This news item applies only to safeguarded staff who entered rail service on or before 31 March 1996 and hold a Staff Travel Card. This news item does not apply to those who hold the Rail Staff Leisure Card or RST Online Leisure Card.
Staff Travel Cards for 2026-27 (which are valid from 1 April 2026 to 30 June 2027) will start to be posted out on Tuesday 17 March.
Reporting cards lost in the post
Please allow until 1 April 2026 for the delivery of cards by Royal Mail. Rail Staff Travel will not be able to respond to any enquiries before this date relating to non-delivery.
From 1 April until 31 July 2026, if you have not received the cards you were expecting, please submit our Renewal Post Loss (XX47) form.
If you report non delivery of cards to us after 31 July 2026, we will charge you for replacements.
New format of card
In response to feedback from card holders who found the date boxes small and difficult to fill in, the new card has larger date boxes. We hope this makes it easier to use.
The card contains a photo of the card holder. Where rail staff travel does not hold a photograph of a retired employee or their family member, the photo space has a replacement image which confirms that separate Photo ID is not required to use the Staff Travel Card.
The new cards include a railcard format barcode, bringing them in line with barcodes printed on Rail Staff Leisure Cards and RST Online Leisure Cards issued to non-safeguarded employees and public railcards. The barcode will not operate the ticket barriers, but will be scanned by ticket inspectors and revenue protection.
If you need a ticket wallet to hold your new format staff travel card, season ticket card wallets are suitable and can be obtained from National Rail station ticket offices.
