Train companies
Elizabeth line delay refund
Independent site, not a train company or claims service. You claim only through your operator’s own form.
Set to the Elizabeth line, the calculator above shows whether a delay reaches the 30-minute mark and what the single fare refund would be.
Elizabeth line would pay
£5.60
100% of the single fare paid
| Scheme | TfL service delay refund, 30 minutes, from 30 min |
| Band applied | 30+ min |
| Claim by | 23 November 2026 (28 days left) |
Estimate from the scheme Elizabeth line publishes, read on 26 October 2026. The operator checks the train you were on and decides the claim.
The Elizabeth line does not run Delay Repay. Its trains follow the service delay refund of Transport for London, set out in the TfL Conditions of Carriage: if your journey is delayed by 30 minutes or more for a reason within TfL's control, you can apply for your money back for that journey, at its single pay as you go price, or of its cash value on a paper ticket. There are no steps beyond that: 29 minutes pays nothing, and 30 minutes pays the same as two hours. You apply within 28 days, and the money comes back as pay as you go credit and bank transfer. The exclusions are wider than on National Rail: planned works, bad weather, security alerts, a passenger taken ill and strikes all fall outside. Those exclusions are worth keeping in mind when reading the line's record: it approved 42.6% of the claims it closed in April 2025 to March 2026, against 80.5% across Great Britain, according to the Office of Rail and Road.
How an operator handles Delay Repay claims
Claims approved
42.6%
| Closed within 20 working days | 100% |
| Claims closed | 19,570 |
| Period | April 2025 to March 2026 |
Office of Rail and Road, Table 4410 (OGL v3.0). Where the ORR reports a group, the figure covers all its brands.
Schemes and rules read by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method
One threshold, one amount
The Elizabeth line crosses London from Reading and Heathrow in the west to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east, through tunnels under the centre. It is run for Transport for London, and its delay refund follows section 8.2 of the TfL Conditions of Carriage, not a Passenger's Charter. The rule is binary: a delay of 30 minutes or more, for a reason within TfL's control, gives back the single pay as you go fare of that journey. Anything shorter gives nothing.
| Minutes late | Refund | On a £5.60 pay as you go fare |
|---|---|---|
| Under 30 | nothing | £0 |
| 30 or more | the single fare | £5.60 |
On a paper single or return, TfL refunds the cash value of the delayed journey rather than the whole ticket, so a late outward trip on a return is worth 50% of the return price in the calculator above. A Travelcard on Oyster is handled online, and TfL asks you to wait 48 hours first, because in some cases it refunds automatically.
What TfL will not refund
This is where the Elizabeth line differs most from Delay Repay, which pays whatever the cause. Under its conditions, no refund is due when the delay came from:
- planned service changes or engineering works;
- bad weather;
- a security alert;
- a customer incident, such as a passenger taken ill on a train;
- strike action, during which service delay refunds are suspended altogether.
Free travel is excluded too: Freedom Pass, 60+ Oyster and Veterans Oyster holders, and children under 11 travelling free with an adult, cannot claim. If a delay within TfL's control forced you onto another route at a higher fare, TfL may refund the difference, case by case.
How to apply
The TfL service delay refund page sets the route by payment method:
- Contactless: register the card in an online account, then choose the service delay refund from the journey and payment history.
- Adult Oyster: apply in the online contactless and Oyster account.
- Oyster photocards such as Zip or 18+ Student: use the Oyster contact form or call TfL.
- Paper ticket or a National Rail smartcard: send the journey details, the time of the delay and images of the ticket to TfL Customer Services by post or email.
Whatever the route, the deadline is 28 days from the delayed journey. A review can take up to 10 working days, and TfL accepts an appeal by phone.
Last day to claim Delay Repay
Claim by
23 November 2026
| Time limit at Elizabeth line | 28 days |
| Counted from | 26 October 2026 |
| National Rail minimum | 28 days |
The operator’s form refuses claims after its limit; a late claim can only be asked as a goodwill gesture.
The National Rail floor behind it
One detail is easy to miss. The company that operates the line, GTS Rail Operations, trading as Elizabeth line, is listed in Appendix A of the National Rail Conditions of Travel. Condition 33 of those conditions gives at least 50% of the fare from 60 minutes late and says that, from that point, compensation is due regardless of fault. TfL's own pages do not say how the two sets of rules meet. If you travelled on a National Rail ticket and a delay of an hour or more was refused because of the weather, it is reasonable to cite condition 33 when you ask for the decision to be reviewed.
Claims in figures
The Office of Rail and Road lists the Elizabeth line separately. In April 2025 to March 2026, it received 19,570 claims, closed the same number and approved 42.6%; every one was closed within 20 working days. The provisional figures for April 2026 to March 2027 show 42.9% approved (ORR Table 4410). The sister service is covered on the London Overground page; trains that share the western end of the line belong to Great Western Railway and Heathrow Express, each with its own rules.