Reading to Derby train

Trains from Reading to Derby start at €31.69 and take 2h 18m at their fastest.

ReadingReadingDerbyDerby

The Trains from Reading to Derby starts at €31.69 and takes 2h 18m door to door, run by 1 operator over 192 km, with around 5 departures a day. Fares bottom out about 45 days before departure.

Checked September 9, 2026Priced for September 28, 2026One passenger, all fees included

  • 2h 18mDoor to door
  • 1h 34mMoving
  • €31.69From
  • 6.3 kgCO2
Real services

The cheapest and the fastest on September 28, 2026

Two journeys we can sell today, with the service number each operator files them under.

Fastest€28.94
  1. Cross Country CC597106:051h 34m07:39Reading StationDerby railway station

Door to door 2h 18mCO2 6.3 kgChanges 0Refundable

Carriers

Rail operators

Speed, flexibility and what is on board. Nothing here is a rating, because we have not earned one.

Every operator we sell on this corridor. Speed is the carrier's own typical cruising speed, not the average over this route.
OperatorFromFastestTypical speedFlexibilityOn board
Cross Country€25.642h 6m140 km/hRefundablePower outlets, Wi-Fi

Derby sits on the water, which usually settles which side of town you want to wake up on. Rooms are not ours to sell.

A hotel room

Rooms within reach of Derby railway station

Filter by neighborhood and by nightly price, and the map tells you what is a walk and what is a cab.

Partner links. We do not sell accommodation. We earn a commission when a booking completes, and it never changes what you pay.

Booking window

When to book Reading to Derby

The same search run across the whole booking window, so the shape of the curve is visible rather than described.

  1. €11.7390 days
  2. €12.2860 days
  3. €11.1845 days
  4. €13.3830 days
  5. €11.7321 days
  6. €16.1314 days
  7. €21.087 days
  8. €22.733 days
  9. €34.831 days
Cheapest lead time
Fares bottom out around 45 days ahead, at €11.18.
How much it moves
The gap between the cheapest and most expensive lead time is 212 percent. The most expensive point is €34.83, 1 days out.
What that means
Today sits inside the cheap window, which closes about 45 days before departure. Waiting from here has usually cost money on this corridor rather than saved it.
Day of the week

Which departure day costs least

Median cheapest fare for each weekday, taken across the next three weeks of real prices.

  1. €19.43Sun
  2. €12.83Mon
  3. €15.03Tue
  4. €16.13Wed
  5. €17.78Thu
  6. €20.53Fri
  7. €17.78Sat
Terminals

Where you leave from and where you arrive

The stations, airports and ports each mode on this corridor actually uses.

Reading

Rail
  • Reading Station
  • Winnersh Station
  • Reading West

Derby

Rail
  • Derby railway station
  • Derby Friargate railway station
  • Derby Nottingham Road railway station
The journey

What the journey actually looks like

Direct or connecting, how far the route really runs, and what happens when a connection is missed.

Direct or connecting
33% of the services we sell on this corridor run through without a change. The remaining 67% involve one connection.
How far it really runs
The route covers 192 km against 167 km in a straight line, a detour of 15 percent. Track and road geometry account for the difference.
Where the change is
Connections are made at Milton Keynes, Birmingham, Walsall, Coventry. The gap between arriving and leaving is 53 minutes, of which about 5 is walking.
If the connection is missed
The tightest connection we sell here has a 18 percent chance of not being made on the timetable alone. Part of this journey is a self transfer between separate tickets, so leave more time than the minimum and expect to check in again.
First and last departure
The first service of the day leaves Reading at 06:05 and the last at 07:30, across 5 departures. The return direction keeps its own timetable, so the times back are not these times reversed.
The alternatives

Trains against the other ways to make this journey

The same corridor, door to door, with every mode that runs it.

Door to door means the whole journey, including reaching the terminal and leaving it at the far end. Fares are the cheapest sold on each mode.
ModeDoor to doorMovingAt the endsFromCO2Per day
Train2h 18m1h 34m44m€31.696.3 kg5
Coach3h 40m2h 56m44m€12.835.2 kg1

Questions about Reading to Derby

The questions people actually ask about this trip, answered from the same prices and times the page above is built on rather than written once and left to go stale.

How long does the Train from Reading to Derby take?

The Train from Reading to Derby takes 2h 18m door to door, of which 1h 34m is spent moving. The route runs 192 km. The difference between the two times is reaching the terminal and leaving it at the far end, which every time on this page includes.

How much does the Train from Reading to Derby cost?

The Train from Reading to Derby starts at €31.69 for one passenger, checked on September 28, 2026. A typical fare is €29.48. Both are the total including taxes, supplier fees and our service fee, so the price here is the price at checkout.

Who runs the Train from Reading to Derby?

1 operators run the Train from Reading to Derby: Cross Country. Between them they file around 5 departures a day. The operator table on this page compares them on fare, journey time, cruising speed, fare conditions and what is provided on board.

Which terminal does the Train from Reading to Derby use?

The Train from Reading to Derby leaves from Reading Station and arrives at Derby railway station. Allow about 44m for reaching the departure terminal and leaving the arrival one. That time is already inside every door to door figure quoted on this page.

Is the Train the best way from Reading to Derby?

Traveling from Reading to Derby by Coach costs €12.83 and takes 3h 40m door to door, against 2h 18m by Train. Which is better depends on whether the money or the hours matter more on this trip. The comparison table on this page shows every mode side by side.

When should I book the Train from Reading to Derby?

Fares for the Train from Reading to Derby bottom out around 45 days ahead, at €11.18. The gap between the cheapest and most expensive lead time across the window is 212 percent, measured on September 28, 2026. Booking inside the final week has consistently cost more.

How much CO2 does the Train from Reading to Derby produce?

The Train from Reading to Derby produces about 6.3 kg of CO2 per passenger over 192 km, which works out at roughly 33 grams per passenger kilometer. That figure is for the whole journey and for one traveler, not for the vehicle.

What is provided on board the Train from Reading to Derby?

Operators on the Train from Reading to Derby publish Power outlets, Wi-Fi. That is what 1 carriers on this corridor state about their own fleets, across a journey of 2h 18m door to door. Where a carrier publishes nothing, this page lists nothing for it.

Where these numbers come from

Derived from service area No carrier record names this exact pair. The operators listed publish a service area covering both places at a distance their mode plausibly carries people, which is evidence that the corridor is served and not evidence of a specific service. Pages state which, because presenting the two as the same thing would be dishonest.

Schedules, seat counts and fares are generated by our own model until the supplier contracts are signed. Places, coordinates, operators, which operator serves which pair, and every distance are real. We would rather say that on every page than let a modeled number pass for a filed one.

Defined in full at Door to door, Fares, The booking window, Carbon

On this page
Every figure above was computed for Reading to Derby on September 9, 2026: 192 km of route against 167 km in a straight line, 5 services a day, 1 operators, a cheapest fare of €31.69, and 2h 18m door to door on the fastest mode. The return direction is computed separately and its numbers are not these numbers.

Related journeys

The trip is the easy half to plan. The days in Derby are the half people leave until last.

A guided tour group

What to book in Derby before you go

Day trips that leave Derby in the morning and cover a good part of United Kingdom by evening.

Partner links. We do not sell tours or tickets. We earn a commission on a booking, and it never changes the price.

Plan with Ori

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Reading to Derby train · Orlero