Harlow to London train with Abellio Greater Anglia

Trains from Harlow to London

Trains from Harlow to London run steadily from early in the morning till just before midnight. There are dozens every day, at intervals ranging from about 6min apart to about 30min between trains. It’s a short trip, pretty much the equivalent of commuting into London from one of its outlying suburbs, and will only take about 30-45min on average. The morning journeys are the ones that take the longest, with times decreasing from around mid-morning.

Harlow to London Train Time: Daily Departures

You’ll not have to wait long for trains from Harlow to London, no matter when you arrive during Harlow Station’s operating hours. They leave at a rate of roughly five to eight per hour, from around 6:00 a.m. till about 11:45 p.m., making for over 100 trips a day from which you can choose.

How long is the journey by train from Harlow to London?

All trains from Harlow to London are direct, so you won’t make any stops or have to switch trains en route. The average duration of the journey is around 40min, with morning journeys tending to take a little longer due to general rush hour congestion. At other times of the day you can catch trains to London that will take a nippy 30min.

London Tourist Tower Bridge Photo. Source: Shutterstock

What are the departure and arrival stations for trains from Harlow to London?

Departure train station: All the trains that service the route from Harlow to London depart from Harlow Town Station. Given its already central location, you won’t find any transport from the town centre, as most people simply walk there. It’s more of a commuter than a leisure route, so unless you have luggage, it’s about a 20min walk. If you are taking luggage with you, you can catch a taxi that will take about 2min to get to the station. Harlow Town is a small station, with a coffee shop, food and drink vending machines, and step-free accessibility.

Arrival train station: All trains to London from Harlow arrive at London Liverpool Street Station. To get to Central London from there you can catch an Underground train on the Central line, which will take around 7min. The Line 16 bus will take about 15min, arriving at the Temple bus stop outside the Courts of Justice. The station has a coffee kiosk, and a pub where you can also have a meal. The whole station is adapted for wheelchair and limited mobility access, including an induction loop.

Which train companies travel from Harlow to London?

Only one train company that operates the Harlow to London route, which is Abellio Greater Anglia. While there’s only one operator, the travel times aren’t uniform throughout the day. They can vary from 30min for the shortest trips in the afternoons through till around midnight, to about 55min for the longest ones, most of which are concentrated in the early and mid-morning. Greater Anglia offers both one-way and return train trips to London, and you can easily find one to book at any time through Omio, from the very early morning until late at night. The carrier provides over a hundred trips a day on this short local commuter route.

Abellio Greater Anglia trains from Harlow to London

Abellio Greater Anglia covers the Harlow to London train route very comprehensively, providing a train roughly every 5-15min throughout the day and at night until around 11:45 p.m. These are pretty short trips, with none of them taking more than an hour. The quickest ones will get you to the capital in about 30min, with most of them taking around 40-45min. Abellio Greater Anglia trains on this route aren’t high-speed versions, as the nature of the railway line doesn’t support such.

Train Harlow to London: Services on board

There are essentially two classes of ticket on Abellio Greater Anglia – Standard and First. There are many different variations on Standard class, of which we recommend the Anytime Tickets, as they offer the most flexibility and don’t lock you in to a specific trip at a specific time and are valid for two days. As per National Rail Conditions of Travel you can take the usual 2 items of hold luggage plus a carry-on item. You can take up to two small domestic pets with you in a carrier, which won’t cost anything if they don’t use an extra seat. Guide dogs are the exception to this.

You can also take a bicycle with you free of charge. There are bicycle spaces on most trains, but during peak hours you my only be able to take a foldable one as hold luggage. All trains have full accessibility assistance features, including priority seating, seat-back handholds, button-controlled doors, wheelchair spaces, accessible toilets and Call-for-Help points. You can order food and drinks from either the café bar or the trolley service, with a variety sandwiches, and savoury or sweet, hot or cold items available. For an even more relaxing journey, each train has a device-free Quiet Room.

How to find cheap train tickets from Harlow to London?

Once you’ve decided on the type of ticket you want, such as a Daytime or an Anytime ticket, you won’t find much price variation between the various trips on the Harlow to London route. You won’t save by travelling at off-peak hours on this trip either. There are other ways of finding cheaper tickets, however. If you remain flexible about when you travel, you’ll be free to take advantage of last-minute discounts and promotional deals.

Conversely, if you book well in advance you can also sometimes find cheaper tickets. Another tip, if you travel the route often, is to get a season pass, which offers better value for money per trip than buying a ticket each time. Also remember to check our live timetables and ticket prices to spot cheaper trips. That way you can snap them up and have an e-ticket instantly delivered to your smartphone.

London Church San Pablo. Source: Shutterstock

To London by train—travel tips

London is such an iconic city and its main tourist attractions are world renowned, so let’s have a look at what you can see and do in the vicinity of London Liverpool Station. The Heron Tower, once the tallest building in London, is nearby, as is London’s oldest ice skating rink, the Broadgate Ice Rink in Primrose St., about a 3min walk from the station.

The Electric Blue Art Gallery is one of the trendiest venues in London’s fashion and underground art scene, and this is will onlly take you about 5min to reach on foot. The venerable Lloyds of London is also close by, well worth a visit for its displays, and you can take a walk to the Bank of England Museum too.

The City Centre is an exhibition space dedicated to showcasing the 800-year history of London’s central square mile, about a 10min walk from Liverpool Street Station. The Barbican Conservatory is a tropical urban oasis, housing more than 2,000 different species of trees and plants, also reachable within a short walk.

Alternatively you can stroll to the “Curry Mile” of London, Brick Lane. Here authentic Indian cuisine rubs shoulders with some unlikely companions like Jewish bagel shops, to create a culinary mash-up that typifies London’s cosmopolitan lifestyle. For more ideas on tourist destinations that you can visit after your Harlow-London train ride, have a look at our online travel magazine, The Window Seat.