Trainline App Not working – Best Ways To Fix

When you are trying to catch a train, the last thing you want is your ticket not working, or to be stuck at home wondering why you can’t book your travel plans.

When the Trainline app is not working, it can cause some serious problems, so it’s important that you get it working as soon as possible. Luckily, we’ve got you covered, and whatever your issues are with the app, we have the solution for you.

Trainline App Not Working – What you can do

Though considered by many to be the best train app, you’ll still run into issues with it occasionally. If nothing at all is working and it doesn’t even seem to be opening, your problem could be as simple as having airplane mode accidentally enabled.

To disable it, open your status menu and if you see the icon lit up, simply tap it to turn it off.

A good thing to try before going deeper into any potential issues is simply turning your phone off and on again. This can be surprisingly reliable, and users often report this as the solution to their problems.

Make sure your device is fully switched off by holding the power button for a few seconds, then restart it. This should fix a lot of potential issues with the Trainline app.

But if it doesn’t – don’t worry! There are plenty of solutions to the following problems.

Session timed out

This is the most common reason for issues with the Trainline app, and that’s the automatic timeout feature. If you’ve used online banking, you will be familiar with a timeout as it will log you out of your banking app if it’s left open and unused for too long.

This is a security feature most apps use when providing financial services like purchasing train tickets, as Trainline does.

If you come across this, you need to do whatever you were trying to do faster, or make sure you aren’t leaving your device unattended for too long.

Very rarely, this can be due to Trainline’s servers going down. To check if this is the case, you can go here. If there is a spike in reports and there are problems with the servers, unfortunately the only solution is to wait for it to be fixed or find an alternative provider.

Error messages

The Trainline app sometimes comes up with error messages, both when you’re booking a train and bus ticket via the app.

1. Well, this is awkward. This is a generic bug message when buying train tickets. This is usually when there’s an app-side problem, such as outdated information, or Trainline being unable to connect to a provider. Try what you just did again, but if you get the same error, you will have to look for an alternative.
2. Trainline mothership lost. This error message almost always relates to your internet connection being unreliable, or Trainline’s servers going down. The first is much more likely, so check your connection and try again.
3. Oops- something has gone wrong. This can cover a lot of different problem and is unfortunately the vaguest error message. This could be a problem with your connection, with Trainline’s servers, or simply a bug in the app unrelated to your use. The best thing to do is to check your internet connection and try again.

These are the most common messages users get when using the Trainline app on their phone. If your query isn’t here, then you may want to try getting in touch with the support team.

App won’t take a payment

There are a few reasons and circumstances around why this would happen. If your card details are incorrect, the payment won’t process. Unfortunately, this won’t give you much explanation other than an “oops” error message. 

If you get this error, double-check your details as you may have accidentally entered some wrong information.

If your saved payment info is correct and up to date, but you get an error when you are trying to purchase a ticket, there are a few potential reasons.

1. The ticket is no longer available. You could be incredibly unlucky and have just missed the last ticket available during the time you click on the ticket order, and it processes.
2. Your session timed out. If you take too long to process an order, there is an in-app security feature which automatically cancels the order if it takes you too long. This time varies, but is around 5 minutes without you taking any actions in the app.
3. Your connection is unstable. If you lose internet connection during an order, the information will fail to reach Trainline’s servers, and your order will be rejected. Make sure you have a stable internet connection and try again.

Making sure your connection is stable

A lot of problems users face with the Trainline app are actually down to their internet connection while using it.

Lots of people use it while out and about, booking tickets on the go, so an unreliable connection is pretty frequent, which results in significant problems using the app.

If you are out of your home, the best thing to do is either use your mobile data, or to find a free Wi-Fi provider such as a café or fast-food restaurant to make your booking. If using mobile data, remember that you can find yourself in “dead zones” where your signal will be poor.

Try moving to a different street or away from large buildings to fix this issue. Sometimes something as simple as raising your phone above your head can be enough for it to catch a signal.

Update the appr

Using the Trainline app is best done when you have up-to-date train schedules and prices, as without them, nothing is going to work correctly, and you are just going to be left frustrated.

To update your app, go to the Play Store and find search the Trainline app.

Next to the “open” option will be a green “update” option. Tapping this and restarting your device after it’s completed will ensure you are using the best working version of the app.

Conclusion

Europe’s leading train and coach app is usually pretty trustworthy, but having your app not working correctly when you are trying to book an important travel arrangement can be incredibly frustrating.

However, if you follow the steps in this guide, ensure your connection is good and your app is updated, you should minimize the problems you come across.

Depending on which issues you are facing on the app, there are some really quick solutions. Whenever your apps aren’t working, we will always be here to provide quick and simple solutions for all your troubleshooting needs!