Norwich train times to London: 1hr 39, £10,716 a year

Norwich has one station and one direct route to London. Greater Anglia runs it, the trains go to Liverpool Street, and on a normal weekday there are 32 of them, from an 05:00 that reaches London at 06:50 to a 22:02 that gets in at 23:57.

The number people quote is 90 minutes. The number on the timetable is 1 hour 39 minutes, and only one train a day does it. Everything else takes between 1 hour 47 and 1 hour 57, and the slowest trains of the entire day are the ones that leave in the morning peak.

The fastest train, and the slowest

The 08:00 from Norwich arrives at Liverpool Street at 09:39, 1 hour 39 minutes. It is the quickest departure on the board and the only one under 1 hour 45. The 07:00 takes 1 hour 57, the longest journey of the day, and the 06:00, 06:30 and 07:30 all sit at 1 hour 54 or 1 hour 55.

Between nine in the morning and half past two in the afternoon the line settles into a steady 1 hour 47, half-hourly, without exception. If your day is flexible, an off-peak departure is both cheaper and faster than a 07:00.

The same pattern holds coming back. The 17:00 out of Liverpool Street reaches Norwich at 18:39, again 1 hour 39, while the 17:30, 18:00 and 18:30 all take 1 hour 51.

The weekday timetable

Trains leave Norwich every half hour from 05:00 to 19:00, then hourly. The half-hourly pattern is a train at each hour and each half hour, so the shape of the day is easy to remember even without a timetable.

That is a selection. There is also a train at every half hour in between up to 19:00. Always check on the day: this is a timetable snapshot taken on 9 August 2026 for the following Monday, and engineering work rewrites weekends in particular.

What it costs to turn up and go

Walk-up fares on the day we checked, standard class, Norwich to London Terminals:

Two things in that table are worth knowing before you buy.

Never buy an off-peak single. The off-peak return is £72.20 and the off-peak single is £71.20. Coming home costs an extra pound. If there is any chance you are travelling back the same day, buy the return.

The Travelcard is nearly free money if you use the tube. An Off-Peak Day Travelcard is £81.30 against £72.20 for the plain off-peak return, so £9.10 covers a day of London buses and Underground. Two single tube journeys cost more than that.

The catch is the peak. There is no off-peak fare on anything leaving Norwich before 08:30, so an unplanned early return trip is £143.70. That is nearly double the off-peak price for a train that, at 07:00, is eighteen minutes slower.

Season tickets

A season ticket only makes sense above roughly three days a week, but the sums here are unusually stark because the walk-up fares are so high.

The £10,716 annual works out at about £206 a week across a full year, or around £233 a week if you allow for six weeks of holiday. Five off-peak returns at £72.20 would cost £361 in a week, and five anytime returns £718.50. Anyone commuting three days a week or more is losing money on walk-up tickets.

The Zone 1 to 6 Travelcard version costs £1,360 a year more and covers every tube and bus journey in London. An annual Zones 1 to 6 Travelcard bought on its own costs considerably more than that, so if you use the Underground daily at the London end, the add-on is the cheaper way round.

The St Pancras version is the odd one out: it costs the most and its extra is validity on Southeastern high speed services, which is of no use to most Norwich commuters.

The station itself

Norwich station is on Station Approach, NR1 1EF, at the bottom of Prince of Wales Road and about ten minutes on foot from the cathedral along the riverside walk. It has step-free access to all platforms.

The practical constraint is parking. The station car park has 70 spaces, five of them accessible, which is small for a city of this size and a long way short of daily commuter demand. The ticket office is open 04:45 to 20:45 Monday to Saturday and 06:45 to 20:45 on Sunday.

If you are driving in, the park and ride sites on the ring of the city are usually a better bet than circling Station Approach, and Norwich has six of them.

What it means if you commute

The honest position is that Norwich is not a daily London commuter town at these prices and these times. £10,716 a year plus roughly three and a half hours a day door to door is a hard sell, and the fastest train is a single 08:00 departure.

What Norwich is good at is the two or three day week. On that pattern, an off-peak return at £72.20 on a 1 hour 47 train from a city where the median home costs £230,000 is a genuinely different proposition from doing the same thing from a commuter belt town at three times the house price. Our house prices page sets out what that £230,000 buys.

Frequently asked questions

How long does the train from Norwich to London take?

The fastest is 1 hour 39 minutes, on the 08:00 departure only. Most of the day runs at 1 hour 47 minutes. Morning peak departures between 06:00 and 07:30 are the slowest, at 1 hour 54 to 1 hour 57.

How often do trains run from Norwich to London?

Every half hour from 05:00 to 19:00, then hourly, with the last train at 22:02. That is 32 departures on a weekday.

Which London station do Norwich trains go to?

London Liverpool Street. Greater Anglia operates the route, and there is no direct service from Norwich to any other London terminus.

How much is a season ticket from Norwich to London?

£10,716 a year, £1,028.80 a month or £267.90 a week to London Terminals. Adding a Zones 1 to 6 Travelcard takes the annual to £12,076.

What is the cheapest way to get from Norwich to London by train?

An Advance single, from £32.00 if booked ahead for a specific train. For turn-up-and-go travel after 08:30, buy the off-peak return at £72.20 rather than the off-peak single at £71.20, because they are a pound apart.

Is there parking at Norwich station?

Yes, but only 70 spaces, five of them accessible. For a full day in London the park and ride sites around the city are usually easier.

Sources

• National Rail timetable and fares, via traintimes.org.uk checked on 9 August 2026 for Monday 10 August 2026, for every departure time, journey time and walk-up fare quoted above.
• Trainline season ticket prices, Norwich to London checked on 9 August 2026 for the weekly, monthly and annual season figures.
• National Rail station information, Norwich for the address, car park size, accessible spaces, ticket office hours and step-free access.
• Norwich Cathedral, getting here for the ten-minute riverside walk from the station.

Times and fares change. Everything above was checked on 9 August 2026 against a single weekday, Monday 10 August. Weekend and bank holiday services are different, engineering work regularly alters both, and Advance fares vary by how far ahead you book.