thing does go wrong.

how would this help her 13 and 16 yo?

Get them battery packs for their phones . Nothing else needed as long as they can call for help

Don't buy cheap Advance tickets that are restricted to the booked train only. An open ticket gives flexibility.

Also travel early in the day not in the evening so that there are options in case of delay.

Follow the trains' progress on your phone and also ask them to share their location with you during the journey (eg find my /life 360).

Some trains won’t take cash for food and drink. Do either of them have a card they can use to pay?

Make sure devices are fully z charged, and that they take portable chargers and/or power banks. Keeping g juice up in the phones will mean they can sort out any glitches themselves, and if there's any bigger problem, they can alert you or grandparents. Most trains have plug points at the seats now (definitely the inter city ones).

Get them to count how much baggage they have (bag, umbrella, jacket, phone, bag of lunch, whatever) and do a count check whenever they are changing trains/moving on (including each other's). I left behind a few things in my youthful solo trips before I learned to do this.

Try and buy open fares so if they miss the train they can get the next one. Some tickets are specific to only one train.
I'm sure they'll be fine. Tell them to bring loads of sandwiches and snacks and drinks as all that stuff is a rip off.

They are not 18 - 25. A friends and family might work but the younger one is half fare anyway.

OP can they read a timetable, the old fashioned paper type? Just in case phone batteries are depleted. Also put phone numbers on paper.

Check out the cost of first class and what you get. It can be the same price as second with a couple of snacks but in first, depending on the trainline you get free food and drinks.

They will be fine. 16 is quite competent. It's only 3 to 5 stops. At the end.

Don't put the ticket near the phone otherwise they won't get out at the barriers at the other end.

Other than that, unless going via Clapham Junction and having to change there (once you've mastered CJ then you can do anything), they will be fine. Can they tell the time both digitally and analogue? I know that is weird but as a secondary teacher I am finding more and more pupils have no idea of time and cannot tell if there is ten minutes or twenty minutes to wait.

I agree, writing down contact numbers (yours and the grandparents) is an excellent idea. I think it's a bit risky to teach them to think "I've got my phone, it'll be fine". As I said above, ours were doing exactly this type of travel from younger than OP's but phones do run out of battery, get left on the train or stolen, the internet mysteriously doesn't work on the train, etc. I think it's important to teach teens to be competent/streetwise without a phone (just simple stuff like reading a timetable on the platform, asking for help from an appropriate quarter, having a note with contact details) so that they don't become totally dependent on their phones and panic if something goes wrong.

I would try and drive them to a station that minimises their train changes, if you are able. And ask grandparents to drive a little too. At least for the first time.

As others have said, teach them about train times, platforms etc.

Pack them up with food, drinks, their phones, and chargers too.

Should be fine!

Have they never been on a train journey with you? That's when I'd expect them to pick up how you find a platform etc.

I caught the local train to school from the 14 and inter-city services were just an extensionsion of that.

As an adult I often opt for a paper ticket in case something happens to my phone.

National rail app for platforms/replanting as necessary

I would suggest the following as a belt and braces approach

1. Paper copies of tickets even if they are on their phone
2. Print out a screen shot of the railcard too
3. Piece of paper with the train itinerary written on it - ie change at this station and look for the train to XXX leaving at y time. Also write on this your and your parents phone numbers - ideally make them memorise them in case they lose stuff.
4. Phone charging cables
5. Make sure they can read a station board that tells you the next quickest train to a destination as well as the departures board - then they'll be able to see that the 12.09 gets in later than the 12.30 as the former is a stopping service etc.

Some strictly emergency use only cash just in case and plenty of water.

They'll be fine but I do know how daunting it can be to wave them off. You could ask them to whatsapp you each time they are on a connecting train.

At the end of the day if things go wrong train and station staff are usually very kind. One lovely platform attendant called me with my DD on a freezing cold platform as the trains were badly delayed to let me know she was going to give her an alternative route home that would be slower so I wasn't to worry when she was late. She had already bought DD a hot chocolate.

Just make sure one of them has a phone and that there is an adult who could collect them if trains are cancelled and there is no replacement service. And that they know how to identify the guard to ask questions or get assistance if they need it.

Sounds perfectly fine. I was doing that regularly pre-mobile phones in the 90s with no issues.

When I was 15, I took a train to London with a friend who had a house in London. His mum worked in the day so and left the house at 7 and back at 7. We spend 2 weeks travelling to all of the tube stations and packed a lunch every morning. It was the early 2000s.

They will be fine - get them to WhatsApp you with a photo after each major change - and just make sure they know how to find out what platform to be on and what train to get on. -good hint is to make sure they know the final destination of the train as this will be the one that is announced. If worse come to worst they can video call you and you get direct them

After my three hpur journey took seven hours recently...

More food and drink than they need
Fully charged phones, charging cable... and not playing idly on them, othe entertainment.

An off person train feeding back information as needed... the WiFi and data signals were dodgy but phone calls were ok!

The train staff had no more information than us... we knew our train was terminating early from train line website apparently before the driver was informed! At that station there was just too many people for train staff to be off actual help.

Make sure they can carry their bags up stairs if they need to leg it at any point.

But definitely let them do it. Its a good step for independence.

My 14 year old quite often takes trains by herself or with a friend. She has the Trainline app. Buys the ticket from her allowance and sorts it out herself.
She has been to Lancaster, London including the underground (met my sister somewhere), Wales (met a friend), Oxford and loads of local places. She tells me where she is going but other than that we leave her to it. She totally sorts everything out. She's had a train cancelled and got the bus replacement, and missed a train and got the next one. She's moved seats because she didn't like the bloke near her.
She's now planning to go interrailing with a friend when they are 16.

Really pleased with how confident she is about it all and she would be mortified if I tried to organise stuff for her.

My teen DS has autism and we have been doing lots of “training” around this (pardon the pun).
In addition to all other advice here, I would add to teach them a ‘disaster plan’ ie what would they do if everything went wrong, and that they can phone you and pass phone to an official if needed, and definitely arrange with them that you track them on the journey - if only for your own peace of mind.
For the first journey I would also see if grandad could meet them at the busy station rather than local one, after they’ve done that once it will be easier.

I would say that a 16 year old doesn't need contingency planning. If a train is cancelled or delayed they should speak to station staff in the same way that we would. It would be a bit of a nonsense for them to phone you or the GPs to research options when they are on the spot.

Getting them to write everything on paper too is a good idea. And I like the idea of texting them just before their stop so they are ready to get off.

They’ve got trains with an adult plenty of times, but not sure they have paid any attention at all to information screens, timetables etc! But I’m confident they can work it out if they have enough time.

My main concern is the train being cancelled when they are already on it and leaving them stranded at a random station. But as others point out, they can approach a member of staff for help if this happens.

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